Constitutional Protection Of Children And Youth In Romania

The exercise of fundamental rights recognized by the Constitution of Romania presents particular features concerning children and youth, derived primarily from the legal and biological situation of these categories. Thus, although article 16 of the Constitution proclaims the absolute equality of citizens before the law and public authorities, without privileges and discrimination, children and young people benefit from so-called positive discrimination, resulting from the establishment of special protection. A series of legal and constitutional stipulations are built around this special protection: exercise of the right to information in order to assure the protection of young people, provision of social scholarships to children coming from disadvantaged families and to those institutionalized, encouragement of youth and adults education in respect for national cultural values and national traditions, or the derogation provisions of employment of young people. Our study highlights all these special means of constitutional and legal protection, confirmed by the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court.