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The UDMR (Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania) MP Biró Rozália said on Monday, on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, that the statistical data in Romania regarding domestic violence "are not only very worrying, but quite horrifying".
"I do not want to scare you, but I want to raise the awareness of the Romanian society today about the situation of the phenomenon of aggression and violence on women, in most cases, but also on children, on the elderly, on men, in general the aggression of each other", declared the UDMR Bihor MP in a press conference in northwestern Oradea.
According to her, in 2018, as many as 38,445 offences of domestic violence were reported to the police, out of which only 1,300 perpetrators were indicted.
"These are the reported cases. The practice shows that only one third of the offences are reported to the police. However, of the over 38,000 facts, only 3.5pct came to court, that is 1,300 perpetrators were indicted for the facts. This shows, on the one hand, the deficiencies in the legislative procedure, and on the other hand, our mentality," Biro stressed.
Data from a Eurobarometer survey, in 2016, regarding mentality, shows that "55pct of interviewees of Romanian citizenship consider that there are situations in which rape is justified", and "one in five is of the opinion that rape should not be punished," said the UDMR Bihor MP.
In the first half of 2019, there were 946 rape crimes, 112 murder cases and 19,851 domestic violence offences. On average, there are three cases a week in which a minor is sexually assaulted or abused by a family member, according to the source.
"I believe that violence is not a private problem of the aggressor. We need to be aware that any form of violence is a problem of our family and of all of us. We cannot be indifferent. Think about it, if these are the figures reported, then what is the reality? Let's take note of this situation and do something concrete to reduce the domestic violence in today's society," said the deputy.
From 15 November to 10 December, the International Day of Human Rights, an international campaign called "16 days of activism against gender-based violence" is underway. The UDMR women's organization is active for the third year in this campaign and has created a website dedicated to these victims, www.neeem.ro.
