TOTALIZATION CONFERENCE ON PROTECTION OF THE ETHNIC MINORITIES RIGHTS PROJECT, CARRIED OUT BY TDH MOLDOVA

Over 70 people – teachers from 20 communities, representatives of the district education departments, representatives from the European Union, the Council of Europe, UNICEF and from the Institute for Rural Initiatives (IRI) – participated at the totalization conference of Sustainable Community Partnerships to Support the Rights of Persons Belonging to Ethnic Minorities in Republic of Moldova project, organized by Terre des hommes Moldova Foundation on November 28th.

“For Terre des homme Moldova, this project was intense, with challenges, but also with great satisfaction, especially from the interaction with children. In the two years, we have witnessed a metamorphosis of the perceptions and attitudes of our beneficiaries regarding the right to equality and non-discrimination, tolerance, gender equality, diversity and inclusion”, said Elena Madan, director of Tdh Moldova.

Marco Gemmer, Head of Operations at the Delegation of the European Union to the Republic of Moldova, declared himself impressed by the work done by the communities to overcome the stereotypes and prejudices they face. The EU representative mentioned that non-discrimination is one of the core European values, and local projects targeting this will continue to be funded. “When you see children working together to overcome challenges and prejudices, this is exactly why we are doing it ( – the funding – ), because children now have a chance to grow up as adults without stereotypes and without thinking in stigmas.”

Teachers, present at the event, shared their experience, told about the achievements and lessons learned in the project and, as well, about the problems the communities still have to solve.

For two years, since December 2017, Tdh Moldova has carried out, in partnership with IRI, the project funded by the European Union, to strengthen the protection of human rights and to combat the discrimination of ethnic minorities in 20 communities from 15 districts around the country.

Eduard Pesendorfer, project manager at the EU Delegation in the Republic of Moldova: eduard.pesendorfer@eeas.europa.eu