Children’s Rights

Implementing Children’s Rights In Romania

Emma led the campaign to protect the rights of the Romanian children. She also led the fight against the trade in children, known as Inter-Country Adoption. This has been a controversial struggle against a large, rich and well-organized lobby, which remains in the shadow and uses well meaning parents and children as their campaigners and spokespersons. A lot of insulting and untrue accusations have been thrown at Emma regarding the adoption issue, and it is the most controversial aspect of her work.

To see Emma’s side of the argument the following list or articles could be seen here:

 

New legislation for child protection came into effect in Romania , in January 2005. The new legislation gives an opportunity to more effectively prevent child abandonment, abuse and neglect. A huge network of foster families has been developed. In addition, it is no longer allowed to institutionalize children under two years old. The new legislation also puts an end to the corruption generated by inter-country adoptions, and offers a real chance for the Romanian families to adopt Romanian children. A national training plan is being implemented with EU Phare support, and all those who come into contact with children in the course of their work (teachers, medics, policemen, etc) have been introduced to the fundamentals of children’s rights.

An important instrument for reform was the forum of the High Level Group for Romanian Children , which brought together all those involved in child welfare reform. The High Level Group for Romania’s Children was founded in 2000 by Baroness Nicholson, with the support of European Commissioner and the Romanian Prime Minister.

This structure is the inspiration for the new Children’s High Level Group charity, which was established in Romania and the UK to support the reform process in ROMANIA (as many challenges still exist) and share the Romanian experience across Europe . The founding members are Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne MEP, J.K. Rowling, Muir John Potter OBE, and Professor Kevin Browne.

Today, the success of the reforms in its child welfare system has turned Romania into a model of good practice for other countries in the region. This is not to say that all is perfect in Romania , where the problem of rural poverty, in particular, is acute. There is also a big problem with people trafficking through Romania and conditions for disabled persons.