The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) recently published its fourth report on Romania, which has nearly 200 recommendations. It mentions that the country has made some progress since its last report from 2006. However, ECRI finds it necessary to underline that problems do persist in relation to discrimination against religion, sexual and national minorities, to the restitution of nationalized properties and to investigating police abuses.

In reaching its conclusions, ECRI consulted, among other documents, several APADOR-CH reports. It therefore made recommendations that have been strongly supported by APADOR-CH over the years, including:

-ECRI strongly recommends Romanian authorities set up an independent mechanism for dealing with complaints against the police. This would deal with, inter alia, issues of racial discrimination and enquire as to the reasons why no complaints have been lodged against police officers.

-ECRI recommends that the Romanian authorities amend the law and monitor its applications so as to ensure that deceased persons belonging to all religious denominations, religious groups and religious associations can be buried in accordance with their religious rites.

-ECRI strongly recommends that the Romanian authorities give decisive impetus to the implementation of the general measures they have undertaken to apply further to the judgments handed down by the European Court of Human Rights against Romania. ECRI further recommends that similar measures and programs be developed for the communities that have been affected in the meantime by racially motivated violence against the Roma.

ECRI announced it will conduct a process of interim follow-up for three of its recommendations, no later than two years following the publication of its report.

INTERIM FOLLOW-UP RECOMMENDATIONS

The three specific recommendations, for which ECRI requests priority implementation from the authorities of Romania, are the following:

·To conduct campaigns informing the general public about the criminal law provisions concerning the fight against racism and that information is provided to victims on the bodies that are competent to provide assistance and/or redress.

·To devise a comprehensive data collection system on the application of criminal law provisions against racism and racial discrimination. Such a system should record the number of investigations opened by the police, the cases referred to the prosecutor, the number of cases pending before court and their final decisions, broken down per reference year and per relevant criminal law provision.

·To ensure that sufficient funds are allocated and a strong impetus is given to the Strategy for Improving the Situation of the Roma; to ensure coordination between the ministries; and to guarantee the accountability of the local authorities to the central authorities in implementing the Strategy.

What is ECRI

The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) was established by the Council of Europe. It is an independent human rights monitoring body specialized in questions relating to racism and intolerance. It is composed of independent and impartial members, who are appointed on the basis of their moral authority and recognized expertise in dealing with racism, xenophobia, antisemitism and intolerance.

In the framework of its statutory activities, ECRI conducts country-by-country monitoring work, which analyzes the situation in each of the member states regarding racism and intolerance and draws up suggestions and proposals for dealing with the problems identified.

ECRI’s country-by-country monitoring deals with all member states of the Council of Europe on an equal footing. The work is taking place in five-year cycles, covering nine to ten countries per year. The working methods for the preparation of the reports involve documentary analyses, a contact visit in the country concerned, and then a confidential dialogue with the national authorities.

The fourth round country-by-country reports focus on implementation and evaluation. They examine the extent to which ECRI’s main recommendations from previous reports have been followed and include an evaluation of policies adopted and measures taken.

ECRI's report on Romania is available in Romanian, English and French.