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The standard of living for Romanian orphans is still grave despite vast improvements since their conditions were leaked to the West after the fall of the Communist government in 1989. A news report on the American newsmagazine ''20/20'', which first aired on October 5, 1990, was the first to show the conditions in full detail on television.〔(`20/20': Inside Romanian Orphanages )〕 Under Nicolae Ceauşescu, both abortion and contraception were forbidden, leading to a rise in birth rates. This resulted in many children being abandoned and these were joined in the orphanages by disabled and mentally ill people. Together these vulnerable groups were subjected to institutionalised neglect and abuse, including physical and sexual abuse and use of drugs to control behaviour. ==Conditions== Orphanages lacked both medicines and washing facilities, and children were subject to sexual and physical abuse. The conditions in orphanages had declined after 1982, as a result of Ceauşescu's decision to seize much of the country's economic output in order to repay its foreign debt.〔 As the realities of life in Romanian orphanages emerged after December 1989, the reaction outside Romania was of shock at the plight of the orphans, and numerous charities were established. Numerous fund-raising activities have been conducted by various parties, such as the 1990 album ''Nobody's Child: Romanian Angel Appeal'', which was compiled by George and Olivia Harrison for AIDS-infected orphans.〔(Album Is to Help Children In Romania With AIDS )〕 The U.S. Consul in Bucharest at the time, (Virginia Carson Young ), noted that many of the children were not literally orphans. The mothers and parents of these children had been forced to bear them, but had no means to look after them. They had placed them in an orphanage, often with the intention of being picked up later. There was a high percentage of Roma children in the orphanages, who were often left in an institution until they were 12, 13 or 14, i.e., old enough to help earn a living, and then parents would claim them again. In 2006, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh was criticised for a joke in which he said there were so many orphans "over there you feel they breed them just to put in orphanages." In September 2005, Emma Nicholson, Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne, the European Parliament's rapporteur for Romania, stated "Romania has profoundly reformed (top to bottom ) its child protection system and has evolved from one of the worst systems in Europe to one of the best." In an accession report published prior to November 2005, European Union observers were positive regarding the situation of the child care system in Romania. Deinstitutionalising them had been made a condition of Romanian entry into the European Union, but an investigation by BBC journalist Chris Rogers in 2009 revealed that conditions in some institutions are still very poor and large numbers of institutionalised and traumatised people are still held in inadequate conditions, with many apparently having entered the system post-Ceauşescu.〔(What became of Romania's neglected orphans? ), Chris Rogers, BBC News, 21 December 2009〕 In early 2011 two British charities Hope and Homes for Children and ARK launched a plan to complete the reform of the Romanian Child Protection Systems and close all large children's homes in Romania by 2020.〔http://www.hopeandhomes.org/news/ARK_Partnership/index.html〕 Number of children in the care of the state between 1990-2010: 〔http://www.copii.ro/Files/NAPCR_brochure_200744184931.pdf〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Romanian orphans」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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