The Equality Council (in Romanian Consiliul pentru egalitate) is a state authority that is responsible for the enforcement of the anti-discrimination legislation. The Council's mission is to protect against discrimination, protect and ensure equality and restore the rights of all those discriminated against in Moldova.
If you have experienced acts of discrimination, the Council can protect you by examining your complaint and prescribing the implementation of various actions to stop discrimination. The Council is independent of the government, parliament and courts.
The Equality Council can examine complaints related to discrimination and decide whether you have been discriminated against or not. The Council can also recommend that the parliament or government amend a law, other normative documents or practice if it comes to the conclusion that they are discriminatory.
The Council can examine complaints relating to discrimination in political, economic, social, cultural and other spheres of life committed by state institutions and public officials, business companies, non-governmental organisations or private individuals in Moldova.
It is important to remember that the Equality Council is working on the discrimination issues only and does not replace other public authorities, law enforcement bodies or the judiciary. Therefore, if someone has not discriminated you, but violated your rights otherwise, you must file a complaint to the institution responsible for investigating such situations (such as the police, the civil court, the National Centre for Personal Data Protection etc).
example If you think you have been fired from your job because of discrimination, you can take your complaint to the Equality Council. However, to avoid missing the appeal time limits, and just in case the Equality Council decides that the dismissal was not discriminatory (your firing may be illegal, but not discriminatory), you should appeal the dismissal to the court.