The Femicide – Extreme Alert in Romania
Cases of femicide, which are on the rise, have caused concern in Romania
Daniela Budu, 19.06.2025, 14:00
Two weeks on from the latest case of femicide, another situation occurred in which a pregnant woman and mother of two was killed by her partner in front of her family while she was trying to get out of a toxic and violent relationship. It has been the 26th case of femicide since the beginning of the year, which means that a woman is being killed in Romania every week.
It also means that the violence against women is insufficiently sanctioned but actually tolerated by those who are supposed to protect these women, as representatives of the Filia Center explain. On Wednesday they staged another large-scale protest in front of the government building asking for the real protection for women. This has been the second suchlike meeting since the beginning of the year being attended by one thousand people. The first one brought together five thousand participants.
Every time the protesters have called for the implementation of real measures for the safety of women so that these crimes may not be treated as mere statistical cases but as national emergency situations.
Protesters have called for law enforcement irrespective of the form of the violence they wanted risk assessment become mandatory in all cases of domestic violence, and have also called for the proper funding of services provided to victims.
They have also called for the proper training of policemen, prosecutors, judges and professionals in the country’s healthcare system as well as the social assistants in the field of gender-based violence, for centralized and transparent data about femicides, for the investigation and solving of the causes of gender-based violence in reasonable terms as well as for real prevention mechanisms.
No decision was made in this respect in the two weeks that passed between the killings. On Wednesday night however, Romania’s president Nicusor Dan made an appeal to the authorities in charge to treat any case of domestic violence with maximum seriousness, adding that he would collaborate with the future government to put together a package of concrete measures aimed at ensuring the real protection of the victims and the prevention of gender-based violence.
The Romanian head of state has also expressed his solidarity with the protesters. ‘It is essential the voice of the victims be listened to and the public policies be built on the painful realities they are facing every day’, Nicusor Dan says.
In turn, Gabriela Firea, member of the Committee for Women’s Rights and gender-equality in the European Parliament has proposed the urgent implementation of a set of measures aimed at ensuring the women’s protection.
The MPs and senators of the Social Democratic Party have announced the launch of a legislative initiative focusing on improving the legislative framework concerning the prevention and combating violence against women, through the introduction of the femicide as a distinct crime in the Penal Code.
“The Romanian Patriarchate is voicing profound concern regarding these phenomena, which are severely affecting human dignity and the family unity. Any manifestation of violence is incompatible with the Christian faith and all forms of abuse do not hurt only the body but also the victim’s soul provoking traumas, which are very difficult to heal on a long haul”, the Romanian Patriarchate has also said.
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