ILGA-Europe Human Rights Violations Documentation Fund
Reporting period:1 of June 2010 - 1 of June 2011
- Organizational details
Name of the organization:GENDERDOC-M Information Centre
Name of the contact person: Angela Frolov
Postal address: str. Valeriu Cupcea 72/1, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova, MD 2021
Phone: +373 22 28 88 61/63
Fax: +373 22 28 88 59
E-mail:
Web-site:
Number of people working on the project (staff and volunteers): 9 people (3 staff members, 5 volunteers, 1 lawyer)
Changes in the project leadership (if different from the application): N/A
- Narrative Report
Objective 1: To collect the evidence of legal and social discrimination against LGBT people in Moldova by means of documenting social attitudes, experiences of discrimination and breaches of international human rights standards.
Activities implemented to achieve objective 1:
1.1. Training on documentation of discrimination cases
From 4 till 6 June 2010, training on documenting cases of discriminationwas carried out. 5 active volunteers who have access to the community were selected to participate in the training.
The main topics that were presented at the training are:
- Human rights and their violation.
- The European Convention on Human Rights
- Discrimination. Hate crimes. Incitement to violence and hatred. Hate speech.
- Monitoring and its principles.
- The purpose of monitoring and reporting.
- The rules of interviewing.
- Form of documenting discrimination cases.
- Simulations. Practical work.
As a result, five volunteers were trained to collect the evidence of legal and social discrimination against LGBT people.
1.2 Interview using questionnaires and collection the evidence of legal and social discrimination
Beginningwith 1 August 2010, weinterviewed220 LGB community members.The survey was carried out by 5 volunteers who had been skilled at the trainingondocumentationofdiscriminationcases. Volunteersinquiredgays, lesbiansandbisexualsatplacesoftheirregularmeetings, which are difficult to reach by organization’s staff, as well as at all events organised by GENDERDOC-M and in the office. Duringinterviews, volunteersalsoprovidedinformationabouthumanrightsandhowtobehavewithrepresentatives of law-enforcementbodies (find the hand-out material in attachment). Whenseriousrightsviolationswere detected, respondents were redirected to Lobby and Advocacy Program coordinator and lawyer from the partner firm for further counseling. Afterallquestionnaires had been collected, a report and a PowerPoint presentation were designed (both can be found in attachment).
Objective 2: To inform the LGBT community about measures, which are taken by organization in different discrimination situations.
Activities implemented to achieve objective 2:
Information seminars
2 seminarswerecarriedout.
Thefirstseminar, “OurAlternatives”, was held on 11 September 2010 and included method of social theatre. Theissuesofbullyinganddiscriminationwere discussed, whether one should accept those situations and what are different ways of solving them. The event was attended by 32 community members (23 femalesand 9 males).
Thesecondseminar, “Freedom”,washeldon 2 October2010and such aspects as forms of freedom, freedom of expression, freedom of choice, freedom of personality and like were discussed. It was attended by 26 LGBT community members (21 femalesand 5 males).
Both seminars consisted of a general discussion, which helped identify participants’ lack of knowledge in the field of human rights and provide them with correct information.
Objective 3: To inform state institutions and human rights organizations at the national and international levels and general public about discrimination towards LGBT people.
Activities implemented to achieve objective 3:
On 10 December 2010, a press conference on LGBT rights violations by representatives of law-enforcement bodies was held and widely covered by national TV channels (ProTV, Publica TV, Jurnal TV, Prime TV, TV7; AccentTV), radio “Europe Libera” and newspapers (Adevarul; Stireazilei).
Please see below links on mass media accounts:
(Please find attached the press release)
Press conference became a good tool of drawing public and government's attention to LGBT issues in Moldova and attitude of the police to gay male community. As a result of the press conference, an organisation's representative was invited to take floor in regard to LGBT rights in Moldova at a public lection on human rights.
Press conference for presentation of the report
On 29September 2011, a press conference for presentation of the report was held and covered by national TV channels(ProTV, Jurnal TV)
Please see below links on mass media accounts:
Press conference was a good tool of drawing public attentions to problems faced by LGBT people.
