Romania criticised over domestic violence 'failures'

Romania has been criticised over its lack of commitment to tackling domestic violence in a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights. 

Such attitudes, which were even more deeply entrenched during the period of communist rule, are slowly beginning to shift and the government has adopted new laws to combat such abuse. 

But "the overall unresponsiveness of the judicial system and the impunity enjoyed by aggressors, as found in Ms Bal?an's case, indicated that there had been insufficient commitment" to enforcing them, the court noted. 

'Feared for life' Angelica Bal?an married her husband in 1979 and told the court her husband had been violent to her and their four children throughout their marriage. 

Source: www.bbc.com 

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