Reports on Romania
2008 Human Rights Report: Romania
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Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor
2008 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices
February 25, 2009
ROMANIA
Romania is a constitutional democracy with a multiparty, parliamentary system
and a population of approximately 21.4 million. The bicameral parliament (Parlament) consists of the Senate
(Senat) and the Chamber of Deputies (Camera Deputatilor); both are elected
by popular vote. The 2004 election of President Traian Basescu and November
2008 parliamentary elections were judged generally free and fair. Civilian
authorities generally maintained effective control of the security forces.
The government addressed some human rights problems during the year; however,
abuses continued to occur. There were reports of police and gendarme harassment
and mistreatment of detainees and Roma. Prison conditions remained poor. The
judiciary lacked the public's trust in its ability to apply the law impartially. Restrictions
on freedom of religion continued to be a great concern due to the restrictive,
discriminatory religion law. Property restitution remained slow, and the government
failed to take action to return the Greek Catholic churches confiscated by
the communist government in 1948. Corruption remained a widespread problem,
and the country continued to be the subject of regular European Commission
monitoring for progress in judicial reform and combating corruption. There
were continued reports of violence and discrimination against women as well
as significant lapses in the protection of children's rights. Persons were
trafficked for sexual exploitation and also for labor and forced begging.
The neglect of and inadequate assistance for persons with disabilities was
a problem. While there were no confirmed reports of societal violence against
Roma this year, extensive discrimination against Roma continued to be a problem.
Homosexuals continued to suffer societal discrimination. Discrimination against
persons with HIV/AIDS, particularly children, was a serious problem.
RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
Section 1 Respect for the Integrity of the Person,
Including Freedom From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life
There were no reports that the government or its agents committed arbitrary
or unlawful killings.
The Association for the Defense of Human Rights in Romania-the
Helsinki Committee (APADOR-CH) asserted in previous years that the police
made excessive use of firearms in cases of minor crimes.
On May 20, according to media reports, a transportation police agent shot and
killed Vasile Manole, aged 21, who, alongside two other individuals, was allegedly
stealing rail copper parts in Cernavoda. The three men reportedly did not
stop when the police agent shot two warning shots. The Constanta prosecutor's office investigated the police agent for manslaughter.
There were no reported developments in the case of a 22‑year‑old
Romani man, Adrian Cobzaru, shot and killed by a police officer in Bucharest in 2006 while he was allegedly stealing goods.
b. Disappearance
There were no reports of politically motivated disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment
The constitution and law prohibit such practices; however, there were numerous
NGO reports of police mistreatment and abuse of detainees and Roma, primarily
through excessive force and beatings by police. There were also reports of
mistreatment of abandoned children with physical disabilities in state institutions
and of prolonged incarceration for misbehavior within state orphanages.
In many cases of police violence against Roma, police claimed they used force
in self‑defense, responding to alleged hostility by Romani communities
during police raids in search of criminal offenders. The Romani Center
for Social Intervention and Surveys (Romani CRISS) and other NGOs continued
to claim that police used excessive force against Roma and subjected them
to maltreatment and harassment.
APADOR-CH reported cases of alleged police abuse. On April 12, Petre Cosmin
Angelina was taken to the police headquarters in Campulung Muscel after he
asked two police officers why they wanted to see his identification card.
The officers allegedly beat him but did not bring any charges against him,
did not ask him to write a statement, and released him one hour later. Angelina
filed a complaint against the police with the prosecutor's office.
On the morning of May 23, the special forces of Satu Mare police reportedly
broke down the door of a Romani person, beat him, and took him to the police
precinct, where they continued to beat him upon his refusal to sign a declaration
dictated by the police.
On July 4, the special forces of Satu Mare police allegedly physically abused
a Romani couple and their minor daughter, taking them to the police precinct
and beating them, following the couple's conflict with a neighbor.
On August 30, a traffic police officer stopped Iulian Rafael Macoveanu in Bucharest
and demanded to see what he had in his plastic bag. Macoveanu had 52 pills
of methadone and the prescription for the drug substitute. The officer called
the precinct, and two more police officers arrived, allegedly brutalized and
handcuffed Macoveanu, and took him to police headquarters. The police then
allegedly beat him, confiscated his pills, fined him for public scandal, and
released him without returning his pills. Police later denied that they confiscated
the pills.
During the year three police agents were under criminal investigation for committing
bodily harm with intent and serious bodily harm while on duty.
There were no further developments in the cases of criminal investigation police
and the special intervention squad raids against Romani communities in Liesti, Galati County, in April 2007 and in Ciurea, Iasi County, in July
2007. The police claimed the raids were to arrest several convicted criminals.
During the raids, police shot seven Roma with rubber bullets in Liesti and
three in Ciurea, including two minor girls. According to police reports, the
Roma's violent reaction led police to fire warning shots. The Roma claimed
that the police opened fire on bystanders in Liesti who went outside to see
what was happening. The family of one victim from Ciurea filed a criminal
complaint against two police officers and the chief of the Iasi police inspectorate.
On September 19, APADOR-CH requested the police to expedite the investigation
in the June 2007 case of three police officers' alleged assault of a university
lecturer, Serban Marinescu. There were no developments in the case at year's
end.
There was no further development in the August 2007 alleged beating of two
persons by a police officer from Bucharest police precinct 22.
Criminal complaints alleging police abuse remained pending in the 2006 cases
involving a complaint filed by five Roma in the village of Gepiu, Bihor County;
the complaint filed by five Roma in the village of Bontida, Cluj County;
and the case filed by Roma in Pata Rat, Cluj County.
In March the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found the country responsible
for racially motivated inhuman and degrading treatment in the case of a Romani
juvenile, Constantin Stoica, aged 14 at the time of the incident, whom police
officers beat in the village of Gulia, Suceava County,
in 2001. The ECHR also decided that the incident was not properly investigated
and granted compensation of 15,000 euros (approximately $21,000) to the plaintiff.
In December the ECHR ruled against the country in the case of Vili Rupa. The
state was charged with inhuman and degrading treatment, lack of effective
investigation, and violation of the right to fair trial. Rupa was mistreated
by the police while being arrested in 1998 and held in degrading conditions
during his detention in the Hunedoara and Deva police stations. According
to the ruling, the state should pay damages amounting to 30,000 euros ($40,181)for
costs and 11,374 euros ($15,234) for other expenses.
ACCEPT, an NGO fostering lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights,
complained that police singled out LGBT community members for violence and
harassment.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions
Prison conditions remained harsh and generally did not meet international standards.
However, authorities improved conditions in some prisons.
At the end of December 26,291 persons, including 434 minors, were in prison
or juvenile detention facilities in a system with a stated capacity of 34,299.
Although overcrowding did not represent a serious problem in theory, there
were prisons where the standard of 43 square feet per prisoner, recommended
by the Committee for the Prevention of Torture, was not observed.
Sanitation and hygiene in prisons did not meet international standards. Medical
facilities were not sufficient to care for all prisoners and detainees. Heating
and hot water were not available in several facilities and lighting was poor.
In many penitentiaries prisoners complained about the insufficient availability
of medications and medical treatment.
In June APADOR-CH representatives visited Jilava Penitentiary in Bucharest
and reported that, despite some measures to improve detention conditions,
the basement of the oldest building of the penitentiary was flooded and swarming
with rats and cockroaches. Prisoners also complained about the existence
of lice because of old, decomposing mattresses.
APADOR‑CH reported that prison meals did not provide the minimum necessary
calories, water at some prisons was unsuitable for drinking, and access to
health care was limited by a lack of doctors. According to an order issued
by the National Authority of Penitentiaries, effective July 2007, prison doctors
were authorized to treat only prisoners and not the prison staff and their
families. APADOR-CH, ACCEPT, and the Center for Legal Resources (CRJ) also
stated that daily activities, work opportunities, and educational programs
continued to be insufficient. The government continued some efforts, including
partnerships with NGOs, to alleviate harsh conditions and deter the spread
of HIV and tuberculosis.
Media and human rights organizations reported that the abuse of prisoners by
authorities and other prisoners continued to be a problem. According to media
reports, prisoners frequently assaulted and abused their fellow inmates, and
prison authorities tried to cover up such incidents. During the year media
reported such cases in the penitentiaries in Vaslui, Galati, and Poarta Alba.
A June 24 visit by APADOR-CH and CRJ representatives to the Aiud penitentiary
revealed low food quality, poor hygiene in detention areas, inadequate medical
assistance, and inmates who were not aware of the educational programs available
to them in prison. An unannounced visit by the justice minister to this penitentiary
in March 2007 indicated similar shortcomings and resulted in the dismissal
of the prison director.
There were no developments
in the July 2007 death of a prisoner in the Rahova prison hospital in which
APADOR-CH asserted that medical negligence may have played a role.
APADOR‑CH continued
to call for the establishment of a joint medical commission of the ministries
of justice and health to investigate the causes of deaths in prisons. The
practice of designating some prisoners as "cell representatives," which
granted them privileges beyond those available to the general prison population,
was repeatedly criticized by domestic and foreign organizations.
According to APADOR‑CH, the practice of labeling certain prisoners as "dangerous" remained
a problem in the absence of clear standards for such classification. Prisoners
labeled "dangerous" were subjected to a variety of restrictions
beyond those experienced by the general prison population and had no right
to appeal that determination. NGOs also criticized the practice of subjecting
prisoners to multiple punishments for a single act of misbehavior
APADOR‑CH also criticized the conditions in police detention facilities,
noting poor sanitation conditions, lack of natural light, and the absence
of activities for those detained.
Many police detention facilities and some prisons did not provide for the confidentiality
of discussions between prisoners or detainees and their lawyers in person
or via telephone.
Unlike in previous years, there were no reports of juveniles being kept in
cells with adults or pretrial detainees held with convicted prisoners during
the year.
The government permitted prison visits by human rights observers, foreign government
officials, and media representatives, and such visits took place during the
year.
