MINELRES: Romania: DIVERS bulletin on ethnic doversity

[MINELRES moderator]

Original sender: Mediafax <divers@mediafax.ro>


DIVERS
- reporting ethnic diversity -

DIVERS is a weekly news bulletin edited by the Mediafax news agency
with financial support from Ethnocultural Diversity Resource Center
(EDRC) in Cluj.
For now, the full version of the bulletin is only available in
Romanian and can be found at www.divers.ro.

SUMMARY
1. GOVERNMENT HAILS STRATEGY FOR ROMA
2. UPPER HOUSE PASSES BILL ON RETURN OF CHURCH PROPERTIES
3. MUSLIM COMMUNITY PROTESTS IN ROMANIA
4. ROMANIAN NATIONALIST PARTY DEMANDS ANTONESCU'S REHABILITATION
5. FESTIVAL DEVOTED TO MEMORY OF FOUNDER OF WORLD'S FIRST JEWISH
THEATER
6. CAMPAIGN FIGHTING RACISM AND ETHNIC PREJUDICES

OPINION
7. ROMANIA ABOUT TO RATIFY THE CHARTER FOR REGIONAL AND MINORITY
LANGUAGES?


GOVERNMENT HAILS STRATEGY FOR ROMA
BUCHAREST - Romanian government last week approved the report over the
implementation of the national Strategy for the improvement of the
Roma situation, one year after it was started. This strategy, which
includes123 practical measures that are in the process of being
implemented by all ministries, regional and local authorities, and has
led to the appointment of Roma advisors in all prefectures and
ministries. The adoption of the Roma strategy by the Romanian
government was seen by most of the Roma representatives as well as
international community as the best way for improving social and
economic conditions of ailing Roma community here. (DIVERS)

UPPER HOUSE PASSES BILL ON RETURN OF CHURCH PROPERTIES
BUCHAREST - Romania's Senate last week passed an emergency ordinance
on the return of property that belonged to Orthodox, Catholic and
other Romanian churches.
The bill covers property confiscated by the former communist regime
that ruled from 1945 to 1989. Most of the churches to be returned
belong to the Hungarian churches in Romania. Pope John Paul II called
for the speedier restitution of property to the Roman Catholic Church
in Romania. (DIVERS)

MUSLIM COMMUNITY PROTESTS IN ROMANIA
BUCHAREST - Few hundreds representatives of the Muslim community
protested in Bucharest last week against the city council's refusal to
give them land for a Muslim cemetery. Their representative in the
Romanian Parliament, Sali Negiat, says that though city hall issued
permission and approved a plot of land for the graveyard, Bucharest's
mayor Traian Basescu refuses to sign the document. Until now, the
30,000 member Muslim community has used the Turkish cemetery in
Bucharest, but it is full, according to Negiat. (DIVERS)

ROMANIAN NATIONALIST PARTY DEMANDS ANTONESCU'S REHABILITATION
TIRGU MURES - One of the leaders of the nationalist party National
Unity Party (PUNR), Lazar Ladariu, stated last week he would demand
that Romania's wartime Hitler ally Marshall Ion Antonescu's image to
be reconsidered and thus rehabilitated. Ladariu said that after over
55 years when Antonescu had been judged by a court ordered under
"Soviet rules" he should be judged under democrat circumstance and,
thus, rehabilitated. 

PUNR leader, whose party is not represented within Parliament, stated
that, in case the ordinance that stipulates to remove all Antonescu's
monuments out of the public domain will also be passed by the Senate
too, while PUNR arrange for the monuments to be placed on private
domains, so that people could not forget what Marshall Antonescu meant
for Romania. 

