·         The 2022-2027 National Strategy for the inclusion of the Romanian citizens belonging to the Roma minority was approved by Government Decision no. 560/2022 and its main objective is to improve the quality of life of Romanian citizens belonging to the Roma minority. The specific objective no. 6 of the strategy, namely Combating discrimination, anti-Gypsyism and anti-Gypsyism generating hate speech or hate crime refer to: continuous training of law enforcement officers, prosecutors and judges in understanding the phenomenon and implications of antigypsyism in handling related cases; the development of national training programmes for preventing and combating discrimination for employees in public institutions; the development of effective information and awareness campaigns in public institutions related to the fields of education, public health, employment, housing; the development of information and awareness campaigns on the phenomenon and implications of antigypsyism in the private sector delivering services to the population. In the framework of this Strategy, the Ministry of Internal Affairs organizes training courses for law enforcement agents, in order to promote better understanding of the phenomenon and implications of anti-Roma attitudes/bias, and presents the toolsets for handling cases of anti-Roma bias. It also signed signed a Collaboration Protocol (no. 203286/2024) with the National Agency for Roma to familiarize teaching staff and students with social-related elements, in order to prevent and combat antisemitism, xenophobia, radicalization and hate speech.

·         The 2021-2023 National Strategy for preventing and combating antisemitism, xenophobia, radicalization and hate speech, along with its Action Plan were adopted by the Government of Romania through Government Decision no. 539 of May 13 2021. This document ensures the necessary tools for sanctioning radicalization and hate speech. In the framework of this Strategy, the Inspectorate General of the Romanian Police has improved data collection mechanisms regarding incidents related to antisemitism, xenophobia, radicalization, and hate speech and a uniform methodology for identifying hate crimes and systematic data collection on these types of offenses has been developed. There is a Code of Conduct for preventing and sanctioning xenophobia, radicalization and hate speech to be developed and adopted by the Romanian universities in the nearest future.  

·         There is a clear synergy between these two Strategies, given their focus on combatting racism, promoting intercultural education, and monitoring the level of threat posed by hate speech in respect to racial and ethnic discrimination.  

·         Training programs for journalists took place in 2023 and they will continue to be developed and implemented:

-          The Government of Romania, through the Department for Interethnic Relations developed, organized and launched the pilot project Training course for journalists on combating hate speech in the audio-visual mass-media, in Romania. This project was publicly announced in July 2023 and the actual training course took place in October 2023 in Sinaia, Romania. The training course had two modules: I. Developing theoretical knowledge on applying the existing instruments for preventing hate speech and intolerance in the audio-visual mass-media; II. Role of mass media in combatting hate speech and all forms of intolerance.

-          In December 2023, in Bucharest, The Department for Interethnic Relations, the Romanian Television Society and the Hanns-Seidel Foundation organized the Human Rights and National Minorities Between Normality and Reality workshop for TV journalists. The main focus of this project was to promote a thorough and systematic knowledge of the participating journalists in the field of promotion and protection of the rights of persons belonging to national minorities. Moreover, it aimed to inform about the legal mechanisms for the protection of these rights both at the national and European level, in order to raise awareness on how they can counteract hatred, racism, intolerance, discrimination, xenophobia, anti-Gypsyism and antisemitism.

·         Extensive training is being continuously provided in order to combat hate crimes, especially by representatives of the Ombudsman, the National Council for Combating Discrimination and the Public Ministry. The Schengen Multifunctional Training Center organizes the Organizational Culture and ways to approach communities and people of Roma ethnicity training course yearly and representatives of these intuitions are offering trainings regarding combating ethnic profiling and relevant aspects from the perspective of equality bodies.

·         Recently, a square in a central area of Bucharest was named after a well-known Roma activist – Nicolae Gheorghe, which transforms the Nicolae Gheorghe square into a symbol of multiculturalism and inclusion. This decision of Romanian authorities benefited from a lot of positive media coverage.

·         Public ceremonies and events related to the important national and international days such as the Day of the Liberation of Roma in Romania or the International Roma Day are being covered by the media in an objective manner, without any bias or backlash. The International Holocaust Remembrance Day was marked on January 27 by organizing an event on the release of the bilingual album The Holocaust of the Roma People. An album of memory and gratitude; Romanian media outlets wrote about this event in a positive note.