Regulations for religious assistance in prisons allow unrestricted access of
all religious groups to prisoners. Orthodox priests no longer attended meetings
between representatives of other faiths and prisoners.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention
The constitution and law prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the government
generally respected these prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus
The Ministry of the Interior and Administrative Reform is responsible for the
national police, the gendarmerie, and the border police; the Office for Immigration;
the General Directorate of Information and Internal Protection, which oversees
the collection of intelligence on organized crime and
corruption; the General Anticorruption Directorate; and the Special
Protection and Intervention Group. The national police agency is the Inspectorate
General of Police, which is divided into specialized directorates and
has 42 regional directorates for counties and the city of Bucharest. The internal intelligence service also
collects information on major organized crime, major economic crimes, and
corruption.
While police generally followed the law and internal procedures, police corruption
remained a significant reason for citizens' lack of respect for the police
and a corresponding disregard of police authority. Low salaries, which were
sometimes not paid on time, contributed to the susceptibility of individual
law enforcement officials to bribes. Instances of high-level corruption were
referred to the National Anticorruption Directorate, which continued to publicize
its anticorruption telephone hotline to generate prosecutorial leads for corruption
within the police. Eight thousand posters were displayed throughout the country
to publicize the hotline.
Police impunity remained a problem. Complaints of police misconduct were handled
by the internal disciplinary council of the units where the reported officers
worked. During the year, there were 54 cases of criminal prosecution of police
officers, of which 44 were for bribery and influence peddling, and 10 for
abuse of office.
Police reform continued during the year. The government, with support from
foreign law enforcement agencies, offered police training workshops on topics
such as human rights and the treatment of criminal suspects. The police increased
hiring of women and minorities. According to police statistics, there were
5,255 female police officers, representing 10.4 percent of the total force
as of January. There were 176 Romani officers. A program to improve relations
and promote cooperation between police and ethnic minorities was implemented
during the year. Police also used Romani mediators to facilitate communication
between Roma and the authorities and assist in crisis situations.
Arrest and Detention
The law provides that only judges may issue detention and search warrants,
and the government generally respected this provision in practice. The law
requires authorities to inform detainees at the time of arrest of the charges
against them and their legal rights. Police must notify detainees of their
rights in a language they understand before obtaining a statement. Detainees
must be brought before a court within 24 hours of arrest. The law provides
for pretrial release at the discretion of the court. A bail system also exists;
however, it was seldom used in practice. Detainees have a right to counsel
and generally had prompt access to counsel and to their families. Indigent
detainees were provided legal counsel at public expense.
The law allows police to take any person who endangers the public, other persons,
or the social order to a police station. There were allegations that police
often used this provision to detain persons for up to 24 hours. APADOR-CH
repeatedly criticized this provision, stating that it leaves room for abuse.
Human rights NGOs complained that authorities were frequently able to listen
to discussions between detainees and their attorneys in police detention facilities.
A judge may order pretrial detention for periods of up to 30 days, depending
upon the status of the case. The court may extend these time periods; however,
pretrial detention may not exceed 180 days. Courts and prosecutors may be
held liable for unjustifiable, illegal, or abusive measures.
Amnesty
In February President Basescu issued pardons
for five persons for medical reasons and because of their age. On July 3,
the president signed a decree pardoning a woman for humanitarian reasons.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial
The constitution provides for an independent judiciary, and the government
generally respected judicial independence in practice. However, the judiciary
lacked the public's trust that judges were accountable and did not serve political
or financial interests. There was a widespread public perception that the
judiciary was corrupt, slow, and often unfair.
The law establishes a four-tier legal system composed of lower courts (judecatorie),
intermediate courts (tribunals), appellate courts, and the High Court of Cassation
and Justice. There is a separate Constitutional Court composed of nine members who are limited to a single nine-year term. The
president,
the Senate,
and the Chamber of Deputies
appoint three members each. The Constitutional Court validates
electoral results and makes decisions regarding the constitutionality of laws,
treaties, ordinances, and internal rules of the parliament. A prosecutor's
office is associated with each court. The court having original jurisdiction
over a case is determined by the nature of the offense and by the position
a defendant may hold in public service. According to a European Commission
report released in July, "judicial reform is moving ahead but progress
is uneven." The Commission also criticized "inconsistencies in jurisprudence
by higher courts."
NGOs and public officials frequently criticized the judicial system during
the year. One cause was the failure of the judiciary's oversight body, the
Superior Council of Magistrates (CSM), to create procedures for addressing
potential conflicts of interest among its members. The CSM's practice of delegating
magistrates to nonjudicial positions within the judiciary and appointing them
to various government agencies also contributed to depleting the already understaffed
courts and prosecutors' offices. The general prosecutor criticized the High
Court of Cassation and Justice for frequently returning case files to prosecutors
for additional investigation rather than ruling on the case as presented.
Such requests contributed to frequent delays in court procedures, increasing
the chances of political interference. Observers also expressed concern
over a lack of judicial impartiality, since some members of parliament continued
to practice as defense attorneys, both personally and through their law firm
associates.
The ECHR ruled against the country for denial of a fair trial in a large number
of cases, the most recent ruling being issued on December 16 in the case of
Vili Rupa.
Trial Procedures
Trials are open to the public. The law does not provide for trial by jury.
The law provides for the right to counsel and a presumption of innocence until
a final judgment by a court. The law requires that the government provide
an attorney to juveniles in criminal cases; in practice local bar associations
provided attorneys to indigents and were compensated by the Ministry of Justice.
Defendants have the right to be present at trial, to consult with an attorney
in a timely manner, to confront or question witnesses against them, to have
a court-appointed interpreter, and to present witnesses and evidence on their
behalf. Defendants and their attorneys have access to government-held evidence
relevant to their cases. Both plaintiffs and defendants have a right of appeal.
The law provides for the
investigation by civilian prosecutors of crimes by the national police and
prison employees. Military prosecutors continued to try cases that involved "state
security" in military courts. Other cases involving "state security" but
not military issues were tried by civilian prosecutors. Crimes by the gendarmerie
continued to fall under military jurisdiction. In previous years, local and
international human rights groups criticized the handling of cases by military
courts, claiming that military prosecutors' investigations were unnecessarily
lengthy, biased, and often inconclusive. Some lawyers claimed that these investigations
only served to discredit the reputations of their clients rather than hold
them accountable for any actual wrongdoing.
Political Prisoners and Detainees
There were no reports of political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies
Civil courts functioned in every jurisdiction. Civil courts do not use a jury
and function in a similar fashion as the criminal courts. Crime victims can
assert civil remedies in either civil courts or criminal courts if they choose.
This can result in a combined civil/criminal trial to resolve all issues arising
from the criminal case. The Ministry of Justice administers civil courts and
the CSM oversees the magistrates. Civil courts operated with the same degree
of judicial independence as criminal courts.
Litigants sometimes encountered difficulties enforcing civil verdicts because
the procedures for enforcement of judgment orders were impractical and caused
delays.
Administrative and judicial remedies were available for violations of civil
rights by government agencies.
Property Restitution
The law allows for property restitution and establishes fines for officials
who hinder the process. The law provides for a property fund of approximately
14 billion lei (approximately $4.2 billion) to compensate owners of properties
that cannot be returned. However, the fund was not yet listed on the stock
exchange. In June 2007 the government adopted an ordinance providing for cash
payments in lieu of restitution of up to about 500,000 lei ($177,000), paid
over a two-year period. Claims in excess of this amount are to be paid with
shares in the property fund. The restitution process continued to be very
slow during the year, and the large majority of restitution cases remained
unresolved.
Former owners' organizations
continued to assert that inertia hindered property restitution at the local
level. In some cases local government officials continued to delay or refuse
to provide necessary documents to former owners filing claims. They also refused
to return properties in which county or municipal governments had an interest.
The ECHR ruled in favor of the former owners in a large number of restitution
cases, which represent the majority of complaints to the ECHR from the country.
The number of such cases theoretically decreased during the year because the
state entered amicable agreements in 60 cases which the former owners would
otherwise have won. In September the ECHR ruled in favor of a former owner,
Gheorghe State Viasu, who, after lawsuits that lasted for years and resulted
in two final court rulings, died without either receiving back his property
or getting any compensation. The ECHR condemned the state both for violation
of the right to property and for the inadequate legal framework to restore
nationalized or confiscated properties. At year's end more than 100 restitution
cases against the state were pending with the ECHR.
Of the 201,750 claims filed
for restitution of buildings, 110,481 were resolved, 39,871 of which were
rejected; 7,172 cases qualified for combined measures (i.e., restitution in
kind plus compensation in stock from the property fund or in other assets
or services); 47,076 cases qualified for restitution in equivalent; and 16,362
claims were resolved by return of the properties in kind.
There were numerous disputes over churches that the Orthodox Church did not
return to the Greek Catholic Church despite court orders to do so.
f. Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family,
Home, or Correspondence
The constitution prohibits such actions, and the government generally respected
these prohibitions in practice. Nevertheless, there was a widespread perception
that illegal surveillance still exists.
The law permits the use of electronic
interception both in criminal cases and for national security purposes. A
judge has to issue a warrant upon request from the prosecutor investigating
the case. In exceptional circumstances, when delays in getting the warrant
from the judge would seriously affect the criminal investigation, prosecutors
may begin interception without a judicial warrant. Following this, however,
a request for authorization must be submitted within 48 hours. Some human
rights NGOs have noted that under the national security law a prosecutor may
authorize the issuance of a warrant for an initial period of six months, which
can be extended indefinitely in three-month increments without judicial approval.
There were reports of electronic interception used outside of these legal
parameters.
On October 16, the Constitutional Court ruled that the laws on national security
and protection of classified information are in line with the constitution.
The lawsuit between businessman Dinu Patriciu and the Romanian Intelligence
Service (SRI) resumed at the Bucharest Court of Appeal. In May 2007 the Bucharest
Tribunal ordered the SRI to pay 50,000 lei (approximately $17,700) in compensation
to Patriciu for illegally tapping his telephones. Both the SRI and Patriciu
appealed the ruling.
