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Moldovan human rights activist receives the Ion Ratiu Democracy Award

November 19, 2008
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Eleonora Cercavschi, a human rights activist from the Republic of Moldova is a recipient of the 2008 of the Ion Ratiu Democracy Award. She will speak on Democracy and Freedom as Fundamental Human Rights on December 4th in Washington, DC at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

Samuel Donaldson, Chairman of the Wilson Council, and a former ABC News anchor will host the event. Paula J. Dobriansky, Under Secretary for Democracy and Global Affairs, will provide introductory remarks.

Eleonora Cercavschi is a recident of Moldova's Transnistria region. Through her remarkable accomplishments, in particular her leadership of the Stephen the Great High School (Stefan Cel Mare Si Sfint Lyceum) in Grigoriopol, Moldova, she has received recognition as a political activist and an educator. Eleonora Cercavschi demonstrated unparalleled commitment to securing the rights of high school children in Transnistria to education in their native language, and outstanding dedication to the cause of promoting democratic values. Numerous threats of physical harm, unlawful arrests and detention of teachers and parents, low salary could not stop Cercavschi.

During the last 15 years the children in six Romanian-language schools in the Transnistrian region were discriminated against and persecuted. The separatist regime in Tiraspol has restricted the usage of the Latin script (the norm) for the Romanian language to these schools, which did not want to comply with this rule. Brutal attacks were launched against students, parents, and teachers who attempted to continue education in Romanian. These actions were described by Ambassador Rolf Ekeus, the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities, as "nothing less than linguistic cleansing".

Due to increasing pressure from the separatist authorities to close the Romanian-language school in Grigoriopol, where Cercavschi is principal, the school was evacuated to another school in Dorotcaia, a town under the control of the central authorities of the Republic of Moldova, some 20 km away. Thus, daily, students and teachers have to travel by bus this distance.

The purpose of the Ion Ratiu Democracy Lecture is to bring visibility and international recognition to the ideas and accomplishments of individuals around the world who are working on behalf of democracy. The event expresses the deep commitment to democracy of the late Ion Ratiu through his contributions as a Romanian politician as well as his interest in democratic change worldwide. The Ion Ratiu Democracy Lecture strives to enrich the intellectual environment in which ideas about democracy and democratic change circulate, both within and beyond Washington.

The 2008 Ion Ratiu Democracy Lecture at the Woodrow Wilson Center is the fourth event in a series begun at Georgetown University in 2005 and held at the Wilson Center since 2006. Past awardees include Sergio Aguayo (Mexico), Saad El-Din Ibrahim (Egypt) and Anatoli Mikhailov (Belarus).

The Dec. 4th event is opened to the public. To register, visit www.wilsoncenter.org/happ. Map and directions to the Woodrow Wilson Center can be seen at the center's site: www.wilsoncenter.org.  The Moldova Foundation in Washington has contributed to this event.

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