Radio România Internațional

Category: Society Today

  • The Romanian employees’ mental health

    The Romanian employees’ mental health

    The two cases of workplace deaths in 2024 have drawn the attention of specialists.

     

    Moreover, in February 2025, a Romanian company was convicted in court for the first time for the professional burnout of an employee, and the company must pay her moral and material damages. And the data confirms that the level of stress related to the workplace does not only affect isolated cases. A recent study that analyzed the responses provided by 3,500 employees in Romania shows that 48% of them experience, often and very often, symptoms of anxiety at work, while 43% allocate at most three hours a week for relaxation.

     

    Corina Neagu has over 20 years of experience in the field of human resources and is the founder of a consulting company that helps organizations cultivate the potential of their employees, which, in turn, discover their talents. She believes that the low level of education in Romania over the last 35 years and the lack of emotional education are determining factors of mental health problems related to the workplace.

     

    Corina Neagu believes that Romanian schools still have a lot to improve in order to learn to provide students with the skills they need in the future: “School in Romania has brought us to a situation where we do not prepare skills at all, we do not take care of the emotional well-being of our children. Parents who are either abroad for work, or are not emotionally available, or there are dysfunctional relationships in the families, or poverty – when we are talking about the rural environment, or abuse of all kinds. Not even parents know how to be good to themselves, so that they can manage their relationship with their children. And then, all these things have led to our state, as a people, from an emotional and mental point of view, not being exactly as it should be. Yes, in a civilized, healthy, normal country there are prevention policies, there are strategies at the national level, there are programs at the organizational level, prevention and wellbeing — to encourage well-being and psychological safety at work.”

     

    The expert believes that in the past of our people, patterns of behavior were formed that it is time to break. In this sense, fear, as the main instrument of control during communism, still makes its presence felt in the way we relate to each other hierarchically. The lack of a culture, of teamwork, a misunderstood individualism and shame as a component of the way we relate to each other are other inherited cultural aspects: “Another cultural model is that we did not have the right to an opinion. We did not know what feedback meant. If we opened our mouths, we were told “go to your room, now the adults are talking”. I am not talking about the instruments of coercion that existed at home and at school. Again, this is a model that has been perpetuated.”

     

    Many important voices in the field of human resources increasingly say that organizations play an essential role in the well-being of employees and, therefore, of society in general. Corina Neagu: “Companies are not third parties, they are run by people who have to make decisions. The decision to take care of your employees must be a priority for any kind of organization and for any kind of leaders of that organization. Why do you take care of your people? Do your people take care of your customers? It’s very simple. Yes, both internal and external customers. That’s what Richard Branson said, it is not I who said it, but he said it very well. I mean, this is extremely important —not just in the sense that you give a salary at the end of the month, but be careful to create the space, the culture, and the environment where they feel authentic and can come and express themselves authentically. Conscious authenticity. I mean, we don’t expose everything about us in public, but we come without any kind of sword over our head and without any kind of repercussion — if I give feedback, without any kind of associated trauma, if during a discussion I don’t agree with you and we have divergent opinions and I feel comfortable expressing my point of view the way I think. So I express what I think without being penalized, harassed, abused, marginalized or fired. ”

     

    A survey conducted by the BestJobs platform last year revealed that Romanian employee satisfaction at work was at its lowest level in three years, with only three in ten respondents saying they were satisfied with their jobs. In the same study, six out of ten employees said their job negatively affected their personal lives. At the same time, there are a growing number of NGOs and trained people helping companies and employees develop healthier work environments, where healthy communication and empathy guide interpersonal relationships. (EE)

  • People and the Church

    People and the Church

    2025 was declared by the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church as the Year of Homage to the Centenary of the Romanian Patriarchate. A law in this sense was also adopted by the Bucharest Parliament. In fact, the anniversary is double! It has been 100 years since the elevation of the BOR to the rank of Patriarchate (on February 4, 1925 and 140 years since the recognition of it Autocephaly (on April 25, 1885). Therefore, the year 2025 is an occasion for great joy and celebration, but also for centenary reviews.

    In addition to the current liturgical activity or the religious assistance it provides in hospitals, orphanages, penitentiaries or old people’s homes, the Orthodox Church also carries out a huge social-philanthropic activity in support of disadvantaged people or people with various problems. The adviser on social issues to Patriarch Daniel of Romania, father Ciprian Ioniță, told us about some of these activities:

    ʺIt is the command of our Savior Jesus Christ to love thy neighbor and those who need help. We, the Church, have always had socio-medical centers next to the monasteries, and recently some of them have been accredited, authorized and offer quality services to vulnerable people. Immediately after 1990, foundations were established next to the Church, such as the Diaconia Association of the Romanian Patriarchate, the Saint Macrina Foundation for Solidarity and Hope – another foundation in Iasi, which also has the largest hospital that the Orthodox Church has… There are many! We have a map with all social services, updated, on the website social-filantropic.patriarhia.ro. There one can find absolutely all the services that the Church is developing at the moment. Each diocese has at least one social-philanthropic department where there is a counselor and diocesan inspectors, as well as NGOs, and the priest who wants to develop an activity at the level of his parish can turn either to the diocese to receive guidance or to us, the Patriarchate. We also have a Federation, of the Romanian Patriarchate, which brings together the most important NGOs that the Church has, and there are, at the moment, 27 NGOs.ʺ

    The actions of the Filantropia (Philanthropy) Federation, through the associations and foundations that make it up, are both for the urban and the rural environment. It’s just that, given that the number of people in need is greater in the rural areas, the support for those there is also somewhat more consistent, standing at some 60%. Father Ciprian Ionita has more:

    ʺCan I give you an example from today? The Filantropia Federation is running a campaign, called “Help an old person to smile” – we help vulnerable elderly people. And we received a request from a parish somewhere on the border between Bacău county and Harghita county. We have a campaign to offer ophthalmology consultation, but also free glasses. What do we do? We go with our volunteers, we consult the elderly, and after that we come to Bucharest, and have the glasses made. Just today we had such a request for 70 people. We have activities that we carry out and which are posted on our Facebook page. The priest saw it there, he called me, I told him to contact the social advisor of the Roman and Bacău Archdiocese first, together with him we made a request, we present it to Father Patriarch and obviously it will be solved.ʺ

    The church helps the elderly, which are the most numerous beneficiaries. However, it also helps around 130,000 children in difficult situations, single mothers, women that victims of domestic violence, sick people who cannot afford to pay for medical services who have nothing to put on the table or who need counseling – for example, who are unemployed or addicted. Here is the Advisor to the Patriarch of Romania again:

    ʺFilantropia Federation is a training provider and we have a specialization course in counseling in the field of addictions. Initially, we thought that it would be useful to our fellow priests to know this part, but in the meantime we received many, many requests from teachers or from people who work in certain centers with addictions, and we cover in this course, the whole part of addictions – alcohol, digital addictions, drug addiction… And you should know that it is a course that, lately, has been very popular. The courses are given by those who want to help people who are in a situation of addiction, but we also had a course in Târgu Mureș, about two years ago, in which there were people who had overcome their addictions but wanted to take this course, to be able to help those who are in situations like this.ʺ

    The course aimed at combating addictions has existed since 2022 and thanks to it, around 500 people have been trained so far. Specialization or professional training courses are also of great interest. For example, in the future, the Orthodox Church wants to develop its own network of home caregivers. Father Ciprian Ioniță told us more about this project and others:

    ʺWe consider that the elderly are very vulnerable and need help, and that is why we want to form a network of home care at the level of the entire Patriarchate, especially since, as time passes, the statistics also show that Romania is becoming quite an aged country so wee need to help these people. It is one of the projects, let’s say, for the near future. Various projects have also been submitted for children! We have had projects and will have more in the ecology area! We had initiatives in the Romanian Orthodox Church together with the Republic of Moldova! Just yesterday I returned from a course on domestic violence, I participated as a trainer for priests from the Republic of Moldova. We have a lot of projects!ʺ

    The church also has many projects intended for Romanians in the diaspora.

