ACT Appeal Moldova: Relief assistance to flood affected - EUMO81

Appeal Target: US$ 57,810

Geneva, 25 August 2008

Dear Colleagues,

From 23-27 July 2008, torrential rains lashed Central and Eastern Europe, including the most impoverished areas of Moldova (officially the Republic of Moldova, a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east and south). There was heavy damage to crops, the principal source of income for the local population. The floods destroyed bridges, roads, transmission lines and other communications, and have affected the most impoverished areas of Moldova.

As a result of the rains, 46 villages were flooded, and 836 houses and 10,500 ha of agricultural land are now covered with water. One third of the wine harvest of the Republic has been destroyed. About 8,000 people were left without a roof over their heads, and some 5,700 people were evacuated by authorities from the flooded areas to temporary shelters in schools, hostels and tent camps.

An ACT Alert was issued on "Heavy Flooding in Moldova" on 8 August 2008 (number 30/2008). The Alert noted that ACT member, the Russian Orthodox Church (RoC), had already begun distributing relief to the most vulnerable of the affected people. Church parishes and organizations in Moldova have started raising donations and supplying food and clothes to those in need. The Russia Round Table (RRT), a special institution of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, dealing with emergencies on behalf of the RoC, plans to provide emergency aid (food, drinking water and sanitary and household packages) to flood victims through its church partners in the region.

The project will be implemented by ROC/RRT with participation and support of the church parishes and organizations in the region. Their participation in the project implementation will also support networks of the local diaconical and emergency initiatives of parishes and will contribute to their capacity building. While preparing this project proposal, ROC/RRT used verified information provided by local social security bodies, local authorities and Moldova Orthodox Church (MOC) parishes. MOC is an autonomous part of ROC.

This Appeal requests US$ 57,810.46. The goal is to diminish the suffering and offer some hope to the victims of flood in Moldova by providing emergency assistance and developing the capacity of local parishes which are dealing with the flood response. The project's main objective is to alleviate the need for food, water, hygiene and household items among victims of the flood (910 of the most needy flood victims).

ACT is a global alliance of churches and related agencies working to save lives and support communities in emergencies worldwide.

The ACT Coordinating Office is based with the World Council of Churches (WCC) and The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) in Switzerland.

Project Completion Date:

Reporting schedule:
___________________________________________________________________
RoC Reports due ACT CO / Interim narrative & financial/ Final narrative & financial / Audit
___________________________________________________________________
Interim narrative & financial/ N/A / 31 December 2008/31 January 2009
___________________________________________________________________


Summary of Appeal Targets, Pledges/Contributions Received and Balance Requested

Appeal Target - US$ 57,810 Less: Pledges/Contr Recd - US$ 0 Balance Requested from ACT Alliance - US$ 57,810

Please kindly send your contributions to either of the following ACT bank accounts:

US dollar
Account Number - 240-432629.60A
IBAN No: CH46 0024 0240 4326 2960A

Euro
Euro Bank Account Number - 240-432629.50Z
IBAN No: CH84 0024 0240 4326 2950Z

Account Name: ACT - Action by Churches Together
UBS AG
8, rue du Rhône
P.O. Box 2600
1211 Geneva 4, SWITZERLAND
Swift address: UBSWCHZH80A

Please also inform the Finance Officer Jessie Kgoroeadira (jkg@act-intl.org) and the Programme Officer, Michael Hyden (mhy@act-intl.org, Michelle Yonetani (myo@act-intl.org), Michael Zschiegner (mzs@act-intl.org of all pledges/contributions and transfers, including funds sent direct to the implementers, now that the Pledge Form is no longer attached to the Appeal.

We would appreciate being informed of any intent to submit applications for EU, USAID and/or other back donor funding and the subsequent results. We thank you in advance for your kind cooperation.

For further information please contact:

ACT Director, John Nduna (phone +41 22 791 6033 or mobile phone + 41 79 203 6055) orACT Program Officer, Michelle Yonetani (phone +41 22 791 6035 or mobile phone +41 79 285 2916)

John NdunaDirector, ACT Co-ordinating Office

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Heavy flooding in Moldova

Moldova – No. 30/2008

Geneva, 8 August 2008: Since 23 July 2008 torrential rains have lashed Central and Eastern Europe including the most impoverished areas of Moldova (Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east and south) where there are reports of heavy damage to crops, the principal source of income for the local population.

