Newsroom
Transdniestrians step up "linguistic cleansing" with orders to empty Moldovan-language school
CHISINAU 20 July 2004
CHISINAU, 20 July 2004 - The crisis continues to deepen in the campaign against Moldovan schools teaching the state language in Latin script in the breakaway region of Transdniestria. Local authorities in that region continue what is termed "linguistic cleansing" by the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities Rolf Ekéus, who visited Moldovan schools in the region last week.
An estimated 50 parents, teachers, schoolchildren and Moldovan police have maintained a protective vigil in Benderi School No. 19 since the forced closure of a sister school in Tiraspol last week. At times they have been confronted by up to 20 Transdniestrian militia members with the school fence serving as a dividing line between the two groups.
The militia have informed people in the school that their presence is illegal and they have orders to forcibly remove them. Water, gas and electricity services to the school were cut on Monday. The same day the ten-year rental contract was unilaterally annulled by local authorities.
"The actions taken by Transdniestrian militia against the Moldovan school in Benderi are unjustified and have the potential to destabilise the situation in the region", says William Hill, Head of the OSCE Mission to Moldova.
His comments came as OSCE Mission Members continued to maintain an almost round-the-clock presence at the school, as they have done since last Friday.
Military Observers from the Joint Peacekeeping Forces have also been on-site intermittently, as the school is located inside the Security Zone, the area separating the former combatants after the war in 1992.
Hill called the Transdniestrian actions exceptionally deplorable as they fly in the face of numerous calls by the international community not to take unilateral measures and to return to the negotiating table. These calls have been made by the OSCE High Commissioner, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, as well as the European Union and US Embassies in Moldova.
"This situation must be solved calmly and without violence", Hill added. "Transdniestrian law enforcement authorities should take no action in Benderi, especially given the presence of innocent children, parents and teachers, who are only asking to exercise their basic human rights to pursue education in the language of their choice."
An estimated 50 parents, teachers, schoolchildren and Moldovan police have maintained a protective vigil in Benderi School No. 19 since the forced closure of a sister school in Tiraspol last week. At times they have been confronted by up to 20 Transdniestrian militia members with the school fence serving as a dividing line between the two groups.
The militia have informed people in the school that their presence is illegal and they have orders to forcibly remove them. Water, gas and electricity services to the school were cut on Monday. The same day the ten-year rental contract was unilaterally annulled by local authorities.
"The actions taken by Transdniestrian militia against the Moldovan school in Benderi are unjustified and have the potential to destabilise the situation in the region", says William Hill, Head of the OSCE Mission to Moldova.
His comments came as OSCE Mission Members continued to maintain an almost round-the-clock presence at the school, as they have done since last Friday.
Military Observers from the Joint Peacekeeping Forces have also been on-site intermittently, as the school is located inside the Security Zone, the area separating the former combatants after the war in 1992.
Hill called the Transdniestrian actions exceptionally deplorable as they fly in the face of numerous calls by the international community not to take unilateral measures and to return to the negotiating table. These calls have been made by the OSCE High Commissioner, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, as well as the European Union and US Embassies in Moldova.
"This situation must be solved calmly and without violence", Hill added. "Transdniestrian law enforcement authorities should take no action in Benderi, especially given the presence of innocent children, parents and teachers, who are only asking to exercise their basic human rights to pursue education in the language of their choice."