Public association «Piligrim-Demo» was established in 2003 as a result of the free will of citizen for the protection and realization of social, economic, creative, age and other interests and rights of inhabitants from ATU Gagauzia of the Republic of Moldova.
PA «Piligrim-Demo» is an independent, nonprofit, nonpolitical organization whose mission is – promoting democratic values and human rights in the Autonomous Territorial Unit (ATU) Gagauzia: through supporting the effective participation of citizens, monitoring the authorities activities and the provision of expertise.
The main activities of the Pilgrim-Demo
Activities of the Pilgrim-Demo cover following areas:
- Studying the issues of autonomy and regionalism;
- Monitoring of the elections and the reform of the electoral system in Gagauzia;
- Human rights and civic education.
Activities of the Pilgrim-Demo
The elections monitoring
Pilgrim-Demo is the only organization monitoring the regional elections in Gagauzia. Within the framework of its efforts to monitor the elections Pilgrim-Demo is observing various aspects and stages of Bashkan Elections and Elections to the People’s Assembly of Gagauzia, namely the work of election authorities administration; registration of candidates; voters registration and compilation of the voters’ lists; campaign activities of candidates; cmpaign finance; the voting procedures; tabulation of the election results; electoral disputes; and validation of election results.
Research activities
Pilgrim-Demo, with the participation of high level experts from various fields conducts research in the field of autonomy by studying the international experience and the problems associated with the implementation of the special legal status of Gagauz Yeri. Research in this area realized by the Pilgrim-Demo compensates the lack of expertise in the Republic of Moldova and ATU Gagauzia in the functioning of territorial autonomies within the unitary states.
Advocacy activity
The advocasy activity of the Pilgrim-Demo is aimed to improving the regulatory and legal framework of ATU Gagauzia and the Republic of Moldova in the fields, which are the part of the strategic direction of the Pilgrim-Demo activities, namely elections and the special legal status of Gagauz Yeri. As a result of the advocacy efforts of the PilgrimDemo there was improved the electoral legislation of ATU Gagauzia and presented a range of recommendations to the authorities of Gagauzia and the Republic of Moldova.
Access to the information
Pilgrim-Demo promotes access to information and transparency of the decision-making process in Gagauzia. Pilgrim-Demo efforts in this area include: monitoring of the way the authorities of Gagauzia carry out their obligations to ensure access to information and transparency of decision-making; as well as strategic litigation in this area.
Civic education
Pilgrim-Demo activities in this area focused on the development of civic and political leadership among the youth. Since 2007 Pilgrim-Demo is actively promoting the Karl Popper debate format in pre-university educational institutions of Gagauzia and involve young people in discussions on important issues of the autonomy.
