Samenvatting

Romania, as a newcomer to the EU club, has to deal with child labour that constitutes a serious breach of human rights. The nature of child labour in Romania has specific features, which are common to features of child labour in other post communist countries. While in developing countries and in the past of industrialised countries child labour took on various forms,agriculture seems to be a prevalent field in which child labour occurs on a global scale. Manual work and work in agriculture was strategic for communist regime in Romania. Another typical feature is child labour of the
Roma minority, which is a disadvantaged minority not only in Romania. Street children and trafficking in children are also widespread in particular areas in Romania.

Romanian society associates child labour generally with the worst forms of child labour and therefore, working children are widely accepted. Child labour is a multidimensional issue, for that reason it has to be tackled at various levels. Both, the European Union and several international organisations provide broad frameworks for tackling child labour.
Nevertheless, the EU does not target child labour per se. The efforts of other international players, such as the UN and its agencies, the ILO and a number of NGOs, complement each other. There are numbers of joint programmes that demonstrate the necessity of concerted action. Besides providing the frameworks, funding is also essential. Romania can benefit from several funds granted by the EU.

A survey conducted in order to find out opinions and attitudes of European consumers reveals that they are aware only of general concept of child
labour. The respondents recognise the main organisations dealing with
children's rights, yet, they are not aware of the organisations dealing with labour rights. They are also not aware of whether the products that they buy are produced in conditions respecting human, social and labour rights. Furthermore, their attitudes towards ZERO tolerance of child labour vary.