The report of an international organization quoted by NY Times on Wednesday, claiming that institutionalized children are still the victims of abuse in orphanages across the country, are part of a concerted "campaign" that precedes the EC report on Romania’s readiness for EU accession, due May 16, the head of the Romanian Adoptions office told Hotnews.ro today.

According to Teodora Bertzi, the report quoted by NY Times was placed under a May 10 embargo despite it is more than a year and a half old.

For his part, Bogdan Panait, state secretary at the National Authority for Child Protection, said the article is based on information dating back to 2004, which is no longer valid.

He said in a press conference today that Romania reported significant progress in the field of children rights protection and may even be a model for Western European countries in this regard. He admitted, though, that many things are still to be done in this field.