    The century of existence and rich activity of the Romanian Patriarchate – said Patriarch Daniel – has been marked by many blessings, but also by some difficult trials.ʺ Patriarchal adviser Ciprian Ioniță told us about the most difficult from the point of view of social-philanthropic activity?:

    ʺThe hardest thing, sometimes, is when, due to lack of funds, because we are limited, a center closes and we think about how to get the people who are in that center or who depend on the services we have in that center and move them to another center. But, thank God, if one center closes, usually another two are opened. For example in 2022 we had 767 services, this year we have 100 more – 867.ʺ

    The adviser on social issues to the Patriarch of Romania, father Ciprian Ioniță, is co-author of a balance sheet book about the social-philanthropic work of the Orthodox Church in the pat century. It will appear in October, when the Homage Year of the Centenary of the Romanian Patriarchate will culminate with the great consecration of the National Cathedral in Bucharest. (MI)

  • Can artificial intelligence steal our jobs? Can anything be done about that?

    Can artificial intelligence steal our jobs? Can anything be done about that?

    Fear looms as artificial intelligence (AI) can possibly fuel an unemployment crisis making human work literally irrelevant. It is one of the most serious concerns of our times. According to more optimistic predictions AI will only replace repetitive jobs, jobs that do not imply creativity or innovation. Notwithstanding, for media and creative industry employees it is all clear that things are gloomier than they appear to be.

    Over one third of translators lost part of their workload because of AI. Companies have carried massive layoffs for content writer positions, keeping only the bare minimum of employees, in a bid to make AI work sound more human. Moreover, 46% of the respondents to a survey carries in the United States expressed their fear that AI would replace press reporters and book authors.

    Luiza Banyai has a more than 20 years’ experience in HR. Ms Banyai is also a consultant in organizational transformation. She believes that, against this backdrop, the importance of lifelong training and development is as important as it could be. However, such a responsibility equally lies with the employer and the employee:

    “First off, that alone should generate a need to learn. The responsibility of learning lies with every one of us, meaning my boss cannot be responsible for how I develop, yet he is responsible for making sure I have the necessary tools and knowledge so I can do the job I have been hired for. Also, so I can grow in the company, as for myself and company, it is an advantage to grow in that particular company,

    The hardest thing is to adapt a cultural man, and not to have them grow, from the standpoint of skills and competences. Once I adapted culturally in a company, I know how everything works, I understand that particular business, the easiest thing, actually, is to invest in my growth, so I can advance to other positions. And that is the manager’s job. My job, however, is to be able to become responsible for my own growth. “
    Luiza Banyai believes that, for those whom AI affects directly, at individual level, because the job they have been training for, is no longer necessary, fear have its negative effects. However, the expert suggests a different attitude:

    “Every time, it is like a process, I return into the loop, I understand what I want, what I like to do, what, from what I do, can be paid ? What, from what I do, is not paid any more. Okay, what can I do differently so I can retain my relevance? And then you need to begin to learn other skills, that’s all. Everything changes.

    The job of streamer, did it exist a couple of years ago? Did we have Uber? Is there any opportunity to make global translations? AI ethics jobs will appear, for instance, the fake news detectors, who will be very important in the company.“

    Luiza Banyai believes that, in Romania, in recent years the investment made was not efficient and sufficient enough in the development of competences required for human resources departments, so that the latter can contribute in their maximum capacity to the employees’ organizational development.

    Also, Luiza Banyai considers the middle management competences did not grow organically and in harmony with the company’s infrastructure, so the managers can have the knowledge of how to develop the human potential in the teams they run, in a sustainable and sound manner. People in such positions no longer have the necessary or the required tools so they can help the others grow, stay motivated and continue to get involved.

    “It happened during the most recent crisis, over 2008-2009, when the crisis was a major one. We all know we had been going through other crises, the pandemic and suchlike…and what are we going through right now. But here is what happened then: companies had to resurface very quickly, they had to survive. So they needed people who were strictly oriented towards the delivery of a result. These people grew, they delivered results. It’s just that they delivered business/processes results.

    In the human sector, if you want to enhance the management you need to invest organically and you need to infuse development, in a strategic manner. You’re the one who must teach the manager how to use the hammer and the anvil. You’re the one who must do your duty to teach them, afterwards creating an auspicious context for them to implement it, and for that there wasn’t much time.

    And then quite a few of them grew with the title, with the name; somehow the position enhancement was used as a method of retention, which is wrong, because, longer-term, it only generates safeguarding, no development is generated doing that, or engagement, it is a form of safeguarding a contract.

    And something like that can be felt, it can be seen in the patterns of behavior around the company, you can see that in the amount of pressure, you can see that in the fact that the conductor no longer exists, which means that in the long run, the role of the manager is to conduct. He is like the conductor of an orchestra, all that can be so finely-tuned and fine from the standpoint of the impact they have…”

    According to a recent survey, 50% of the Romanian employees believe the current retraining/refresher programs in companies fail to develop communication and relational skills (soft skills) tailored to real-life scenarios. In the big companies, such a percentage can reach 56%.

    For Luiza Banyai, the role a company can play in its employees’ lives is honorable, since they have the opportunity to offer people useful skills, not only on the job but also in all other aspects of their lives. Learning how to communicate efficiently, how to get involved in the decision-making process or how to offer and receive feedback, these are qualities that contribute to a better life and to a better society, generally speaking.

    Therefore, the organizations that will embrace lifelong learning will have employees who are prepared to respond to the changes of our times. For them, technology will be an ally and not a reason to fear.

  • “A woman’s job”: solutions for gender inequality in STEM

    “A woman’s job”: solutions for gender inequality in STEM

    Worldwide, UNESCO statistics show that women make up only a third of scientific researchers, and that this proportion has remained stable over the past decade. At the highest levels, namely in leadership positions and as members of national science academies, however, women account for only 12%.

    According to data from 2023, in Romania, girls and women account for 41% of graduates in STEM disciplines (namely science, technology, engineering and mathematics), which is above the European average of 32.8%. The following countries in the European ranking, with the highest percentages in this respect, are Poland and Greece. Despite this, women doctoral graduates in science and technology account for only 0.24% of the total population of Romania, placing the country at the bottom of the ranking in the European Union. Moreover, only one in five people employed in STEM fields in Romania is a woman.

    Science experts believe that we should look less at the numbers that place Romania among the top countries for women with undergraduate degrees or working in science and more at the low representation of women in leadership positions in the field of research. A possible explanation for the highest percentage of female graduates in STEM fields in Romania may be the result of government policy back during the communist regime. The latter’s efforts to achieve mass literacy and professionalise women with the aim of modernising society were not based on gender equality or feminist ideas.

    Some solutions to the present situation have come from schools, namely from the girls directly affected by this inequality. The “Girls in STEM” project was initiated in May-June 2024 by the Girl Up Neuroscience organisation, which is funded by the United Nations and led by ten young high school students. 

    Marina Suvac, a 12th grade student at the Vasile Alecsandri National College in Galați (in eastern Romania) and the president of the Girl Up Neuroscience organisation, explains:

    “I noticed the lack of representation of women in this field. I’m passionate about neuroscience and there are many projects like Girl in STEM, encouraging women in science in general, and they are usually focused on high school students, but I thought of doing something more specific in neuroscience, because STEM is a larger area, it includes more, and that’s basically how Girl Up Neuroscience came about. I also found this international initiative, Girl Up, and they have a very detailed website, and from there I learned a little more about them and I wanted to be part of their change somehow.”

