People in need of protection continue to face substandard living conditions in Regional Centres for Procedures and Accommodation of Asylum Seekers in Bucharest and Giurgiu, Romania. A recent set of fact-finding visits conducted between 18 and 22 June 2018 looked at conditions prevailing in the two centres, as well as the situation in the Otopeni Public Custody Centre.
Sanitary facilities in the Regional Centre Giurgiu remain in poor state, with showers in insalubrious condition, despite having been recently sanitised. Substandard living conditions were a matter of concern in 2017. As for the Regional Centre Bucharest, the outdoor playground was found to be in bad condition, with toys near the playground thrown across the floor and old steel bed frames with growing grass left near the playground, thereby posing a safety risk for children. Moreover, the courtyard in Giurgiu is a small space surrounded by a fence and thereby remains inaccessible. Conversely, the overall condition of the Otopeni Public Custody Centre was found to be satisfactory.
Provisions and guarantees for children remain a challenge in practice. While no child living in Giurgiu has enrolled at school for the past three years according to NGO representatives. While a range of support is offered by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and other actors, resources remain limited and families of protection status holders continue to face challenges.
For further information:
- AIDA, Country Report Romania, February 2018
ECRE thanks Felicia Nica, the AIDA expert for Romania, for providing information on the findings of the visits.
* This information was first published by AIDA.
Photo: (CC) razvan.caliman, December 2011
This article appeared in the ECRE Weekly Bulletin . You can subscribe to the Weekly Bulletin here.