Dreptul la AdevărAnalysis · The Strasbourg file
Trust cannot be decreed: what GREVIO found in Romania and what can be done now
On 24 September 2026, the Council of Europe experts who monitor the Istanbul Convention published their first thematic report on Romania. The report acknowledges the good laws adopted in recent years, but shows that between the law and the woman asking for help, the system still has gaps. This analysis sets the report's findings side by side with what Romanian law already requires and what each institution can do, in practice.
Why this report matters
GREVIO (the Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence) is the independent Council of Europe body that checks how states apply the Istanbul Convention. Romania ratified the convention by Law No. 30/2016. The first full evaluation of the country was published in June 2022. The 2026 report opens a new evaluation round, built around a simple question: do victims have reason to trust that the state will help them?
The report has been sent to the Committee of the Parties to the Convention, which can address formal recommendations to Romania. The Government published its comments together with the report.
What has improved
The report records important progress:
- Law No. 53/2026 on femicide, in force since 26 April 2026.
- Law No. 26/2024, which makes protection orders available to victims outside the family: stalking, online harassment, non-consensual publication of intimate images, sexual violence. Courts must decide within 72 hours (paragraph 182).
- Law No. 232/2025: a provisional order confirmed by a prosecutor now stays valid until the court decides; victims can no longer withdraw orders requested by institutions; the penalty for breaching an order has increased; courts carry out their own risk assessment when the perpetrator is not known to the criminal justice system (paragraphs 167, 177, 180).
- 42 shelters, one in every county, and 10 regional centres for victims of sexual violence, set up with hospital emergency services (paragraph 107).
- A police review of homicides committed since 2022, extended in 2024 to attempted killings (paragraph 170).
What the Government says
In comments submitted on 21 August 2026, the Romanian authorities highlight the progress made in building a national network of services for victims and perpetrators and acknowledge the need for stable human and financial resources. The National Agency for Equal Opportunities between Women and Men (ANES) says it has prepared project proposals for external funding worth more than EUR 70 million in total, to expand services. The National Institute of Magistracy states that, in the training of judges and prosecutors, "parental alienation" is presented as a concept that a significant part of the scientific community considers pseudoscientific, and that the reasons for a child's refusal must be examined before any alleged "alienating" behaviour.
The Government's response confirms the direction of travel, but does not contradict the report's main findings.
Eight problems and their solutions
For each problem: what GREVIO found, what the law already requires, and what we propose, with the instrument, a realistic timeline, the cost and the sign that it has been done.
1. Shelters ask for documents at the moment a woman flees
The finding. GREVIO notes with grave concern that access to shelters depends on an identity document, a declaration and documents proving the violence, requirements set by Government Decision No. 559/2021 (paragraph 108). The convention prohibits making support conditional on a victim's willingness to testify or press charges. The authorities have prepared a draft that removes these conditions.
The solution. Adopt the draft, so that a woman and her children can be admitted immediately, with the social and medical assessment done afterwards, not before.
2. Specialist services are shrinking instead of growing
The finding. The number of services for victims of domestic violence fell from 152 in 2022 to 144 in 2025, and budget increases only cover inflation (paragraph 109). Services are concentrated in cities; in rural areas, help often comes only from NGOs, for which licensing is costly and is not followed by public funding (paragraphs 110-111). GREVIO "urges" adequate, sustainable funding and separate budget lines in the relevant ministries (paragraph 31).
The solution. A distinct budget line for violence against women in the budget of every relevant ministry, and multi-year funding for licensed services, public or run by NGOs, that also covers the cost of licensing. The externally funded projects proposed by ANES are welcome, but cannot replace core funding.
3. Nobody knows how many complaints end in a conviction
The finding. There are no unified judicial data by type of violence, sex of victim and perpetrator and their relationship; the courts' IT system cannot identify these cases (paragraphs 36, 159). GREVIO "urges" a system that tracks cases from complaint to judgment (paragraph 160).
What the law already requires. Law No. 53/2026 requires exactly this. Data collection must start on 1 October 2026, under a methodology approved by joint order of the Minister of Justice, the Minister of Internal Affairs and the Prosecutor General, so that each case can be followed from the complaint to its final outcome (Art. 2(3)). The order was due within 90 days of the law's entry into force (Art. 8), that is by the end of July 2026. The draft was put to public consultation only in September, and the Ministry of Justice published a revised version on 19 October; as of 21 October, the order had not been approved. Specialist organisations criticise the draft for focusing on killings and attempted killings rather than on the violence that precedes them. The law also requires annual public reports from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Prosecutor General's Office and the Ministry of Justice by 31 March each year (Art. 2(4)-(10)).
The solution. Approve the joint order without further delay, with a methodology that covers all the acts of domestic violence listed in the law, not only killings (Art. 2(2)), and publish the first reports on time. In addition, extend data collection to the health system: hospitals currently report around 400 patients a year for domestic or sexual violence, and contacts without admission are not recorded (paragraph 41).
4. Risk is assessed incompletely
The finding. The police use a standard 21-question form (paragraph 163). The report records cases in which officers rephrased the questions, carried out the assessment in the presence of the perpetrator or encouraged reconciliation (paragraph 164). The form does not include non-fatal strangulation, one of the strongest indicators of lethal violence (paragraph 163). Risk is not assessed in criminal proceedings (paragraph 169), and social services' mobile teams intervene less and less often, for lack of staff (paragraph 165).
