Dear Friends,
Since 1989 Romania has been in transition economically, politically, and culturally. In January 2004 I gave you a summary of the situation in Romania, focusing on how the poor are affected. Now, three years later, I would like to bring you up to date.
The Political Situation
For the past 10 years, Romania has been finagling to get into the European Union. The almost unanimous hopes of the nation were realized on January 1, 2007 when Romania, together with Bulgaria, became the newest members of the EU. The massive structural aid has stabilized the government, spurred investment and curbed corruption. Also, where visas were required and often hard to get in order to travel west, now Romanians can cross EU borders with a simple identity card. But Romania is postured to give much more than it gets from the EU. Romania represents a large population (22 million consumers), cheap labor, and abundant natural resources that are already being bought up by the west. And the poor have limited access to the promises of the EU. In fact, Romania's Prime Minister says that it will take some 40 years for Romania to be on par with the rest of the EU.
The Economy
2006 represented the first time since 1989 that the Leu (Romania's currency) did not fall against the US dollar. In fact, last year the Leu was the best performer among world currencies, growing 20% against the dollar (International Herald Tribune). Along with the strong Leu, the economy registered growth of 7.8% (GDP) to around 66 billion Euros in the first three quarters of 2006 (National Institute of Statistics – INS). The unemployment stabilized at 5.1%. Romania also ranks as the top property investment country in Europe for the next 10 years, with a projected annual return of 17.8% (Price Waterhouse Coopers). While the rise in wages and the negative inflation mean that money goes further, it has little affect on those who have little money.
Corruption
Romania ranks as the second most corrupt country in Europe – one out of five questioned persons declaring they had to pay a bribe recently. Globally, Romania ranks fourth, together with Morocco, Russia, Ukraine and Cameroon, in the top nine most perceived corrupt nations (Gallup Worldwide Corruption Index).
Emigration
Some 2 million Romanians work abroad, representing 20% of the total labor force. The combined effect of economic growth and labor force migration led to a decrease of the unemployment rate from 8.4% in 2002 to 5% in 2005. Romanians working abroad sent home some 3.5 – 4 billion euros, enough to cover almost half of the current account deficit for 2005.
However, these financial gains have dire social costs. The Romanian Authority for Child Protection says that almost 20,000 children have been abandoned by parents who migrated for work.
Prostitution/ Child Trafficking
As many as 120,000 preteens and teenagers from Eastern Europe are taken annually to Western Europe to steal, beg and engage in prostitution under the threat of beatings and rape (International Organization for Migration). In Romania in 2005, more than 2,500 victims of trafficking were officially registered, 366 victims were children (UNICEF). But Poupard, the UNICEF Representative to Romania, says these official figures are way off the mark and the actual number of women and children who are smuggled into other European countries and sold into prostitution is much higher. Poupard believes poverty is the main reason for child trafficking. A Geneva police official says that parents receive up to $6,000 or more per child for a three-month leasing period – a sum that far exceeds the normal family income. Ironically, Romanian authorities are planning to legalize prostitution as a way to help fight human trafficking and sex slavery (AP). Thankfully, the Orthodox Church is objecting.
Street Children
In spite of a booming economy and EU integration, children continue to live on the streets. According to the Care Project of Romania.org, there are no accurate figures on the number of street children in Romania, but it is estimated that only in the capital of Bucharest alone, there are between 3,000 and 5,000 children living on the streets and over 9,000 in the entire Romania.
Orphans
As of 2006, there are 76,168 children in the care of the state (0-18 years old). 27,188 are in residential institutions while the rest are living in substitute families (National Authority for the Protection of Children's Rights). Plus, there is no systematic provision of labor market information, skills training, or job placement services for children in residential care, which creates a high probability that they will gravitate to the streets where they are vulnerable to sexual exploitation and crime (U.S. State Department).
And abandonment continues. At least 9,000 babies are abandoned every year in Romania (UNICEF). There are still reports of babies being purchased (for more than $9,000) and stolen from hospitals (Caritas).
The Elderly
Romania is facing a demographic crisis. There are more pensioners and fewer children. If fertility rates remain at current levels and the number of elderly keeps growing, the population will crash from 21 million to only 16 million people by 2050. The ratio of pensioners to active workers is already around 1:1, significantly below the 1:2.5 ratio that most economists consider the minimum needed to sustain economic growth (Professor Vasile Ghetau). To compensate for the crisis, the government increased the retirement age over the next five from 62 for men and 57 for women to 65 for both sexes. Currently, male life expectancy is just 68, which means only 3 years of life to enjoy retirement.
