His Excellency 

Mr Laszlo KOVACS

Minister for Foreign Affairs

of the Republic of Hungary

BUDAPEST

Republic of Hungary

The Hague

18 July 1994

Reference :

No 2582/94/L

OSCE Ref. Com no.36

Dear Mr Minister,

Please allow me to address you on some issues which I have had the privilege of discussing before with your predecessor. As you know, I have been involved with the situation of the Slovak minority in Hungary which has led to an exchange of letters at the end of 1993 and the beginning of 1994 with your predecessor.

In writing the present letter, I have made use of the report submitted to me by a Team of experts after it had visited Hungary in February of this year. The Team was established in 1993 upon the agreement of both the Hungarian and the Slovak Governments. Its task is to study, based on CSCE principles and commitments, both the situation of the Hungarian minority in Slovakia and the situation of the Slovak minority in Hungary in the light of the general policies towards minorities of each of the Governments concerned. The Team paid a first visit to Slovakia and Hungary in September 1993 and a second one in February of the present year. Two more visits are due to take place before the Summer of 1995.

With regard to the earlier recommendations I made, I was pleased to learn that the Act on national and ethnic minorities has been translated into the languages of all the thirteen minorities in Hungary, that a booklet with a detailed explanation of the Act is being prepared, and that a special financial effort will be made to ensure the implementation of the Act. Such an effort on a continuous basis would indeed seem to be necessary to make the Act effective in practice.

Mr Minister, there are three other issues which I would like to mention in this letter, which derive from the 1993 Act on the rights of national and ethnic minorities. Firstly, in almost all the conversations the Team of experts had the issue of the representation of minorities in Hungarian parliament was mentioned, an issue which had not yet been resolved as a proposal by the Government on that issue had been narrowly defeated. This situation was deplored by all the Team's interlocutors, including those parliamentarians who had voted against the proposal. The Team was assured that the reasons for the negative votes were not at all linked to the fact that minorities as such were involved, and all considered that an acceptable solution would have to be found as soon as possible. These strongly prevailing views lead me to be convinced that the matter could be settled satisfactorily in the near future. I would very much appreciate being informed about relevant developments in this regard.

A second issue that was raised with many interlocutors was the minorities' self-government as provided for in Chapter IV of the Act on the rights of national and ethnic minorities. I would be very interested to learn the assessment of the Hungarian Government concerning the practical implementation of the relevant provisions of the Act. I do realise that the upcoming local elections will be only a first phase in the setting up of the minorities' self- government.

Mr Minister, my last point concerns the Minority Ombudsman as foreseen in Section 20, paragraph (2) of the Act. I express the hope that, in accordance with the relevant provisions, such a post will be established in the near future. I would be grateful to be kept informed of developments in this regard.

I am looking forward to receiving your views on these matters.

Yours sincerely,

Max van der Stoel

CSCE High Commissioner

on National Minorities