NGOs ask European Commission for infringement against Romania for failing to protect children

Dozens of national and European NGOs have sent an open letter to the European Commission, saying that Romanian legislation only "formally" reflects European directives regarding the protection of children who have been victims of sexual crimes. The NGOs are demanding that the infringement procedure be activated.

The letter from the 35 NGOs is addressed to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, the Vice President for Democracy and Demography, Dubravka Suica, the Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, and the Commissioner for Equality, Helena Dali.

The Center for Advocacy and Human Rights, which is among the signatories, says that the situation of children who are victims of sexual crimes "has not significantly improved after the adoption of EU legislation, despite constant international pressure." It argues that national legislation "formally reflects European directives, but is largely unenforceable," and "is formulated in unclear terms, which allows for the perpetuation of practices that lead to the re-victimization of children," according to Digi24.

The letter calls on the Commission to analyze the compliance of Romanian legislation with the EU Directive on victims' rights and the Directive on combating human trafficking and to initiate a dialogue with Romanian authorities to improve the country’s adoption of these directives.

The NGOs also signal the following situations that "impede children victims of sexual crimes' access to justice and indicate inadequate transposition" of European directives: the victim child is questioned in the presence of the defendant; the child’s interview is not video recorded; the child has to participate in repeated interviews; the child is questioned without access to legal representation; the child's identity is not adequately protected throughout the process; the duration of criminal procedures in cases involving a victim child is unreasonable; the victim children's legal aid lawyers change during the criminal proceedings; forced early marriages are not investigated and sanctioned as a form of exploitation.

An improvement to the current situation, the NGOs argue, would require changes to Romania’s criminal code, bringing procedures up to standards established in the Directive on the rights of victims of crime and the Directive on combating human trafficking. They also propose the activation of infringement procedures due to how the two Directives were adopted into Romanian legislation.

The initiative took place within the ReACT project - Reform and action for the defense of the rights of child victims of human trafficking in the justice system, carried out by the Association for Advocacy and Human Rights Center (CADO) in partnership with the European Center for Legal Education and Research (ECLER), and the Institute for Social Partnership Bucovina (IPSB), with financial support from the Active Citizens Fund Romania, a program funded by Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway through the EEA Grants 2014-2021.