OSCE Permanent Council condemns action against schools in Moldova's Transdniestria region

VIENNA, 22 July 2004 - The OSCE Permanent Council today condemned as "irresponsible and provocative" actions by the authorities in Moldova's Transdniestria region to prevent schools which use Latin script from functioning properly.

Ambassadors from the 55 OSCE participating States, meeting in a special session of the Permanent Council, agreed that the measures amounted to gross violations of fundamental rights and freedoms of a large part of the population on the left bank of the Dniestr river.

"The participating States express their extreme concern over the situation created by the arbitrary actions of administration and law enforcement officials in Tiraspol," the Chairman of the Permanent Council, Bulgarian Ambassador Ivo Petrov, said in a Chairman's Statement summing up the meeting.

He said the forced closure of one school and measures taken against another "were accompanied by acts of vandalism and the illegitimate use or threat of use of force by law enforcement personnel against children, including orphans, parents and school personnel."

The Permanent Council, the OSCE's main decision-making body between annual meetings of foreign ministers, expressed full support for the work of OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities, Ambassador Rolf Ekeus, and the Head of the OSCE Mission in Moldova, Ambassador William Hill, in trying to restore normality at the schools.

In a series of statements, participating States called on the self-proclaimed authorities in Tiraspol to honour earlier agreements brokered by the OSCE which would allow the schools to become legally registered and to function normally.

The Minister of Reintegration of the Republic of Moldova, Vasile Sova, told the Permanent Council that the situation could escalate and lead to unpredictable consequences. He welcomed the OSCE's positive role and called on the international community to help prevent further escalation.

High Commissioner Ekeus, who also addressed the Permanent Council, described the forced closure of the school in Tiraspol as "an inhumane and illegal action."

"The Transdniestrian authorities must immediately allow the reopening of the Tiraspol school, revoke the threats to close the other Latin script schools and stop the harassment of these schools," he said. "We are not talking about ammunition and weapons. We are talking about small children and their future."