Romanian student organization alliance: “We rarely see real measures from authorities to combat sexual abuse”

85 Romanian universities, both private and public, have a Code of Ethics that regulates students' and teachers’ behavior, but only 12 of them offer a broad definition of sexual harassment in those codes, says a new study done by the National Alliance of Student Organizations in Romania (ANOSR).

“Recently, more and more cases of sexual abuse in the academic environment have appeared in the media, but we rarely see real measures from the universities and the responsible authorities,” ANOSR says. “Lack of adequate regulations and resources for people who have experienced sexual harassment only provides an unsafe environment where victims are silenced, and abusers tolerated.”

The research, which was done in collaboration with the Filia Center and the University of Pitesti, takes a closer look at the framework and tries to analyze the lack of adequate regulations to protect the students.

Only 16 out of 86 codes mention counts of punishment, and while the education system has seen a bit of a shift to online spaces in recent years due to the pandemic, only 2 of those codes specify online harassment. A reporting model for sexual abuse cases is only demonstrated in one count alone, and only 12 manage to give a clear definition of what sexual harassment is.

The rates are even more alarming nationwide. At least one Romanian woman dies every week as a result of sexual abuse, as revealed exclusively to Adevarul.ro by the Romanian Observatory for the Analysis and Prevention of Homicides last month.

(Photo source: Tero Vesalainen | Dreamstime.com)