Almost 900 persons participate in Democracy Day at Moldovan parliament

Chisinau, 15 September /MOLDPRES/ - The parliament, on the Day of Democracy, agreed with an initiative by the United Nations (UN) and, along with over 100 legislative bodies from all over the world, organized more events. Almost 900 persons, during the day, participated in discussions with MPs, workshops, as well as in guided tours of the building, the parliament’s communication and public relations department has reported.   

In the first half of the day, two workshops for children, young people and headmasters were organized jointly with the Council for the prevention and elimination of discrimination and ensuring equality, as well as the ombudsman for human rights. Representatives of the two institutions, assisted by MPs, informed the public about the importance of the equality of chances, what discrimination means and which are the human rights. All participants in the workshop subsequently discussed with the parliament speaker in the session hall. Also, they received informative materials on the work of the parliament, legislative process, as well as mechanisms through which they can get involved in the decision-making process.    

In partnership with 15 public institutions which report to parliament, an exhibition was opened during the day, at which visitors could learn about the work of the Prosecutor General’s Office, Central Electoral Commission, Intelligence and Security Service, National Anticorruption Centre, Court of Accounts and others. The National Bank of Moldova came up with an exhibition of commemorative coins and those wishing to do this were able to see how forged banknotes can be identified and which the protection signs of the Moldovan leu are. 

Also, an exhibition titled, Gender Equality Understood by Everybody, was inaugurated the parliament’s museum, with the support of the platform for gender equality.  

A group of 100 socially vulnerable children and women victims of the domestic violence came on visit to parliament, with the support of UNDP Moldova and financial backing of Sweden. All persons are from districts of northern, southern and central districts of Moldova, registered by the parliament’s Territorial Information Offices. They benefited each from one set of informative materials on behalf of the parliament and had a discussion with representatives of the Platform of Women Lawmakers.    

Starting from 13:00, the access to the parliament’s building was free, without preliminary registration each half an hour. Parliament Speaker Andrian Candu, as well as MPs from all factions waited for visitors in the session hall, where they answered people’s questions.    

The Open Doors Day has been organized in parliament starting from 2014. So far, more than 15,000 people have visited the parliament, of whom over 5,000 since the beginning of this year.  

The Day of Democracy finished the string of events organized by the parliament on 11-15 September, when the Parliament Openness Week was held. During the week, international conferences, workshops, platforms of discussions and communication were organized, with the participation of media, civil society and lawmakers.