Migration in Romania
QUEST Ro Konya 2013 Common Ground
In this presentation:
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Which is the place of international
migration in Romania
Immigration – Labour Immigrants
Emigration – Euro-commuters
Final Remarks
Webography
Filmography
QUEST Ro Konya 2013 Common Ground
Fortress Europe
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Romania hosts a considerable number of
immigrants, mainly from Asia and Africa. Most of
them are labour migrants (the majority from Asia)
and political refugees seeking political asylum (the
majority from Africa).
The phenomenon of immigration to Romania has
increased considerably since Romania’s accession
to the European Union on January 1, 2007. Since
2007, some immigrants’ communities have already
outnumbered some small ethnic minorities in
Romania
QUEST Ro Konya 2013 Common Ground
Shortcomings
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the Romanian state has not implemented
efficient laws to meet the needs of the new
Immigration framework.
the Romanian education system has not
developed any new intercultural (not even
multicultural) curricula for the immigrants’
children.
QUEST Ro Konya 2013 Common Ground
Overview of Romania’s international
legislation ratification
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the United Nations Convention Relating to
the Status of Refugees (1951) in 1991,
the Convention against Torture and Other
Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment (1984) in 1990,
the Council of Europe Convention on Action
against Trafficking in Human Beings (2005) in
2006.
QUEST Ro Konya 2013 Common Ground
Legal Framework
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Romania still neither has signed nor ratified
the Convention on the Protection of the
Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members
of Their Families (1990).
But the Romanian legal framework does not
punish any asylum seeker or refugee for
residing (il)legally on Romanian territory, but
offers protection against refoulment to
migrants whose lives are endangered in their
home countries
QUEST Ro Konya 2013 Common Ground
Romania is still more often regarded as a
transit country
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Despite the increasing number of asylum seekers the number of
transit migrants is still larger than the number of immigrants who
settle down in Romania.
In 2012 Romania registered 59,017 legal immigrants: 49,497
temporary and 9,520 permanent residents. Most of the temporary
foreign residents were:
Romanian citizens’ family members/relatives (17,264),
students (12,510) and labor migrants (9,347),
Approximately 1,000 individuals were refugees, benefiting from
some kind of protection from the Romanian state, while residing
on Romanian territory.
QUEST Ro Konya 2013 Common Ground
Romanian society proves to be a tolerant
and admissive one
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The population has a neutral-to-positive perception
of immigrants: 47.3% declare to have neither a
negative, nor a positive image of immigrants,
33.3% declare that they have a clearly positive
image,
only 9.9% have a negative one. (The single
instance where they may be perceived as a menace
is on the job market: they accept lower-paid jobs
and therefore they are blamed for taking away the
vacancies of the Romanian citizens).
QUEST Ro Konya 2013 Common Ground
The Romanian population is misinformed about the
conditions of the immigrants
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their real number is about 60,000,
one third of Romanians thinks there are over a
million foreigners in Romania;
only 14.6% approach the correct number of
immigrants.
30% of the Romanians believe there are 100,000
refugees in Romania,
it is an alarming fact that 80% of the Romanians
have never had any direct contact to immigrants: no
direct communication and they have never known
an Immigrant personally
QUEST Ro Konya 2013 Common Ground
Moreover
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71% of Romanians are not familiar with any
kinds of services that the Romanian
authorities (should) offer to the immigrants
79% do not know the rights of the foreign
migrants while residing on the territory of
Romania.
QUEST Ro Konya 2013 Common Ground
Legal labour immigrants
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Romania receives the largest number of
labour migrants from:
China (33.77%),
Turkey (32.40%),
the Republic of Moldova (08.01%),
Vietnam (04.78%) and the Philippines
(01.94%)
(http://www.migrant.ro/file/pagesleft/264migrantinromanianr7ptweb.pdf).'
target='_blank'
title=''>http://www.cnrr.ro/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=107&I
temid=61&lang=ro
).
QUEST Ro Konya 2013 Common Ground
Immigrants lack of Information
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According to an official survey by the National Block of Trade
Unions BNS) and the NGO ARCA - The Romanian Forum for
Refugees and Migrants -the immigrants’ lack of information
regarding their political and civil rights is alarming:
they are not at all or insufficient familiar with their human rights
as labour migrants in Romania,
they do not know precisely their responsibilities either
they are not familiar with the perils on the Romanian job market.
they do not know which (inter)national institutions to resort to in
case they need any kind of aid or information.
their majority does not speak either Romanian or any
international language.
QUEST Ro Konya 2013 Common Ground
The reality the labour migrants in Romania
are facing.
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The harsh reality of the job market awaits the
migrants upon their arrival in Romania: lower wages
than guaranteed by the intermediary companies,
more working hours, (much) poorer working and
living conditions, insignificant or no medical
insurance.
Secondly, labour migrants are also exposed to the
abuses of their Romanian employers, who take
advantage of the fact that immigrants are not
informed about their labour rights and that they most
often do not speak Romanian
QUEST Ro Konya 2013 Common Ground
Emergency and Information Centres for Immigrants
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The centres are located in the cities of Bucureşti,
Bacău, Braşov, Buzău, Cluj, Constanţa, Craiova,
Galaţi, Iaşi, Piteşti, Ploieşti, Sibiu, Suceava, Târgu
Mureş and Timişoara.
