The United Nation System and Economic, Social and

Cultural Rights
Romania

Madalina Tifrea
 The Constitution of Romania was adopted in 1991 through a national
referendum.1 In 2003 the Constitution has been ratified as an outcome of a national
referendum, as of today, remains the fundamental law of the state establishing the structure of
the government, the rights and obligations of the Romanian citizens, and the means of
legislating.2
Under the Romanian Constitution international treaties on human rights are a core of the
constitutional provisions, being stated the following in Article 20:
(1) Constitutional provisions concerning the citizens' rights and
liberties shall be interpreted and enforced in conformity with the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, with the covenants and other
treaties Romania is a party to.
(2) Where any inconsistencies exist between the covenants and
treaties on the fundamental human rights Romania is a party to, and
the national laws, the international regulations shall take precedence,
unless the Constitution or national laws comprise more favourable
provisions.3

Romania has signed the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
(ICESCR) in 1968 and has ratified it in 1974. 4Comparing the rights mentioned in
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) 5, the Constitution
of Romania, guarantees in Title II, Chapter I and II the rights and liberties of the citizen as
following: universality and equality of rights (Art. 16 (2) “No one is above the law.”),
protection of Romanian citizens abroad and of aliens and stateless persons, free access to
justice, individual freedom, right to defence, freedom of movement, personal family privacy,
inviolable domicile, secrecy of correspondence, freedom of conscience, freedom of
expression, right to information, right to education, access to culture, right to protection of
health, right to healthy environment, right to accusation, right to assembly, labour and social
protection of labour, right to strike, right to private property, economic freedom, right to
inheritance, living standard, family, protection of young children and young people, protection
of disabled and right to petition.

1
http://www.monitoruloficial.ro/article--Official_Journal_of_Romania_Part_I--62.html, Official Journal of
Romania, accessed on the 28th of September 2017;
2
http://www.cdep.ro/pls/dic/site2015.page?den=act2_2&par1=0&idl=2, The Constitution of Romania, accessed
on the 28th of September 2017;
3
Ibid;
4
https://www.romanialaonu.org/tratatele-onu-privind-drepturile-om, Romania at UN, accessed on the 28th of
September 2017;
5
UN General Assembly, International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 16 December
1966, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 993, p. 3, available at:
http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/ProfessionalInterest/cescr.pdf, accessed on the 28th of September 2017;
Therefore the rights in the ICESCR are protected for Romanian citizens by the state
Constitution. The rights and liberties of the citizens stated in the ICESCR are enforced by
domestic laws, thus being applied by domestic courts. In the judiciary of Romania the
Constitutional Court of Romania being the only independent legislative institution which rules
6
on whether the laws, decrees or other bills of Romanian authorities are Constitutional.
Romania has not signed nor ratified the Optional Protocol to the ICESCR. The Optional
Protocol of the ICESCR should be signed and ratified by Romania, thus legally enforcing the
obligations stated. I am base my statement on the fact that even though Romania has a strong
legal framework de facto their enforcement is highly problematic due strong social norms,
corruption and bureaucracy.
Based on the most recent periodic reporting of Romania, dated on the 9th of
April 2013 the third, fourth and fifth periodic reports submitted under the CESCR the main
issues to which the Committee paid attention are:
 corruption, information on concrete measures taken as part of the National Anti-
Corruption Strategy of 2012-2015, impact, more exactly addressing the allegation of
corruption and protection of those reporting cases of corruption;
 discrimination against Roma, exemplification of concrete measures, impact and
obstacles of The 2012–2020 Strategy for the Inclusion of Romanian Citizens
Belonging to the Roma Minority as guaranteeing equal treatment of Roma minority;
 asylum seeking as possibility to increase the number of asylum seekers and types of
services provided by the Romanian State;
 discrimination based on sexual orientation, emphasizing on the social dimension;
 discrimination against women, results of the 2010–2012 National Strategy for Equal
Opportunities between Women and Men and concrete measures in regard of
representation of woman in private and public sectors;
 unemployment levels and rates detailed by full-time/part-time, private/public sectors,
ethnic appurtenance, age, urban/rural and other relevant dichotomies;
 concrete measures taken in accordance with the General Plan of Action of the 2010–
2012 National Strategy for Equal Opportunities in order to reduce the gender pay gap,
 mechanisms of review of minimum wage;
 protection against anti-union discrimination;
 impact and measures of the programme of Social Housing for Roma Communities;