According to Romani CRISS and media reports, evictions of members of the Romani
community continued to occur in Bucharest, Craiova, Targu Mures, Cluj, and
other localities during the year.
Criminal complaints filed by Romani CRISS and Romani families whose homes in
Bucharest suburb Chitila were demolished in 2006 remained pending; the homes
had been illegally erected on public land.
The 250 Roma evicted from their homes in Piatra Neamt in 2006 remained unable
to return. They were evicted following a decision by the town's mayor to repair
the block of apartments they were living in. There was no new information
on the case at year's end.
There was no further development in the case of the vice mayor of Miercurea
Ciuc, who in 2004 evicted and relocated approximately 140 Roma to a hazardous
area near a wastewater treatment facility. The Roma lacked alternative housing
and continued to reside in that area.
Section 2 Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press
The law provides for freedom of speech and of the press, and the government
generally respected these rights in practice. Journalists and private citizens
could criticize government authorities, including those at senior levels.
There were isolated cases of authorities intimidating or censoring the press
or attacking journalists.
Laws restricting freedom of speech continued to cause concern among the media
and NGOs. The law provides criminal penalties for "insult and defamation." Insulting
state insignia (the coat of arms, national flag, or national anthem) is also
an offense punishable by imprisonment; however, there were no reports of prosecutions
or convictions under these provisions during the year.
The independent media was active and expressed a wide variety of views without
restriction. However, politicians and others with close ties to various politicians
and political groups either owned or indirectly controlled numerous media
outlets in the provinces, and the news and editorial tone of these outlets
frequently reflected the views of the owners. The tendency towards
the concentration of national news outlets in the hands of a few wealthy individuals
continued with the purchase of some outlets and the creation of others.
During the year there were a number of instances of members of the public insulting,
hitting, or harassing journalists; public authorities and politicians were
responsible for some cases of harassment.
A report on alleged
interventions by National Liberal Party (PNL) senator Norica Nicolai with
the National Penitentiary Administration to secure a job for her niece was
barred from broadcast by state television TVR on January 9, even though editors
invoked the public interest. As a result, journalist and editor Radu Gafta
resigned and accused TVR leadership of censoring several investigations. Gafta
had previously supported the 2007 broadcast of a surveillance tape of an apparent
bribe exchanged between two former government ministers. After the tape was
broadcast on prime-time news, Gafta was moved to a lower-rated news program.
On February 20, the Timis County Court sentenced and fined Timisoara mayor
Gheorghe Ciuhandu for inappropriately lifting the accreditation of Malin Bot,
then a reporter for the daily Evenimentul Zilei, and for ordering police
to prevent his entry into the city hall.
On March 12, according to media reports, Mihai Braha, a reporter for the weekly Ziarul
Tau in Vrancea, was physically assaulted by a subject of one of his articles.
Braha had written that the individual illegally obtained a house from Marasesti
city authorities.
On April 11, bodyguards of Greater Romania Party (PRM) leader Vadim Tudor reportedly
confiscated a camera from a newspaper photographer and returned it later with
all the photos deleted. The photographer had taken photographs of Tudor and
two other politicians leaving a restaurant. One reporter stated that Tudor
verbally abused the media representatives and, after one of them tried to
call police knocked the cellular phone out of his hand.
At the end of April Liviu Dragnea, a Social Democratic Party (PSD) member and
then-president of the Teleorman County Council, asked the civil court in Alexandria
to prohibit distribution of the daily Gazeta de Sud Est until the end
of the local electoral campaign. Dragnea claimed that the daily published
false statements about him. The court rejected the request.
In May PSD senator Adrian Paunescu publicly insulted journalist Cristian
Patrasconiu, a reporter of Cotidianul, before and after he published
a laudatory letter Paunescu had written to dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. Local
media reported that Paunescu used terms including "stupid," "pig," "miserable," and "beast."
On May 30, Robert Mihailescu,
the head of the Internal News Department of the government-owned Rompres news
agency (now called Agerpres), was suspended for the public accusations of
censorship he issued against Rompres management. Mihailescu and reporter Ovidiu
Barbulescu had left the news agency, saying that news items about certain
political candidates in the local electoral campaigns were suppressed. Mihailescu
sued Rompres management.
In June investigative journalist
Mihai Munteanu of the daily Evenimentul Zilei received death threats
from unknown individuals after disclosures about weapons transactions and
alleged Russian penetration of the country's defense industry.
In June the Constanta Court ruled in favor of the PSD mayor Radu Mazare in
his civil suit against journalist Feri Predescu, who accused him of links
with local criminals. Predescu, who was then the local correspondent for TVR
and Evenimentul Zilei, was ordered to provide financial compensation
to Mazare and to publish a public letter of apology in a national or local
newspaper. In late November the court of appeal in Constanta upheld the decision.
The Active-Watch Media Monitoring Agency condemned the court's decision. The
general secretary of Reporters Without Borders, together with local journalists
and activists, signed a letter of support for Predescu.
On November 12, three unknown
persons assaulted Ioan Romeo Rosiianu, editor in chief of the weekly Necenzurat and
a producer of Axa TV Transilvania, and Claudiu Florescu, a producer
from the same station, in Baia Mare. The attackers reportedly told them to
stop their media reports or be killed. Rosiianu, who previously reported on
the local mayor's links to controversial businessmen, as well as the way local
authorities covered up alleged financial illegalities, also received numerous
threatening phone calls. Representatives of the police and prosecutor's office
reportedly pressured the station to fire him, which it did.
Laszlo Kallai, a reporter
for the daily newspaper Ziua who had investigated money laundering
and real estate operations involving Vasile Muresan, the head of the local
intelligence and internal protection department of the Interior Ministry in
Baia Mare, claimed he and his family were threatened by Muresan. Kallai quit
his position with the newspaper following these threats.
The law prohibits denial
of the Holocaust in public. In February the Prosecutor's Office of Bucharest
Sector 3 decided not to prosecute a professor who consistently denied in the
media and in his books that the Holocaust had occurred in the country. The
Federation of Jewish Communities and a Jewish NGO had filed a criminal complaint
against him in January 2007.
The religion law includes
a provision that forbids acts of "religious defamation" and "public
offense to religious symbols." NGOs and the National Antidiscrimination
Council (CNCD) expressed concern that the law could infringe on freedom of
speech and conscience.
Internet Freedom
There were no reported government
restrictions on access to the Internet. The Internet was widely available
in the country, and costs decreased due to competition. Internet cafes were
widely available nationwide.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events
There were no government restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
In October PSD deputy Mihai Tudose asked the mayor of Braila to dismiss the
director of a local theater, allegedly because she allowed the staging of
a critically acclaimed play which contained harsh language and scantily clad
actors.
b. Freedom
of Peaceful Assembly and Association
Freedom of Assembly
The law provides for freedom of assembly, and the government generally respected
this right in practice. The law provides that unarmed citizens can assemble
peacefully but states that meetings must not interfere with other economic
or social activities and may not be held near locations such as hospitals,
airports, or military installations. Organizers of public assemblies must
request permits three days in advance, in writing, from the mayor's office
of the locality where the gathering would occur.
Freedom of Association
The constitution provides for freedom of association, and the government generally
respected this right in practice. The law prohibits fascist, communist, racist,
or xenophobic ideologies, organizations, and symbols (such as statues of war
criminals on public land). Political parties are required to have at least
25,000 members to have legal status, a number some NGOs criticized as excessively
high.
c. Freedom of Religion
The constitution and the law provide for freedom of religion, and the government
generally respected this right in practice; however, there were some restrictions,
and several minority religious groups continued to claim credibly that government
officials and Orthodox clergy impeded their proselytizing and interfered with
other religious activities.
Under the religion law, the government implemented a discriminatory three‑tiered system of recognition: "grupuri
religioase" (religious groups that are not legal entities), religious
associations, and religions. Grupuri religioase are groups of individuals
who share the same faith but do not receive any support from the state or
tax exemptions. Religious associations are legal entities that do not receive
government funding, have to be registered as such in a religious association
registry, and are exempted from taxes only for places of worship. Religious
associations must have 300 members from the country and are required to submit
members' personal data to register, in contrast to nonreligious associations
that can register with only three members. To receive religion status, a religious
association must demonstrate 12 years
of continuous religious activity and meet a membership threshold of 0.1 percent
of the total population (approximately 22,000 members).
The law does not prohibit or punish assembly for peaceful religious activities;
however, several minority religious groups continued to complain that local
authorities and Orthodox priests prevented religious activities from taking
place on various occasions, even when their organizers had been issued permits.
Some minority religious groups continued to allege that local authorities in
some cases delayed or opposed granting construction permits for unjustified
reasons. A Greek Catholic community in Pesteana, established in 2005, continued
to face discrimination and harassment. Tensions continued during the year
due to the Orthodox Church's refusal to comply with a 2006 court ruling allowing
Greek Catholics access to the local cemetery. After year‑long opposition,
local authorities issued a construction permit for a Greek Catholic church,
and the cornerstone for the new church was blessed in October 2007.
Several minority religious groups reported difficulties in obtaining approval
to use public halls for religious activities following pressure by Orthodox
priests, especially in rural areas or small localities. The press and minority
religious groups continued to report instances of Orthodox clergy harassing
members of other faiths. Several religious groups made credible complaints
that local police and administrative authorities in some instances seemed
to tacitly support societal campaigns against proselytizing. Members of various
minority religions continued to report that their charitable programs in children's
homes and shelters were perceived as proselytizing directed at adherents of
the Orthodox Church; however, no conflicts were reported.
In May the Greek Catholic
Church in Certeze, Satu Mare County, received land for the construction of
a church that local authorities, under the pressure of Orthodox priests, had
refused to return for many years. Cases of refusal to return land occurred
in Feleacu and Morlaca, Cluj County.
