countries - Romania

The information contained on this page was compiled in April 2009 by our country team.

Contact:
Ion Dafinoiu, Alois Ghergut, Ovidiu Gavrilovici
Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences
University "Alexandru Ioan Cuza"

www.uaic.ro
www.psih.uaic.ro
Email: dafinoiu@mail.dntis.ro

The full text can be downloaded here.

The key national bodies with responsibility for disability law and policy implementation include:

Autoritatea Nationala Pentru Persoane cu Handicap (ANPH) is a governmental body with responsibilities for policies, national and regional strategies and intervention programs for all person with disabilities. Also, they manage services, propose legislation and monitor NGOs.

Romania has signed the United Nations Convention and the Optional Protocol.

Important national laws, policies and strategies concerning disabled people include:

Key features of the national system include (including adapted items from the MISSOC database December 2008):

Disability benefits

Payments are financed by contributions from employees, employers, self-employed, and unemployed people. Long-term care benefits are provided by different schemes covering invalidity, employment injuries/diseases, old age, etc.

Data on population indicate that:

According to the official data there were 613,924 persons with disabilities at December 31, 2008 (much below the share of 7-12% in the total population calculated for EU Member States). Of these, 59,164 were children and 554,760 were adults (National Authority for Disabled Persons; ANPH Statistics; National Authority for Child Protection and Adoption). Organisations representing disabled people contest the figures, mainly because they refer to the number of disability certificates issued by each territorial commission.

Institutul National pentru Prevenirea si Combaterea Excluziunii Sociale a Persoanelor cu Handicap (INPCESPH) - National Institute for Prevention and Control of Social Exclusion for People with Disabilities

The national organisation representing disabled people at the European level (European Disability Forum) is:

Organizatia Nationala a Persoanelor cu Handicap din Romania (ONPHR) is the most important NGO involved in national programs for deinstitutionalization, equality of opportunity and social integration. The initiative to form a national council of disabled people (CNDR) occurred in 2004.

Useful sources of more detailed information about the situation of disabled people, and the policies and support available, include:

Official statistical information and analysis is available from ANPH.

The Disability Manifesto in Romania (Report of Romanian National Council of Disability), 2003, Bucharest.