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

May 2003

Five new members in the government

On 5 May, Prime Minister P�ter Medgyessy announced his decision as
regards personal changes in the government. Accordingly, five new
government members have been appointed: Istv�n Hiller,  Mikl�s Pers�nyi
and Ferenc Gyurcs�ny will respectively work as Minister of National
Cultural Heritage, Minister of Environment and Water Management and
Minister of Children, Youth and Sports. Two further new cabinet members,
Endre Juh�sz, former permanent representative of Hungary to the European
Commission, and Katalin L�vai, former Head of the Directorate General of
Equal Opportunities at the Ministry of Employment Policy and Labour are
to continue their work on a ministerial level, as Ministers without
portfolio, focusing mainly on coordination between ministries in their
own fields. Katalin L�vai, as she indicated on the occasion of her
hearing by the competent parliamentary committee, will be responsible
for promoting a policy of equal opportunity for women, socially
disadvantaged people, disabled persons, Roma and people over forty. She
will also supervise relations with non-governmental organisations.
According to Mrs L�vai, it is also the task of the newly established
ministerial level department of the Prime Minister's Office to
facilitate the alteration of public attitude towards the disadvantaged
and in tandem with that, also to raise awareness of social problems. 

The appointment of the Minister of Equal Opportunities resulted in
structural changes in the Prime Minister's Office. State Secretary
L�szl� Teleki as well as his Office of Roma Integration will work under
the new Minister without portfolio in the future.


Minister of the Prime Minister's Office meets with presidents of the
National Minority Self-Governments

According to the terms of the Agreement concluded by Prime Minister
P�ter Medgyessy and the Presidents of the National Minority
Self-Governments in June 2002, the Prime Minister is to hold annual
consultations on current issues of minority policies with the Presidents
of the National Minority Self-Governments, while the same matters will
also be discussed in the framework of terminal meetings with the
Minister of the Prime Minister's Office. Accordingly, on 29 April,
Minister P�ter Kiss received the Presidents of the National Minority
Self-Governments. The participants reviewed the tasks ahead as regards
the amendment of minority related legal provisions. The Minister stated
that the Government seeks to reach a wide consensus on the matter, but
if this proves impossible, it will not hesitate to submit its own draft
amendments to the Parliament before 31 December, as stipulated in the
Parliamentary Resolution setting the deadline for the completion of the
draft legislation process.

The Minister also highlighted the importance of continued consultation
with the minority self-governments. He expressed his hope that minority
self-governments will develop a common position on the most significant
issues. The amendments are necessary for the realisation of an important
principle, namely the exclusive right of persons belonging to national
and ethnic minorities to elect their representatives. Finally, the
Minister expressed the Government's commitment to support programmes
aiming at the fulfilment of cultural autonomy of minorities.

Meanwhile, the series of hearings of the recently elected presidents of
the national minority self-governments before the Parliamentary Standing
Committee on Human Rights, Minority and Religious Affairs has ended.


Hungarian member of the European Convention meets with Roma leaders 

On 29 April, Mr. J�zsef Sz�jer received Roma leaders in his office. The
meeting focused on the proposal submitted by Mr. Sz�jer to the EU
Convention under the title "Unity in diversity". (The substance of the
proposal sets forth the establishment of a Committee of National and
Ethnic Minorities. Some elements of the proposal were detailed in the
last edition of our selection of news). Alad�r Horv�th, President of the
National Roma Minority Self-Government ensured the politician that the
proposal will be supported on the part of the National Self-Government.

In Mr. Sz�jer's view, a minority consultative committee to legislative
bodies of the EU could considerably contribute to the improvement of the
situation of the Roma. Mr. Sz�jer also notified that he already has and
would ask for the support of his proposal from the leaders of other
national minority communities as well. He added that the creation of a
European minority lobby is under way.


Gy�rgy Popovics was inaugurated as Deputy President of the Office for
National and Ethnic Minorities

On 30 April, Vilmos Szab�, State Secretary of the Prime Minister's
Office in charge of National and Ethnic Minorities inaugurated Mr
Popovics as Deputy President of the Office for National and Ethnic
Minorities. Mr Popovics is a well-known professional among minorities,
who has been working in the Office for National and Ethnic Minorities
since its establishment in 1990.