A Roman Catholic Csango community, an ethnic group that speaks a Hungarian
dialect, continued to complain that they were unable to hold religious services
in their mother tongue because of the opposition of the Roman Catholic Bishopric
of Iasi. Although the religion law entitles religious denominations
to bury their believers in other denominations' cemeteries if they lack their
own cemetery and communal (public) cemetery, in numerous communities Orthodox priests reportedly continued to deny permission to the Greek Catholic
Church, the Baptist Church, and the Baha'i Faith to bury their members in
either religious or communal cemeteries.
Several religious groups
reported that the access of religious groups to detention facilities continued
to improve. Regulations for religious activity in prisons provide for unrestricted access of recognized
religions and religious associations to any place of detention, even if their
assistance is not specifically requested.
Only the 18 recognized religious groups have the right to teach religion in
public schools. However, a number of recognized minority religious groups complained
that they were unable to have classes on their faith offered in public schools. Attendance in religion classes is optional; however,
the Baptist Church and Jehovah's Witnesses reported cases of children who
were pressured to attend Orthodox religion classes.
A 2006 CNCD decision to ask the Ministry of Education to remove religious symbols
from school classrooms except where religious classes were taught was not
enforced because of several ongoing lawsuits. The Ministry of Education, the
Orthodox Church, and several NGOs challenged the CNCD decision. On June 11,
the High Court of Cassation ruled in favor of their challenge.
The restitution law permits religious denominations to reclaim previously nationalized
properties that housed schools, hospitals, or cultural institutions; however,
implementation of the law was slow during the year. Of the 14,716 claims for
restitution of religious property since its establishment in 2003, the National
Authority for Property Restitution (ANRP) returned 1,313 properties by the
end of the year, and another 295 cases were approved to receive compensation.
Approximately 350 claims were rejected.
Property restitution was particularly important for the Greek Catholic Church,
whose properties, including churches, were confiscated during the communist
regime. The Greek Catholic churches were given to the Orthodox Church after
their forced merger in 1948, and many other Greek Catholic Church properties
were taken over by the government. Since 2003 the government returned 120
out of 6,723 total properties claimed by the Greek Catholic Church.
The Orthodox Church continued to resist the return of churches it acquired
from the Greek Catholic Church. While the law permits the Greek Catholic Church
to take court action whenever its dialogue with the Orthodox Church over church
restitution fails, lawsuits were lengthy because of delayed hearings and repeated appeals; however, the number of court rulings
in favor of the Greek Catholic Church increased during the year.
By year's end the Orthodox Church had returned fewer than 200 of approximately
2,600 churches and monasteries claimed by the Greek Catholic Church. The Orthodox
metropolitan of Banat and bishops of Caransebes and Oradea maintained positive
relations with the Greek Catholic Church on restitution issues; however, most
other Orthodox Church representatives refused to return properties, even when
ordered to do so by a court, generating tension in many localities. In Valanii de Beius, Bihor County, the Orthodox
Church refused for over a year to comply with a final court ruling restituting
a Greek Catholic church; eventually, the Orthodox Church handed the church
over on April 2. In Simand, Arad County, where the local Orthodox priest had
refused to comply with a 2007 court ruling, at the end of June, after lengthy
negotiations, the Greek Catholics received their church.Because of
the failure to get back its churches, the Greek Catholic Church continues
in some localities to hold religious services in the open, for example, in
Sisesti, Maramures County, where a lawsuit over the former Greek Catholic
church has been going on for 16 years.
The Orthodox Church continued
to demolish Greek Catholic churches under various pretexts and also used other
methods to shield churches from restitution. On May 8, in Ungheni, Mures County,
the Orthodox Church began to demolish an 18th-century Greek Catholic
church after constructing a new Orthodox structure around the old church.
The Orthodox Church ignored a court injunction obtained by Greek Catholic
Church to stop the demolition.
Similar demolition cases
occurred in Badon, Salaj County in April 2007 and in Taga, Cluj County in
2006.
The historical Hungarian churches, including the Hungarian Roman Catholic and
the Hungarian Protestant Reformed, Evangelical, and Unitarian Churches, received
a small number of their confiscated properties from the government. Through
the end of the year, Hungarian churches received 806 of the approximately
2,700 properties they claimed under the law on return of religious property.
According to Roman Catholic authorities and media reports,
the issue of the 19-story building to be constructed within the protection
zone around the Roman Catholic Saint Joseph Cathedral in Bucharest, a designated
historical monument, remained unresolved. The church argued that construction
of the building might damage the foundations of the cathedral. In July 2007
a court in Dolj County issued a ruling suspending construction. It was later
upheld on appeal. On July 7, the Constitutional Court rejected the developer's
claim that a provision of the law protecting historical monuments was unconstitutional.
The construction remained halted at year's end.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination
According to the 2002 census, the Jewish population numbered 5,785. Acts of
anti‑Semitism, including vandalism against Jewish sites, continued during
the year. In most cases the Federation of Jewish Communities notified authorities,
but perpetrators were often not identified. The NGO Center for Monitoring
Anti‑Semitism in Romania (MCA Romania) noted that authorities tended
to play down such incidents, usually attributing the acts to children, drunkards,
or persons with mental disorders.
On October 22, vandals desecrated 131 gravestones at a Jewish cemetery in Bucharest.
A spokesman for the local Jewish community considered this to be an act of
vandalism unparalleled in recent times. The prime minister and Ministry of
Justice, in separate public statements, condemned all acts of this kind, including
acts of anti-Semitism and racism. The police identified four school children,
aged between 13 and 15 years, who admitted to having vandalized the cemetery.
During the year the extremist press continued to publish anti‑Semitic
articles. The Legionnaires (also known as the Iron Guard, an extreme nationalist,
anti‑Semitic, pro‑Nazi group that existed in the country in the interwar period) continued
to republish inflammatory books from the interwar period. Authorities occasionally
investigated and prosecuted offenders, but all court cases resulted in acquittals.
The law prohibits denial
of the Holocaust in public. In February the Prosecutor's Office of Bucharest
Sector 3 decided not to prosecute a professor who consistently denied in the
media and in his books that the Holocaust occurred in the country. The Federation
of Jewish Communities and a Jewish NGO had filed a criminal complaint against
him in January 2007.
During the year anti‑Semitic views and attitudes were expressed on the
talk shows of private television stations, which failed to respond to complaints
filed by Jewish organizations regarding such views. Extremists continued to
publicly deny that the Holocaust occurred in the country or that the country's
leader during World War II, Marshal Ion Antonescu, participated in Holocaust
atrocities in territory administered by the country.
On May 6, the High Court of Cassation and Justice overturned a 2006 ruling by the Bucharest Appellate
Court that partially exonerated Marshal Antonescu and some others convicted
for war crimes. Antonescu was responsible for widespread atrocities against
the country's Jewish community and Roma during World War II.
The government continued to make progress in its effort to expand education
on the history of the Holocaust in the country and included the Holocaust in history
courses covering World War II in the seventh through 12th grades.
On various occasions throughout the year, high-level officials continued to
make public statements against extremism, anti‑Semitism, and xenophobia
and criticized Holocaust denial. In January government officials and members of
parliament attended and addressed the commemoration of the 1941 pogrom in
Bucharest. In September the government sponsored a regional conference in
Bucharest on combating anti-Semitism. The country commemorated National Holocaust Day
in October with events in several cities that were attended by key dignitaries.
The law to combat anti‑Semitism
and prohibit fascist, racist, and xenophobic organizations includes the persecution
of Roma in addition to Jews in its definition of the Holocaust, since approximately
14,000 Roma were killed in the country during that period.
On October 29, the Bucharest
city council approved the construction plan for a Holocaust Memorial to be
erected in downtown Bucharest. Construction had not begun at year's end.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2008 International Religious Freedom
Report at www.state.gov/g/drl/irf/rpt.
d. Freedom of Movement, Internally Displaced Persons,
Protection of Refugees, and Stateless Persons
The law provides for freedom of movement within the country, foreign travel
and repatriation, and the government generally respected these rights in practice.
The government cooperated with the Office of the UN
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations
in providing protection and assistance to refugees, asylum seekers, stateless
persons, and other persons in need of international protection.
The law prohibits forced exile, and the government did not employ it.
Protection of Refugees
The law provides for the granting of asylum or refugee status
in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention relating to the Status of Refugees
and its 1967 protocol, and the government has established a system for providing
protection to refugees. The law on asylum, which is based on European Union
(EU) legislation, prohibits the expulsion, extradition, or forced return of
any asylum seeker at the country's border or from within the country's territory
but extends the application of the exclusion clauses to "aliens and stateless
persons who planned, facilitated or participated in terrorist activities as
defined by international instruments to which the country is a party.
The law provides for the concept of
safe countries of origin, and aliens coming from such countries have their
asylum applications processed in accelerated procedure. Safe countries of
origin are considered EU member states as well as other countries that fulfill
certain conditions.
During the year the government
opened an emergency transit center in the city of Timisoara. This is the second
facility of its type in the world for the interim receipt of refugees pending
processing and final transit to a receiving country. According to the UNHCR,
conditions are acceptable. During the year, the center housed refugees from
Sudan, Eritrea and Iraq, as well as a few dozen other asylum seekers whose
refugee status determination was pending.
In practice the government provided protection against the expulsion or return
of refugees to countries where their lives or freedom would be threatened;
however, the UNHCR considered the time limits provided by the law for submitting
appeal applications and court procedures to be too short. The UNHCR stated
that government-sponsored programs for integrating refugees continued to improve,
although more needed to be done in terms of identifying training opportunities
for refugees, improving Romanian language courses, and ameliorating availability
of information both for beneficiaries of the integration program and for public
servants who administer it.
According to the Immigration Office, during the year there were no cases of temporary protection
to individuals who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 convention or
the 1967 protocol. However, the government granted refugee status to 99 persons,
subsidiary protection to 30 persons, and "tolerated persons" status
to 139 persons.
