abuse

The Romanian Senate’s committee for legal matters Tuesday endorsed a legal initiative whereby people who require medical attention over voluntary alcohol abuse would have to pay for the medical services.

Romanian Presidential Committee for the Analysis of Social and Demographic Risks proposes, in a report launched Tuesday, the disincrimination of drug consumption and the legalization of prostitution, claiming this would reduce, under certain conditions, several public health risks.

Parents neglecting their children should lose parental rights sooner and underage children should become eligible for adoption after the mother has been counseled, if she claims she cannot raise her child, Ileana Savu, state secretary with Romania’s authority for children’s rights said Wednesday.

Romania’s General Prosecutors’ Office closed the file on the crimes and abuse committed by Romania’s communist, in which 67 former activists, psychiatrists and police employees had been indicted. Prosecutors said the file had passed its statute of limitations.

Discrimination of Roma and sexual minorities, police abuse and the worrisome situation of people committed to psychiatric institutions continue to raise red flags in Romania, Amnesty International said Wednesday in its annual report on human rights across the globe.

Romania still faces abuse, corruption and discrimination issues, although the government has addressed some human rights problems during the year, according to the 2007 U.S. State Department country report on human rights practices.