However, there have been concerns regarding allegations of police brutality, mistreatment of the Romani minority, government corruption, poor prison conditions, and compromised judicial independence.
[3] Although the anti-corruption struggle has seen an upward trend in recent years, and the investigations of the National Anticorruption Directorate (NAD) have led to a former prime minister's trial in 2015[4][5] and other important public representatives,[6] corruption still affects many aspects of life.
The US Department of State's report on human rights practices highlights that bribes has remained an ordinary thing in the public sector.
[8] The MCV was established at the time Romania joined the European Union in 2007 to remedy the shortcomings of judicial reform and the fight against corruption.
Despite the fact that Romanian law and regulations contain provisions intended to prevent corruption, enforcement has generally been weak until recently.
The image of Romania was badly affected by the 2012 political crisis, when the European Commission expressed concerns about the rule of law.
The Romanian Police was demilitarized in 2002, and has been reorganized, in order to modernize it and rid it of former abusive practices inherited from the communist era.
Journalists who wrote reports critical of government policies and actions have claimed they were targets for harassment and intimidation during the 2004 Romanian presidential election.
The end of communism has contributed to an increase in human trafficking, with the majority of victims being women forced into prostitution.
[22] Children's rights are protected by several laws; and Romania also has international obligations due to the conventions it has ratified.
[26] According to the new criminal code which came into force on 1 February 2014, Article 197 titled Ill treatments applied to underage persons outlaws child abuse.
61/1991 penalising the violation of public order and social standards, parents/legal guardians who fail to take "adequate measures" to prevent children under 16 from engaging in vagrancy, begging, or prostitution are liable to pay a contraventional fine (Law No.
[1] Under the new Civil Code of Romania which came into force in October 2011, the general marriageable age is set at 18, but can be lowered to 16 under special circumstances, with authorization from the district's administrative board.
Article 4 (2) enshrines the principle of non-discrimination, stating that: "Romania is the common and indivisible homeland of all its citizens, without any discrimination on account of race, nationality, ethnic origin, language, religion, sex, opinion, political adherence, property or social origin".
297 (2) which reads:"The same punishment applies to the action of a public servant who, while exercising their professional responsibilities, limits the exercise of a right of a person or creates for the latter a situation of inferiority on grounds of race, nationality, ethnic origin, language, religion, sex, sexual orientation, political membership, wealth, age, disability, chronic non-transmissible disease or HIV/AIDS infection".
Although Romania has improved its legislative framework in the 21st century, and also ratified the Istanbul Convention in 2016, violence against women occurring in the private sphere remains an issue.
[46] However the image of Romania was later tarnished internationally by severe violations of human rights during successive dictatorship systems: that of Ion Antonescu during World War II; and the following communist Romania regime which included executions of political 'enemies' in the 1950s, and later on, the infamous natalist policy of Nicolae Ceaușescu, with its resulting abuse of unwanted children in Romanian orphanages, as well as the extreme control of everyday life through practices such as phone bugging, and other abuses of the communist Securitate.