    Although there are projects that aim to encourage girls to pursue these fields, Marina Suvac says that they are mainly aimed at high school students. In her opinion, this stage is already too late: the profile of the high school has already been chosen, and the idea that the exact sciences are more of a male field is already ingrained. Asked what they have managed to do so far, in their free time, when they are not attending classes, Marina Suvac answers:

    “We gave about nine webinars, available nationally, with speakers from various fields. There were a lot of female speakers, from a lot of fields, discussing both women in STEM generally, but also specifically feminism or neuroscience. This year we also approached the area of mental health. Girls in STEM, which was our summer project, took place in June and August, and consisted of a conference and three workshops with activities in which girls between the ages of 10 and 14 were invited to conduct real experiments.”

    When it comes to the tangible effects of the lack of representation of women in science, Marina Suvac says she has experienced them herself:

    “In the 9th grade, I went to a high school where achievement was measured based on how pupils din in the Olympiad competitions, mainly, in science, but in my class at the time, there were only five girls out of 21 pupils. It was a computer science and chemistry class.”

    The events organised by Girl Up Neuroscience were attended by Romanian women who graduated from sciences faculties or who work in STEM fields in Romania and abroad. In addition to conferences, webinars and workshops with dozens of experiments, the Girl Up Neuroscience team, made up of over two hundred high school students who work as volunteers, published numerous explanatory articles on the website. Among the topics addressed are emotional intelligence, the effects of trauma, the dopamine circuit, neurodiversity, but also themes that address gender equality.

    A survey conducted in 2021 in seven countries found that parents’ gender stereotypes could also play a role in perpetuating gender inequality in STEM fields. According to the responses, the parents surveyed were six times more likely to picture of a man when asked to think of a scientist (85%) and more than eight times more likely when asked to think of an engineer (89%).

  • Cancer and lifestyle

    Cancer and lifestyle

    The  number of deaths from cancer are going up.

     

     

    Unfortunately,  the number of young people affected by cancer is also increasing. The trend is observed worldwide, according to a study that analyzes global statistics and focuses on 29 types of cancer in people aged 14 to 49. According to this study, between 1990 and 2019, the incidence of cancer increased by approximately 79%.This upward trend is also valid in Romania, where cancer is the second cause of death, after cardiovascular diseases. In the European Union, Romania ranks first in mortality in oncological pathology, with 48% more deaths than the European average and over 20,000 deaths that could be avoided each year.

     

    Why this increase in illnesses among people, in general and young people, in particular? There are many causes. Among them – lifestyle, including nutrition, which is discussed by Doctor Mircea Beuran, an expert in medical sciences, specializing in oncological surgery at the Floreasca Emergency Hospital in Bucharest: ʺChange in lifestyle! You should know that we are observing this now as the tip of the iceberg, but there are observations from oncological studies that the changes, slowly, gradually, appeared around the 1950s, with industrialization, with the change in life in capitalist countries, with the change in toxins, diet, habits, etc. All of this, over time, against the backdrop of genetic changes that we all carry, has created the favorable ground for it to develop. This analysis, made at an international level – America, Japan, Europe – shows that cancer numbers in young people is increasing. Without relying on purely local statistics, I can tell you from the cases we have at Floreasca Hospital that in the case of young people, there is an increase in cancers of the digestive tract, esophagus, stomach, colon, rectum, small intestine, liver. Every day, the surgery at Floreasca has two, three, four colon, rectal… complicated cancers. It is linked to many things – the consumption of hydrocarbon drinks, energy drinks, alcohol, smoking, sedentary lifestyle, working under stress. Then, many are addicted to activity under blue radiation, such as the computer monitor, tablet, phone. I can tell you that some people are sleep deprived and we don’t only see this in young adults, but we also see it, from conversations with them, in their children.ʺ

     

    According to Doctor Mircea Beuran, the most common type of cancer is colorectal cancer, which the renowned surgeon attributes to an inadequate diet: ʺI’m referring to the fact that a lot of the food we eat comes from ultra-processed things. This ultra-processing loads the respective food with a number of toxins, that it is linked to coloring, preservation, the particularity of the smell, and so on. These toxins, which cannot be neutralised, can only produce changes at cell level. These changes, over time, develop tumors. Tumors of all kinds. So eating vegetables and fruit is a must! And the food options we keep discussing are about not eating food that it is not cooked at home.ʺ

     

    The last meal of the day should be taken around 7:00 p.m. And, Dr. Beuran says, when we eat, we should not get up from the table full, to give the body the peace it needs to process the food bowl. As for the night meals, these are out of the question. There are opinions in the international medical world that alcoholic beverages should carry on a special label, like tobacco, a warning about the risk of cancer. Dr. Beuran also believes that it would be a good thing: ʺAlcohol consumption, even in small quantities, is associated with seven types of cancer. Chronic alcohol consumption, even in small quantities, changes the body’s behavior, towards obesity. And if alcohol is added to smoking, to a sedentary lifestyle, this only leads to very important changes, starting with the oral cavity. So, these chronic alcohol consumers have cancers of the mouth, esophagus, liver cancer, they get colorectal cancer, women get breast cancer. Alcohol increases hormone levels, especially estrogen and insulin. The increase in estrogen is a cause of breast cancer, and estrogens and insulin do nothing else, as hormones, than cause a division, a more frequent multiplication of cells, which is why, at a certain point, the body can no longer control this division and they can turn into cancerous tumors.ʺ

    In other words, pay attention to quantity and quality! An unhealthy lifestyle, which we follow for a long time, can have a great negative impact on our life.

  • Housing as a fundamental human right

    Housing as a fundamental human right

    Housing costs are the biggest expense in households in the European Union, and the rising house prices and rents, the high construction costs and the rising mortgage interest rates are just some of the effects. Where does Romania stand in this context? ‘Housing must be treated as a fundamental right, so that all Europeans, including young people and vulnerable groups, should enjoy decent and sustainable living conditions.’ This was the sentiment expressed in one voice during the first housing forum at the end of last year in Brussels.

     

    A 2023 report showed that nearly half of the rent-paying Europeans felt they were living at the risk of having to leave their home in the next three months because they could no longer afford it. Meanwhile, homelessness is becoming one of the continent’s biggest problems, with nearly a million people without a home.

     

    According to the General Secretary of Housing of Europe, Sorcha Edwards, the current housing crisis has many facets. In addition to overcrowded areas and housing, which contrasts with under-occupied regions, we also face energy poverty, meaning houses that have not been modernized and insulated and thus push people into poor conditions, that is too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter. Another problem is housing for the elderly or disabled, which is not adapted to their needs.

     

    Sorcha Edwards: “We see also people, victims of domestic violence for instance, who do not find alternative accommodation. And of course, we see the most visible face of the housing crisis is homelessness. But the problem and why we have these problems in some areas is mixed. So, it’s sometimes a lack of capacity within local authorities, within governments, because this is a very complex issue.  And very often we have lost the knowledge within our governments to manage this complex sector.  And we have hoped that in many cases that the market would take care of it. And of course, when we leave a sector like this only to the market, we see opportunism, we see extraction of profit.”

     

    Although, according to Eurostat statistics from 2023, Romania is the country with the highest percentage of homeowners (93% of Romanians own the house they live in and only 7% are rent payers), Romanians’ houses were among the most crowded (40%), surpassed only by those in Latvia, with 40.9%. In addition, houses in Romania and Slovakia have the lowest number of rooms per person: 1.1 rooms against a European average of 1.6. At the opposite pole are Malta and Luxembourg, with 2.3 and 2.2 rooms per person respectively. In 2023, only 1.5% of the entire EU population lived in households without an indoor toilet, shower or bathtub, but, by far, the highest percentage of these were in Romania, over 20% (followed by Bulgaria and Latvia, with 7% each).

