Romanian authorities recorded almost 16,000 cases of child abuse last year, some involving toddlers.
Child Labor
Family Minister Gabriela Firea made a statement on World Day against Child Labor.
„It takes such a day to ring the alarm bells about this phenomenon, ….which can’t be tolerated anywhere: children forced by their parents, family or any other people to work. They are tormented, exploited, beaten, humiliated and made to earn a living.”
„It is with sadness that we also look at our alarming data,” she said.
In 2021, 304 cases of child labor exploitation were reported, of which more than half involved their own families.
Exploited
„As terrible and difficult to conceive as it may seem, there were also children younger than 3 years old who were exploited by their parents!”
„Any child who is exploited, in any form, who is forced to go out on the street to work or beg, instead of being sent to school and being allowed to enjoy the wonderful years of childhood MUST be an emergency for us!”the minister said in a post on social media.
„It doesn’t matter that there are only two or a few hundred! They are all asking for our help, and our duty, of the authorities, is to see them, to hear them and to support them,” she wrote.
Criminal investigation
Police began a criminal investigation for almost 2,000 of the cases of abuse, neglect and exploitation, the National Authority for the Protection Children’s Rights Child and Adoption (ANDPDCA) said on Sunday.
Some 12,000 children remained in their families, and were assisted or monitored by social services after the abuse was reported, News.ro reported.
However, in the case of about 3,100 children, child protection authorities ordered emergency placement to protect the children.
Neglect
The total number of cases of physical and emotional abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, labor or sexual exploitation was 15,925. Some 6,987 cases were in urban areas and 8,938 in rural areas.
There were no figures about how many children were killed or died because of parental neglect last year, but Universul.net has identified about half a dozen.
In one case a 30-year-old woman killed her four-month old child and a toddler in June 2021 apparently because she was suffering from a migraine.
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