Child Labour in Romania. Discussion paper
- Document number
- 1227
- Date
- 2004
- Title
- Child Labour in Romania. Discussion paper
- Author/publisher
- IPEC Romania, UNICEF, Government of Romania (Ministry of labour, Social Solidarity and Family)
- Availability
- View/save PDF version of this document
- Document type(s)
- Meeting Documentation/Conference Reports, Research/Study/Analysis,
- Keywords
- Child Trafficking, Child Prostitution, Child Pornography, Labour exploitation, Best Interests Principle, Child Victims of Trafficking, Separated Migrant Children, Unaccompanied minors, Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), Child protection systems,
- Summary
- As the second largest country in the Central and Eastern European region and a candidate for EU accession in 2007, Romania has a tremendous development potential- However, a legacy of huge economic distortions, inherited from the communist regime as well as several years of delayed and inconsistent market reforms during the nineties have prevented the achievement of its full potential. During the past three years, Romania has experienced the highest economic growth rates in the region and the macro-economic and socio-political climate is increasingly stable. Comprehensive and targeted social protection programmes initiated and implemented by the current Government such as the "Minimum Guaranteed Income" scheme, heating subsidies for poor families, the "milk and bread" programme for children in primary education, etc., have cut income poverty from its overall peak in 2000 (at almost 40% of the country population) to a more manageable level of 29-30%. As more households have been lifted above the poverty line during the past three years, more children are able to give up involvement in economic activities and return to school. This very fact is visible in the evolutions of the share of economically active children as well as in the share of working children/child labourers in the total number of children, which display a decreasing trend. In spite of the progresses witnessed during the last three years, the Romanian economy still bears the marks of the "stop and go" transition of the nineties as well as of the misgivings of central planning. Poor reform progress during the 1990s has been the main drawback of the Romanian economy as it prevented the accumulation of sufficient consecutive years of economic growth. This has sidelined the country into a "no man's land" between planned and market economy, prone to generating an extended state of deprivation for large categories of the population, with children being at a high risk. This state of deprivation is consistent with the extensive income poverty, income inequality and the development of a subsistence economy where household production for its own use becomes significant.' As a result of these developments, children were and still are disproportionately attracted into economic activities, thus being diverted from their main activity, namely EDUCATION. All these and other aspects related to the national context of child labour are examined in detail in Chapter 3 of this report. The share of children engaged in economic activities from the total number of children is relatively hard to determine since most of the activities they are involved in are discontinuous in character and mostly performed in their own household. It is true that, due to the characteristics of the Romanian economy where „household production for its own-use", especially in the rural areas, is significant, these activities can no longer be considered only as house chores but they do become economic activities. Therefore, while assessing the number of children involved in economic activities and their share in the total number of children, one does not have to refer only to children who work or engage In economic activities in a particular "reference period", but also to those who, although they are not at work during a particular .”reference period", maintain close ties with their work/employment.
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