MINELRES: Minority news from Hungary

[MINELRES moderator]

Original sender: Judit Solymosi <solymosij@mail.datanet.hu>


Office for National and Ethnic Minorities
Budapest, Hungary

Selection of news on national and ethnic minorities in Hungary


June 2003


Regional Roma conference in Budapest

The regional conference entitled  'Roma in an Expanding Europe:
Challenges for the Future', took place in Budapest on 30 June and 1
July. Co-sponsored by the European Commission, the World Bank and the
Open Society Institute, the conference was intended to raise public
awareness about the economic development challenges and opportunities
faced by Roma and to support systematic policy reforms, especially in
education, employment, health and social protection. The conference was
attended by leading politicians - prime ministers and ministers - from
Central and Eastern Europe, EU commissioner Anna Diamantopoulou, World
Bank President James D. Wolfensohn, representatives of the Council of
Europe, businessman and president of the Soros Foundation Gyorgy Soros
as well as representatives of Roma civil organisations.

A new report compiled by the World Bank in the last three years and
released just before the Budapest conference stated that Roma in Europe
face much higher poverty rates than non-Roma. The causes of poverty
include the lack of access to education, health and employment as well
as exclusion from political processes. 

Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Medgyessy emphasized that EU accession
meant a unique opportunity for the Roma to integrate into European
community. Medgyessy explained that the integration of acceding
countries cannot be complete without the integration of the Roma. He
added that Hungary was the only country in the region to assist the
integration of disadvantaged groups through a ministerial office for
equal opportunities. He has pointed out that efforts for integration can
only be effective if national governments and the responsible leaders of
the EU simultaneously seek national and European answers to these
problems.

Employment and Social Affairs Commissioner Anna Diamantopoulou, called
on current and future EU Member States to work together to tackle the
social exclusion of Roma.  She launched an appeal for greater
cooperation between the EU, the World Bank and other international
organisations.  The Commissioner also stressed the need to boost
dialogue with Roma representatives underlining there should be "nothing
for Roma, without the Roma".

Commissioner Diamantopoulou said: "Enlargement will bring several
million new Roma citizens into the European Union.  Roma communities in
both current and future Member States continue to face extreme
conditions of social exclusion and discrimination.  What we want to do
now ... is to ensure that all governments, non-governmental
organisations and other actors, in all Member States and Accession and
Candidate Countries, mobilise all relevant European and national
policies and funds in tackling Roma issues. Through financial support of
course. But also through policy co-ordination and the exchange of good
practice - as we do across the full range of employment and social
policies. And also through the full application of the extensive legal
framework that exists in the European Union, especially with respect to
discrimination."

According to Ms Diamantopoulou, "between now and next May - the date of
enlargement - the Commission will be reviewing its existing programmes
and policies to see how we can address the specific problems faced by
Roma in an enlarged EU more effectively ... and how we can best combine
the strengths of targeted approaches and of mainstream policies."

Although reliable figures are difficult to obtain, enlargement is likely
to bring the number of Roma living in the Union to over 8 million after
2007, making the Roma community the largest ethnic minority in the EU. 
The Commission is the largest international donor for improving the
situation of Roma communities in Europe.  During the last three years
alone, over �77 million in funding has been provided through the PHARE
programme for Roma projects in Hungary, the Czech and Slovak Republics,
Bulgaria and Romania.  

The conference proposed an international initiative called The Decade of
Roma Inclusion. World Bank President James Wolfensohn announced that the
Roma integration programme would be implemented between 2005-2015 in
nine Central, Easters and South-Eastern European countries with the
financial support of the World Bank and the EU. The government leaders
and organisations concerned would elaborate an action plan the main aim
of which is to build partnership with the Roma population. The Decade of
Roma Inclusion will aime to accelerate and raise the profile of actions
to improve the economic status and social integration of the Roma
population in the CEE countries by developing appropriate policies to
achieve those objectives, and by monitoring performance in meeting
them.  A working group has been set up at prime ministerial level under
the leadership of the Hungarian Prime Minister with the aim of
co-ordinating Roma integration activities and combating discrimination
during the coming decade. Parallel to this, James Wolfensohn announced
the establishment of a Roma Educational Fund. The main objective of this
Fund would be to improve the sustainability of initiatives aiming to
improve the educational status and performance of the Roma population in
Central and Eastern Europe. For this purpose, it would provide
additional finance for programmes that will help reduce the gap in
access to quality education between Roma and non-Roma and for which
effective demand has been demonstrated to exist.  