6
https://www.ccr.ro/Reguli-comune, Constitutional Court of Romania, accessed on the 28th of September 2017;
  eviction guidelines and protection of tenants buy the Law on Housing;
 data of the Romanian population in regard of access to public water supply systems of
rural and urban areas;
 measures for the reduction of inequalities and corruption in the health care system;
 concrete measures and responses in regard of discrimination and ill treatment of Roma
in the public health system;
 measures in regard of reduction of child mortality and malnutrition;
 measures and strategies applied in order to provide medical support for persons
affected by HIV/SIDA and the prevention of spreading of the virus;
 measures taken in regard of reduction and prevention of narcotic usage and access to
treatment and rehabilitation;
 measures taken in order to reduce possible hidden costs of the public education;
 concrete measures to prevent social stereotypes and discrimination against Roma in
the educational system as well as the outcomes of the Order no. 1.540/2007 in regard
of banning the segregation of children in public schools;
 information on strategies aimed to protect the cultural and linguistic heritage of
national minorities;
 measures taken by the state to ensure access to disadvantaged and marginalized
individuals to the Internet.
The Romanian Government in the Governance Programme 2017-2020 focuses
mainly on the economic dimension and revisualization of taxations systems in order to
support entrepreneurship and development of the agricultural sector, expecting an estimate
growth of the Romanian economy by 5,5%. Important attention has been given to the health
care system, personnel has been excepted from the income taxes in order to increase salaries
and discourage corruption in these field of public assistance. From January 2018 is expected
the introduction of different income taxation system for various segments of income,
including pensions and other monetary state assistance. The schooling system is expected to
be modified and the salaries of personnel increased with 20% by the end of 2018.
Corruption is still a big issue in Romania, although trough the last years important progress
has been made7, the majority socialist government systematically trying to enforce their
legislative power in order to distillate the independence of the judiciary system (draft law to
complete or modify Law 303/2004 and Law 317/2004) or even to decriminalize certain forms
7
http://www.pna.ro/results.xhtml, National Anticorruption Directorate Annual Reports 2016, accessed on the
29th of September 2017;
of corruption (Ordinance Decree 13/2017 now repealed). As of now the civil society and the
president have key roles in the fight against corruption in Romania.
Judiciary implications to complete the following laws: no. 215/2001, no. 1/2011, no. 95/ 2006
and GD no. 162/20088; concrete measures and budgeting can be found in the renewed version
on the website of the National Agency for Roma (http://www.anr.gov.ro/);
Asylum accordance in Romania has increased by approximately 50% by each year since 2014
trough UE Decision no. 2015/1523 and no. 2015/1601, trough domestic legislation Law no.
7/2017 monetary and cultural assistance had been improved.
Discrimination based on sexual orientation is a problematic issue in Romania, trough Law no.
135/2002 protection against all forms of discrimination is guaranteed, although on social
level, 15,38% of the population of Romania signed the petition for the modification trough
referendum of the constitutional definition (Art 48.) of the family as the “ legal and
consensual unity of male and female”, constituting as the biggest actio popularis movement
of democratic Romania, thus decreasing acceptance and inclusion of the LGBT community.
In order to solve the issues of underrepresentation of woman or the gender pay gap, there had
been taken measures in order to increase and promote equality of the genders based on the
outcomes of the Report on Gender Equality of the National Agency for Employment,
although discrimination against woman and underrepresentation remains a widespread issue
in the Romanian society.
According to the report od National Biro of Statistics, in the 2 nd trimester of 2017 there had
been 65,5% occupancy for citizens aged 15-649, further details on the levels of employment
for certain categories of population can be found at the official webpage of the institution.
In regard of national minorities, there are a number of 13 (special) laws regarding the
protection of the cultural heritage10 of the 17 recognised national minorities (11% of the
population of Romania). Strategy for Inclusion of Romanian Citizens of Roma Ethnicity
2012-2020 and periodic reporting state that there have been improvements in the inclusion of
the Roma community. 11

8
http://www.anr.gov.ro/docs/Site2014/Strategie/Strategie_final_18-11-2014.pdf, Final strategy 2014 - Appendix
1, accessed on the 29th of September 2017;
9
http://www.insse.ro/cms/sites/default/files/com_presa/com_pdf/somaj_tr2r_17.pdf, National Biro of Statistics,
Report on the Unemployment Rates 2017, accessed on the 29th of September 2017;
10
http://www.edrc.ro/juridic_search.jsp, Database of The National Centre for Ethno -Cultural Diversity,
accessed on the 29th of September 2017;
11
http://www.anr.gov.ro/docs/Site2016/Transparenta/Rapoarte/Rapoarte2015/Raport%202015%20final.pdf,
Annual Report of the National Agency for Roma 2015, accessed on the 29th of September 2017.