IOM continues to support the Government of
Romania in fulfilling its migration management
responsibilities as a European Union (EU) Member
State. This entails the implementation of the national
Migration Strategy 2007–2010, and the
development and application of national action plans
under the European Commission’s (EC) Framework
Programme on Solidarity and Management of
Migration Flows.
QUEST Ro Konya 2013 Common Ground
Migrants in Romania have reported to be
content
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Nevertheless, the majority of the labour migrants in
Romania has reported to be content with their stay
in their destination country. This paradox occurs due
to the fact that they accept very poor conditions for
wages that are much better as in their home
countries.
Remittances and any financial reward (no matter
how insignificant) prove more important to labour
migrants than the harsh work conditions in Romania
(Chiriac, Marian, in “Migrant in Romania”, no. 7,
2010, available at:
http://www.migrant.ro/file/pagesleft/264migrantinrom
anianr7ptweb.pdf).
QUEST Ro Konya 2013 Common Ground
Emigration after the fall of
the Iron Curtain in 1989
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The different flows of migrants in Romania
encompassed all social layers and their social
impact lead to different socio-economic and political
situations and even to cultural shocks
Immediately after the opening of the borders in
1989, a large number of Germans left Romania for
Germany (sometimes Austria), followed by
Romanian citizens as well, in search of better living
conditions in Western Europe.
In 2003, 10% of the Romanian households were
affected by migration, while in 2005 the percentage
rose considerably, to 16%..
QUEST Ro Konya 2013 Common Ground
Emigration – a real issue in Romania
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Nowadays emigration is a real issue in Romania, at
least from two points of view: firstly, the national
economy is strongly affected by the lack of work
force, especially male work force. The most affected
areas are the heavy industry, constructions and
agriculture.
One can locate the residents of deserted villages
from Eastern and Southern Romania in Spain, Italy
and Germany, working in the above-mentioned
industrial sectors.
The female population from these underdeveloped
regions is also working abroad in agriculture, health
care and domestic labour.
QUEST Ro Konya 2013 Common Ground
Most alarming situations
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the Romanian children are left behind, both under
age and of age living with their relatives. They
cannot offer them the psychological family balance
of their biological parents
they often drop out of school, thus the level of
illiteracy and/or under-education has become
alarming in the contemporary Romanian society.
this refers especially to the underdeveloped regions
of Romania, its eastern and southern counties,
where labour emigration has become a large and
necessary phenomenon.
QUEST Ro Konya 2013 Common Ground
Recommendations
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Romanian authorities in charge of migration issues should be
more transparent and more approachable for migrants who
necessitate their aid.
For migrants it would be very effective if they could enjoy better
collaboration between the Romanian authorities and the
Romanian civil society in aiding migrants with legal counseling,
training and integration programs, labor qualification and
Romanian language learning programs, medical assistance,
cultural orientation, emotional and psychological support.
Integrating the immigrants and their children in order to
overcome the stage of multiculturalism and to reach the stage of
interculturalism. Integration should be focused on Romanian
language learning, community building, strong socio-cultural
interaction with the Romanian population and teaching migrants’
children in Romanian schools.
QUEST Ro Konya 2013 Common Ground
Webography
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The Intercultural Institute Timisoara, Romania (Institutul
Intercultural Timisoara), available at:
http://www.intercultural.ro/rom/index.html,
The Intercultural Institute Timisoara, Romania (Institutul
Intercultural Timisoara), “Migrant in Romania”, available at:
www.migrant.ro,
The Organization of Romanian Refugee Women (Organizatia
Femeilor Refugiate din Romania), Bucharest, Romania, available
at: http://www.migrant.ro/ofrr/,
The Romanian National Council for Refugees, (Consiliul National
Roman pentru Refugiati – CNRR), 2009, available at:
http://www.cnrr.ro/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&i
d=107&Itemid=61&lang=ro,
Romanian National Agency Against Trafficking in Persons,
available at: http://anitp.mai.gov.ro/en/,
QUEST Ro Konya 2013 Common Ground
Filmography
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Podul de flori (The Flower Bridge), directed by Thomas Ciulei,
Romania, 2008, 87 mins., http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1225713/.
Nuntă în Basarabia (Wedding in Bessarabia), directed by
Napoleon Helmis, Romania – Republic of Moldova –
Luxembourg 2009/2010, comedy, 90 mins,
http://nuntainbasarabia.ro/, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1741706/.
"A trip to Romania "--- about UK's reticence and fear of
Romanian immigrant workers after joining the EU:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxuUC9DZXy8
"Italian immigrant backlash draws Romanian ire - 06 Nov 07"--about Romanians living in prehistoric miserable conditions in the
outskirts of Rome:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWHkuZdDzKw
QUEST Ro Konya 2013 Common Ground
Thank you
“Mapping the Migrants Situation in Romania”
by Angela Cotoara
Professional Foundation-QUEST RO
Presented
by Andreea Blaga
Bridge Study Language School-QUEST RO
QUEST Ro Konya 2013 Common Ground