Round tables to present report
Instead of holding the planned round table where the report must have been presented, survey results were delivered at the following three events:
1. At the lection carried out by our partner NGO, IDOM, and Embassy of Sweden within Human Rights Week, situation regarding state of LGBT rights in Moldova was presented. It was attended by more than 40 auditors including representatives of Ministry of Justice, Human Rights Centre, UNDP, human rights NGOs, Embassy of Sweden, LGBT community and mass media.
2. Publiclection “HateCrimesBasedonSexualOrientation” organizedbyPromoLexnon-governmentalorganizationon 15 March 2011 andheld within “Strengthening Legal Protection and Raising Awareness of Ill-Treatment Based on Discrimination in Moldova” project.Thepubliclectionwasattendedbycirca 30 law students, mass media and NGO representatives from Moldova.
3. Сonference“LGBTRightsinToday’sMoldovaandPossibilitiestoEffectivelyCombatDiscrimination”within the Rainbow over the Dniester 2011 Pride Festival in Chisinau where results of this small-scale survey were presented. This conference was attended by 37 participants including representatives of European Parliament, RFSL, ILGA-Europe, CivilRightsDefenders, UNDP, OSCEMissiontoMoldova,AmnestyInternationalMoldovaamong others and our partners from LGBT organisations in the CIS (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Russia and Ukraine) and Georgia, from local NGOs, lawyers and mass media.
Informing about level of discrimination
Please see 3.1
2.1What kind of information did you collect?
The evidence of legal and social discrimination against LGBT people in Moldova by documenting social attitudes, experiences of discrimination and breaches of international human rights standards.
During the project implementation 220 members of the LGB community were interviewed.
Given the poll, information about the types of human rights violations LGB persons faced, the places where they were harassed or subjected to violence because of their sexual orientation, to whom they turned to in cases of violation, was collected.
2.2How did you collect it? Please provide an example of your method in annex.
We used personal interviews and questionnaires (please find attached)
2.3Did you have any partners in this project? If yes, please briefly describe the role of each partner.
During the project we have cooperated with law firm “Pantiru si Staisteanu”.
In the course of collecting evidences of discrimination, we faced the need of qualitative legal counseling and services of a lawyer who would represent discrimination victims' interests in court.
With contribution of a lawyer from the law office,the first ever court case on hate crime based on sexual orientation was initiated in Moldova. On 18 November 2009, Victor, a gay man, was beaten and left unconscious at cold nighttime period having been robbed by a young man named Eduard, who he had met via online dating site. As Eduard confessed during the investigation, he had beaten Victor because he wanted to punish the latter for his sexual orientation (please find details in the attached report).
The lawyer provided 6 consultations on this case and represented victim’s interests in court during 5 hearings.
Final judicial decision in this case is still pending. Currently, victim’smaterial and moral damage was reimbursed.
Another case in which we addressed to the lawyeris regarding abuse of powers by police officers.Three gays got acquainted with three other men who instantly understood that they were dealing with homosexuals and began to demand free drinks, further beating one of them (Alexander) and taking his mobile phone against his will. Alexander called the police, but the police officers,upon finding out that the victims were gay, started to joke and mock at them by inviting them to go and have fun in sauna. In presence of the police officers, threats and insults from the offenders continued and the police officers took no actions to cease them (please find description in the attached report).
On this case, lawyer provided 5 consultations. Currently,the case is pending in the Prosecutor's Office.
Please fins attached CV of the lawyer, agreement of collaboration between GENDERDOC-M and thelaw firm and the certificate of the executed works.
- Results
3.1What product has come out of the project (e.g. report, CD ROM, survey)? Please, give a short description.
The main products of the project are report on discrimination cases documented by the Centre in 2010, andresults of LGBT community's inquiry in regard to their rights violations.
a) Report for 2010 includes 19 discrimination cases and other rights violations based on sexual orientation. Among them, 6 cases describe homophobic statements and incitement to violence and hatred in mass media, 4 cases describe discrimination based on sexual orientation, and one based on gender identity, 3 hate crimes cases, 1case on homophobic statement bya state institution and 3 cases of abuse of powers and blackmailing by the police, one of which led to a suicide; in 1 case, prosecutors did not consider incitement to violence and hatred against LGBT on Facebook and forums of TV channels offensive, and one case on sexual harassment.
b) As a result of interviewing 220 community members,there was compiled a report regarding the processed data and prepared aPowerPoint presentation. The report includes summary of all questionnaires with descriptions and comparisons. Comparison was made between open LGBT persons and those who hide their sexual orientation. Also, the conclusions are made about whoamong LGB community members reveal their sexual orientation most often and where they are likely to face violations of their rights.
