Romanian Youth Council promotes recommendations ahead of Romania’s Human Rights review

The European Youth Forum and the Romanian Youth Council (CTR) were in Geneva from 12th to 14th December to promote recommendations focusing on youth, ahead of Romania’s upcoming Universal Periodic Review (UPR). The UPR is a process of the United Nations Human Rights Council that takes place every five years for each Member State, and whereby all other Member States can put forward recommendations.

The Youth Forum’s delegation met with 15 Permanent Missions, on the sidelines of the Pre-sessions organised by UPR Info, an organisation supporting civil society engagement in the UPR.

The recommendations put forward by CTR and the Youth Council in a joint report focus on the protection of children and youth rights, access to education for sexual and reproductive health, as well as the right to work and fair remuneration for young people.

Among others, the recommendations call on Romania to:

• Create an independent and autonomous Children’s Ombudsman under the existing Ombudsman institution with clear objectives and power to protect and to monitor children’s rights and to also ensure the protection of youth rights;
• Develop accessible, youth friendly and safe mechanisms for reporting violations of children and youth rights; Introduce education for sexual and reproductive health in the core curriculum for secondary education;
• Create opportunities in formal education settings for specialised NGOs to promote sexual and reproductive health; Establish a legal basis for paid, quality internships by introducing a dedicated legal framework or amending existing labour legislation in order to facilitate the transition from education to professional life through programmes that are accessible to all young people;
• Prohibit the practice of unpaid internships.

UN Human Rights Council Resolution 35/14 on youth and human rights adopted in June 2017 urges Member States to consider addressing the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights for youth through the UPR.

The Youth Forum and CTR encourage countries to make recommendations addressing the situation of young people in Romania during the country’s review on 16 January 2018.