The Disabled
The abandonment of disabled children decreased steadily in recent years, as specialized rehabilitation services for children with disabilities became slightly more available. There were approximately 70 thousand children with disabilities, of which 15 thousand were in state care. However, Mental Disability Rights International has been highlighting the plight of Romania's forgotten children. It found children with disabilities hidden and wasting away, near death, in Romania's adult psychiatric facilities. According to MDRI, some children are tied down with bed sheets, their arms and legs twisted and left to atrophy. Despite claims by the Romanian government that it has ended the placement of babies in institutions, MDRI said it found infants languishing in a medical facility so poorly staffed that the children never leave their cots. MDRI said: “Many of these children have no identity papers. Officially, they do not exist.”
Poverty
UNICEF says that 16 years after the revolution, about 20% of the country's children live under the poverty line. Furthermore, it has been established that a little over 1,000,000 children lived in poverty in 2004, while some 360,000 lived in abject poverty, accounting for 24.4% and 8.2%, respectively, of the total number of children under the age of 18. (http://www.unicef.org/romania/UNICEF_Annual_Report(2).pdf)
Abortion
Whereas Romania was country with the highest per capita abortions in the world, it is now not even highest in Europe. There has been an increase in the use of modern contraception to 34% and a decrease of the abortion rate to 0.
8 per woman (Romanian Ministry of Health).
HIV/AIDS
At the end of September last year, nearly 11,000 Romanians were reportedly infected with HIV or had AIDS (Health Minister Eugen Nicolaescu). Of the cases, over 5,000 are children, accounting for over half of all European pediatric AIDS cases. Most Romanian children with AIDS were infected with HIV as a result of discarded medical practices of the past, including reuse of disposable needles and repeated transfusions of sick and premature infants with whole human blood. However, a second epidemic wave is emerging, with most Romanian HIV treatment centers reporting growing numbers of infants with vertical (mother-to-infant) HIV infection. Approximately fifty percent of Romanian children with AIDS are orphaned or abandoned.
Medical Care
Although you still see pensioners line up in front of the pharmacies at the beginning of the month, the lines are shortening because the Ministry of Health has repeatedly announced that they have enough money to cover the subsidies for medication. However, the problems with medical care still exist. Hospitals are suffocated with urgent requests and, therefore, receive as many as three patients in one bed. Most of the hospitalization is due to the chronic poverty facing a large portion of the nation. Also, there is great disparity between health care in the city and that in the country. In the rural communities, where some 40 per cent of the Romanian population lives, there is one doctor for several thousand patients. In response to the crisis, authorities requested that the medical intervention focus not on combating diseases, but on preventing them. Although that may address systemic problems in health care, it does not give much hope to those suffering with illnesses (http://www.nineoclock.ro/archive_index.php?page=detalii&categorie=frontpage&id=20060809-500728).
School Drop-out Rates and Child Labor
Human Rights Watch said the Romanian government failed to promote integration for some 7,200 people aged from 15 to 19, leaving these boys and girls unprepared for adult life. Child labor remained a problem. Although a 2004 law to protect children from exploitation went into effect January 1, the government did not consistently enforce the measure in practice. An international report released in November (2005) estimated that 3.9 million of the 5.6 million children in the country were “economically active.” Over 300 thousand (approximately 7 percent) were “child laborers,” working without any contractual arrangements in agriculture or low-skilled jobs, while 900 thousand (19 percent) worked in their own households, especially in rural areas. Approximately 300 thousand (6 percent) were engaged in physically demanding work, while 70 thousand (approximately 1 percent) were victims of the “worst forms of child labor,” including hazardous work, sexual exploitation, forced labor, trafficking, or criminal activity.
Romani
According to official estimates, Romani account for some 2.5% of the country's population, and the actual number could be much higher. They also are one of the most disadvantaged groups in Romania, with 74% in poverty.
Domestic Violence
Child abuse and neglect continue to be serious problems, and public awareness of the issue remains poor. Laws to protect children from abuse and neglect exist, but the government does not effectively enforce them. While there are criminal penalties, there was no consistent policy or procedure for reporting child abuse and neglect and no system for rehabilitating families who abuse their children. In 2004 police reported that 1,331 cases of abused and neglected children were registered, including 832 cases of rape, 284 cases of sexual intercourse with a minor, 114 cases of sexual perversion, and 101 cases of sexual corruption. However, when an abuse hotline was set up, it received 1,766 calls reporting child abuse and neglect in the first four months (U.S. State Department).
In comparison with the statistics we saw three years ago, we do see some change. However, in light of major developments in the government and economy, these changes seem minimal. But our hope is not in politics or economics or even in our ministry among the poor; our hope is in the Father who passionately loves this people and who is working by His Spirit to redeem and transform it. Informed with these statistics, I invite you to join our community in interceding before the Father on behalf of those who are suffering from abuse, neglect, and exploitation. We eagerly wait in prayer for the end of child abandonment, children living on the streets, prostitution, inaccessible medical care, violent abuse, abortion, institutionalization, marginalization, AIDS, and the denial of education. Pray with us that God's will is done and that the Kingdom comes in Romania as it is in heaven.
With hope,
david and lenutsa