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 by the police. A working group has been created at the level of the Romanian Police to determine necessary changes to the registration and investigation of hate crimes.
Prosecution files and court files include information about 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.
At the start of 2018, the authorities established a statistical data collection mechanism, which introduced two new forms through which additional data on hate crimes are collected. The new mechanism provides for monitoring the use of the aggravating circumstance found in article 77, letter "h", from the Criminal Code, and of the criminal offences under the Government Emergency Ordinance no. 31/2002, and allows for separate monitoring of all hate crimes in the judicial statistical system ECRIS. The change was made by Annex 19 to Order no. 298/2017 of the Prosecutor General of the Prosecutor's Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice, and amended Order no. 213/2015 on the organization and functioning of the information system of the Public Ministry.
Official Data
National developments
A law on preventing and fighting anti-Semitism has been passed and entered into force.
The Romanian Police has established a working group to guide the implementation of a number of measures aimed at increasing the effectiveness of hate crime investigations, registration and data collection on hate crimes, and at furthering the hate crime training for officers. A working group comprising representatives of the Romanian Police, General Prosecutor's Office and the NGO ACCEPT has developed a methodology on investigating hate crimes. It is currently focusing on integrating the IT systems used by the police, prosecutors and courts, including to ensure that information on hate crimes is transferable.
The Police have also worked to map and present on its website a list of civil society organizations that provide support to hate crime victims, with the aim of establishing an effective referral mechanism.
International reports
Racism and xenophobia, Bias against other groups – Sex, Bias against other groups - Sexual orientation or gender identity
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The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) published relevant recommendations in its "Fifth Report on Romania."
Bias against Roma and Sinti
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The Council of Europe's Ad Hoc Committee Of Experts On Roma And Traveller Issues (CAHROM) published relevant recommendations in its "Thematic Report on Roma and Travellers' Access to Justice (with a gender focus)."
Key observation
ODIHR observes that Romania's law enforcement agencies have not recorded the bias motivations of hate crimes.
