Romania

As in almost all other Eastern European countries, Roma families are particularly subjected to discrimination. More data on the different subject areas must be collected, and the overall situation of children must be improved.

Girls are subject to multiple gender-based discrimination, particularly when they are in marginalized and disadvantaged situations, and are more exposed to violence and exclusion. Also, numbers of pregnant women do not have access to medical prenatal services, especially mothers belonging to vulnerable communities.

There is no national policy on disability that specifically addresses children and there is neither an effective and easily accessible data-collection system nor a system for diagnosing disability.

To improve the situation, the Committee recommends to set up comprehensive measures to develop inclusive education, ensure that children with disabilities are not placed in specialized institutions and classes and train and assign specialized teachers and professionals in inclusive classes to provide individual support and all due attention to children with learning difficulties.

The Committee is concerned at the dropping vaccination rates and the occurrence of a large number of cases of diseases that can be prevented through vaccination.
The Committee recommends to address the underlying causes of infant, child and maternal mortality, including social and economic deprivation and inequality, and to adopt measures to increase the vaccination rate, including by conducting pro-vaccination campaigns and extending the use of health assistants to include all towns with low child vaccination rates.

While noting the adoption of the National Strategy on the Mental Health of Children and Teenagers (2016), the Committee recommends that the State party significantly develop community-based mental health services and strengthen preventive work in schools, the home and care centres, and that the State party increase the number of child psychiatrists and psychologists.

The Committee urges Romania to take effective measures to prevent child labour, especially in agriculture, construction and at home, as well as child begging in the streets, and to mainstream its elimination in the relevant sectoral and intersectoral strategies and action plans. Also, the Committee urges the State party to establish training programmes for labour inspectors and increase their number to ensure that employment practices are sufficiently monitored.

The Committee urges the State party to expeditiously establish more specialized juvenile courts and procedures with adequate human, technical and financial resources and designate specialized judges for children. Furthermore, the Committee urges the State party to ensure that the judges receive appropriate training and ensure the provision of qualified legal aid to children in conflict with the law at an early stage of the procedure and throughout the legal proceedings. Additionally, the Committee urges the State party to ensure that detention is used as a last resort and for the shortest possible period of time and that it is reviewed on a regular basis with a view to withdrawing it.

The Committee recommends to ensure that legislation allows and supports adolescents in organizing themselves in associations and formal groups, including outside the school. Also, with regard to the widespread practice of de facto child marriage in rural areas, the Committee recommends that the State party conduct awareness-raising campaigns concerning the many negative consequences of child marriage.

Concluding observations on the fifth periodic reports released on 13 July 2017.More information about education in Romania:

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