     

    Asked what solutions Romania could adopt, inspired by the successful projects of other member states, Sorcha Edwards answers: “Obviously in housing a copy-paste is not really possible. You have to look at your local needs, local scenarios, trends, average income of the population, what are the forecasts in terms of demographic forecasts, in terms of employment opportunities, are there areas where you predict more employment opportunities. So, you have a range of different considerations. But one that we have seen as a very successful approach is to increase the supply of limited profit, public or social housing, depending on which of those models fits more within the local culture and the local needs. So, what that can do is that it can ensure that you avoid housing exclusion, you help to avoid housing overburden rate, and you have to help to provide a choice for people.”

     

    Although the landscape differs from one member state to another, even from one area to another, the main difficulties in reducing the housing crisis at the European level do not differ much from those faced by Romania. Sorcha Edwards is back at the microphone: “So, what we are seeing now is a huge hike in the price of construction materials. This is obviously slowing down the delivery. We are also seeing difficulty in accessing the right amount of land. And if we think about also the potential for conversion of existing buildings, which obviously is also a fantastic option in terms of reducing CO2-embedded carbon in new housing deliveries, we are also seeing delays in the permits because of complexity around ownership of existing buildings. So, these are all issues that can be overcome if we have a clear vision and a clear political will and targets to reach.”

     

    Although Romania has to recover in different aspects compared to the other member states, and although rent and housing prices have also increased in this country, the increases were less dramatic than in most states. If from 2010 to the last quarter of 2024, prices increased by 230% in Hungary and Estonia, by 181% in Lithuania, by 113% in Portugal and by 110% in Bulgaria, in Romania, the increase was below 30%.

     

    Also, according to the expert Sorcha Edwards, the housing sector plays to the tune of the investors, and if their interest does not go beyond maximizing profit in the shortest possible time, access to homes for all European citizens will continue to remain a problem. (LS)

  • Society Today

    Society Today

    The risk of poverty and social exclusion is what characterises a household experiencing at least one of the three associated risks: incomes under the poverty threshold, namely 325 euros per person in 2023, material and social deprivation and a low work intensity, where adults worked less than 20% of their work-time potential during the previous year.

    According to Eurostat statistics for 2023, Romania reported the highest risk of poverty and social exclusion, at 32%, followed by Bulgaria, with 30%, Spain, with 26.5%, and Greece, with 26.1%. Moreover, according to a study conducted by the Save the Children Organisation, almost one in two children in Romania (41.5%), is experiencing poverty and is at risk of social exclusion, which is almost double the European average.

    Other data provided by Eurostat show that in Romania, more than in any other country in the European Union, poverty is inherited. Only 4% of Romanian children living in families with low education levels end up getting a university degree, with only Bulgaria doing worse in this regard in the European Union, with 3.9%, while children in Spain, Portugal and Greece have the highest chances of making generational progress and get a university degree despite coming from families with low education levels, at 49.8%, 37.6% and 34.5%, respectively.

    How come a third of people in Romania live under the poverty threshold while the country’s GDP rose in 2023 by 2.4% compared with 2022 and Romanians spend 39.7 hours at work per week, the highest level in the European Union, where the average is 36.4 working hours per week?

    Political analysts Andrei Țăranu, who teaches at the National School of Political and Administrative Studies in Bucharest, explains the gap:

    “Romania reported economic growth despite and against all social policies. Moreover, it was the young generation who, in 2017, stood against social care, seeking a kind of generation that would be completely purged of the people from the rural areas, from small towns, from everything that is associated with Romania’s communist past, and especially of pensioners. I remember this horrible footage from Iaşi, which is accidentally my hometown, where we see young people throwing 1 leu banknotes in front of an old man for him to pick them up. I think that was the most terrible moment.”

    Andrei Țăranu describes this generation as that of the new capitalism, “bothered” by the existence of an older generation hailing from the period of transition at the end of communism and which has different patterns of consumption and lifestyle:

    “All public policies implemented in Romania post 2004 were based on the idea of economic development. Money was channelled to small and medium sized enterprises and start-up businesses. Funds are being invested at the moment in the building of motorways, but social care and many vulnerable social categories are simply forgotten. And when they do focus on them, for example on old people from the countryside, they do so from electoral reasons.”

    Asked about the solutions to address these social and economic imbalamnces, political analyst Andrei Țăranu is not very optimistic:

    “Naturally, the solutions are political, and can only be so. And for that we need critical mass that understands social and generational groups. I don’t think it will be possible. Some of these left-behind, who perform precarious work, who have no studies or with average studies, who work in constructions or in other precarious fields, including in the public sector, all these people are today in the street supporting these radical-fascist movements. Naturally, the other social-generational categories will not reach out to them, because they see them as enemies, as the people who want to take us out of the European Union and NATO, and blow Romania up. These people don’t want to blow Romania up, but they simply cannot live in it anymore.”

    Political analyst Andrei Țăranu believes 2024 was a decisive year that further divided various social categories and that the media are sharing a large share of the responsibility. He says that, in their rush for sensational stories, the media are ignoring the broader context of the tragedies, focusing instead of cases of behavioural deviation and criminality, most often associated with the areas with a high risk of poverty and social exclusion. These so-called pouches of poverty exploited by the media are the forgotten areas of the country and the people in question are categories who do not benefit from measures to bridge the gaps separating them from the privileged population of the big cities.

  • Work After Retirement in Europe and Romania

    Work After Retirement in Europe and Romania

    A recent study published by Eurostat showed that only 13% of European Union citizens continue to work after retirement. For 36% of them, the desire to remain productive and the fact that they enjoy what they do is the main motivation, while over 28% are driven by financial needs. Other reasons mentioned by the respondents to the study are the desire to remain socially integrated (11%) and the financial attractiveness of work (9%).

    The same study shows that the Baltic states have the highest proportions of seniors who continue to work after retirement: almost 55% (Estonia), 44% (Latvia) and almost 44% (Lithuania). At the opposite end are Greece and Spain (4.2% and 4.9% respectively), and in last place, with only 1.7% of retirees remaining active on the labor market, Romania.

    However, a survey conducted by BestJobs agency contradicts the statistics. In 2021, eight out of ten Romanian employees said they were considering working after retirement. To better understand the reality in Romania, we spoke to Sorina Faier, a human resources specialist with over 17 years of experience in the field.

    “I think the truth is somewhere in the middle. I don’t think Eurostat is completely right either, because it doesn’t have all the data and the other study only says that they intend to work, but not that they are working. Because, indeed, many retirees don’t have a high enough pensions by far — we all know how low pensions we have in Romania — and then they work. But many employers hire illegally, and it’s clear that they don’t appear on the payroll, and then Eurostat wouldn’t have any way of taking them into account.”

    When asked what are the reasons why Romanian retirees choose to stay in the workforce, Sorina Faier believes that financial needs prevail, but also that the desire not to isolate themselves is important.

    “Being sociable, still dynamic, physically and mentally healthy people, they really want to continue their activity in order to maintain this tonic state of being.”

    There are, however, significant differences between top and middle management employees and skilled and unskilled workers. In the case of the former, most want to stay in the same field. Because the mentality of employers has changed in the last ten years, says Sorina Faier, they are more open to retaining or hiring people past retirement age, aware of the benefits brought by the expertise of senior professionals in leadership positions.

    “I notice from all the interviews we have, and from all the meetings I have with top management, that they are much more open to hiring older people, the advantage being their seniority and the knowledge they can bring as a benefit. But if we talk about skilled and unskilled workers, most of them certainly go to other fields, and the main fields would be security services, because we see guards everywhere who are quite old and clearly retired. Usually, when they retire, exactly as I said, (they) go into services, possibly cleaning services, security services, maybe catering and taxi services.”