Gyorgy Soros stressed that a new, well-educated, enthusiastic layer of
young leaders had emerged within the Central and Eastern European Roma
community. These leaders are aware and proud of their ethnic affiliation
and they will be able to successfully shape and manage the necessary
changes. Young Roma activists participating at the conference issued a
statement in which they presented to the Prime Ministers and the other
guests a synthesis of the Roma young leaders vision and policy
recommendations. All delegations have prioritised education, employment
and housing as the three most important areas to be addressed and have
noted that discrimination runs through all of these areas.

On 29 June, a Roma Women's Forum preceded the conference and discussed,
among others, the situation, the job opportunities and the sexual rights
of Roma women living in Europe. In her opening speech Minister for Equal
Opportunities Katalin Levai stressed that Roma women face double
exclusion: their ethnic affiliation gives them less chance to study and
to get employed and those who want to break out of this disadvantaged
situation will often encounter the traditions of their own society. 

In addition to the conference, a ''Marketplace" was organised in order
to promote innovative development ideas and to share promising practices
and initiatives which aim to improve the situation of, and expand social
and economic opportunities for, the Roma community.  


Work on the amendment of legal provisions concerning minorities living
in Hungary

In the past weeks of May and June, representatives of the Hungarian
government and national and ethnic minorities worked hard on preparing
concepts for the amendment of two minority-related acts: the act on the
rights of national and ethnic minorities and the act concerning the
election of minority self-governments. For the talks, minorities set up
a six-member delegation including experts delegated by the Bulgarian,
Roma, Croatian, German, Slovak and Serbian national minority
self-governments. On behalf of the government, the working group
included experts of the Prime Minister's Office as well the Ministries
of the Interior, Justice, Education, National Cultural Heritage and
Finances. Minority ombudsman dr Jeno Kaltenbach as well as the
Parliamentary Commission of Human Rights, Minority and Religious Affairs
were also invited to take part in the work. Administrative conciliation
on the concepts will start at the beginning of July. Autumn will be
dedicated to the wording of the legal texts that will be re-discussed 
then in November and December at consultations involving also
Parliamentary political parties. (See also in our February-May 2003
issue: "Parliamentary resolution on law amendments".) One of the most
important objectives of the amendment is to make the cultural autonomy
of minorities real and tangible, and to ensure them financial stability
for the running of their educational and cultural institutions.


Anti-discrimination Phare Programme successfully ended

Within the framework of the Roma Social Integration Phare Programme, 420
Roma and non-Roma participants coming from seven regions of the country
took part at a nation-wide series of training courses against
discrimination. The courses aimed at eliminating discriminatory
practices and at developing communication between the Roma and
institutions providing public services in the field of employment,
social affairs, housing, education, public administration and public
safety. On 11 June, at a ceremonial organised in the building of the
Hungarian Parliament, EU Ambassador Juergen Koeppen, State Secretary for
Roma Issues Laszlo Teleki, ONEM President Antal Heizer and Minority
Ombudsman Dr Jeno Kaltenbach handed over the certificates to the
participants.

 
Fatelessness to be published in Romani

With the financial contribution of a private person, the world-famous
novel entitled Fatelessness by Nobel-Prize winner writer Imre Kertesz
will come out in Romani at the end of August. The Romani translation
will be done by Roma writer and poet Gyorgy Rostas-Farkas.
 

Developments of the European Roma Forum

Members of the Interim Board of the European Roma Forum elected in Lodz
met in Budapest on 31 May and 1 June with the aim to further develop the
establishment of the European Roma Forum. The group also discussed other
timely issues as Roma refugees in the Former Yugoslav Republic of
Macedonia, Roma women and forced sterilization as well as the creation
of a Roma foundation.
As it is known, the initiative of an European Roma Forum was endorsed by
the Finish President Tarja Halonen in January 2001, who expressed the
view that the establishment of such a forum for Roma would enable them
to raise their issues and to participate in decision-making processes at
European level.


Establishment of the Cultural Council of Minorities

In Mid-June, a Cultural Council of National and Ethnic Minorities was
set up as a consultative body to the Ministry of National Cultural
Heritage. Similarly to the bodies working with the Ministries of
Education as well as Informatics and Communication, the Council will
make proposals and give its opinion and pieces of advice in issues
concerning minorities. The council is chaired by Deputy State Secretary
Marta Schneider.