The Brasov-based Tribunal for Minors and Family was
\nestablished in 2004. It was Romania’s s first such judicial establishment. It
\nwas aimed as a pilot-project and was meant to stand as a model for identical
\nprojects that were supposed to be carried all over the country until 2007, at
\nleast in Romania’s major cities. It is just that, in 2022, the Tribunal for
\nMinors and family in Brasov is still a singular court, specializing in dealing
\nwith civil and criminal cases where minors are involved.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
All along, there have been voices pleading for the
\ndismantling of the Brasov-based court, on the grounds that its activity is
\nuntenable. Financial reasons for its dismantling have been mentioned, among
\nother things, whereby the scope of the court was way too narrow as compared to
\nthe human and material resources required for its functioning. In a recent
\npublic discussion, hosted by PressHub.ro, the current president of the Tribunal,
\njudge Gabriela Chihaia, brought up her own reasons against the dismantling of
\nthe aforementioned tribunal. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
First off, on the premises at the Brasov-based Tribunal
\nfor Minors and Family a special room was set up for the hearing of children. Through
\nthe care of an association titled Women Get Involved, through sponsorship and
\ndonations, the hearing of minors was made possible, for various cases they are
\ninvolved in, in a much friendlier environment, with relaxing, lively-colored
\ninterior design and furniture. Children can experience traumas whose aftermath
\ncan be long-lasting in their lives, so an environment where they can feel
\nrelaxed is of utmost importance, when the hearing procedure is ongoing in
\ncourt. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Judge Gabriela Chihaia:<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u02baIn an environment that is different from the court
\nroom, which is austere, arid and where a certain set of procedures needs to be
\nfollowed, with people having to stand up the moment the court enters the hall
\nor when the petitioner and the respondent are appealed, with the culprit who
\ncan be deprived of freedom and kept in custody or can be be subject to house
\narrest or placed under judicial control or can be even free, being present in
\nthe court room, with the culprit’s family or friends who, in certain cases, can
\neven be in the court room, or if the session we have is public or when, more
\noften than not, we have a minor individual as an injured party and then the
\ncourt session is closed to the public, being held outside the court room, in
\nthe halls of the tribunal or in the courtyard, it goes without saying that the
\nminor individual having to face those people even at a mere visual level has
\nbut one more trauma to experience, in addition to the trauma which exists by default,
\nonce they are involved in a court case. So those special rooms enabled them to find
\nit a great deal easier to speak before the court. We had minors who first
\nplayed and who, even though they were more stressed out and more tense in the
\nbeginning, they relaxed afterwards and said their statement much easier than
\nthey would done that in a proper court room, that’s for sure. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
There is a second reason why, in Romania, more
\ntribunals for minors and family should be set up: the number of cases involving
\nminors is growing. In the specialized court in Brasov, they are being dealt
\nwith and ruled upon fairly rapidly, as compared to the general tribunal. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The President of the Brasov-based Tribunal, judge Gabriela Chihaia once again. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I think the number of such cases has
\nbeen growing, at once being slightly on the wane, as compared, at least, to the
\nTribunal for Minors and Family. I began by job with
\nthis court beginning January 1st, 2019, and I can say that I noticed
\nthat the number of files where minor injured parties are involved, victims of
\nsexual crimes, most often, has been growing. We’re not speaking about an
\nexponential increase, though, yet we have such files all the time. With such a
\nspecialization, we can better get ourselves organized on such files. For example,
\nfor minor trafficking, a file dispatched to us as a first instance court or the
\nfile of a murder perpetrated by a minor or attempted murder, perpetrated by a
\nminor or targeting a minor, we are very quick to deal with them, but our
\nreadiness in solving them has to do with the criminal procedure standards and
\npractices because, concurrently, we need to comply with the deadlines
\nstipulated by the legislation, we need to abide by the parties’ right to defend
\nthemselves, we need to enable all parties involved to make use of such rights in
\na proper manner. And yet, apart from deadlines, we fare very well as regards
\nthe deadline for solving the files proper. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
At long last, given the specificity of
\nthe Tribunal for Minors and Family, its employees have become specialists in
\nthe matter of minors, in civil, but also in criminal cases.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Gabriela Chihaia:<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u02baA regular tribunal solves
\nminors and family files together with the other files pertaining to a civil or
\na criminal matter. And yet, ruling in several matters, it is obvious the judges
\ncannot specialize themselves in each of the aforementioned matters, given that each
\nand every one of them claims a specificity of its own. That is why, taking into
\naccount that, throughout the years, emphasis has been laid on judges’ specialization,
\nsuch a specialized court can only be a good point for the organizing abilities
\nof the courts in our country, and implicitly, for the society we work for. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The project of establishing, in Romania, of tribunals specializing
\nin children and family-related issues has been nipped in the bud. However, such
\na project has never been abandoned altogether, because of the need for the minors’
\nrights to be observed, also according to the international legislation and
\nrecommendations. For many people, the existence of one such single court is
\nan error. (EN)<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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