3.2Give details on how you plan to use this information - for advocacy or other purposes (at local, national and/or European level)?
The information collected accurately shows the situation of LGBT people in Moldova.
Itbecamea basisofcompilingseveralreportsonLGBThumanrightsviolationswhich were sent to different national and international organisations.
The 2010 – 2011 reviewofdiscriminationandLGBTrightsviolation cases was directed to the Human Rights Centre of the Republic of Moldova.Theombudsmanuses this report in lobbying LGBT rights nationally and internationally. This report was also sent to such organisations and bodies as HumanRightsWatch, OSCE Mission to Moldova and UNDP.
We sent information to aSwedish media outlet which is going to be used in reports on gayrights in entire Europe. The biggest Sweden’s morningnewspaper, Dagens Nyheter, published articles about these reports which might lead to taking more efforts by the Swedish government to work for improving conditions for gay people in other countries in Europe.
Weprovidedinformationregardingbreachesofeconomic, culturalandsocialrightsoftheLGBTcommunityinMoldovawhich was added to the report compiled by a number of non-governmental organisations and presented later at UN.
On 12 October 2011, Moldova will present its UPR (UniversalPeriodicReview) reportonthestateofhumanrightsobservanceduringfourlastyearsattheUNHumanRightsCouncilinGeneva. TheMinistryofJusticeistopresentnationalreportdescribing current situation in Moldova submitted by the government. GENDERDOC-Mtookpartina number of consultationmeetingsheldwithcivilsocietyrepresentatives where the data on state of LGBT rights were included in the common report on Moldova. Apartfromthis, wesubmittedourownUPRreport where we described situation of LGBT rights observance from organisation’s point of view.
Areportonhatecrimesandill-treatmentwas compiled for the independent international organisation EqualRightsTrust (ERT). It will be used in preventing all forms of ill-treatment based on discrimination. TheERTperiodicallypublishesTheEqualRightsReview, where it reflects human rights violations in different countries.
In collaboration with ILGA-Europe,we drew up a reportonhomophobicspeechbymembersofMoldova'sparliament, which describes homophobic discourses made by Moldovan politicians and government representatives in regard to the draft law on preventing and combating discrimination. This report was forwarded to European Commission, Special Representative of Council of Europe in Moldova, Human Rights Watch, OSCE Mission to Moldova, UNDP and Amnesty International Moldova, as well as to embassies of United Kingdom, Sweden, USA, France, Germany, Netherlands and the Czech Republic in Moldova.
Within the Rainbow over the Dniester 2011 Pride Festival, conference“LGBTRightsinToday’sMoldovaandPossibilitiestoEffectivelyCombatDiscrimination” was held in Chisinau where GENDERDOC-M presented results of this small-scale survey. This conference was attended by 37 participants with representatives of European Parliament, RFSL, ILGA-Europe, CivilRightsDefenders, UNDP, OSCEMissiontoMoldova,AmnestyInternationalMoldovaamong others and our partners from LGBT organisations in the CIS (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Russia and Ukraine) and Georgia, from local NGOs, lawyers and mass media.
Also, theresultswerepresentedatapubliclection “HateCrimesBasedonSexualOrientation” organisedbyPromoLexnon-governmentalorganisationon 15 March 2011 andheld within “Strengthening Legal Protection and Raising Awareness of Ill-Treatment Based on Discrimination in Moldova” project.Thepubliclectionwasattendedbycirca 30 law students, mass media and NGO representatives from Moldova.
On 10 December 2010, apressconferenceonLGBTrightsviolationsbyrepresentativesof law-enforcementbodies was held and widely covered by the majority of TV channels and newspapers.
3.3Has the project had any positive or negative impact on your organization?
Positiveimpact:
1. Duringtheprojectimplementation, GENDERDOC-Mhas establishedcooperationwith“Pantiru si Straisteanu”lawfirmwhocurrently accordusqualitativelegalandadvocatory support.
This fruitful cooperation will be further extended. Basingonourpartnershipagreementwith the firm, two project proposals were submitted in order to pursue implementation of the organisation’s principal priorities, i.e. strategic litigations.