    There are also seniors who, after retirement, choose to take the path of entrepreneurship, most often in the field in which they have gained experience, with enough confidence that they can open a business from scratch.

    “Of course, most of them run a fairly small business, just enough to provide them with comfort and supplement their pension, and, yes, they focus on the fields they know, and the field in which they have formed a strong enough network to make that business successful.”

    Sorina Faier says that the mentality has changed compared to ten years ago, when people rarely considered working after retirement age. Today, Romanians understand that there are many benefits to staying active, both in terms of health and mental balance, but also from a financial perspective. Another option is freelancing in educational projects, in the field of translations, offering private lessons, or even in the IT field. The latter, although not occupying a very large percentage, tend to attract people who have constantly improved themselves and stayed up to date with the latest technologies.

    Data from the National Institute of Statistics showed that 4.9 million Romanians are retired, of which one million have not yet reached the standard retirement age. The age of first retiremeent in Romania is one of the lowest among EU member states: 59.5 years, with only Austria having an age as low as 59.6 years. On the other hand, Iceland, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Sweden have the oldest age of first pension: between 64 and 66.2 years.

    Romanian experts believe that, being about an average, there are very large differences between those who retire early from the workforce and those who continue their activity until old age. Among the professions that offer early retirement in Romania are the police, gendarmerie, secret services, military service, the judiciary, and aviation.

  • A threat that can no longer be ignored: drug-using children

    A threat that can no longer be ignored: drug-using children

    May 31 will mark the National Drug Risk Awareness Day, according to a bill recently adopted in the Chamber of Deputies in Bucharest. According to MP Brian Cristian from Save Romania Union (USR), the pro-European parliamentary opposition, a symbolic day of awareness concerning drug use does not solve an acute problem of our society. One in 10 young people in Romania and a quarter of high school students have used drugs at least once, according to figures made public by authorities and media representatives, Brian Cristian says. This is what decades of bad public policies in the anti-drug field have to show for, this is what the Romanian state’s powerlessness in the fight against major drug traffickers shows, the MP further notes. According to him, “young people are treated like criminals, and the big traffickers get away with it”. “Concrete anti-drug measures are needed, not a symbolic day,” the USR deputy argues. “Without effective prevention programs, without resources for youth programs and counseling, without sufficient resources for sports, which represent a good alternative for spending free time, Romania will continue to lose the fight against drugs”, the USR deputy also said.

     

    Indeed, the reality on the ground is staggering: 12-year-old children have already used drugs which they bought from dealers, without being aware of the devastating traces that these substances leave in their brains. Primary care physician and toxicologist Radu Țincu told a specialized conference that as many prevention and awareness programs as possible are necessary, given that most young people are not aware of the devastating effects of such substances:

     

    “The consumption of psychoactive substances at such a young age, in the context in which the central nervous system is not fully developed, will damage the neurocognitive area, resulting in behavioral disorders, thinking disorders, attention disorders, some of which may be irreparable. Also, drug use during adolescence increases the risk of developing a mental illness in adulthood, which again raises big questions from a social perspective. What will society look like if young people have mental disorders or behavioral disorders? If we talk about overdoses and intensive care, up to 20-30,000 EUR can be spent on each case, and subsequently, treatment in a detox psychiatric center costs up to 10,000 EUR per individual”.

     

    One of the anti-drug programs carried out in 2024 in Romania was “Choose to choose – An Arts Caravan to prevent drug use”, implemented by the non-governmental Association “E ceva bine” and financed by the Interior Ministry through the National Anti-Drug Agency. Carried out in 9 cities in northeastern Romania, in the counties of Botoşani, Neamţ and Vaslui, the project sought to raise awareness and educate young people aged 12-25, as well as their parents, concerning the risks of drug use. The project aimed to build confidence and resilience in children and young people at risk, as well as their parents, through leisure activities as an alternative to drug use. The program taught children about choice and urged them to express their feelings through art, but also through other non-formal educational activities. 8,000 young people benefited from this program.

     

    What is the best way to proceed for a young person or a child who is starting to use drugs? Iulian Văcărean, president of the “E ceva bine” Association:

     

    “I think the most important thing is to let the people who are with you know, because parents, teachers and those who really care about you will always help you feel at ease in your skin and choose what’s best for you”.

     

    The team of specialists also traveled to Suceava County, where they spoke to students, parents and teachers from schools in the municipality of Fălticeni, anti-drug expert Cătălin Ţone, a permanent collaborator of Radio Romania, has told us:

     

    “Radio România Actualități, together with other partners, continues an anti-drug campaign launched about two years ago. We travel around the country, carry out preventive activities with students, parents and teachers. Everything is interactive, we give them prizes, we encourage them to talk. We believe they can no longer learn certain things. We are trying to break away from the barriers related to the classic area of ​​preventive activities, which often do not have the desired effect. We have noticed conceptual changes, they have started to talk to us. We come here bringing good news about the legislative package, especially in the area of ​​control, increasing penalties, creating a register of drug traffickers, without suspended sentences. Another piece of good news is the fact that a draft law was promulgated four months ago regarding the establishment of eight centers for the treatment of drug addiction. There is also a lot of talk about the restructuring of the National Anti-Drug Agency, which I think is a good thing, in order to adapt to our requirements, being the national decision-maker in the field. (VP)

  • The Christmas tree, between tradition and modernity

    The Christmas tree, between tradition and modernity

    It may seem surprising, but the first decorated Christmas tree in Romania only dates back to 1866, in passing one of the important years in Romania’s history, because then a new era began, marked by the one who would later become their king – Carol I Less than eight months after the arrival of the Prussian Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, the royal palace in Bucharest hosted, in December 1866, the first Christmas tree in Romania decorated for Christmas with spectacular decorations brought from the sovereign’s native country.

     

    The custom of decorating the Christmas tree, specific to the Germans, imported to Romania through the Royal House, enjoyed people’s appreciation and spread throughout the country, at first imitated by the urban elites, then taken over in the countryside.

     

    But why a fir tree and not another tree? Because the Romanians already gave it much older meanings which will be reviewed next by one of the most important ethnological researchers in Romania, university professor Doina Ișfănoni: ʺLet’s not forget that the fir tree is a sacred tree for Romanians. It is, if you will, the tree of life that connects Heaven and Earth. It is the tree that, starting from birth to burial, accompanies human life, being decorated in different ways according to the age stages. At birth, a fir sapling is chosen, and it’s either left in the forest or transferred closer to the family’s home. The tree is, somehow, a kind of barometer of the child’s evolution. As the tree grows, so will the child grow, will grow tall, handsome and, of course, believing in ageless youth – just as the tree never changes its green color. Then the wedding fir tree is also decorated with colorful papers, ribbons, bells on top. So is the funeral fir tree. It is adorned, in the case of unmarried young people, with black tassels, a headscarf (usually worn by local girls) and a bell which jingles when the wind blows, and which is said to be the husband or wife of the deceased. So, for Romanians the fir tree has a very complex connotation.ʺ

     