Marshall Antonescu was executed for "crimes against peace" in 1946,
being accused for supporting deportation and killing of thousands of
Jews and Roma people from Romania. After 1990, an "Antonescu cult"
emerged as part of a campaign denying any Romanian participation in
the Holocaust.
The Romanian government has recently passed legislation imposing stiff
prison sentences to punish anti-Semitic acts and pro-Nazi propaganda.
(DIVERS)

FESTIVAL DEVOTED TO MEMORY OF FOUNDER OF WORLD'S FIRST JEWISH THEATER
IASI - Romanian National Theatre in Iasi last week announced that on
October 16-18 period it is organizing a festival in the memory of
Avraam Goldfaden, who 125 years ago set up the first Jewish theatre in
the world.
The festival is to be attended by many theatre groups, namely:
"Yddishspielteter" from Tel Aviv, Teatrul Evreiesc de Stat (State
Jewish Theatre) from Bucharest, the orchestra from Dresda, performing
a concert of Judaic music, etc. The American actor Dustin Hoffman, as
well as the actress - singer Barbra Streisand will be invited to the
manifestation. (DIVERS)

CAMPAIGN FIGHTING RACISM AND ETHNIC PREJUDICES
BUCHAREST - Two organizations of Roma minority initiated a public
campaign to lead fight against racism and to stimulate Roma accession
to citizen rights.

The project, that is to be developed in many towns of the country,
aims at testing the potential quantum in fighting against racial
stereotypes and prejudices against Roma people, by improving the
citizens' vision in this respect and by changing the social attitudes
and practices able to bring mentality innovation. The target-group
aimed by the project, namely the media, will be enabled to get better
knowledge about Roma communities, by means of regulate visits and by
attending particular manifestations, so as to neutralize stereotypes.
(DIVERS)

OPINION

ROMANIA ABOUT TO RATIFY THE CHARTER FOR REGIONAL AND MINORITY
LANGUAGES?
by Emese Medgyesi

The enlargement perspectives of the EU and NATO seem to have a
positive effect for the adoption of European standards by the
candidate countries. Romania is currently preparing the ratification
of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. The
Council of Europe's Committee on the Honouring of obligations and
commitments by member states (Monitoring Committee) recently announced
that it might put an end to its mission in Romania. Initiated in 1997,
according to Resolution 1123, the assistance of the CoE was desirable
in the fields related to national minorities and especially concerning
Roma communities, to questions of non-discrimination, as well as all
forms of restitution of goods and property.

Today the political context has actualized the question of
ratification of the European Charter for Regional or Minority
Languages, signed by Romania in 1995. About 20 minority language
communities are looking forward to the ratification. This has also
been highly recommended by the Parliamentary Assembly of the CoE in a
recommendation in November 2001 concerning the Csango minority.

This juridical instrument was, and remains, the basic reference for
the linguistic minorities of the country. However the possibility of
real protection for these language communities varies a lot according
to existing standards, number of speakers and heritage in
infrastructures. The Romanian internal legislative and administrative
framework, which regulates the use of regional or minority languages,
already offers a relatively high level of engagement. Therefore, there
is a possibility that the Charter will not satisfy the expectations of
certain linguistic communities in Romania - for example Hungarians and
Germans - who by tradition and thanks to the number of speakers have
the experience and therefore also the demand of much higher standards.
On the other hand, the Charter could give a survival chance to certain
endangered language communities, such as the Csangos and Ukrainians
(Hutulas).

The vast majority of the Charter's prescriptions already exist in the
internal Romanian legislation. It's mainly the application that is
lacking.

In fact, the ratification of the CoE's document could have been done a
long time ago without obliging the country to large changes, due to
the Charter's '� la carte' system. However, the monitoring system of
the Charter and the obligation to establish periodical reports every
three years could bring an optimal solution to the problem of
honouring the implementation of linguistic rights. 

What kind of perspectives could the Charter bring, once ratified?
Observers point out that Romania firstly reduced its internal
legislative standards in the last decade, and then signed the Charter.
It remains to be concluded if the Romanian ratification is a sincere
wish to protect the regional or minority languages, or if it a
necessary gesture taken to be accepted by the EU and NATO. (courtesy
to Eurolang - www.eurolang.net)