Forum: European Court of Human Rights
INTERIGHTS' role: Advisers to counsel
Keywords: Discrimination, education, family life, privacy, remedies

INTERIGHTS is advising Moldovan lawyers on a group of cases being brought against Moldova and Russia. These cases concern linguistic and ethnic discrimination (Article 14 of the ECHR) taken together with the right to education (Protocol 1, Article 2), respect for private and family life (Article 8) and access to an effective domestic remedy in the de facto Moldovan Republic of Transdniestria. INTERIGHTS lawyers Doina Ioana Straisteanu and Iain Byrne attended a Chamber hearing of the European Court of Human Rights held on 9th June 2009 as advisers to lawyers from Moldovan NGO Promo Lex. Following submissions from the Moldovan and Russian governments, the applicants had 30 minutes to present the key aspects of the case both in relation to the respective responsibility of the Moldovan and Russian governments for a range of abuses they have suffered and continue to endure in the Transdniestria region and the substantive merits of their claim.

Following the submissions all sides responded to questions from the Court which primarily focused on the extent of the obligations of both Governments for what had occurred. In her response to the Court on behalf of the applicants Doina Ioana Straisteanu reiterated both the consistent failure of the Moldovan government to fulfil its positive obligations to stop the abuses occurring and provide effective remedies for the victims and the complicit support of the Russian government in the perpetration of the violations through its considerable financial and political support for the Transdniestrian regime. The Court is expected to deliver its judgment by the end of the year. To see the webcast of the hearing please click here.

The applicants are Moldovan nationals, children of school age, their parents, and teachers, who attend or work at three of the seven schools in the Moldovan Republic of Transdniestria which use the Moldovan/ Romanian language with Latin script. The schools refused to register with the self-proclaimed, unrecognized authorities of the Republic, since registration would demand the use of the Cyrillic script in schools. In July 2004 the authorities used military and police forces to stormed the schools and closed them down. Some parents and teachers were arrested and subsequently sentenced to administrative imprisonment. Parents were threatened with loss of their jobs and even removal of their parental rights if they failed to send their children to schools registered with the regime. The applicants have filed a number of unsuccessful petitions and complaints with the authorities of the Russian Federation as well as with the Moldovan authorities. The case was granted priority treatment.

Contact: Iain Byrne, Senior Lawyer, Economic and Social Rights Programme, at ibyrne@interights.org.