Heavy flood damage has been reported along the Dniester and Prut Rivers. Banks have burst at several locations, despite the draining off of reservoirs along the Prut, causing damage to downstream regions. Bridges have been destroyed, roads are impassable and communication lines are down. Reliable statistics are not yet available, but damage is heavy and in the order of millions of US Dollars.

While there have not been any reports of deaths in Moldova, more than 5,000 people have been evacuated from the affected areas and the authorities continue to evacuate people to temporary shelters in schools, hostels and tent camps.

ACT member, The Russian Orthodox Church (RoC), has already begun distributing relief to the victims. Church parishes and organizations in Ukraine and Moldova have started raising donations and supplying food and clothes to those in need.

The Russia Round Table (RRT), a special institution of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, dealing with emergencies on behalf of the RoC, plans to provide emergency aid (food, drinking water and sanitary and household packages) to flood victims through its church partners in the region. The RRT continues to assess the situation and an RRF request is expected for Moldova within the next few days.

As per previous ACT Alerts nos. 27 and 28, ACT members AIDRom in Romania and Hungarian Church Aid (HIA) are also currently assessing the situation in neighbouring Romania and Ukraine respectively. An RRF for US$ 58,725 was issued on 5 August 2008 for Romania (RRF 18/2008).

Any funding indication or pledge should be communicated to Jessie Kgoroeadira, ACT Finance Officer (jkg@act-intl.org).

Thank you for your attention.

For further information please contact:

ACT Director, John Nduna (phone +41 22 791 6033 or mobile phone + 41 79 203 6055) or
ACT is a global alliance of churches and related agencies working to save lives and support communities in emergencies worldwide.

The ACT Coordinating Office is based with the World Council of Churches (WCC) and The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) in Switzerland.

ACT Program Officer, Michelle Yonetani (phone +41 22 791 6035 or mobile phone +41 79 285 2916)

ACT Web Site address: http://www.act-intl.org/

SOURCE:

MOLDOVA: President attacks freedom of thought, conscience and belief in Brussels and Moscow

This article was published by F18News on: 29 January 2008

By Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service http://www.forum18.org/

Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin has attacked the Bessarabian Metropolitanate's religious freedom on visits to Brussels and Moscow, Forum 18 News Service notes. During a press conference with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso on 14 January, Voronin stated that he had not ever threatened to revoke the registration of the Metropolitanate. He then claimed its existence could lead to a Kosovo-style conflict. Repeating his attacks after meeting Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexy, Voronin claimed that the Metropolinate "is part of Romania's aggressive policy." Presidential spokesperson Natalia Visanu told Forum 18 that "he merely said that if there are problems it could come to the point of looking again at its registration," she told Forum 18. Asked about the Kosovo-style conflict claim, Visanu stated that "the President said (..) the government could look at the question of not fulfilling the decision of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR)." The Metropolitanate only achieved registration after a fine imposed on Moldova by the ECHR. A wide range of Orthodox, Protestant and Muslim communities are still denied registration.

Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin has stepped up his rhetoric against the freedom of thought, conscience and belief of the Bessarabian Metropolitanate on visits to Brussels and Moscow, Forum 18 News Service notes. During a joint press conference with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso on 14 January, Voronin stated that he had not ever threatened to revoke the registration of the Bessarabian Metropolitanate. However, he then claimed that the existence of it could lead to a conflict similar to that in Kosovo. His spokesperson Natalia Visanu insisted to Forum 18 that the President's remarks have been "misunderstood". Yet she declined to explain to Forum 18 why Voronin has made repeated hostile remarks about a legally-functioning religious community.

Bessarabian church members have condemned the remarks to Forum 18. "The problems we have faced – including the expulsion of Romanian priests and intrusive check-ups on our parishes – are the consequences of the president's remarks," Deacon Andrei Deleu of the Bessarabian Metropolitanate told Forum 18 (see F18News 28 January 2008 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1076).

A week after Voronin made his remarks in Brussels, he repeated in Moscow his criticism of the Church. "The establishment of the so-called 'Metropolis of Bessarabia' and its structures is part of Romania's aggressive policy against the Moldovan state," Voronin told the Russian Interfax news agency on 21 January after meeting Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexy.

