“Life Doesn't Wait”
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Romania HUMAN “Life Doesn’t Wait” RIGHTS Romania’s Failure to Protect and Support WATCH Children and Youth Living with HIV August 2006 Volume 18, No. 6(D) “Life Doesn’t Wait” Romania’s Failure to Protect and Support Children and Youth Living with HIV Glossary .......................................................................................................................................... 1 I. Summary ..................................................................................................................................... 4 Methods...................................................................................................................................... 8 II. Key Recommendations.........................................................................................................10 To the Government of Romania..........................................................................................10 To the European Union.........................................................................................................10 To Other International Donors............................................................................................11 III. Background ...........................................................................................................................12 IV. Findings..................................................................................................................................15 Discrimination in and Barriers to Access to Education....................................................15 Vocational Education.........................................................................................................21 Violations of the Right to Health.........................................................................................23 Access to Medical Services................................................................................................23 Access to Mental Health Care......................................................................................27 Access to Medications........................................................................................................31 Access to Medications for Opportunistic Infections................................................32 Access to Antiretroviral Therapy.................................................................................35 Violations of the Right to Privacy and to Information.....................................................37 Violations of the Right to Privacy....................................................................................37 Criminalization of Transmission of HIV....................................................................40 Disclosure of HIV Status, Sex Education, and the Right to Information .....................44 Sex Education .....................................................................................................................47 Discrimination and Barriers to Employment .....................................................................50 V. Government Response and Failures to Protect Children................................................54 Inadequate Complaint Mechanisms.....................................................................................54 County Directorates of Child Protection........................................................................54 The National Council for Combating Discrimination..................................................58 Inadequate Monitoring and Investigations of Abuse and Neglect..................................60 Inadequate Support for Caregivers of Children Living with HIV..............................64 De-institutionalization on the Cheap: The Case of Vidra Orphanage ...........................66 Aging Out of the Child Protection System.........................................................................70 Arbitrary Procedures for Receiving State Subsidies ..........................................................75 Adult Complex Assessment Committees .......................................................................78 VI. Human Rights Standards in International and Romanian Law.....................................82 Children’s Right to Protection and Care .............................................................................82 The Right to Protection from Discrimination ...................................................................85 The Right to the Highest Attainable Standard of Health .................................................86 The Right to Education .........................................................................................................90 The Right to Information......................................................................................................92 The Right to Privacy ..........................................................................................................94 VII. Detailed Recommendations..............................................................................................98 To the Government of Romania..........................................................................................98 General Recommendations...............................................................................................98 Protection and Care for Children and Youth Living with HIV..................................99 Combating Discrimination against People Living with HIV.......................................99 The Right to Health .........................................................................................................100 The Right to Education...................................................................................................101 The Right to Information................................................................................................101 The Right to Privacy ........................................................................................................101 To the European Union.......................................................................................................102 To Other International Donors..........................................................................................102 VIII. Conclusion .......................................................................................................................103 Acknowledgements...................................................................................................................104 Glossary1 AIDS: The acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a fatal disease caused by HIV, human immunodeficiency virus. Currently, antiretroviral drugs slow down replication of the virus and can greatly enhance quality of life, but they do not eliminate HIV infection. Antiretrovirals (ARVs): Drugs that inhibit the ability of retroviruses (such as HIV) to multiply in the body. The antiretroviral therapy recommended for HIV infection is referred to as highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), which uses a combination of medications to attack HIV at different points in its life cycle. Directorate for Child Protection (Direcţia pentru Protecţia Copilului, DPC): Child protection bodies under the supervision of county (or in the case of Bucharest, sector) councils. DPCs have primary responsibility for intervention in cases of child abuse and neglect, including investigating cases of suspected abuse or neglect, and providing services to the child and his or her family. Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria: An independent public- private partnership established in 2001, and the largest global fund in the health domain. It works to attract, manage and disburse additional resources to make a sustainable and significant contribution to mitigate the impact caused by HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria in countries in need, while contributing to poverty reduction as part of the Millennium Development Goals. HIV: The human immunodeficiency virus. HIV destroys the body’s ability to fight off infection and disease, ultimately leading to AIDS. HIV-negative: Showing no evidence of infection with HIV (e.g. absence of antibodies against HIV) in a blood or tissue test. An HIV-negative person can be infected if he or she is in the window period between HIV exposure and detection of antibodies. HIV-positive: Showing indications of infection with HIV (e.g. presence of antibodies against HIV) on a test of blood or tissue. Synonymous with seropositive. Test may occasionally show false positive results. 1 This glossary draws on a number of sources, including the May 2006 UNAIDS Editors’ Notes for authors, [online] http://data.unaids.org/pub/InformationNote/2006/EditorsNotes_en.pdf?preview=true. 1 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH VOLUME 18, NO. 6(D) National Authority for Persons with Handicap (Autoritatea Naţională pentru Persoanele cu Handicap, ANPH): The highest administrative body charged with addressing disability issues, including diagnosis, drafting budgets, developing and coordinating policy, and collecting statistics. In July 2003 it became part of the Ministry of Labor, Social Solidarity and Family. National Authority for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (Autoritatea Naţională pentru Protecţia Drepturilor Copilului, ANPDC): An agency under the Ministry of Labor, Social Solidarity and Family that is mandated to coordinate and control Romania’s child rights protection and promotion activities, including monitoring implementation of the UN Convention on the