The present report seeks to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the observance of human rights in Moldova, with due attention being paid to the most vulnerable groups

Impact of COVID-19 on Human Rights in the Republic of Moldova

The present report seeks to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the observance of human rights in Moldova, with due attention being paid to the most vulnerable groups

The review focused on the human rights most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic including the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health; right to education; right to social security; right to food; right to adequate housing, right to freedom from poverty; right to water; right to sanitation; right to work and labour rights; right to freedom from exploitation, violence and abuse; right to access to information and freedom of expression; and right to freedom of movement.

The impact of the pandemic on the right to work and labour rights

Labour rights were affected by COVID–19 particularly due to a set of restrictive measures put in place starting from March 2020. Various branches of the economy were impacted and therefore employees from different units either lost their jobs, had their work contracts suspended or received lower wages than before.

The main challenges faced by the Moldovan labour market are the low quality of employment, low levels of labour productivity, low wages and large international labour migration. The latter led to de –skilling/disqualification and deficits of labour force in a number of sectors.
Men became more active than women in the labour market, with activity rates of 49.9% for men and 42.4% for women, and employment rates of 48.1% for men and 41.4% for women. 1 The unemployment rate decreased
slightly over the last years, but is more pronounced among men than women.
Another challenge that the labour market is facing is the informal employment. According to available data, in 2019 16.8% of the economically active persons were working in the informal sector. 2
The gender salary gap between men and women persists, having increased from 12.4% in 2014 to 14.4% in 2018. Young people are most exposed to unemployment (7.1% persons aged 15 to 24 and 4.3% among people of 25 to 34 years of age)

Women were also affected as front–line workers. According to the UN Moldova COVID –19 response and recovery plan, front–line workers, such as workers in the field of health, education, and social protection, were highly exposed to infection and mental pressure19.

Older persons. The income of older people decreased during the pandemic. The most affected older persons on the labour market were the pre–pensioners, of whom about 16.7% lost their salary income.

Persons with disabilities. Persons with disabilities faced challenges in accessing the labour market even before the pandemic. The data from the National Bureau of Statistics for 2019 outlines that 17.2% of persons with disabilities were employed while 46.3% of persons without disabilities were employed. Persons with disabilities are over two fold less economically active than persons without disabilities, 43.9% for persons without disabilities and 16.5% persons with disabilities are economically active. From those that were economically active in 2019, the majority were involved in the agricultural sector.26
According to the OHCHR survey, only 26.1% of the respondents with disabilities were employed in December 2020. Just above 5% of the respondents with disabilities had lost their jobs between March and May 2020.