What the law already requires. Law No. 53/2026 obliges judicial bodies to use specific risk-assessment and risk-management tools, approved by Government decision by 26 October 2026 (Art. 4 and Art. 8). As of 21 October, the decision had not been adopted, and the institution responsible for initiating it had not been publicly settled.
The solution. Adopt the decision on time and with complete content: non-fatal strangulation among the risk factors; assessment repeated over time, not done once; assessment always carried out without the perpetrator present; use in criminal proceedings too; involvement of social services, health services and specialist organisations under standardised co-operation protocols, as GREVIO asks (paragraphs 90 and 172). The police also need written procedures for forms of violence not yet covered, such as forced marriage or online violence (paragraph 152).
5. Every femicide should teach us something
The finding. GREVIO asks for all gender-related killings of women to be reviewed systematically, to identify institutional failures (paragraph 172). The police already carry out an internal review of homicides (paragraph 170).
What the law already requires. Law No. 53/2026 gives the Romanian Observatory for the Analysis and Prevention of Homicides (ORAPO), part of the Romanian Academy's Institute of Sociology, the task of publishing an annual anonymised report on femicides, covering the history of violence and recommendations for prevention (Art. 3).
The solution. The ORAPO report should set out, for each case, which institutions had prior contact with the victim and what happened then: complaints, protection orders, medical visits, social services' interventions. This requires access to data from all institutions and resources for ORAPO.
6. Protection orders and electronic tags: protection on paper
The finding. Electronic monitoring has operated nationwide since October 2024. GREVIO notes technical problems and tags being removed, while the organisations and experts it consulted point to too few devices and to police reacting to alerts instead of actively checking compliance; the report also mentions cases in which a perpetrator's movements were not tracked even after an alert. It is also unclear whether breaches are effectively sanctioned (paragraph 185).
What the law already requires. Law No. 53/2026 requires annual public reports on breached protection orders and on the outcome of those cases (Art. 2(6)-(7)) and a court register on the enforcement of orders (Art. 2(11)).
The solution. Enough devices in every county; active checks on compliance, by contacting both victim and perpetrator; clear information for victims about the purpose of the device; and on-time publication of the reports required by law.
7. Children and custody: safety before contact
The finding. Children who witnessed violence are not systematically included in protection orders, and when they are, the measures for them are shorter (paragraph 181). According to NGOs cited by GREVIO, a child living at home can receive specialist counselling only with the consent of both parents, including the abusive one (paragraph 112). Organisations and experts consulted report that, in custody proceedings, violence against the mother is often disregarded unless direct harm to the child is shown (paragraph 127). GREVIO notes with grave concern that the concept of "parental alienation" (înstrăinare părintească) was introduced into Law No. 272/2004 by Law No. 123/2024 (paragraph 128). The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has called for these provisions to be repealed. GREVIO warns that such concepts, whatever they are called, risk turning a traumatised child's refusal to see an abuser into the mother's fault (paragraphs 129-130). A legislative proposal of March 2026 (B153/2026) would replace the term with "sabotage of the child's attachment relationships"; the Economic and Social Council issued an unfavourable opinion, finding that it merely renames the concept.
The solution. Repeal the provisions on "parental alienation" rather than renaming them. Require family courts to check for a history of violence before deciding custody and contact. Include children exposed to violence in the mother's protection order, unless the court gives reasons for not doing so. Give children exposed to violence access to counselling without the consent of the abusive parent.
8. Professionals need training, and perpetrators need programmes
The finding. Initial training for police officers, judges and prosecutors is mandatory and effective, but in-service training is neither mandatory nor systematic (paragraph 65). GREVIO "urges" mandatory initial and in-service training also for health professionals, social workers and teachers (paragraph 75), as well as perpetrator programmes based on common minimum standards, extended to all regions and independently evaluated (paragraph 85). For victims of sexual violence, GREVIO asks for integrated centres across the country, with free medical care and forensic examinations, available whether or not the victim reports the crime (paragraph 123).
What the law already requires. Law No. 53/2026 requires gender equality and violence prevention to be included in school curricula and in teacher training (Art. 5).
The solution. Mandatory, regular in-service training for every profession that comes into contact with victims. Perpetrator programmes with common standards, available in every county; some county social assistance directorates already run such services, for example in Dolj. Expand the centres for victims of sexual violence so that every county has access, with free forensic examinations.
What can be done tomorrow and what needs money
Now, at no significant cost: new shelter access criteria (1), the joint data order (3), the risk-assessment decision (4).
In the coming months: the review of femicides through ORAPO (5), the legislative changes on children and custody (7), mandatory training and standards for perpetrator programmes (8).
Through the 2027 budget: funding for services (2), monitoring devices (6), centres for victims of sexual violence (8).
What you can do
- If you are in danger, call 112. The free helpline for victims of domestic violence, open 24/7: 0800 500 333.
- If you go to the police with someone, ask for the risk assessment to be done without the perpetrator present, and say whether there has been any attempt at strangulation.
- If you work in one of the institutions concerned, the GREVIO report is a working tool: every finding has a paragraph number that can be cited in internal proposals, budgets and protocols.
- The steps for obtaining a protection order are explained in our guide.
What comes next
The first test is the 26 October 2026 deadline for the decision on risk assessment. The second is the 2027 budget. The third is the annual reports required by Law No. 53/2026, due by 31 March 2027. Dreptul la Adevăr will follow all three and update this analysis.
Note: this analysis provides general information and is not a substitute for legal advice. The solutions are policy recommendations by the publication, based on the GREVIO report and on Romanian legislation in force on the date checked. Paragraph numbers refer to report GREVIO(2026)8 in the original English version.