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Romania: Ethnic Minority Briefs


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Date: Tue, 2 Apr 2002 11:51:09 +0300 (EEST)
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Subject: Romania: Ethnic Minority Briefs


From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>

Original sender: Madalina Radutoiu <[email protected]>

Romania: Ethnic Minority Briefs


Dear Friends,

Please find below the first issue of "Ethnic Minority Briefs", a
weekly news bulletin covering ethnic minorities issues in Romania. The
purpose of this newsletter is to inform you as well as to make you
aware of the current situation regarding ethnic minorities in Romania.

The full version of the bulletin could be read only in Romanian
language at the www.divers.ro web address.
DIVERS is a weekly news bulletin edited by the Mediafax news agency
with financial support from Ethnocultural Diversity Resource Center
(EDRC) in Cluj.

Sincerly Yours,
Madalina Radutoiu
Marian Chiriac
Editors

Tel/fax: ++401 � 202. 18.67
e-mail: [email protected]

HOW TO SUBSCRIBE
Send an e-mail to [email protected]


april 01, 2002


DIVERS
- reporting ethnic diversity -

SUMMARY
1. ROMANIA ENDED 2002 CENSUS, MINOR IRREGULARITIES REPORTED
2. HISTORICAL PROPERTIES OF JEWISH COMMUNITY UNDER ROMANIA'S PATRIMONY
3. JEWISH LEADER SAYS THERE ARE ANTI-SEMITES BUT NO ANTI-SEMITISM IN
ROMANIA
4. STATUE OF ANTONESCU DISMANTLED IN ROMANIA
5. COUNCIL OF EUROPE HAILS ROMANIA'S EFFORTS TO SUPPORT MINORITIES
6. ETHICAL GUIDE FOR JOURNALISTS REPORTING DIVERSITY
7. ROMANIAN-MAGYAR MUSIC CD
8. PRIVATE TV STATION LAUNCHES REGIONAL PROGRAMME IN HUNGARIAN
LANGUAGE
-------------------------------------------------------------------

ROMANIA ENDED 2002 CENSUS, MINOR IRREGULARITIES REPORTED BUCHAREST 

- A census of the population and housing - which is a precondition for
Romania to join the European Union - began on 18 March in Romania and
ended nine days later. The accurate proportion of people belonging to
ethnic minorities compared to the Romanian population is one of the
issues to be clarified.

Reports on minor irregularities in filling in ethnic identity were
registered mainly in the areas inhabited by Hungarian and Csango (a
Catholic, Magyar-speaking population living in Eastern Romania) ethnic
minorities. "It was the Romanian government which should have made
adequate preparations and provided sufficient information about the
census. However, it failed to do so. The census was not adequately
prepared, the census-takers were not trained well, nor was the
population provided with the necessary information", said Marko Bela,
the chairman of ethnic-Hungarian minority party in Romania (UDMR).
Marko added that census officials had refused to register some Csango
people who declared their "Hungarian nationality" and "Hungarian
mother tongue".

On their part, Roma leaders feared that the census will not reflect
the real number of this ethnic group, as many poor people, especially
the homeless and those without IDs, won't be included within the
counting due to the poorly drafted forms. Head of the Roma Party (PR),
Nicolae Paun, estimated that no more than 800,000 people will declare
themselves of Roma origin.

According to the last census carried ten years ago the population of
Romania was 22,800,000 people, of which minorities represent around
ten percent (Hungarians - 1,7 m, Roma - 450,000, German, Jews,
Ukrainians, Turks, Russians etc). The first results are expected in
early June. (DIVERS)


HISTORICAL PROPERTIES OF JEWISH COMMUNITY UNDER ROMANIA'S PATRIMONY

BUCHAREST - Romanian Government last week passed emergency ordinance
according to which properties of historical value belonging to Jewish
communities from Romania have been transferred to the national
patrimony. The list encloses churches, denominational cemeteries, rite
baths and abattoirs, as well as faith objects held by patrimony of
Jewish communities. There are almost 800 cemeteries in Romania, of
which 600 are placed within localities with any Jewish alive and that
explains their weed-grown condition."There was necessary a lot of
effort from the State to take care of this patrimony", Government's
spokesman, Claudiu Lucaci said.(DIVERS)