Roma Migration - a series of studies

The Research Centre on Migration and Refugee Issues operating under the
auspices of the Minority Research Centre of the Academy of Sciences, has
published a collection of studies on Roma migration. The publication
deals with the emigration of the Roma from Hungary, with the influx of
beggars and dealers from other countries as well as with the situation
of Roma musicians. Furthermore, the reasons behind the migration of some
Roma from Z�moly to France are also analysed. The volume is part of the
research programme launched by the International Organisation for
Migration upon the request of several member states of the European
Union.


Romaweb - a new government website 

At the beginning of May, a new website on Roma issues (www.romaweb.hu)
was launched by the State Secretariat for Roma Issues with the aim of
providing citizens with up-to-date information, and support the exchange
of information between governmental and non-governmental organisations.
The financial means for the new website were provided by the EU Phare
Programme and the Hungarian Government. 

Roma artists' exhibition in the Office Building of the Members of
Parliament 
At the end of April, Member of Parliament Magda Kov�cs K�s�n� and State
Secretary L�szl� Teleki opened the exhibition of works of art by Roma
artists in the Office Building of the Members of Parliament. The event
was organised on the occasion of the World Day of Roma Culture and
presented 18 paintings and five statues selected from the collection of
the Museum of Ethnography. 


The Festival of Minority Theatres came to an end

The Festival of minority theatres - as indicated in the latest edition
of our selection of news - took place between 29 April and 2 May. After
the Festival, minority theatres having performed at the event issued a
letter of acknowledgement to the organisers of the Festival. The
declaration emphasises that all pieces were performed in front of a full
house, which certainly indicates the high standard of the work of the
minority theatres, as well as their diversity in genre, language and
artistic style. According to the declaration the organisers of the
present festival will soon seek contact with the Ministry of Cultural
Heritage in order to find a reassuring solution to the placement and
financing of minority theatres.


Results of a survey conducted about school segregation 

On May 9 at a press conference, Minister of Education B�lint Magyar
reviewed the outcome of a survey conducted last December inquiring about
the possible social acceptance of the Roma integration programme in
schools. The programme is to be launched in September 2003 by the
Ministry of Education with the ambition to incite schools to introduce
integration programmes into their curriculum by allocating to them a
normative per capita support of HUF 51,000 under the condition that they
accept to realise at least one integration programme.
According to the survey, at the level of norms, the majority of the
population are against racism and discrimination, but when it comes to
specific situations involving Roma citizens, preconception is clearly
discernible. 44 % of the interviewed citizens, 48 % of teachers and 38 %
of parents share the view that an integrative school system is far more
favourable for Roma children. The vast majority of the citizens think
that with the help of appropriate pedagogical methods, Roma children are
capable of performing remarkably well in their studies.  Two thirds of
the parents questioned would not object to enrol their children to
schools attended also by Roma pupils.


European Roma Information Office with a Hungarian director

With the financial aid of two Dutch foundations, the European Roma
Information Office started operating in Brussels in March. Applicants
were invited for the post of the director, which was awarded to Ang�la
K�cz�, a well-known Roma activist, sociologist from Hungary, former
Human Rights Education Director with the European Roma Rights Centre. As
the director stated, the Office will not function as a donor or granting
agency, it rather tends to act as a lobby organisation. Besides, the
Office will serve as an information centre by making available up-to
date information on the developments of European law-making and calls
for applications. The European Roma Information Office will give
information to the bodies of the European Union, such as the Commission
and the European Parliament and other international organisations, about
the actual facts concerning the rights of the Roma in the EU member
states and associated partners. It will serve as a connecting point
between the Roma grassroots organisations, and the international
organisations such as the Council of Europe, OSCE, and NGOs like the
European Roma Rights Centre etc. It will also provide the Roma
organisations with information about the European Union, in order to
create mutual interest. According to the plans, the Office's website
will soon be constructed, first in Romani and English, later in as many
languages as possible.


The forced resettlement of Ungarndeutschen: 1945-1948. A study by the
Hungarian Central Statistical Office

The inhuman act of the resettlement of the members of the German
minority after World War II was officially explained with the principle
of "collective guilt" of all Germans. The study of the Hungarian Central
Statistical Office on the resettlement of German minority members from
Hungary into Germany focuses on analysing the role of the census
conducted in 1941. Since minority affiliation data registered in the
course of the census were not dealt with confidentially, they partly
served as a basis to compile the list of those who were then forced to
leave Hungary. The study marks a milestone in the lengthy, unpleasant
process of facing Hungary's history of the last century.