OSCE Mission to Moldova strengthens human rights monitoring skills of lawyers from both banks

Thirty legal and civil society professionals from both banks of Dniester/Nistru River, as well as representatives of the Moldovan Ombudsman’s office, completed a three-day training course on human rights monitoring organized by the OSCE Mission to Moldova from 28 to 30 June 2018. The course was designed to enhance the capacity of the participants and their role in monitoring the human rights situation and to strengthen co-operation between the legal communities on both banks. 

During the training course, the participants studied the human rights monitoring cycle as well as existing international standards and principles of human rights monitoring. Under the guidance of experts, the legal and civil society professionals worked on case studies and gained hands-on experience of developing an advocacy strategy and practised strategic planning, interview techniques, reporting skills, and data collection and classification.

“Human rights monitoring is one of the most effective tools which can help protect a domestic violence victim,” said Alexandra Martynenko, Director of the Women's Crisis Centre run by the Resonance NGO from the left bank. “From a broader perspective, collecting and analysing data on human rights violations helps identify the best instruments to campaign for women’s human rights protection and create an enabling environment for change.”   

This event builds on the tradition of summer schools for participants from both banks of the Dniester/Nistru River, which have been organized by the Mission since 2015. The previous schools focused on the application of the European Court of Human Rights to the Moldovan context, non-discrimination issues, and access to personal data. It is also part of the Mission’s year-long confidence-building efforts which seek to build trust between the legal communities on both banks of the river.