Republic of Moldova

MOLDOVAN POLICE STATIONS WILL BE ENDOWED WITH THE VIDEO SURVEILLANCE EQUIPMENT

7 April 2011, Chişinău--Moldovan police stations will be soon endowed with video surveillance equipment provided by the "Torture Prevention" project, funded by the European Union, co-financed and implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

44 sets of equipment that contain video cameras and servers to store video and audio records will be installed in all police stations in Moldova. Kaarina Immonen, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Moldova, participated today together with the Prime Minister of the Republic of Moldova Vlad Filat in a donation event for the police station of Rascani district in Chisinau.

“Two years after the events of April 7, we are making an important step in preventing and combatting torture in police stations”, said Kaarina Immonen, UNDP Resident Representative, at the donation event. “To achieve results, the installation of the video equipment will have to be coupled with training and proper regulations to avoid undue interference and ensure on-going monitoring. We do believe that such regulations will be adopted and implemented”, she said.

The equipment supports the reform initiated by the Ministry of Internal Affairs in line with the Government Programme of the Republic of Moldova. Once installed in the police stations, the equipment will allow to continuously monitor detention places and rooms meant for interrogation of the detainees, as well as entrances to the police stations. This will essentially contribute to the fulfilment of human rights of detainees and in particular to the prevention of torture and other forms of ill-treatment in Moldova. The total cost of equipment amounts to nearly 700.000 MDL.

“The European Union will continue supporting the Government in its fight against torture, which is still problematic in Moldova”, said Wolfgang Behrendt, Deputy Head of the EU Delegation to Moldova. “To this aim, we will support the reforms of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and justice sector which are crucial for ensuring human rights and freedoms for all Moldovan citizens”, Mr. Behrendt said.

The “Torture Prevention” project aims to prevent the prevalence/ incidence of torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment by enhancing the National Prevention Mechanism (NPM) in line with the requirements of the UN Convention against Torture and the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and promotes the national system of human rights protection. The project also contributes to the creation and strengthening of partnerships between NPM, NGOs and public authorities to ensure effective monitoring of torture cases. The total project budget is 800,000 Euros, out of which 640,000 Euros were granted by the European Commission and 160,000 Euro by the UNDP.

For contact: Mircea Eşanu, Project Manager UNDP Moldova, tel. 245079, e-mail: mircea.esanu@undp.org

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The Torture Prevention project aims to contribute to the prevention of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment by strengthening the National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) in Moldova. The project is funded by the European Union and co-funded and implemented by the United Nations Development Programme.