    The fir tree also has a Christian significance as this tree was also adopted by Romanians as a central element of the Nativity celebration. Its Christian connotations are enhanced by the choice of specific ornaments. Doina Ișfănoni lists them again:  ʺFor example, the little lights, the candles that were put in the tree, giving it that magical aspect, refer to the symbolism of the candle, which is the substitute of Jesus. The wax is the body, the flame is the spirit. Also, the apples that were hung in the Christmas tree were not only simple ornaments. Red apples were preferred, indeed, to be as visible as possible, and they refer to the original sin of Eve with the famous apple and the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Heaven. Walnuts are also hung in the fir tree, covered in tinfoil, because they also represent, if you will, a particle of light, a light that is reflected in the interior space and thus gives an extra glow. The nut is also a symbol in the context of the winter solstice and of the Christian customs. Because the walnut is the fruit that endures over time and is the expression of fruitfulness, of wealth, of the passage of time that does not affect it. And from a Christian point of view, since the walnut has the sign of the cross at its core, it adds to the symbolism of the Christmas tree as a celebration of the Savior’s birth. The entire walnut kernel has the shape of a human brain which translates into enlightenment. It is the moment when we all know that, during the winter holidays and especially at Christmas time, through the birth of the Savior, each of us has the promise of a rebirth. It is the moment when the three sisters – Hope, Love and Faith – get together giving humans extra strength, extra energy and extra hope. Of course, on top of the Christmas tree is an angel or a star that led the Magi to Bethlehem, where the Savior was born, in the manger.ʺ

     

    Unfortunately, the ethnologist researcher Doina Ișfănoni says, many of us nowadays lose sight of the many connotations of the fir tree, which, from a symbol, is transformed into a simple decoration: ʺIf you ask what the Christmas tree means to Romanians, people will give very different answers, and you will find that none of them will refer to the cosmic tree, none of them will talk about its decorations as a syncretic fusion between Christianity and pre-Christianity. The role of specialists is to bring to people’s attention the meaning of the fir tree, of traditions, to explain that every gesture has a meaning, a value, a motivation, nothing is senseless. ʺ

     

    We also talked to Doina Ișfănoni about plastic fir trees which in many cases replace the natural ones: ʺPeople replaced the live fir tree with the plastic tree. It’s a blasphemy, in my view, because you don’t bring death into the house, you bring life into the house, you need life and vitality. Artificial trees have no value. This is just my opinion, others may have other opinions. As regards tradition, I for one, I’m trying as much as possible to bring back to people’s consciousness its value and importance. ʺ

     

    The fir tree is the element that brings together the family and relatives, who, at Christmas, gather around it, give and receive gifts, then sit down at the table full of special dishes, some prepared only at this time of the year. But not before receiving the carolers, which announce the birth of Jesus.

     

    At least in the rural area of ​​Romania, the ancient traditions are still preserved for the celebration of the Nativity and strictly observed. That’s why Romania still counts among the pampered countries of South-Eastern Europe, says university professor Doina Işfănoni: the cultural behaviors that go back in history make us say that, for us, Christmas continues to be that step towards the sacred, which opens on the eve of December 25 and ends on January 6, on the feast of the Baptism of the Lord. (LS)

  • The Pact on Migration and Asylum – a criticized deal

    The Pact on Migration and Asylum – a criticized deal

    The 9th edition of the European Migration Forum took place in Brussels in November. High on the agenda was the role of civil society in the implementation of the new Pact on Migration and Asylum. Launched in April 2024, the document replaced the former Dublin III Regulation and seeks to support the European Union’s efforts to untangle the current migration gridlock by strengthening border security, facilitating asylum and repatriation procedures and strengthening solidarity with Member States located at the Union’s external borders. Far from being unanimously welcomed, the Pact was met with criticism from NGOs, publications and specialists across the European continent – ​​both from anti-migration and far-right parties (for whom the new regulation does not propose sufficient measures to stop migration) and from leftists and activists (for whom the document poses a threat to human rights). At the end of 2023, for instance, 50 NGOs signed an open letter to the European Commission voicing fears about a future system with possible flaws. This system would favor the normalization of arbitrary detention of migrants, racial profiling, and would use “crisis” procedures as a reason to reject entry at the border and redirect people to so-called safe third countries, thus exposing them to risks of violence, torture and imprisonment.

     

    Professor Cristian Pîrvulescu, the Dean of the Faculty of Political Sciences at SNSPA and President of the Integration and Immigration Group of the European Economic and Social Committee, tried to account for part of the hesitancy towards the new regulation:

     

    “We had our misgivings towards the Pact, primarily regarding the definition of third countries, because the list of third countries where people who are denied asylum in the European Union are expelled is not at all certain. There are, from our point of view, many shortcomings in the way the Commission has compiled this list, and there are states that are apparently safe, but which the geopolitical situation can turn into completely unsafe states. Moreover, one of our problems concerns the right to apply to enter the territory of the European Union and to go through asylum procedures, which is essential for all those who arrive at the EU borders, whether we are talking about Schengen or non-Schengen borders. In addition, the asylum procedures, as explained by the new Pact, are greatly shortened”.

     

    In 2023, over 117 million people were forcibly displaced, and the UNHCR estimated that by the end of 2024, this figure would increase to 130 million. However, the majority remain in their regions of origin, and only a small share seek protection in Europe.

     

    On the sidelines of the European Migration Forum, RRI spoke to Flavius ​​Ilioni Loga, executive director of the LOGS Association, a grassroots organization operating in Timișoara since 2019, which promotes the integration of vulnerable migrant groups through education and combating human trafficking. Flavius Ilioni was designated “Urban Hero” in Timișoara in 2021, and his team is made up of social workers, psychologists and cultural mediators. I asked him about the vulnerabilities of the new Pact on Migration and Asylum:

     

    “We could not say that we ideally suited to make a legal analysis of the Pact. But there is criticism at the level of organizations regarding policies related to pushbacks, what is happening at the external borders, including on the Romanian border with Serbia, the presence of FRONTEX — how many FRONTEX employees are inspected to actually protect the rights of those who are refugees and who have the right to seek asylum. There is also criticism regarding the implementation of the Pact exclusively with support of the authorities versus that of civil society. We are talking about this exclusive responsibility of national governments to determine who will be involved in the resettlement or integration of people arriving from abroad. The processing of asylum applications, obviously, is the remit of national authorities, but when it comes to legal assistance, counseling, how will this be done? This can be seen as a barrier in the way of organizations like ours, to have direct access to the authorities in Bucharest, for example, which are 600 kilometers away from Timișoara, and that might raise issues when it comes to helping and supporting the solidarity effort at the local and community level”.

     

    According to data provided by the General Inspectorate for Immigration submitted for publication and analysis to the European Council for Refugees and Exiles, in 2023 Romania received a total of 10,346 applications for international protection, of which, by the end of 2023, only 5,561 had been processed. Of these, only 491 had received refugee status, and 438 subsidiary protection. (VP)

  • Cyberbullying

    Cyberbullying

    Cyberbullying. It’s when a person or a group of people receive intimidating or threatening online messages from other people. About half of the young people in the European Union are exposed to online abuse. It is the result of a 2023 Eurostat report which shows that 49% of young Europeans between the ages of 16 and 29 have encountered online messages considered hostile to certain groups or individuals.

    It is an extremely vulnerable period of life, marked by the formation of identity, the strengthening of self-esteem and the development of social relationships, which makes negative experiences have a more intense psychological impact.

    At the top, according to this report, is Estonia with 69% of young people in this age group having been exposed to such messages online. It is followed by Denmark – 69%, Finland – 68%, France – 65% and Slovakia – 65%. According to Eurostat, 12 of the 23 countries for which data are available had rates above 50%. At the bottom of this list are: Croatia – 24%, Romania – 27% and Bulgaria – 31%.

    In most cases, the hate speech was linked to political or social opinions, with an average of 35% in the EU, points out Euronews, which presented this Eurostat report. This category was the biggest in Estonia (60%), followed by Finland (56%) and Denmark (49%).

    Hostile messages targeting the LGBTQ+ community affected an average of 32% of young adults in the EU. The highest percentages were recorded in Estonia (46%), Slovakia and Portugal (44%). In addition, 30% of young adults in the EU have been exposed to racially hateful messages, the most affected countries being Netherlands and Portugal, with 45% each.

