Statutul juridic al Avocatului poporului din Republica Moldova și România: abordare comparativă

<p class="Pa18">The People’s Advocate represents the nation­al institution for the protection of human rights, which functions for the promotion, protection of human rights, and prevention of human rights vi­olations. Despite the fundamental importance of the Ombudsman in the defense and promotion of human rights, and the establishment of the rule of law, its legal status in the legislation of the Republic of Moldova is not clearly defined. The legislation in force operates with notions such as ‘institution’ and ‘legal person’ without expressly regulating the status of public authority of Ombudsman. This study analy­ses the particularities of the form of organization and legal status of the People’s Advocate (Ombudsman) in the Republic of Moldova and Romania. In this paper we present a twofold perspective on the an­alyzed topic by highlighting the legislative gaps and practical problems that the national human rights institution is currently facing. One of the central themes of the analysis is the legal ambiguity regard­ing the ‘public authority’ character of the People’s Advocate within the meaning of the Administrative Code of the Republic of Moldova. This uncertainty influences the way in which the institution exercis­es its powers in relation to public authorities and citizens. The study elaborates proposals to amend the legal framework in order to remove the current legislative gaps and to strengthen the status of the Ombudsman in order to improve the protection of citizens’ fundamental rights.