Overview

Children playing at a social care centre

In spite of the positive legislative environment created by the accession process, there is still a significant gap between plans and the allocation of resources, including insufficient budgets as well as insufficient technical and administrative capacity and know-how on national and local levels. The weaknesses of accountability systems are coupled with weaknesses in the monitoring systems for the follow-up of government programs.

There are also remaining gaps in the capacity to assess and analyze the situation of children, especially regarding disaggregated data highlighting disparities among children. Child centred research has been donor driven and is not yet institutionalized. Gaps also exist in mechanisms for participation, consultation and filing complaints for children and families. The current capacity gaps are not likely to be bridged as an immediate result of the EU accession while in parallel new challenges may emerge.

Among the observations raised by the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) Committee in 2003, several are still relevant including the continuous discrimination of Roma children; the weak implementation of enacted legislation; the importance of increased budget allocations for education and health as well as for its decentralisation with a particular focus on children living in disadvantaged counties. The Committee also highlighted the need for systematic and comprehensive compilation of data on children in all areas covered by the CRC, while underlining the need to develop a comprehensive child-centred family policy; to strengthen preventive measures; and to ensure that adolescents have better access to medical and psychosocial counselling. The next Romania Country Report on the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child will be issued in September 2007. The report will be fed as well by alternative reports submitted by NGOs and NGO coalitions.

Structural problems within the health system include large coverage disparities and management deficiencies. The budget allocation for health as well as the total health expenditure per citizen places Romania in the last position in EU.

While the school system has gone through a significant reform process, it is still struggling with inadequate school infrastructure, as well as weaknesses in curricula and teaching materials, and resulting in a learning environment which is not child-friendly. School violence is an emerging issue, and a 2004 baseline research on violence in schools found that 75% of all schools are affected by violence. The proportion of unqualified teachers is much higher in rural areas and segregation of Roma children is still widespread although the Ministry of Education and Research issued a notice on desegregation in 2005.

The child protection system has been overburdened for many years, while still managing considerable achievements in the de-institutionalization of children. The system is slowly making a shift towards increased preventive services, increased services for social assistance, as well as increased promotion of integrated cross-sectoral services.

Overview

Remaining challenges in social sectors