OSCE supports Moldova’s People’s Advocate Office in building capacities for security sector oversight

On 26 and 27 November, the OSCE trained 14 staff from the Moldovan People’s Advocate Office (Ombuds institution) on the effective handling of human rights cases and inquiries into the security sector during a workshop held in Chisinau. The participants explored good practices in processing complaints related to the security sector, conducting investigations and producing reports.

“Democratic oversight is key for ensuring accountability of the security sector. We approach this issue as a strategic priority and would like to strengthen the capacities of the People’s Advocate Office for a comprehensive oversight that promotes the protection of human rights within and by the security sector institutions,” said Ceslav Panico, the People’s Advocate of Moldova, in his opening remarks.

“Safeguarding human rights is central to the OSCE’s comprehensive approach to security,” emphasized Ruzanna Baghdasaryan, OSCE Project Officer. “We are, therefore, committed to supporting the pivotal work of the Moldovan People’s Advocate Office in fostering the protection of human rights in the security sector, which is essential for building public trust in the sector’s institutions and in the state security system as a whole.”

The workshop built on an OSCE-supported multi-stakeholder roundtable in July, where the People’s Advocate’s strategic concept for promoting and protecting human rights in Moldova’s security sector was presented. It also contributes to the OSCE-supported development of procedural and methodological guidelines to assist the People’s Advocate Office on this matter.

This event was organized as part of the OSCE extra-budgetary project “Support, Capacity-building and Awareness-raising for Security Sector Governance and Reform within the OSCE: Phase III”, funded by Finland, Germany, Norway, Poland and Slovakia.