President McAleese visit to Romania

international | rights, freedoms and repression | opinion/analysis Tuesday September 23, 2008 17:22 by Johnjo

McAleese visit endorses Romania's apalling human rights record

Lots of negative comment on McAleese' visit to Romania

Good to see that several commentators in the mainstream media were not afraid to challenge President McAleese about her ill-advised visit to Romania. She was brought to Bucharest to be paraded in front of the international media in an attempt to show that all is now well in that country.
Nothing could be further from the truth, of course. Romania, by all accounts, made an attempt to reform its terrible orphanages and other institutions ahead of EU membership. As soon as they got in, all the reforms stopped, and a lot of very respected human rights groups are less than happy with the situation. Their human rights record is abysmal.
It was nice to see that even the government's own radio station, RTE, gave the President a rap on the news at one yesterday. The Irish Times said that the visit was "marred" by the protests in Ireland. Well, boo hoo!
I like the President, but I'm beginning to go off her following this visit.