A new report regarding the respect for human rights has been published on the US Embassy website. The report depicts a series of violations and abuses made by the Romanian institutions.
Significant human rights issues have been reported: ill, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, widespread corruption, lack of effective access to justice and fair trial, lack of accountability for gender-based violence, including, but not limited to domestic and sexual violence, and last but ot least, attention was also drawn to the high level of abuse of institutionalized persons with disabilities.
2022 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Romania
Rights of persons with disabilities
An entire section of the report is dedicated to persons with disabilities. The issues listed range from poor or non-existent access to education and healthcare to an unsuitable and non accesible environment (public buildings, transport). Very limited access to justice is also among the concerns noted, and the CLR is mentioned several times when this topic is touched upon. There are clarifications on the legislative side (free and unrestricted access to justice)
According to a report published by the Centre for Legal Resources NGO in April, lack of access to information about the legal process and burdensome procedures have meant that people with disabilities have limited access to public legal aid. […] CLR reported that a significant number of people continue to be under legal guardianship.
2022 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Romania
Moreover, there are also specifications strictly related to the identification of abuses concerning institutionalized persons with disabilities:
The Centre for Legal Resources and several journalists have identified a number of problems in social care homes or psychiatric hospitals, including overcrowding, verbal and physical abuse of children and adults, sedation, excessive use of physical restraints, lack of hygiene, inadequate living conditions and lack of adequate medical care.
2022 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Romania
Further, two of the social care homes that were ad-hoc monitored by the CLR have been mentioned in the report:
Mălăiești, Vaslui County: According to the CLR, the residents of the social care home have declared that the staff has used isolation as a punishment for two of the persons that wanted to leave the social care home.
Călinești, Prahova County: 30 residents have been phisically abused and humiliated by a staff member. CLR has examined the case and observed that the residents have not managed to inform the authorities about the named abuse because they did not have access to any mean of communication.
2022 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Romania
Full report available HERE.
