The Foundation For The Defense Of Citizens Against State Abuses (FACIAS) reviews the situation of human rights violations in Romania and notes with concern an undesirable performance. According to FACIAS statistics, our country ranks 1st in the European Union and 4th in Europe, being surpassed only by Russia, Turkey and Ukraine.
Democracy and respect for human rights should be the pillars of a healthy society. However, Romania risks becoming a black area on the map of citizens' rights. Our country leads the leaderboard of abuses in the European Union, with the most complaints of human rights violations. In Europe, only countries such as Turkey, Russia and Ukraine have more complaints filed by citizens, countries known to abuse citizens. So what does this actually mean? The fact that the Romanian state violates these fundamental rights of the citizen at a much higher rate than in other countries, especially in the West.
Inhuman treatment in hospitals and prisons
According to reports issued by the European Court of Human Rights, the most frequent articles of the ECHR Convention violated and complained about by Romanians are:
• Inhuman treatment in hospitals and prisons
• Unfair trials
• Lack of privacy
• Violation of the right to property
Hospital patients punched, tied to beds or radiators
Although the poor conditions in Romanian prisons are notorious, with Romania repeatedly fined for violating citizens' rights when they are deprived of their liberty, Council of Europe reports reveal another harsh truth: the appalling abuses suffered by Romanians in psychiatric hospitals. Following visits to psychiatric hospitals in Bălăceanca, Botoșani, Obregia (Bucharest), and Socola (Iași) in September 2022, numerous cases of ill-treatment and abuse of patients were identified. Particularly in the Botoșani Psychiatric Clinic, patients claimed to be punched, slapped, pushed or verbally assaulted. Moreover, in Iași, at the time of the visit, 452 patients were accommodated in 390 beds, although the hospital had only 251 beds on paper. Patients also reported being assaulted, beaten and restrained, often being tied to beds or radiators if they became agitated.
Romania is fined over €100 million
Apart from the countless abuses that put our country at the top of the EU, another problem of our country is that it does not even respect the ECHR judgments. According to a report obtained by APADOR-CH, Romania is in first place for not complying with ECHR judgments in 2023. FACIAS has discovered that so far our country has paid more than 100 million euros for abuses committed against citizens. However, the undisclosed amount is much higher, because these 100 million do not include compensation paid as a result of amicable settlements between the Romanian state and the people whose rights have been violated.
FACIAS calls on the Romanian Government and the responsible institutions to take urgent action! It is unacceptable that in the 21st century, in a member country of the European Union, citizens are subjected to such inhuman treatment!