    Nora Enache is a psychologist and has worked, over time, with different age groups on the topic of emotional abuse, whether online or not. In general, cyberbullying causes a wide range of emotional problems.

    We asked Nora Enache how online abuse affects young people’s self-esteem and mental health:

    “Self-esteem is the overall evaluation of one’s worth. Self-esteem influences our attitude towards ourselves. If we look at ourselves through the online lens, our friends there will act as a social mirror that we look into to get an idea of how others see us. The risk that arises is that not everyone we interact with knows us, not everyone wants us well, not everyone evaluates us correctly. There are so many variables in online interactions that it is difficult to estimate what exactly makes this environment not conducive to development.”

    We are talking, therefore, of an online mirror made up of many shards, each of them representing a different person, with a unique character and personality, which is reflected in us. We are talking about an imaginary world that obstinately wants to pass into the reality of a confused, searching young person. It is an extremely dangerous game that the online world offers us, an unknown war and which translates, says Nora Enache, into various signs:

    “Signs that indicate that a person is the victim of the online environment are withdrawal, isolation, lack of focus on what they have to do. Most of the time, following these changes in attitude and behavior, it is the family that asks for help and not the victim”.

    As it becomes more and more difficult as adults to limit our children’s screen time, the harm caused by online abuse may no longer be avoidable, but it can be treatable. Often a single negative comment is enough for a young person’s inner world to collapse. Psychologically, there is, however, a solution, Nora Enache says:

    “Trauma caused by negative experiences in the online environment can trigger, for example, social phobia. Counseling sessions include interventions aimed at cognitive restructuring, mental relaxation training, self-monitoring, exposure to develop social skills or developmental analysis”.

    And, yes, psychotherapy is good, but healthy interaction in the real world seems to be better! (MI)

  • The girl with the dogs

    The girl with the dogs

    She was known as the Girl with the dogs in the university years. In 2010, she pursued a programme of study with the National School of Political and Administrative Studies in Bucharest. Her name is Laura Fincu and when she ran into Sache, it was in dismal circumstances. Thrown off the window from the room of a student’s hostel, Sache, a puppy, back then, was severely wounded.

    The puppy had to be put in plaster for a good number of months. All that time, the puppy was very well taken care of by Laura and some of her colleagues. Fifteen years on, Laura Fincu recalls:
    ʺI took him to the hostel and Sache became the emblem of the hostel. Then everybody looked after the puppy and, of course, he even had more friends. Then we tried to change the reality we had to face and leave that hostel in a different way than we had found it. And we did it!

    In the beginning, that’s how we started, we didn’t have that much knowledge in the field, I read Communications and Public Relations, my life took a different course back then and didn’t know exactly what to do with the little stray animals and I began by looking after them, by keeping them alive, feeding them and then sterilizing them.

    And, in the long run, when I left the hostel, I found adoption for 15 puppies and when I left, I made sure the hostel was completely free of stray puppies. “

    Yet there was more to it than that! For Laura Fincu, Sache changed the course of her own life for good. After graduation, Laura and a colleague opted for opening a veterinary’s office; being in their twentysomething they believed they would be able to solve the problem of Romania’s stray dogs. What followed…that exceeded their expectations.

    In 2016, an association came into being and was developed…We’re speaking about Sache Vet, an association that, to this day, bears Sache’s name.

    ʺMore often than not he always meant more than just a puppy. We are very rational beings; we are a medical team connected to reality, yet Sache generated a lot of magic around him and I think that literally the most beautiful moment is the one when it dawned upon me that he brought together, around him, a huge team of people who dedicated their entire lives and skills to the service of the good. Yet there’s more to it than that! He saved several tens of thousands of animals.

    All things considered, he is a memory or a symbol, prompting us to wake up in the morning full of motivation. From one single veterinarian in the beginning, here we are, there’s six of us, we have a medical staff of 16 people, 100,000 little animals sterilized in 8 years, thousands of animals undergoing treatment each year and now we’re speaking about the construction of a social hospital. “

    80% of Romania’s families with pets cannot afford the provision, for their animals, of adequate veterinarian care. For that, the costs are high, even for average-income people. As for the stray animals, a lot fewer of them are the lucky ones because they were taken by rescuers, with most of the daily dramas remaining unknown.

    Yet the Sache Vet Association offers treatment for any animal, free-of-charge, or from a vulnerable family. Sache Vet goes at all lengths to expand its capacity to help the four-legged animals in need, building Romania’s first social veterinary hospital.

    Located in the commune of Tartasesti, Dambovita County, the Sache Veterinary hospital for major emergencies, will offer free-of-charge assistance for stray animals, but also for those that come from underprivileged families. For the rest of our clients, it will offer services for social fees, in a bid to support the programme, free-of-charge: more than 90 % of the profit will be invested back in the cause, while the rest of the profit will go to improvements.

    ʺThere also is a category of people who are capable of much violence against animals, and it’s for those animals we exist, for the mist vulnerable ones, for those that need us so they can live one more day. After three years of fighting, yes, it is almost ready, works for 90% of the hospital have been completed, we’re in the stage of working the interiors, where the job is extremely minute, yet our satisfaction is growing as we see it has taken shape and it does exist, and, literally, it is a dream come true.

    We’re that close to getting it started, and start doing what we’re been doing already, yet in an enhanced manner, 90% of our work relies on surgery, we perform free-of-charge sterilizations for eight years now, we heavily rely on prevention, and it is crucial for us to reduce the number of stray little animals. Apart from surgery, the hospital will have a laboratory, X ray, and suchlike, as well as a training center for veterinarians and for students, since it is of utmost importance for us to share what we know. “

    The demand is very high, so the concept of social veterinary medicine is more than necessary. With details on that, here is Laura Fincu once again:

    ʺWe’re also a social enterprise, we’re also an NGO, it was very important for us to bring this concept into veterinary medicine. That is absolutely necessary, the demand is huge. A growing number of veterinarians should try to function like that, as it is incredibly satisfying and we assure them many more people than they can ever imagine will join them in their efforts. “

    All things considered, such stories are not only about animals, but also, and perhaps over and above anything else, they are about people, about pity, compassion, empathy, about responsibility, humanness…Imagine what it’s like to be all alone, not being able to speak, with no one to tell what ails you! Imagine what it’s like to love but you cannot provide any help, whenever you witness suffering! It is Sache Vet’s urge.

  • Romania’s vulnerable communities and their problems

    Romania’s vulnerable communities and their problems

    Rroma girls and women make some of Romania’s most vulnerable and most neglected groups. More often than not, the authorities’ prejudices and the abuses that are not considered proper abuses by the families, leave those women and girls without protection.

    Romania still is the EU country with the biggest number of underage mothers. The state institutions do not carry a centralized collection of data regarding forced marriages. No data, no such issue on the agenda. No data, no clear-cut knowledge of the causes of forced marriages. It is the opinion of Măriuca-Oana Constantin, a university lecturer with the National School of Political and Administrative Studies, an opinion voiced as part of the awareness-raising campaign carried by E-Romnja — Romania’s only NGO dedicated to Rroma girls and women.

    Carmina is a 10-year-old girl. She graduated from the 4th grade when she was married to a 14-year-old boy as the outcome of a marriage arranged by the parents, Two years later, Carmina gives birth to a child. The authorities took note of that regarding the case, yet the case was eventually dropped, the reasoning for that was something like “the victim consented to having sexual relationships, approved of by the parents” or “the Rroma tradition encourages such relationships”. No research on parents was conducted.

