The Romanian Constitution
Article 45 Protection of children and the youth
(1) Children and the young shall enjoy special protection and assistance in the pursuit of their rights.
(2) The State shall grant state allowances for children and benefits for the care of sick or disabled children. Other forms of social protection for children and the young shall be established by law.
(3) The exploitation of minors, their employment in activities that might be harmful to their health, or morals, or endanger their life and normal development are prohibited.
(4) Minors under the age of fifteen may not be employed for any paid labor.
(5) The public authorities are bound to contribute to secure the conditions towards the free participation of young people in the political, social, economic, cultural and sporting life of the country.

EU Social Reform - what needs to be done (date - 22/11/2004) - Source : http://europa.eu.int/scadplus/leg/en/s40008.htm

To promote social inclusion, local committees to combat poverty have been set up in 41 districts and in Bucharest, and most of the districts have drawn up plans for combating poverty.

The Commission and Romania have initiated collaboration to prepare for Romania's participation in the Community's social inclusion process upon Romania's accession. They are working on a joint definition of the challenges posed by social exclusion and policy measures to address those challenges.

The 2004 report notes that, with regard to the promotion of social inclusion, progress has been made in identifying the challenges to be met, namely children leaving a public institution, young people without employment, farming families, the retired, the homeless and the Roma population.

Poverty levels remain high but are slightly lower than in previous years. The Joint Memorandum on Social Inclusion, which sets out the main challenges and appropriate policy responses with a view to promoting social integration, is currently being drafted. An integrated strategy and a national action plan on social integration will need to be drawn up on the basis of this memorandum.

The priority objectives of this strategy and plan should be to take the population of working age out of the subsistence economy, reduce the grey economy, increase school attendance rates and tackle discrimination against Roma minorities.

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