Romania
Romania regularly reports hate crime data to ODIHR. Romania's criminal law contains a general penalty-enhancement provision and a substantive offence. Police data and prosecution data also include hate speech offences. The Ministry of Administration and Interior, the police, the Prosecutor's Office and the Superior Council of Magistracy collect hate crime data.
How hate crime data is collected
The Romanian Police records all criminal offences in a dedicated database. Romanian investigative police officers have a duty to highlight all aggravating circumstances when registering criminal files that are under investigation. However, there are no designated procedures for recording hate crimes. Consequently, criminal offences committed with a bias motivation cannot be identified through the system.
Prosecution files and court files include information about the aggravating circumstances. This information is replicated and centralized in the judicial statistics application used by the Ministry of Justice. These data have been collected since 2014.
The criminal offences under Government Emergency Ordinance no. 31/2002 prohibit organizations, symbols and deeds with a fascist, racist, and xenophobic character. It also prohibits the glorification of those found guilty of genocide or crimes against humanity and war crimes. The registration of these crimes is carried out in a similar way to other offences provided under the criminal code. In judicial courts, the data are entered in the database and are validated by judicial statistical staff.
Official Data
National developments
The Romanian Police continued implementing the project "Integrated approach for prevention of victimization in Roma communities" in partnership with ODIHR and funded by a grant from the government of Norway. The project also addressed hate crimes.
The National Institute of Magistracy (NIM) organized an initial training for future judges and prosecutors. The programme included the scope of hate crimes and the manner in which they should be addressed. Three hundred and two judicial trainees participated.
Hate crime workshops for judges and prosecutors were conducted focusing on European Court of Human Rights case law.
International reports
Bias against Roma and Sinti
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In a letter to Prime Minister of Romania, the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe observed that police violence against Roma people remained a concern, as attested to by the number of such cases pending before the European Court of Human Rights.
Key observation
ODIHR observes that Romania's law enforcement agencies have not recorded the bias motivations of hate crimes.
