Psychological aspect is very important in the field of non-discrimination

Interview with Doina Ioana Străisteanu, lawyer BAA “Panţîru şi Stăisteanu”, expert in Human rights, participant in the training Non-discrimination-international and national legal aspects; ECHR jurisprudence and national jurisprudence in this field.

Dear Mrs. Străisteanu, you are known as one of the most respected experts in the field of promoting and defending Human Rights. Please tell us, first of all, which are the most important aspects of this field and why you’re concerned namely on the discrimination issue?

Mrs. Străisteanu: I activate for many years as a Trainer in Human Rights, taking lessons at various seminars and trainings on human rights and discrimination and I know the problem, both from theoretical perspective, as well as from practical; the most important and most frequently encountered cases of discrimination are gender, sexual orientation, race, religion and disabilities.

I am a specialist in issues related to security and rule of law, civil and political laws. I have represented victims of torture, case Corsacov v. Moldova (decision of 6 April 2006), on recognition of the procedure of falaka as torture; first sentence at the European Court on torture, but non-discrimination appears tangential to many cases of criminal nature.

I learned the field related to discrimination, because I have in my back 10 years of practical experience in the field, participation in seminars, and trainings during which I transmit to my lawyers colleagues accumulated practice and knowledge .

You spoke about the domestic and sexual harassment of women. From your practice, women from western states are more open, more cooperative with the specialists in the field in order to receive legal assistance in such case, than ours?

Speaking about the matrimonial rape, are two cases against Great Britain, where the Court declared that women has the same rights as men. In the West and in the United States has been worked hard on this issue – was analyzed the phenomenon related to psychological state and the social –psychological attitude of women subjected to rape. Only after the psychological aspect it is studied, the prosecutor or police officer may investigate the crime. Unfortunately in our focus is set the accent on some specific evidence such as torn clothes or biological samples, etc., without taking into account the psychological state.

Where should a discriminated person address?

Firstly such person should seek legal advice from a lawyer in the field, to receive a qualified advice.

Unfortunately very few lawyers are trained in the non-discrimination issue. Non-discrimination Coalition has a hotline where people can contact in case they felt discriminated, after which cases follows to be examined by lawyers.

Another problem is that sometimes even journalists should omit certain phrases from the discussion to prevent xenophobe, racial hate etc.  This issue was addressed in the training: “Ethical standards in writing and documentation of articles about the situation, the rights of disadvantaged persons and those from minority groups” organized by Independent Press Association (IPA), in the project “Dissemination of good practices of mediation of the discrimination phenomenon”. Implemented by IPA and financed by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)

For compliance:

Adriana MARŢÎNIUC,

Student -journalist,

ULIM