Council on Preventing and Eliminating Discrimination and Ensuring Equality

Full name in English

Full name in national languages

Consiliul pentru prevenirea și eliminarea discriminării și asigurarea egalității în Republica Moldova

Postal address

bd. Ștefan cel Mare, 180, bir.600 2004 Chișinău Moldova

Website

http://www.egalitate.md/

Email

info@egalitate.md

Social media

Telephone number

+373022212 726

Languages in which your institution can be contacted

Romanian, Russian, English

Head(s) of Equality body

Ian Feldman

field_email

Overview

Mandate

Institution

Overview

The Council for Preventing and Eliminating Discrimination and Ensuring Equality (Equality Council) is an independent autonomous central public authority subordinated to the Parliament.

Brief history

It is a collective body consisting of 5 members named by the Parliament for 5-year term and assisted by administrative apparatus.

Equality Council began its activity on July 31, 2013 based on the Law 121 on Ensuring Equality of 25.05.2012, which created legal framework to implement Directive 2000/43/EC of 29 June 2000 and Directive 2000/78/EC of 27 November 2000.

The Law 121 establishes legal and institutional framework for preventing and combating discrimination and ensuring equality for all persons on the territory of the Republic of Moldova. It prohibits discrimination in the political, economic, social, cultural and other spheres of life. The grounds protected from discrimination are race, colour, nationality, ethnic origin, language, religion and beliefs, sex, age, disability, opinion, political affiliation or any other similar ground. The list of grounds is not exhaustive. The Law applies to individuals and legal entities from public and private sphere.

Council is both tribunal (para-judicial) and promotion type of equality body.

Mandate of the Council relates to: 1 – examination of complaints of alleged discrimination and issuing Decisions, which are legally binding unless contested in the Court; 2 – assessment of the existing legal framework and draft laws from the perspective of equality and non-discrimination standards; 3 – awareness raising and promotion of equal opportunities.

Activity of the Equality Council is regulated by the Law 298 of 21.12.2012 on the Activity of the Council for Preventing and Eliminating Discrimination and Ensuring Equality.

Mandate

Legal standing before the courts

Amicus curiae brief or similar, Defending own legally binding decision before the courts

Functions

Making legally binding decisions on claims of discrimination
Making recommendations on claims of discrimination [or other decisions on the merit that are not legally binding]
Undertaking ex-officio investigations
Organising training, advising and capacity-building activities for particular stakeholders on meeting their obligations
Organising awareness raising and communication activities
Advising government on the development, adoption and amendment of law and policy
Monitoring national law and policy from an equality perspective
Carrying out specialist research on equality and non-discrimination
Reporting to national and international bodies on discrimination issues
Networking with relevant entities in the country and internationally

Fields and grounds

Fields	Grounds
Employment	Gender, Sexual Orientation, Race and Ethnic Origin, Religion or Belief, Age, Disability, Health Status, Social or Socio-economic Status, Other Grounds
Education	Gender, Race and Ethnic Origin, Religion or Belief, Age, Disability, Health Status, Social or Socio-economic Status, Other Grounds
Housing	Gender, Race and Ethnic Origin, Religion or Belief, Age, Disability, Health Status, Social or Socio-economic Status, Other Grounds
Social Protection & Healthcare	Gender, Race and Ethnic Origin, Religion or Belief, Age, Disability, Health Status, Social or Socio-economic Status, Other Grounds
Goods and Services	Gender, Race and Ethnic Origin, Religion or Belief, Age, Disability, Health Status, Social or Socio-economic Status, Other Grounds
Other	Gender, Race and Ethnic Origin, Religion or Belief, Age, Disability, Health Status, Social or Socio-economic Status

Other grounds

Color of skin, nationality, language, opinion, political affiliation and any other similar grounds.

Other mandates of the institution

Multi-mandate equality body

National human rights institution

Statistics

	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Number of cases handled	151	154	160	248	257	270
Number of inquiries	151	154	190	302	310	282
Number of litigation cases

Institution

Management and Appointments

Management

Regional or Local offices

This institution does not have regional officies.

Number of staff

	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021
Number of staff members working on equality							15

Operating budget

	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Operating budget in euros [ACTUAL]	200000	200000	200000	200000	200000	200000
Operating budget in euros [ALLOCATED]	200000	200000	200000	200000	200000	200000
Operating budget in euros for the parts of the organisation dealing with equality issues (all types of functions) [ACTUAL]
Operating budget in euros for the parts of the organisation dealing with equality issues (all types of functions) [ALLOCATED]