Presidential spokesperson Visanu vigorously denied that the President had spoken out against the Bessarabian Metropolitanate (though she pointedly avoided ever using the name of the Church to Forum 18). "No-one said that the government should cancel its registration," she insisted to Forum 18 on 17 January. "It is a misunderstanding of the President's remarks. He merely said that if there are problems it could come to the point of looking again at its registration. The President has no powers to strip anyone of registration."

Asked about Voronin's remarks about a Kosovo-style conflict, Visanu responded: "The President said that if events around it are such that it leads to a worsening situation, then the government could look at the question of not fulfilling the decision of the European Court of Human Rights."

The Bessarabian Metropolitanate only achieved registration in 2001 in the wake of a fine imposed on Moldova by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg. A similar fine from the ECHR in February 2007 has still failed to overturn the denial of registration to the True Orthodox Church led by Bishop Antoni Rudei (see F18News 8 March 2007 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=926).

The only Orthodox jurisdictions to have been able to gain state registration in Moldova by applying through normal state procedures are the Moscow Patriarchate and the Belokrinitsa Old Believers.

Without registration religious communities have no status in law, cannot run bank accounts, cannot employ people officially, cannot invite foreign citizens, cannot run bank accounts or receive funds, and cannot own, buy or sell property.

Bishop Filaret (Pancu), who leads the diocese in Moldova of the Kiev Patriarchate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, said that his Church tried to gain registration again in summer 2007. "They give no argument as to why they won't register us – they just won't," told Forum 18 on 17 January. "We won in all the courts, right up to the Supreme Court."

Fr Vasily Ikizli, who leads one of four parishes in Moldova of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad under the jurisdiction of Archbishop Agafangel (Pashkovsky) of Odessa, says his parish was denied registration in 2006. "They won't register any parishes until we have a national body registered, but they won't do that," he told Forum 18 on 24 January from the village of Congaz in the southern Comrat District. He said that about 150 people attend the liturgy each Sunday held in a private house and he wants to build a church. "Without registration that might be difficult."

Also denied registration are all Muslim communities as well as many Protestant congregations (see F18News 24 January 2007 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=902). Talgat Masaev, who leads the Spiritual Organisation of Muslims in Moldova, complained that "someone must have given an order not to register us". He said the Justice Ministry rejected their latest registration application in December 2007, citing inadequacies in the group's statute. "The policy hasn't changed," Masaev lamented.

The Justice Ministry took over registration from the State Service for Religious Denominations in the wake of the adoption of a new Religion Law in 2007 (see F18News 6 August 2007 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1003).Masaev's Muslim group has long complained of police check-ups on those leaving Friday prayers. He said the most recent such check-up was in autumn 2007. "The fact that they check up at Friday prayers is difficult to understand," he told Forum 18. "This and the denial of registration are strange, given that Moldova is supposed to be moving closer to Europe."

The Bessarabian Metropolitanate is the only religious community to have been subjected to such repeated extremely hostile rhetoric from senior officials. Speaking on national television on 30 November, President Voronin condemned the decision by the Romanian Orthodox Church – of which the Bessarabian Metropolitanate is a part - to reactivate three dioceses in Moldova to add to the one existing diocese based in Chisinau. He warned that he does not need "a second Kosovo" in Moldova and threatened to revoke the official registration of the Bessarabian Metropolitanate.

Presidential spokesperson Visanu maintained that there had been no problem with the Bessarabian Metropolitanate having legal status until October 2007, when the new dioceses were created. She claimed their existence created "tension in the country". However, she refused to explain to Forum 18 what tension she was referring to or why the Metropolitanate could not set up its own structures as it chose.

Visanu denied that the recent developments with the Bessarabian Metropolitanate were connected with the rights of religious believers, which she claimed continued to be respected. "This is not the question. Its registration was alright until they restored their dioceses a few months ago, causing tension in society." She insisted there was a "sub-text" to the issue, but refused to spell out what she believed this was.

Asked by Forum 18 why all the non-Moscow Patriarchate Orthodox jurisdictions have faced denial of registration and obstruction of their activity Visanu responded: "The president doesn't have anything against non-Moscow Patriarchate Churches. I can't answer for the State Service on Religious Organisations or the Ministry of Justice. The President can't follow everything." (END)

Further coverage of freedom of thought, conscience and belief in Moldova is available at http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?query=&religion=all&country=18&results=50.

A printer-friendly map of Moldova is available at http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/atlas/index.html?Parent=europe&Rootmap=moldov.

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