Stateless Persons
Citizenship is derived at
birth by those who have at least one Romanian parent. The law provides for
birth registration as a basic right; however, some children were not registered
at birth and were rendered de facto stateless by their lack of and inability
to obtain identity documents. According to the country's Immigration
Office, there were 268 stateless persons of foreign and national origin in
2008.However, the country has a substantial Romani population, and
according to a survey released by the government in August, 1.5 percent of
Roma lacked birth certificates, while other surveys indicate between 1.9 and
6 percent of Roma lacked identity cards. While some of these stateless persons
were born in the country, limited information was available on the nature
of this problem.
Section 3 Respect for Political Rights: the Right
of Citizens to Change Their Government
The law provides citizens with the right to change their government peacefully,
and citizens exercised this right in practice through periodic, free, and
fair elections held on the basis of universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation
The country held national elections for parliament in November. Despite some
irregularities, including some allegations of vote buying, the elections were
generally judged free and fair. The left-of-center Social Democratic Party
(PSD), in alliance with the Conservative Party (PC), won 33 percent of the
popular vote, and 114 seats in the 334-seat Chamber of Deputies and 49 seats
in the 137-seat Senate. The right-of-center Liberal Democratic Party (PD-L)
won 32 percent of the popular vote, and 115 seats in the Chamber of Deputies
and 51 seats in the Senate. Following the elections, these two parties formed
a coalition government. Meanwhile, the center-right National Liberal Party
(PNL) with 19 percent of the vote, and 28 Senate and 65 Chamber of Deputy
seats, sat in the opposition along with the Democratic Union of Hungarians
in Romania (UDMR), which won 6 percent of the vote, and nine Senate and 22
Chamber seats. No other parties won more than 5 percent of the vote as required
by law to enter parliament.
Media and government officials criticized the uninominal voting system, which
assigns parliamentary seats to party members based on a complex formula, for
being too complex for many voters to understand and for awarding seats to
party members who finished second or third in their district.
The law requires political parties to register with the Bucharest Tribunal
and to submit their statutes, program, and a roster of at least 25,000 signatures.
These 25,000 "founding members" must be from at least 18 counties,
including Bucharest, with a minimum of 700 persons from each county. The party
statutes and program must not include ideas that incite war, discrimination,
hatred of a national, racist, or religious nature, or territorial separatism.
Organizations of ethnic minorities can also field candidates in elections if
they meet requirements similar to those for political parties. The law defines "national
minorities" as only those ethnic groups represented in the Council of
National Minorities. The law requires that the organizations that are not
represented in the parliament meet requirements that are more stringent than
those of minority groups already represented in parliament. Such organizations
must provide the Central Electoral Bureau
a list of members equal to at least 15 percent of the total number of persons
belonging to that ethnic group according to the most recent census. If 15
percent represents more than 20,000 persons, then at least 20,000 names from
at least 15 counties plus the city of Bucharest, with no fewer than 300 persons
from each county, must be submitted. Human rights NGOs criticized these requirements
as discriminatory and aimed at eliminating competition to the mainstream organizations
representing Hungarians and Roma, namely the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians
in Romania (UDMR) and the Roma Party‑Pro Europe.
While the law does not restrict women's participation in government or politics,
societal attitudes presented a significant barrier. There were 38 women in
the 334-seat Chamber of Deputies and eight women in the 137-seat Senate. At
year's end, only two prefects (governors) of the 42 counties were women.
According to the constitution, each recognized ethnic minority is entitled
to have one representative in the Chamber of Deputies if the minority's organization
cannot obtain the 5 percent of the votes needed to elect deputies outright,
but only if the organization in question gets 10 percent of the average number
of votes nationwide necessary for a deputy to be elected. Organizations representing
18 minority groups received deputies under this provision. There were 49
members of minorities in the 471 seat parliament, nine in the upper house
and 40 in the lower house.
Ethnic Hungarians, represented by the UDMR, were the only ethnic minority to
gain parliamentary representation by passing the 5 percent threshold. Only
one Romani organization, the Roma Party‑Pro Europe, was represented
in parliament. Low Romani voter turnout due to lack of awareness, means, or
identity cards further exacerbated the situation.
Government Corruption and Transparency
The law provides criminal penalties for official corruption,
but the government did not implement the law effectively. The country is subject
to a special European Commission mechanism for regular monitoring for progress
in justice sector reform.
The authorities' generally ineffective response to corruption
remained a focus of public criticism, political debate, and media scrutiny
throughout the year. NGOs and the media continued to note that no major case
of high-level corruption had yet resulted in judgments involving prison sentences.
While there were some convictions of lower-level officials for corruption,
the European Commission, in its July interim progress report, criticized court
sentences as "lenient and inconsistent" and parliament for lacking
an "unequivocal commitment to rooting out high level corruption." Moreover,
there were efforts to weaken the criminal procedure code, such as through
parliamentary provisions requiring authorities to notify suspects that they
are being wiretapped.
The National Anticorruption
Directorate (DNA) was responsible for investigating and prosecuting high-level
corruption, including
cases involving members of parliament and government officials. Many anticorruption
advocates criticized the justice minister's decision not to renew the mandate
of the DNA head, whose anticorruption efforts were strongly praised by European
Commission officials and media. He continued in his position on an interim
basis at year's end.
The DNA continued its coordination with antifraud units set
up within various ministries. The Interior Ministry's Anticorruption General
Directorate, which investigates alleged corruption within the ministry, maintained
an anticorruption telephone hotline to receive tips regarding corrupt officers
from the general public. The Antifraud Department attached to the prime minister's
office continued to investigate cases involving the misuse of EU funds. The
Ministry of Defense also maintained its own antifraud section. According to
the European Commission, the system to allow individuals to report suspected
cases of corruption was neither accessible nor comprehensive, and implementation
of rules to protect the confidentiality of whistle blowers was deficient.
There was little progress made in 10
cases involving former government ministers, due to the decision of the former
parliament to block the investigation and to the dismissal of cases by the
High Court of Cassation and Justice. The High Court's dismissal was based
on the need to return the files of ministers to parliament for clearance (in
three cases). By year's end, two of the 10 cases had been sent to court, three
were with DNA, one had been rejected by parliament, and three were still pending
in parliament.
In July 2007 the Constitutional Court declared that
an ordinance permitting the DNA to initiate criminal investigations against
former ministers without presidential or parliamentary authorization was unconstitutional.
Such authorization was previously required only prior to investigations against
current government members. This procedural ruling resulted from an appeal
in a case against former prime minister Adrian Nastase, who challenged the constitutionality of the ordinance
that made it possible for former ministers to be investigated without following
the procedure mandatory for incumbent ministers.
In March the Constitutional Court resolved the dispute between the General
Prosecutor's Office and parliament over what specific authorizations were
required for criminal investigations against former and current ministers.
The court ruled that parliament must approve investigations against ministers
who are sitting members of parliament, while the president would have to approve
investigations of ministers who are not serving in parliament. In October
the Constitutional Court lowered the number of votes needed from members of
parliament to authorize criminal investigations against cabinet ministers.
The law empowers the National
Integrity Agency (ANI) to audit officials' declarations of assets, incompatibilities,
and conflicts of interest. The law stipulates that the ANI can identify "unjustified" wealth,
meaning that proof of illegal activity is required before an investigation
may be initiated. The government amended the ANI law by emergency ordinance
the same month it was created, lowering the standard of investigation to proof
of unjustified wealth, defined as a change in assets that cannot be justified
based on an official's legitimate sources of income. The ANI is authorized
to examine annual asset declarations, but not bank accounts or other assets
of individuals without their permission. Anonymous tips of an official's unjustified
accumulation of assets cannot be used as grounds to initiate investigations,
absent a decision by the head of the agency to initiate an ex-officio investigation.
Some critics have noted that this discretionary authority should be vested
in more than a single individual.
There were reports of political
interference in the ANI's activities. An ANI inspector disclosed that a member
of the National Integrity Council, which oversees the ANI, pressured ANI officials
to stop an investigation against one of her clients. The ANI president demanded
that the individual in question have her mandate revoked. Overall, the independence
of the ANI is limited due to its inability to hire and fire staff.
In December, following the
elections, all but two government ministries were renamed. Critics claimed
that this measure was undertaken to erode the civil service protection of
many mid-level positions within the renamed ministries, thus opening those
offices to political influence.
The law provides for public access to government information related
to official decision making; however, human rights NGOs and the media reported
that the law was poorly and unevenly applied. Procedures for releasing information
were arduous and varied greatly by public institution. On numerous occasions,
NGOs and journalists took cases to court to obtain information.
Although the government ordered the intelligence services to release the files
of the communist‑era Securitate intelligence service, the powers of
the National College for the Study of Securitate Archives (CNSAS) were curtailed
following a January 31 Constitutional Court ruling that the CNSAS law was
unconstitutional. A government ordinance and a later law allowed the CNSAS
to continue operation, but it was no longer entitled to issue verdicts that
identify individuals as Securitate collaborators.
There were reports that local authorities occasionally impeded journalists,
NGOs, and the general public from accessing public information that could
have proved detrimental to select political interests.
Section 4 Governmental Attitude Regarding International
and Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups generally operated
without government restriction, investigating and publishing their findings
on human rights cases. Government officials were generally cooperative and
responsive to their views. However, there were some problems. After two NGOs,
the Center for Legal Resources and Terra Millenium III Foundation, won a joint
lawsuit against Bucharest City Hall over the legality of a city construction
project, the city requested a court to dissolve the NGOs. A law adopted in
December forbids NGOs to have names that could falsely associate them with
authorities or public institutions of national or local interest. Some NGOs,
such as the Romanian Academic Society (SAR), thought that the law was aimed
at harassing NGOs unpopular with government officials.
The ombudsman's office to protect citizens' constitutional rights had limited
power and no authority in cases requiring judicial action. The office handled
6,090 complaints during the first nine months of the year.
The National Council for Combating Discrimination (CNCD) is an independent
governmental agency that is under parliamentary control. During the year the
CNCD received 837 public complaints of discrimination, of which 462 were resolved.