    Carmina’s story is only one of the five stories presented as part of a campaign running like “In the Name of Tradition?”. It was launched by E-Romnja, the NGO that seeks to debunk the myth whereby the marriage between children is a matter exclusively concerning the Rroma communities. It is one of those obnoxious prejudices justifying cases of violence against vulnerable persons.

    How do we know the problem exceeds the Rroma community? Because demographic data on premature deliveries confirm it. It is the idea of Cerasela Banica, State Secretary with the National Council for Combatting Discrimination.

    Roxana Oprea is E-Romnja’s equal opportunities expert. Here is what the answer was, to the question why the issue of forced marriages was of no interest for the institutions.

    “It is very simple and there is glaring evidence for that, I daresay, since there is a lot of racism in institutions. People relate to the phenomenon as a cultural practice specific to the Rroma community alone, yet the reality is different. Something like that, we’re not the only ones to say it, the E-Romnja Association, there are also other institutions and international bodies saying it.

    So for this very reason, it never has been a priority for institutions and decision-making bodies. Therefore, since it is not something affecting the entire population, it is viewed as a cultural practice and, because of the bias and the prejudice, you do not intervene. “

    ‘
    Carmina’s story, a story we have presented above, is one of the hundreds such stories we will never know. One of the many stories that really happens, as, more often than not, we keep viewing children as being their parents’ property, not recognizing them as individuals having their own rights and needs. As for the forced marriages, most likely, the biggest mistake of those who want to help (social assistants, teachers, psychologists, NGO staff, judicial professionals and suchlike) is they go and talk with the parents, thinking the problem can and must be solved in the family or in the community. Actually, more often than not, parents are the abusers. Roxana Oprea.

    “We just cannot help considering this normalizing area; the moment you, as an institution, as a school, as the General Social Assistance Direction, the moment you noticed those things happened and you did nothing about it, then what is the signal you give to parents ? That what they do is okay. So you, practically, validate adults’ abuses on their own children.

    It is a vicious circle and, if we do not strengthen that kind of approach, whereby we no longer choose to point our finger at the Rroma community alone and lay the blame on the Rroma community, we cannot be in line with the international standards. We will continue to be on the shameful list of the countries allowing child marriage. “

    The Criminal Code has a legislative void on forced marriage, the legislation does not view forced marriage as a self-contained criminal act. In the rare circumstances when such cases are brought to court, they are tried as sexual crimes. E-Romnja has raised another key problem: the use, by the authorities of the phrase “consensual union” when they refer to the marriage between two persons, of which at least one is younger than 16.

    Consent for marriage CANNOT be demanded from a minor person, younger than 16, it is stipulated in the Intervention Guide for cases of marriage between children/forced marriages, published at the beginning of the year. It was also Cerasela Bănică who explained for Radio Romania International criminal investigation files do not consider this lack of consent but rather they choose placement based on such reasoning as “parents agree”, “they had been living together for long”, “they have already had sexual relations” or “it is a habit of the Rroma community”. Something like that leaves the victim completely defenseless. “

    Asked how the authorities viewed the campaign, here is how Roxana Oprea answered:

    ” The campaign is viewed with interest, but what is the standpoint it is viewed from? From the standpoint whereby Romania is somehow compelled, legally, to eliminate such a practice, being a signatory party of several international conventions on preventing and combatting gender violence. We have Directive no 1385 of the European Parliament and the European Council issued on May 15, 2024, stipulating EU member states had a three-year period of grace, starting with the date the directive came into force, to transpose the regulations into domestic law.

    Therefore, we somehow have some pressure at European level so Romania may comply with those international standards. There is also the Grevio report, assumed by Romania Government which, similarly, urges the state to take measures and criminalize such a practice. “

    Roxana Oprea also stated the issue was not viewed as one pertaining to the gender violence, and, even though such an issue were viewed as a gender violence issue, whenever violence targets a Rroma woman, is it no longer viewed as belonging to society.

    “ I think it is so normalized that, were we to speak about violence as a general phenomenon, it is normalized in all communities. We have reports revealing Romanians are tolerant regarding verbal, sexual violence that rape is justified if the woman looks somehow provocative. There are judicial reasonings compiled by Romanian women and men judges, specifying an 11- or a 12-year-old girl enticed a man or gave her consent for rape. “

    At the pressure of the European Union, Romania has until 2027 to take action against such a phenomenon.

  • Life between work shifts for foreign workers in Romania

    Life between work shifts for foreign workers in Romania

    According to the latest survey conducted by the Centre for the Comparative Migration Studies, a little over 200 thousand foreign citizens were living in Romania at the end of October 2023, 87% of whom were holders of temporary residence permits. With a rejection rate of humanitarian protection applications of over 83%, the latter makes up for the least numerous group among foreign citizens living in Romania.

    Due to the many opportunities it provides in terms of employment, education and leisure, the capital city Bucharest accounts for 26% of the total number of foreign citizens in Romania, followed by Ilfov county with 10%, Timiș county, in the west, with 7%, Cluj county, in the northwest, with 6%, and Constanta county, in the southeast, with 6%. The survey also shows that Nepali citizenship is the most numerous (accounting for 9%), followed by Turkish (with 8%), and Italian, Sri Lankan and Moldovan (with 7% each). While Italian, Turkish and Moldovan labour migration is the result of historical links and cultural and economic similarities, South Asian migration is the result of labour agreements and is yet insufficiently studied and understood.

    A survey entitled “Bridging Communities: An exploratory study on labour migration in Romania” has analysed in detail the rights of Asian workers, their working and living conditions and to what extent these are respected. According to the Romanian Labour Code, immigrant workers should enjoy the same rights, working conditions, rest periods, social benefits, wages and protection against discrimination as Romanian citizens.

    However,  researchers found that workplace exploitation is the most frequently cited issue, and which has a major impact on the decision to re-migrate to other countries. Among the jobs most vulnerable to potential exploitation and rights violations are those of food delivery courier and kitchen worker. The risk of exploitation is even greater for those without valid work permits, for example the people waiting for the necessary documents to be issued.

    Anatolie Coșciug, the coordinator of the study, believes that the state institutions should verify and ensure compliance with the legislation, including the rules related to the necessary qualifications and skills:

    “According to the General Inspectorate for Immigration, workers must prove a number of things; either some qualification in their field or a practical test. There are a few things that clearly don’t work. One of them is mastery of the language; they must know Romanian or an international language and this is not the case. They just give a statement that they know, but we should have a practical test. Very often we see people come in and they don’t know or have no qualifications in that specific area. Which is unthinkable for countries like Germany, where this aspect is state-owned and over-controlled. You’re not allowed to bring in a worker who has to weld and doesn’t know how to weld. And there are a few other things, for example healthcare. The responsibility lies with the companies that bring the workers in, but they must be supervised, that is, they must be clearly controlled by public authorities in various forms.”

    One aspect we know even less about when it comes to foreign workers is how they spend their free time, what music they listen to, where they hang out, and what small businesses owned by other members of their community facilitate their meeting together. In October, for example, a well-known performance venue in Bucharest known as Arenele Romane, the Roman Arenas, hosted a concert by the most popular band in Sri Lanka. It was a huge success, with people coming from all corners of Romania, from cities as far away as Arad, in the west of the country.

    Similarly, a recently opened restaurant in the Pantelimon area of ​​Bucharest has become a meeting and hangout place for the Sri Lankans living in the Romanian capital. The restaurant is owned by a young couple who arrived in Romania on work visas, aware of their community’s need for a place that represents their culture. In addition to traditional food, the restaurant hosts electronic music events, inviting DJs from the local Sri Lankan community and musicians from around Europe.

    We often forget that recent arrivals bring with them more than labour. They bring music, cuisine, local businesses, a different lifestyle and way of being that slowly make their way and strengthen the community and ultimately enrich the host culture.