ECMI Issue Brief #39 on “Moldova: Four Priorities for Mainstreaming Minority Rights” is now online. The Issue Brief is authored by Dr. Anita McKinna.

The Issue Brief 39 gives a general outline of current economic and Political Challenges in Moldova. Focusing on four key challenges specifically relevant to ethnic minorities, the Brief discusses matters from the scope of institutional, policy and legal frameworks and ethno-cultural governance.

“Moldova finds itself in a difficult position of constantly having to balance Russian and EU spheres of influence,” writes Dr. McKinna in the concluding section of the Brief, followed by drafts of key recommendations to Moldovan authorities for creating a “stable and sustainable model for ethno-cultural governance that will ensure Moldova’s future security and prosperity”.

Abstract

The economic and political challenges currently facing Moldova are formidable. The focus of the EU’s reform priorities for Moldova lie in the realms of combating systemic corruption, minimising the politicisation of state institutions, and improving judicial independence and financial governance. The general absence of volatile inter-ethnic tensions in Moldova has meant that minority rights here has received less international attention than in other post-communist states. Advocating for the protection of the rights of minorities is reserved primarily for specific human rights defenders, and finds little space in the wider discourse regarding Moldova’s future. Yet Moldova’s geographic, historical and geopolitical location between Russia and the EU mean that it must play a delicate balancing act in which ethno-cultural harmony lies at the heart. This Issue Brief outlines the four pressing issues that currently restrict Moldova’s ethnic minorities’ participation in public life, and discusses opportunities for overcoming these restrictions to ensure stable inter-ethnic relations in Moldova.

Download the Ecmi Issue Brief #39

Source: ECMI InfoChannel @ European Centre for Minority Issues.