Of these cases, 116 involved alleged discrimination on the basis of nationality
and ethnicity and 15 involved discrimination on religious grounds. The CNCD
received 62 complaints regarding discrimination against Roma in the areas
of the right to personal dignity (30 complaints), access to public services
(13 complaints), access to education (4 complaints), equal access to employment
(6 complaints), and access to public places (6 complaints). The antidiscrimination
law provides fines for discriminatory attitudes ranging from 400 to 4,000
lei ($156-1,560) for discrimination against individuals and approximately
600 to 8,000 lei ($140-1,400) for discrimination against groups of persons
or communities.
Both chambers of parliament have a human rights committee; since these committees
were comprised of political party representatives, their recommendations often
reflected parties' views.
Section 5 Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and
Trafficking in Persons
The law forbids discrimination based on race, gender, disability, ethnicity,
language, or social status, among other categories. However, the government
did not enforce these provisions effectively in some circumstances, and women,
Roma, and other minorities were often subject to discrimination and violence.
Women
Rape, including spousal rape, is illegal. The prosecution of rape cases was
difficult because it required a medical certificate and a witness, and a rapist
could avoid punishment if the victim withdrew the complaint. The successful
prosecution of spousal rape cases was more difficult because the law requires
the victim to personally file a criminal complaint against the abusive spouse
and does not permit other parties, such as relatives or support organizations,
to file a complaint on the victim's behalf. The law provides for three to
10 years' imprisonment for rape; the sentence increases to five to 18 years
if there are aggravated circumstances. There
were 36 rapes reported during the first half of the year. NGOs provided counseling
and shelters for rape victims.
Violence against women, including spousal abuse, continued to be a serious
problem, and the government did not effectively address it. The law prohibits
domestic violence and allows police intervention in such cases; however, the
law on domestic violence was difficult to apply because it contradicts the
criminal procedures code and does not include provisions for the issuance
of restraining orders. NGOs reported that domestic violence was common. According
to the National Agency for Family Protection (ANPF), there were 8,484 reported
domestic violence cases involving women and minor girls during the first nine
months of the year. During the first two quarters of the year, there were
177 cases of death as a result of domestic violence. According to a nationwide
survey, conducted by the Center for Urban and Rural Sociology (CURS) in March
and April, 21.5 percent of the women reported being subjected to domestic
violence at least once in their life, and 11.1 percent during the past year.
The criminal code imposes aggravated sanctions for violent offenses committed
against family members.
The courts prosecuted very
few cases of domestic abuse. Many cases were resolved before or during trial
when victims dropped their charges or reconciled with the accused abuser. In
cases with strong evidence of physical abuse, the court can prohibit the abusive
spouse from returning home. The
law also permits police to fine the abusive spouse for disturbing public order.
A total of 56 shelters provide free accommodation and food for a period between
seven days and three months, and 40 centers provide legal and psychological
counseling. There are also six counseling centers for aggressors. However,
the centers were insufficient and unevenly distributed, and some parts of
the country lacked any kind of assistance. During the year the National Domestic
Violence Coalition, composed of more than 30 NGOs, continued to work with
the ANPF to organize a number of domestic violence awareness campaigns.
The ANPF worked with the Romanian Orthodox Church
to develop services for victims of domestic violence. The Romanian Orthodox
Church was involved in a national campaign to stop violence against women,
including domestic violence, and together with the Ministry of Education,
developed a training program for priests in rural areas to support and combat
domestic violence against women. The
local budgets of the counties allocated approximately 650,000 lei ($200,000)
for counseling and support to domestic abuse victims.
Prostitution is illegal but was prevalent. Police generally limited their intervention
to fining prostitutes for loitering or disturbing the peace. According to
local media, there were anecdotal reports that sex tourism existed in Bucharest and other major cities. The law
does not provide punishment for clients of prostitutes, unless the prostitute
was a minor and the client admitted knowing that fact before the act.
The law prohibits any act of gender discrimination, including sexual harassment;
however, the population's awareness of the problem continued to be low. No
effective programs existed to educate the public about sexual harassment.
The law grants women and men equal rights, including under family law, property
law, and in the judicial system. In practice, the government did not enforce
these provisions, nor did authorities focus attention or resources on women's
issues. Women had a higher rate of unemployment than men and occupied few
influential positions in the private sector. According to a September 2007
Partnership for Equality Center survey, differences between the salaries of
women and men continued to exist in all sectors of the economy. As a rule,
women had lower levels of education and worked in lower paid jobs.
Romani women often lack the training, marketable skills, or relevant work experience
to participate in the formal economy. According to a 2006 Open Society Institute
(OSI) report, only 26 percent of Romani women interviewed were part of the
workforce. The average monthly income of women surveyed by OSI was 106 lei
($37).
The ANPF is responsible for advancing women's concerns and family policies.
During the year the ANPF spent 178,000 lei (approximately $530,000)
to support domestic violence prevention services in partnership with civil
society and to develop services for the social reintegration of family violence
victims and of perpetrators.
The law on equal opportunities for men and women provides protection to public
as well as private sector employees and gives a female employee returning
from maternity leave the right to return to her previous or similar position.
Children
The government publicly committed itself to children's rights and welfare,
but competing priorities, bureaucratic inefficiency, and poorly allocated
resources prevented this commitment from being fulfilled in practice.
Birth registration was not universal, and some children were denied public
services as a result. The most common reason that some children were not registered
at birth was that parents did not declare the child's birth to authorities.
This was sometimes because parents lacked identity documents or residence
papers or because the birth took place abroad in countries where parents were
illegally present. Most such children have access to schools, and authorities
assisted in obtaining birth documents for unregistered children. However,
the access of such children depended on the decision of school authorities.
Undocumented children also faced difficulties in getting access to health
care. There were also reports of mistreatment of physically disabled abandoned
children in state institutions and of prolonged incarceration for misbehavior
within state orphanages.
Public education was free and compulsory through the 10th grade or age 16.
After the 10th grade, schools charged fees for books, which discouraged lower-income
children, particularly Roma, from attending. The UN Children's Fund reported
that approximately 90 percent of primary school age children attended school.
Conditions within the schools were often not conducive to learning.
Child abuse and neglect continued to be serious problems, and public awareness
of them remained poor. The media reported several severe cases of abuse or
neglect in family homes, foster care, and child welfare institutions. According
to the National Authority for the Protection of Children's Rights (ANPDC), during the first six months of the year child welfare services
identified 5,815 cases of child abuse, neglect, and exploitation resulting
in their separating 938 children from abusive families and providing services
to 4,240 children and their families. However, community-based social services
remained unevenly distributed, raising serious concern that children and families
lack access to basic social services.
Trafficking in girls for the purpose of sexual exploitation was a problem.
There also were isolated cases of children who prostituted themselves for
survival without third-party involvement.
In an April 2007 report, the Center for Legal Resources documented violations
of basic human rights in institutions for children and youth with mental disabilities,
including the lack of adequate services, limitations of individual
freedom, and placement of children under two years of age without mental disabilities
in such institutions.
While the law protects children from abuse and neglect, the government has
not established a mechanism to identify and treat abused and neglected children
and their families. The abandonment of children in maternity hospitals remained
a problem, with 715 left in hospitals by their parents in the first half of
the year according to official statistics. NGOs claimed the official statistics
did not accurately account for many abandoned children; many children living
in state institutions were never officially recognized as abandoned.
The legal age of marriage is 18, but girls as young as 15 may marry in certain
circumstances. Illegal child marriage was common within certain social groups,
particularly the Roma. There is no estimate regarding the extent of the practice,
and information about individual cases surfaces only from time to time in
the media.
According to ANPDC, at the
end of June there were 1,058 homeless children nationwide. NGOs working with
homeless children believed there were two or three times that number. NGOs
noted that the number decreased only because the children have grown up, but
that the individuals remained on the streets.
Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits all forms of trafficking; however, trafficking
in persons continued to be a serious problem. The law defines trafficking
as the use of coercion, including fraud or misrepresentation, to recruit,
transport, harbor, or receive persons for exploitation, including slavery,
forced labor, prostitution, being a subject in pornography, organ theft, or
other conditions that violate human rights. For minors under the age of 18,
it is not necessary to prove coercion.
The country was a point of both origin and transit for trafficking
in persons. While the majority of trafficking cases involved international
trafficking between the country and Western Europe, particularly Italy and
Spain, cases of domestic trafficking were also reported. Victims, primarily
women and children, were trafficked for sexual exploitation, labor, and forced
begging. In the first 11 months of the year, the government identified 1,211
victims of trafficking, a smaller number than in the same period of 2007 (1,723),
of whom 595 were female and 179 were minors. For all of 2007, the government
reported 1,780 victims of trafficking. Women between the ages of 18 and 25
were most likely to become victims of trafficking for sexual purposes. Children
were more likely to become victims of trafficking if they came from orphanages
or single-parent homes or lived in a dysfunctional family environment (e.g.,
families with financial difficulties, abuse, or alcoholism). During the year,
there was an increase in the number of victims trafficked for labor and a
decrease in those trafficked for sexual exploitation. For the first time,
the number of male victims was higher than that of female victims. Sixty-one
percent of the victims came from rural areas and were trafficked mainly for
forced labor or begging.
Government officials reported
that small groups of citizens were the most common operators of trafficking
rings; several domestic prostitution rings were also known to be active in
trafficking victims into, through, and from the country. In recent years the
number of women and minors involved in trafficking as recruiters has increased;
however, the overall number of trafficking victims dropped from 2006 to 2007,
a trend that continued during the year, according to the National Agency against
Trafficking in Human Beings (ANITP).
Most victims were trafficked
through or out of the country under seemingly legal means. Traffickers used
employment agencies and travel companies as fronts for their activities. It
was not difficult for traffickers to obtain legal work papers for the victims
they intended to traffic. Most women trafficked for sexual exploitation were
recruited either by persons they knew or by responding to newspaper advertisements.