JEWISH LEADER SAYS THERE ARE ANTI-SEMITES BUT NO ANTI-SEMITISM IN
ROMANIA

BUCHAREST - President of Jewish Community Federation from Romania,
Nicolae Cajal, believes that one can speak "only about the existence
of anti-Semites, but not of anti-Semitism in nowadays Romania". The
statement was made within the meeting of Jewish communities' leaders
from East-European candidate states to NATO. They gathered in
Bucharest last week and expressed their support for Alliance's
enlargement to East, including their countries, too Jewish people from
Romania are mainly discontent with the manifestation cult for wartime
Romania leader Ion Antonescu. Marshall Antonescu is guilty of having
deported few thousands of Jewish and Roma people during the World War
II. Romanian Premier Adrian Nastase pointed out that there cannot be
blamed the entire people for the Holocaust but only the leaders of
that time. History, Nastase said, has registered "situations whose
gravity was far more extensive" than those in Romania, and "nobody
thought of accusing the German, Russian, American, or any other people
of that. (DIVERS)


STATUE OF ANTONESCU DISMANTLED IN ROMANIA

PIATRA NEAMT - A first statue of wartime Romania leader Marshall Ion
Antonescu was dismantled in Piatra Neamt (Eastern Romania) on March
28. Local officials said that the bust was removed "on orders from
Bucharest". After a restoration period, the bust will be placed in a
museum. Earlier this month, Romanian government approved an ordinance
prohibiting the public display of statues and naming of streets in
Antonescu's honor. (DIVERS)


COUNCIL OF EUROPE HAILS ROMANIA'S EFFORTS TO SUPPORT MINORITIES

STRASBOUG - The Council of Europe Committee of Ministers adopted, on
mid-March, a Resolution on the implementation of the Framework
Convention for the Protection of National Minorities by Romania.
"Romania has made commendable efforts to support national minorities
and their cultures. Improvements have been recorded in recent years in
inter-community relations and in the promotion of a climate of greater
tolerance towards minorities" resolution reads.

It is also said that an institutional framework and important legal
guarantees pertaining to some articles of the Framework Convention
have been adopted and others are currently under discussion, but
efforts are still needed to complete this framework as well as to
ensure its full realization into practice. Further efforts are
required notably in the fields of media, public employment and
education, areas where particular attention will have to be paid to
the numerically smaller minorities. Despite the determination of the
authorities to speed up the social integration of the Roma, real
problems remain, notably as regards acts of discrimination in a wide
range of societal settings and wide socio-economic differences between
a large number of Roma and the remaining population as well as their
treatment by some law-enforcement officials. (DIVERS)


ETHICAL GUIDE FOR JOURNALISTS REPORTING DIVERSITY

BUCHAREST - The Center for Independent Journalism recently launched a
best practices guide for journalists reporting diversity in Romanian
media. The "Guide of Best Practices in Reporting on Minorities" was
put together by 30 Romanian journalists of various ethnic backgrounds,
who participated in the program called "Diversity Training for
Romanian Journalists". The publication is intended to be a handbook
for journalists covering issues regarding national minorities,
especially Roma people. (DIVERS)


ROMANIAN-MAGYAR MUSIC CD

BUCHAREST - The Museum of the Romanian Peasant last week edited new CD
displaying traditional music from Transylvania region. Called
"Romanian and Hungarian Music from Central Transylvania", the CD
includes lyrical songs in different instrument versions and dance
music as well, being structured in three sections: Romanian music,
Magyar music and double identity music. The latter category displays
song-pairs played in different rhythms both in Romanian version, as
well as in Magyar music.The three performers of the CD - a Romanian
and two Magyars - are good friends and they have been singing together
for many years. "Romanian and Hungarian Music from Central
Transylvania" is the first disk production dedicated to Romanian and
Magyar music from Transylvania without emphasizing the differences of
music ethnic. (DIVERS)


PRIVATE TV STATION LAUNCHES REGIONAL PROGRAMME IN HUNGARIAN LANGUAGE

ORADEA - Starting mid-March, local studio of private TV station Antena
1 have launched a weekly programme in Magyar language. The show is
broadcasted every Friday and has one-hour lasting. The programme
displays social and political information as main interests for
Magyar-speaking local community. In Oradea (Nagyvarad), about 38
percent of the populace is of Magyar origin. (DIVERS)

English translation: Simona Bogdan
� MEDIAFAX S.A

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