Noi culturi, noi antropologii - Humanitas

was a huge success. In this period these institutions assisted
secondary school refugee children with transportation
to school, provided needs-based subsidies for the costs of
school materials, and organized extra-curricular activities
and camping trips, recreational and educational activities,
and additional Romanian language courses for children.
Nowadays the recognized refugees have access to any
form of education in the same conditions as any other Romanian
citizen. In order to enroll in the first school year
corresponding to their education, the minors as well as the
adults can participate free of charge to a course of Romanian
language if they enroll in the integration program: „My
children had a place in school from the second day. My boy
is 17 and my daughter is 15 now.“ 176
Even if these provisions exist at a legislative level, many
refugees are facing problems due to the non-recognition of
their studies, an issue which was signaled by the Romanian
Immigration Office in the Parliament, but the authorities did
not rest on this subject until now. Moreover, administrative
issues are still seen today, despite the existence of a legislation
of refugees: „Right now I am enrolled in school under a
Moldavian identification number. The system does not recognize
my refugee identification number and they had to
give me a number because I was enrolled in school.“ 177
Medical assistance
A guide on health assistance for refugees conceived by ARCA
argues that until 2003 the refugees in Romania faced serious
difficulties in accessing the health services they required.
Some of the main problems identified were the insufficient
coherence between the normative acts which regulated the
refugees’ right to medical assistance and the lack of some
terminological and methodological definitions. This has led
to numerous blockages in applying the health insurance law
and medical assistance for refugees. In many cases, these
176. V, 35 years old, Serbia, 2001.
177. F, 25 years old, Kuwait.
197