During the year, there was one case of a male police officer from Timisoara
who was involved in the sexual exploitation of trafficking victims and was
arrested on charges of human trafficking and complicity to in promoting prostitution.
Following the country's entry into the EU in January 2007, the vast majority
of trafficking victims left the country through legal means, thereby eliminating
the need for traffickers to rely on bribing officials to get trafficked persons
out of the country.
The sentencing guideline
for convicted traffickers is three to 12 years. The law provides for five
to 15 years' imprisonment for trafficking in minors, for multiple victims,
if a victim suffers serious bodily harm or health problems, or if the trafficking
is done by a public servant during his or her official duties. A sentence
of 15 to 25 years is mandated for trafficking that leads to the death or suicide
of the victim. These penalties are increased by two to three years if the
trafficker belongs to an organized crime group and by five years if coercion
is applied against minors.
ANITP, which has 15 regional centers, is responsible for
collecting all information related to trafficking in persons and coordinating
government efforts to combat trafficking and treat trafficking victims. Regional
centers coordinated victim/witness cooperation with law enforcement and helped
victims access social services. Foreign donors supported training programs
on victim/witness coordination offered during the year. Such programs helped
victims better negotiate the cumbersome judicial system and led to more frequent
convictions of traffickers. However, victims continued to face discrimination
from the society at large, especially in small villages, due to cultural biases
against women who are victims of trafficking.
ANITP further developed its
national trafficking database to expedite identification of victims and improve
victim assistance by implementing new statistics-gathering procedures.
The law requires the government to protect trafficking victims, but implementation
of the law remained weak and uneven. Reports of law enforcement officials
losing contact with identified victims were common. Some identified victims
reportedly chose not to press charges to avoid cumbersome judicial procedures.
Although the government trained border police to encourage victims to identify
themselves, few victims were willing to do so.
A technical secretariat,
established by ANDPC in 2005 and charged with implementing a national action
plan to fight child trafficking and exploitation, carried out activities related
to repatriation, protection, and social reintegration of unaccompanied children
in difficulty in other countries, regardless of whether such children were
victims or offenders. During the reporting period, the country's diplomatic
missions reported that 385 unaccompanied children were identified in 22 European
countries and the United States, a slight increase over 2007, when 373 such
children had been identified. Most of these children were found in Italy and
Spain. According to the ANPDC, by the end of the reporting period, 125 of
these children had been repatriated. Most of the other children are receiving
child welfare services in the countries where they were found.
During the year the government worked with domestic and international NGOs
to build public awareness of trafficking risks and to improve the services
offered to victims, developing seven national awareness campaigns. In addition,
the regional centers sponsored five local campaigns in cooperation with local
authorities and NGOs. Public officials made public statements during the year
about the trafficking problem. During the year, the regional centers trained
1,156 rural policemen with regard to human trafficking problems.
ANITP continued to implement
programs that started in 2007 and initiated new programs. In December ANITP
began a project, financed by the EU and supported by several European NGOs,
to support the institutional capacity to prevent human trafficking. The project
involves research, a campaign against sexual exploitation of women, and training
of rural police and other local actors in order to strengthen a national referral
mechanism. In 2007 the ANDPC, the National Antidrug Agency, and territorial
general directorates for social assistance and children's protection implemented
a program in several cities to monitor child labor. The project established
a system of services for the protection, rehabilitation, and social reintegration
of child victims of domestic and international trafficking.
The State Department's annual Trafficking
in Persons Report can be found at www.state.gov/g/tip.
Persons with Disabilities
The law prohibits discrimination against all persons in employment, education,
access to health care, or the provision of other services. However, the government
did not fully implement the law, and discrimination against persons with disabilities
remained a problem during the year.
The law mandates accessibility for persons with disabilities to buildings and
public transportation. In practice the country had few facilities specifically
designed for persons with disabilities; however, their number increased during
the year.
According to reports by human rights NGOs, the placement, living conditions,
and treatment of patients in many psychiatric wards and hospitals did not
meet international human rights standards and were below professional norms.
Most psychiatric hospitals had poor hygiene, insufficient heating, and insufficient
food rations. Some hospitals lacked running water, were heavily overcrowded,
lacked a sufficient number of beds, and had no mechanism for complaints of
abuse. Patients were in many cases secluded in rooms with metal bars on the
windows based on arbitrary decisions of the staff. Conditions in psychiatric
wards did not improve during the year.
While the government adopted an action plan regarding persons with mental disabilities
in 2005, NGOs asserted that it failed to improve conditions in psychiatric
institutions and had not implemented most aspects of the plan. The provision
of community based mental health care services remained inadequate.
The NGO Center for Legal Resources (CRJ) criticized the government for its
treatment of children with mental and physical disabilities. Children reportedly
were being detained in adult facilities, some children were kept in permanent
restraints, and abuse and neglect were commonplace throughout the country's
mental institutions and health-care facilities.
The CRJ also continued to report that minors with mental disabilities were
routinely mistreated in government-run care institutions. These children were
subjected to both verbal and physical abuse, including being tied to their
beds, beaten, and threatened that they would be sent to psychiatric hospitals.
In February the CRJ urged the government to take urgent measures to ensure
the observance of the basic rights of children with mental disabilities in
such institutions, reiterating criticism of the use of physical restraint
for such children.
Some minors were sent to psychiatric hospitals without the consent of their
legal guardians. According to human rights NGOs, there was no system to ensure
that the rights of children with mental disabilities were observed in government-run
care institutions.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities
Discrimination against Roma continued to be a major
concern. Romani groups complained that police brutality, including beatings
and harassment, was routine.
On August 12, the mayor's office in Craiova evicted
over 80 Roma who were living in illegally built dwellings on land belonging
to a military installation.
On September 2, the mayor of sector 2 of Bucharest
evicted 21 Roma (nine adults and 12 children) from a building they had illegally
occupied.
In December 2007 police evicted Roma from an illegally
built tent camp close to the belt road of Bucharest. NGOs reported that Roma
were denied access to, or refused service in, many public places. Roma faced
persistent poverty with poor access to government services, few employment
opportunities, high rates of school attrition, inadequate health care, and
pervasive discrimination.
There was no further progress in the
investigation of the August 2007 violent conflict between ethnic Hungarians
and Roma in Apata village, Brasov County, where a group of ethnic Hungarians
attacked a Romani neighborhood after having encountered Roma stealing crops
from a farm.
A 2004 European Commission report estimated that the Romani population numbered
between 1.8 and 2.5 million persons, although the most recent official census
in 2002 reported the significantly lower number of 535,000, or 3 percent of
the national population. In August the government released a survey estimating
that the Romani population represents 5.7 percent of the total population
of the country. According to NGOs, prior government figures were low because
many Roma either did not reveal their ethnicity or lacked any form of identification.
According to the February 2007 Roma Inclusion Barometer, 23 percent of Roma
were illiterate and 95 percent did not complete high school. NGOs and the
media reported that discrimination by teachers and other students against
Romani students served as an additional disincentive for Romani children to
complete their studies. There were reports of Romani children being placed
in the back of classrooms, of teachers ignoring Romani students, and of unimpeded
bullying of Romani students by other schoolchildren. In some communities,
authorities placed Romani students in separate classrooms from other students
or in separate schools.
In reaction to a complaint filed by Romani CRISS in 2007, the CNCD confirmed
that discrimination did occur in Josika Miklos School in Atid, Harghita County,
where Romani students were separated from other students in the 2nd grade.
The CNCD recommended that the school authorities desegregate the classes.
In July 2007 the Ministry of Education issued an order forbidding the school
segregation of Romani students and mandating the desegregation of the first
and fifth grades as students enter those grades. A Romani CRISS project monitored
the implementation of the order in 134 schools from nine counties (Alba, Botosani,
Brasov, Dolj, Galati, Hunedoara, Iasi, Neamt, and Salaj) and Bucharest in
the school year 2007-2008, assessing the extent of all forms of segregation
of Romani students in the monitored schools. In 77 schools (63 percent), the
first and fifth grades were not desegregated, although the order stipulates
desegregation. The survey also identified 43 segregated schools and 45 other
schools with segregated classes.
According to a 2007 OSI report, ethnic Roma were five times as likely as members
of the majority population to live below the poverty line. OSI also estimated
that approximately 60 percent of Roma lived segregated from the majority population
in communities with substandard housing and without basic governmental services
such as schools, adequate health care, running water, electricity, and waste
disposal.
Romani communities were largely excluded from the administrative and legal
system. According to OSI research conducted in 2007, 4.9 percent of Roma lacked
a birth certificate. Among non‑Roma citizens, less than 1 percent lacked
a birth certificate. Similarly, surveys in 2007 and 2008 indicated that between
1.9 and 6 percent of Roma lacked identity cards, compared to 1.5 percent of
non‑Roma. The lack of identity documents excluded Roma from participating
in elections, receiving social benefits, accessing health insurance, securing
property documents, and participating in the labor market. Roma were also
disproportionately unemployed or underemployed.
Stereotypes and use of discriminatory language against Roma were widespread;
journalists and even high ranking officials frequently made discriminatory
statements. In May 2007 President Basescu used an extremely derogatory term
to describe a Romani television reporter. The CNCD decided the statement was
discriminatory and admonished the president, who challenged the CNCD decision
in court. In May the Supreme Court of Cassation and Justice ruled that although
the statement was discriminatory, the president could not be sanctioned because
the phrase was used in private circumstances.
The government and Romani NGOs continued to implement a national program in
several counties, such as Bihor and Braila, to identify Roma without birth
certificates or identification documents and help them obtain such documents.
In February Romani CRISS and police began implementing the program in Bucharest.
In June 2007 the government established a commission of Romani and non-Romani
experts in Romani history and tasked it with studying the historical period
of Romani slavery. The commission wrote a draft report which was not made
public, and it did not continue activity during the year because of lack of
funding.
