Summary:

General overview of Moldova's national legal provisions on children's rights, including guidance on how to conduct further research.

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National laws on children's rights

Status of the CRC in national law
Properly ratified international treaties and conventions, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child, are part of Moldovan law and can be applied by national authorities. Where national legal provisions contradict the Convention, the Convention should prevail. It is not clear whether or to what effect the Convention has been cited in domestic courts.

Constitution: Title II of the Constitution of Moldova contains a number of rights provisions that apply regardless of age, but also provisions that make specific reference to the rights of children:

• Art. 35(9): provides that the right of choosing an appropriate educational background for children lies with their parents
• Art. 48: creates a duty for parents to ensure their children's upbringing and a corresponding duty for children to care for their parents
• Art. 49: provides that efforts aimed at maintaining, bringing up and educating orphaned children and those children deprived of parental care are the responsibility of the State and society.
• Art. 50(1) and (2): enshrines a right to special protection for children, and provides for equality of all children, explicitly including those born out of wedlock
• Art. 50(3): requires the State to grant required allowances for children and aid needed for the care of sick or disabled children; also requires the law to provide for other forms of social assistance for children and the young

Legislation: Moldova has a reasonably comprehensive Law on the Rights of the Child (No. 338 of 15 December 1999), which establishes the legal status of chidren and provides for certain rights and protections.  In addition, relevant law is found throughout legal codes, ordinary legislation and government decisions and includes, but is by no means limited to:

• The Family Code
• The Criminal Code
• The Criminal Procedure Code
• The Labour Code
• The Execution Code
• The Civil Code
• Law on Citizenship No. 1024 of 2 June 2000
• Government Decision No. 727 of 16 June 2003 approving the National Strategy on Child and Family Protection
• Government Decision No. 1541 of 22 December 2003 adopting the Youth Strategy

Legal Research:
The Moldovan Parliament (Parlament) provides legal resources in Moldovan (Romanian) (http://www.parlament.md/), and Law Moldova (http://www.law-moldova.com/) publishes domestic legislation in Moldovan, English and Russian. The International Labour Organisation's NATLEXT database (http://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/natlex_browse.country?p_lang=en&p_country=MDA) also provides links to a selection of Moldovan legislation in a variety of languages. In addition, the GlobaLex project at New York University has published a guide to legal research in Moldova (http://www.nyulawglobal.org/Globalex/Moldova1.htm), and both the U.S. Law Library of Congress (http://www.loc.gov/law/help/guide/nations/moldova.php) and the World Legal Information Institute provide a selection of links to legal and government resources (http://www.worldlii.org/catalog/2735.html).

Case law
CRC Jurisprudence
Please contact CRIN if you are aware of any cases in national courts that reference the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Case law research
The website of the Constitutional Court (Curtea Constituţională) publishes its decisions in Moldovan (http://constcourt.md/md/newslst/) and provides limited information in Russian, French and English. The website of the Supreme Court of Justice (Curtea Supremă de Justiţie) maintains a database of its decisions in Moldovan (http://www.csj.md/content.php?menu=1402&lang=5) as well as limited information in English and Russian.

Compliance with the CRC
The Committee on the Rights of the Child has been welcoming Moldova's efforts to harmonise national legislation with the Convention, and in its 2009 Concluding Observations particularly highlighted reforms to the Family Code and the Civil Code. However, the Committee expressed concern about the lack of resources available to effectively implement these laws.

In depth analysis:
The area of national law that emerged in the Committee on the Rights of the Child's 2009 Concluding Observations as most at odds with the rights and principles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child was juvenile justice. The Committee highlighted several aspects of the law as of particular concern, including the excessive use of detention for children, the high penalties for serious crimes, the detention of children in facilities for adults and the frequent abuse of due process rights. The corresponding recommendations focussed on establishing a specialist juvenile justice system, ensuring that deprivation of liberty is used only as a last resort, and establishing an independent, child sensitive and accessible system to process complaints made by children and punish those who commit violations of children's rights.

With respect to torture in places of detention, the Committee welcomed legislative reforms, but expressed concern that the General Prosecutors Office had brought few prosecutions. Accordingly, the Committee urged the State to ensure the systematic and routine investigation and prosecution of reported cases of torture, inhuman, cruel and degrading treatment.

In other areas of the law, the Committee welcomed legal reforms, particularly in incorporating the principles of the best interests of the child and respect for the views of the child, but expressed concern that legislation was not properly realised in practice. Similarly, the Committee welcomed legislation in response to child labour, but noted that this legislation was not being systematically enforced.

Current legal reform projects
Please contact CRIN if you are aware of any current legal reform projects.

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Organisation Contact Details:

Child Rights International Network
East Studio
2 Pontypool Place
London
SE1 8QF
Tel: +44 (0)207 401 2257
Email: info@crin.org
Website: www.crin.org

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Last updated 06/02/2012 13:09:16