Minority Discrimination, Authority Abuse Rise Concerns In Romania – AI Report

In its report, the London-based human rights watchdog mentioned Romania was one of the countries accused of alleged involvement in USA’s program of secret detentions and renditions.

 

In February last year, the European Parliament concluded that Romania and Poland had failed to properly investigate claims that the USA operated secret detention facilities in their territory, AI said. It mentioned the European officials criticized Romania for its superficial inquiry into the issue.

 

Romania denied all allegations that it had permitted secret US detention centers on its soil and rebuffed several requests to reopen an investigation into the matter, the report noted.  

 

Minorities, and in particular Roma, continued to confront serious discrimination, including in employment, housing, health and education, AI said, citing an UNICEF report of March 2007 which mentioned that up to 70% of Roma households had no direct water supply and that the segregation of Romani children into inferior schools continued to be a concern.

 

The human rights group mentioned the hostile remarks toward Roma minorities made by the media and some public authorities, including the head of state and foreign minister Adrian Cioroianu.

 

AI also mentioned the tensions in Italy following a wave of crimes attributed to Romanian migrants of Roma origins.

 

Sexual minorities also continued to face “widespread discrimination and hostility” over the past year, AI said. It said lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people had to fight both the Orthodox Church and some politicians in their endeavor to have same-sex marriages legalized. In addition, at the GayFest parade in June, counter-demonstrators who tried to break police cordons threw stones at LGBT activists, AI mentioned.