The government considered ethnic Hungarians to be the largest ethnic minority,
comprising 1.4 million persons according to the 2002 census. In the Moldavia
region, where the Roman Catholic Csango minority resided, the community continued
to operate government‑funded Hungarian language school groups; 955 students
in 14 localities received Hungarian language classes during the 2008-2009
academic year. However, intimidation attempts continued. Two Roman Catholic
priests from the village of Cleja (Bacau County) threatened to bar schoolchildren
who take Hungarian language classes from attending the confirmation mass.
In May the Association of Magyar Csangos from Moldavia filed a complaint with
the CNCD against the priests, accusing them of discrimination. The complaint
was pending at year's end.
A June 2007 study by the Institute of Public Policies and Romani CRISS pointed
to the danger of online discrimination and hate speech, directed mainly against
Roma and homosexuals, on the discussion forums of four national dailies. This
situation continued on discussion forums of online dailies during the year.
In August 2007 the government established an institute to research the history,
culture, and religion of, and policies regarding, national minorities.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination
NGOs reported that police abuse and societal discrimination against homosexuals
was common and that open hostility prevented the reporting of some harassment
and discrimination. Members of the gay and lesbian community continued to
voice concerns about discrimination in public education and the health care
system.
On May 24, approximately 200 persons participated in the annual "march
of diversity" gay pride parade in Bucharest. Local authorities mobilized
hundreds of police to protect the participants, and for the first time the
parade ended without violent incidents. However, the "New Right," a
neofascist group militating against homosexuality and claiming Christian orientation,
sponsored an antigay rally on the same day at a different time and location
and chanted virulent antigay slogans. The Conservative Party also spoke against
the gay parade and sponsored a rally on May 25 in support of the traditional
values.
There was no progress in investigating the violent incidents that took place
at gay parades in previous years.
A number of young men in police detention whom other inmates perceived as being
homosexual complained of harassment and violence by other inmates while authorities
failed to protect them effectively.
In July 2007, for the first time, a Bucharest court ruled in favor of a person
who accused a company of discrimination in access to services on grounds of
sexual orientation. A complaint with the CNCD regarding the case remained
pending at year's end.
Authorities rarely enforced
laws prohibiting discrimination against persons with HIV. Discrimination against
persons with HIV/AIDS impeded access to routine medical and dental care. Breaches
of confidentiality involving individuals' HIV status were common and rarely
punished.
A 2006 Human Rights Watch (HRW) report noted widespread discrimination faced
by children with HIV/AIDS and authorities' failure to protect them from discrimination,
abuse, and neglect. According to the report, fewer than 60 percent of children
and youths with HIV/AIDS attended school. Doctors often refused to treat children
and youths with HIV/AIDS. Medical personnel, school officials, and government
employees did not maintain confidentiality of information about the children,
which caused the children and families to be denied services such as schooling.
In some situations children and their parents were threatened by parents of
other children to keep them out of school. There were also reports that children
without any mental disability were placed in centers for children with mental
disabilities because they were HIV‑positive.
Over half of HIV‑infected
adolescents were sexually active; they frequently experienced reduced access
to facilities for reproductive health care and the prevention of HIV and sexually
transmitted infections. The 2006 HRW report found that although the country
provides universal access to antiretroviral therapy, stigma and discrimination
against persons with HIV/AIDS frequently impeded their access to education,
medical care, government services, and employment. The government lacked a
strategy to manage the transition of HIV‑positive children living in
institutions or foster care after they turned 18. Fewer than 60 percent of
HIV‑positive children and adolescents attended some form of schooling.
During the year the government
cooperated with international organizations to implement a national AIDS strategy
by conducting conferences and disseminating brochures to raise public awareness
of the disease.
Section 6 Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association
All workers, except certain public employees, have the constitutional right
to associate freely and to form and join independent labor unions without
prior authorization, and they freely exercised this right. However, employees
of the Ministry of Defense, most employees of the Ministry of Interior and
Administrative Reform, most employees of the Ministry of Justice, prison personnel,
and intelligence personnel were not allowed to unionize. The majority of workers
belonged to one of the five main national trade union confederations. Approximately
40 to 50 percent of the workforce was unionized; however, that number continued
to decline.
The right to form unions was generally respected in practice, and many employers
created enterprise‑friendly unions. Union officials stated that union
registration requirements stipulated by law were complicated but generally
reasonable. However, unions objected to the requirement that they submit lists
of prospective union members with their registration application. Since employers
also had access to this list, union officials feared that this could lead
to reprisals against individual employees, hindering the formation of new
unions.
The law allows unions to conduct their activities without interference, and
the government protected this right in practice. Unlike in previous years,
there were no reports of government interference in labor negotiations, trade
union activities, collective bargaining, or strikes.
While the law permits strikes by all workers except judges, prosecutors, some
justice ministry staff, and employees of the intelligence service and the
ministries of defense and internal affairs, lengthy and cumbersome requirements
made it difficult to hold strikes legally. Unions may strike only if all arbitration
efforts have failed and if employers have been given 48 hours' notice. Unions
complained that they must submit their grievances to government‑sponsored
arbitration before initiating a strike and that the courts had a propensity
to declare strikes illegal. Companies may claim damages from strike organizers
if a court deems a strike illegal.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively
The law provides workers the right to bargain collectively, but government
control of many industrial enterprises and the absence of independent management
representatives at these entities hindered collective bargaining. Approximately
80 percent of the workforce was covered by collective labor contracts at the
branch and unit levels. A national collective labor contract for 2007‑2010
was concluded in January 2007 by the main employers' associations, trade unions,
and the government. However, contracts resulting from collective bargaining
were not consistently enforced. While national collective labor contracts
are negotiated every four years, the minimum wage is negotiated every year.
The wages of public employees were guided by a minimum wage stipulated by
law and a pay scale specific to each ministry that was based on that ministry's
annual budget.
The law has specific provisions against antiunion discrimination, which were
generally respected.
There are no exemptions from regular labor laws in the country's six free trade
zones and 31 disadvantaged zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor
The law prohibits forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however,
there were reports that such practices occurred. Persons,
primarily women and children, were trafficked for sexual exploitation, labor,
and forced begging.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age
for Employment
Child labor remained a problem. Although there are laws to protect children
from exploitation in the workplace, the government did not consistently enforce
them in practice.
The minimum employment age is 16 years, but children may work with the consent
of parents or guardians at age 15. Minors are prohibited from working in hazardous
conditions. Minors over the age of 15 who are enrolled in school are also
prohibited from performing activities included on a list approved in June
2007 following an EU directive. Working children under the age of 16 have
the right to continue their education, and the law obliges employers to assist
in this regard. Children aged 15 to 18 may work no more than six hours per
day and no more than 30 hours per week, provided that their school attendance
is not affected. In practice, however, many children were reported to occasionally
forego attending school while working. Minors cannot work overtime or during
the night, and they have the right to an additional three days of annual leave.
Despite official recognition of the problem, child labor, including begging,
selling trinkets on the street, and washing windshields, remained widespread
in Romani communities, especially in urban areas. Children engaged in such
activities were as young as five years old.
The ANPCD, under the Ministry of Labor, Family, and Equal Opportunities, has
the lead role in monitoring and coordinating all programs for the prevention
and elimination of the worst forms of child labor. There were 490 confirmed
cases of child labor reported in 2007, 249 of these were in urban areas and
241 in rural areas. At the end of the first half of the year, there were 247
confirmed cases of child labor, 137 in urban areas and 110 in rural areas.
The ANPCD can impose fines
and close factories for child labor exploitation. Enforcement tended to be
lax except in extreme cases; despite what appeared to be child labor. For
example there were no reports of anyone being charged or convicted during
the year under any of the child labor laws. Employers who violated child labor
laws were generally fined but in practice judges did not consider violations
of the child labor law to be crimes. The Ministry of Labor's
labor inspectorate reportedly carried out inspections of 100,200 employers
in 2006. Out of 16,571 persons found to be without legal employment documents,
206 were youths aged 15 to 18.
The law requires schools to immediately notify social services of children
missing classes to work. Social services are authorized to work with schools
to reintegrate such children into the educational system. The government conducted
information campaigns to raise awareness among children, potential employers,
and the general public. The government also made considerable progress in
establishing mechanisms to gather information and monitor child labor trends.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work
Beginning in October, the gross minimum wage was 540 lei ($190) for a full-time
schedule of 170 hours per month, or approximately 3.17 lei ($1.10) per hour.
The minimum wage for skilled workers is 20 percent higher. The minimum monthly
wage did not provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family.
Criteria for calculating the minimum wage are based on the average salary rather
than in relation to the minimum basket of consumption. In July representatives
of union federations, employers' associations, and the government signed a
tripartite agreement which led to the October increase in the monthly wage.
Minimum wage rates were generally observed and enforced by the Ministry of
Labor, Family, and Equal Opportunities. In practice, many employers paid supplemental
salaries under the table to reduce both the employee and employer's tax burdens.
However, this practice negatively affected employees' future pensions and
their ability to obtain commercial credit.
The law provides for a standard workweek of 40 hours or five days. Overtime
is to be paid for weekend or holiday work, or work in excess of 40 hours,
which may not exceed 48 hours per week averaged over one month. The law requires
a 24‑hour rest period in the workweek, although most workers received
two days off per week. The Ministry of Labor, Family, and Equal Opportunities
effectively enforced these standards. Union leaders complained that overtime
violations were the main problem facing their members, as employees were often
required to work more than the legal maximum number of hours and overtime
compensation required by law was not always paid. This was especially prevalent
in the textile, banking and finance, and construction sectors. Union officials
alleged that a majority of on the job accidents occurred during such compulsory,
uncompensated overtime.
The law provides penalties
for work performed without a labor contract in both the formal and informal
sectors of the economy. Employers who use illegal labor may be jailed or fined
up to 100,000 lei ($41,666).
The Ministry of Labor, Family, and Equal Opportunities has authority to establish
and enforce safety standards for most industries but lacked trained personnel
to enforce them. Employers often ignored the ministry's recommendations, which
were usually only applied after an accident occurred. Workers had the right
to refuse dangerous work but seldom invoked it in practice.
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