2. Organisationofpressconferences, conferencesandparticipation in public lections raised organisation’s visibility and authority as of the one which actively defends human rights.
3. Seminarsforcommunitymembersraisedleveloftheirawarenessandmotivationtostand up for their rights. Trainedvolunteerselicitdiscriminationandrightsviolationscases,which occur at LGB meeting places, and redirect victims of right violations to the organisation. ThishelpstoheightenLGBTcommunity’strusttowardsorganisation, positively influences organisation’s image, and attracts active volunteers.
4. Newpartnershipsrelationshave beenestablishedwithmanylocalNGOs, internationalrepresentativesandembassies that are eager to cooperate and support LGBT rights equality in Moldova.
3.4What are the lessons you have learned internally? What learning would you share with others undertaking similar projects?
- Activepartnershipenhanceseffectivenessoflobbying: the wider is the circle of report distribution, the more effectively information is spread
- We did not include expenses of legal counseling, the need for which appeared as a result of the survey.
- ILGA-Europe
4.1Do any of your findings have relevance for European-level policy on LGBT issues?
Resultsofthisprojectareincompliancewiththe LGBTpoliciesapplied attheEuropeanlevel:
Comprehensive Anti-discrimination Law
Thecollecteddataevidencenecessityofadoptingthe law on preventing and combating discrimination, which must include sexual orientation as a ground protected from discrimination. BeingmembersofAnti-DiscriminationCoalition’sCouncil, we actively promote principles of non-discrimination at all meetings with government representatives and carry out various rallies against all forms of discrimination.
Freedom of Assembly
Thereportondiscriminationcasescontainsdescriptionofthebanimposed by municipality authorities in regard to GENDERDOC-M’s decision to hold a rally on 2 May 2010. As a project result, in partnership with the law firm, we submitted a file on violation of the right to freedom of assembly to European Court of Human Rights.
Hate Speech and Incitement to Hatred
During the project implementation, we were monitoring mass media accounts among which we detected incitements to hatred, violence, discrimination and hate speeches.The 2010 caseswerecompiledinaseparatefileandsenttoProsecutorGeneral’sOffice; however, prosecutor’s office didn’t find any body of crime in any of those. Examination of two 2011 cases (OlegBregavs.Privesc.eu andGENDERDOC-Mvs.VitalieMarian) was initiated in partnership with “PantirusiStaisteanu” law firm. Bothlawsuitsarebeingunderconsideration and will be describe in the 2011 report.
AllhomophobicdiscoursesmadebyMoldovanpoliticiansandgovernment representatives in regard to the draft law on preventing and combating discrimination were described in “ReportonhomophobicspeechbymembersofMoldova'sparliament”compiled by ILGA-Europe.
4.2If yes, what role could ILGA-Europe play in raising the findings at European level with you?
During this project implementation, ILGA-Europe has accorded valuable support in lobbying and distributing information at the international level. As for us, it would be of great importance if ILGA-Europe continued ensuringinformational support, distribution of shadow reports on discrimination faced by LGBT people in Moldova and lobbying rights of LGBT people from Moldova at the European level.
4.3Were you satisfied with the quality of cooperation with ILGA-Europe? Please, give a maximum of three positive and three negative points / examples, preferably with suggestions on how the latter can be improved.
Positive points:
- with support from ILGA-Europe,issues of hate speeches made by Moldovan politicians and government representatives were discussed at the ParliamentaryAssemblyof Council of Europe
- the questionnaire developed by ILGA-Europe was used to interrogate the LGBT community
- participation of Lobby and Advocacy Program coordinator at ILGA-Europe’s seminar on developing sexual orientation and gender identity litigation strategies at national and European level(24-25 September 2010) became an important and useful contribution to growth of her professional level.
Negative points:
N/A
PLEASE, INCLUDE A COPY OF THE PRODUCT THAT HAS COME OUT OF THE PROJECT (DOCUMENT,CD ROM etc) WITH THE ACTIVITY REPORT.
Please find attached PowerPoint presentation of the results of LGBT community’s inquiry in regard to their rights violations and report on discrimination cases against people from LGBT community registered by the GENDERDOC-M Information Centre in 2010.
5Financial report
Please, find attached financial report and auditor report 2010
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