CRC/C/ROM/CO/4
page 14
57.
The Committee recommends that the State party:
(a)
Adopt a comprehensive strategy to prevent child abuse and neglect;
(b) Establish mechanisms for monitoring the number of cases and the extent of
sexual abuse, neglect, maltreatment or exploitation, including within the family, in schools
and in institutional or other care;
(c) Ensure that professionals working with children (including teachers, social
workers, medical professionals, members of the police and the judiciary) receive training
on and are held accountable with regard to their obligation to report and take
appropriate action in suspected cases of domestic violence affecting children;
(d) Strengthen support for victims of violence, abuse, neglect and maltreatment
in order to ensure that they are not victimized once again during legal proceedings;
(e) Provide access to adequate services for recovery, counselling and other
forms of reintegration in all parts of the country.
Corporal punishment
58.
The Committee notes with appreciation that following the adoption of Law No.
272/2004, the State party has now explicitly prohibited all forms of corporal punishment. The
Committee is, however, concerned that given the prevalence of corporal punishment in the home
prior to the prohibition, as well as the persistence of attitudes and low level of involvement in
known cases by the general population, the practice of corporal punishment persists in the home,
The Committee notes that corporal punishment persists also in schools and institutional settings
despite the fact that they have been prohibited by law for several decades.
59.
The Committee recommends that the State party, taking into account the
Committee’s general comment No. 8 (2006) on the right of the child to protection from
corporal punishment and other cruel or degrading forms of punishment, intensify its
awareness-raising and public education campaigns, in order to promote the use of
alternative non-violent forms of child-rearing in accordance with the Convention and
Council of Europe 2009-2011 Strategy for Building a Europe for and with children.
5. Basic health and welfare
(arts. 6, 18 (para. 3), 23, 24, 26, 27 (paras. 1-3) of the Convention)
Children with disabilities
60.
The Committee welcomes the creation of the National Authority for Disabled Persons
(NACP) in 2003, coordinating the activities of special protection and promotion of disabled
people’s rights at central level as well as the adoption of Law No. 448/2006 on the promotion
and protection of disabled people. While noting the decrease in the number of children with
disabilities in institutions, the Committee is concerned that:
(a) Many children living with disabilities are only identified, certified and guided to
competent services upon enrolment in school, or around the age of 7;
(b) In order to be certified as having a disability, a child has to appear before many
agencies, which can be a challenge for children and their families living in rural areas;