MINELRES: Romania: Ethnic Minority Briefs No. 73

Tue Oct 7 16:58:01 2003

Original sender: Divers Bulletin <[email protected]> 

No. 73 / October 6, 2003 

DIVERS
- reporting ethnic diversity - 

SUMMARY

1. ETHNIC MINORITIES ASK SETTING UP SPECIAL BODY
2. ROMANIAN PREMIER REJECTS AUTONOMY BASED ON ETHNICITY...
3. ...WHILE CENTRAL EUROPEAN COUNTRIES REJECT HUNGARY�S DEMAND
4. UDMR SO FAR NOT WILLING TO GIVE UP TO THE ALLIANCE WITH PSD
5. EXECUTIVE ANNOUNCES SPECIAL BILL FOR ROMANIANS FROM ABROAD
6. ROMANIA ORDERS ROMA CHILD BRIDE RETURNED HOME

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ETHNIC MINORITIES ASK SETTING UP SPECIAL BODY
TIRGU MURES � The leader of the ethnic minorities in Parliament, deputy
Varujan Pambuccian, stated on September 26 that the minorities aim at
establishing special national authority to exclusively deal with their
problems. "Such a body should be independent and main credit
coordinator, that is to be able to administrate the money for the
minorities", Pambuccian said. According to him, the ethnic minorities
representatives found out that, as long as a Ministry of national
minorities existed in previous governments, they faced no financial
problems, yet, currently, with the present governmental structure a
series of dysfunctions appear. (DIVERS) 

summary 

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ROMANIAN PREMIER REJECTS AUTONOMY BASED ON ETHNICITY...
STRASBOURG - Addressing a session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the
Council of Europe (PACE) on 30 September, Prime Minister Adrian Nastase
said that he couldn�t accept any local government autonomy based on
ethnic criteria, RFE/RL reported. Nastase was answering a question by a
Hungarian member of PACE. He said that a "local community" in Romania
always includes several ethnic groups and it would not be right to place
management of local affairs in the hands of a single ethnic group.
Responding to another Hungarian PACE member's question, Nastase said
that his government and the Hungarian government will attempt to bridge
differences and reach a compromise over the Liberty Monument in the
Romanian city of Arad by December this year. Nastase said that the
"sensibility of Romanians" over the significance of the controversial
monument must be taken into consideration "no less than the sensibility
of others." He added, "We must not return to the past."

summary 

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...WHILE CENTRAL EUROPEAN COUNTRIES REJECT HUNGARY�S DEMAND
STRASBOURG - The Czech, Polish, and Slovak prime ministers refused to
support the position of their Hungarian counterpart Medgyessy on the
need to have a reference to minority rights included in the proposed
European constitution, TASR news agency reported. RFE/RL quoted Slovak
Prime Minister Dzurinda as saying: "The Charter of Human Rights and
Freedoms of the EU defends the rights of minorities and [that charter]
is also included in the draft of the EU constitution. We consider that
right and appropriate." 

summary 

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UDMR SO FAR NOT WILLING TO GIVE UP TO THE ALLIANCE WITH PSD
BUCHAREST - Hungarian Democratic Federation of Romania UDMR chairman
Marko Bela stated on Wednesday October 1 that the Union so far does not
plan to join another political alliance, indicating that the opposition
parties, liberals from PNL and the social�democrats in PD should give up
to "the particular nationalist rhetoric "which they expressed in the
past years". Marko Bela pointed out that UDMR at present has an alliance
with the ruling party PSD, and even if at present the Union "is not
quite enthusiastic" by the matter of re-erecting the Statue of Liberty
from Arad (western Romania), so far it is not really open to set up an
alliance. He said that UDMR yet excludes any co-operation or any
alliance with the ultra nationalist Greater Romania Party (PRM).
(DIVERS) 

summary 

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EXECUTIVE ANNOUNCES SPECIAL BILL FOR ROMANIANS FROM ABROAD
STRASBOURG � Soon, the Government will draft special legislation to
support the cultural and linguistic identity of the few million Romanian
living abroad, stated on September 30 Premier Adrian Nastase, in the
plenum of the Parliamentary Meeting of the European Council. He pointed
out that the bill would be drafted in compliance with the international
and European standards in field, indicating that all the persons
belonging to the ethnic minorities should be applied equal treatment
from the State they live in as citizens. (DIVERS)

summary 

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ROMANIA ORDERS ROMA CHILD BRIDE RETURNED HOME
BUCHAREST - Romanian child protection authorities on October 2 ordered a
Roma child bride and her teenage husband to live apart after their
wedding prompted protests from European and local officials. Hundreds of
guests and a throng of reporters witnessed princess Ana Maria, 12, the
daughter of self-proclaimed "king of all Roma" Florin Cioaba try but
fail to escape her lavish wedding last Saturday in the Transylvanian
city of Sibiu. The European Commission condemned Romania, which hopes to
join the EU in 2007, for turning a blind eye to the wedding and called
for immediate action to save the girl.
An experts committee in Sibiu interviewed the young couple and their
fathers on Thursday and ordered the children to live separately with
their families until they reach the legal age to be married. The girl
must also attend school on Monday. "They must stop immediately any
marital or sexual relations, otherwise we would be forced to consider
other ways to protect them like placing them in a state child shelter,"
Anca Dragan, head of child protection services in Sibiu, told Reuters. A
separate police investigation was also underway to determine if any
crime had been committed. In Romania, the legal age of sexual consent
for girls is 15 and for marriage 16, but child marriage is common among
the Roma, which number between 500,000 and three million.
Ana Maria should have undergone a medical test on Wednesday to determine
whether she had sexual contact, but local police said on Thursday they
could not force her to take the test. Guests at the wedding were shown a
bloodied sheet to prove the marriage was consummated. "There was an
assumption that they had sex...on the wedding night, the bed sheet
proved it, but it was consensual," Dragan said, adding that the girl
appeared to be in love with her groom, Birita Mihai, 15. 
Ana Maria had stormed out of the church at her wedding, but was brought
back by her family. Her girlfriends chanted "Down with Birita" after the
ceremony.
But her father brought both children to a television show late on
Wednesday, where they said they wanted to marry. European MP and
Romanian children's advocate Baroness Emma Nicholson condemned their
appearance. "I'm very surprised that you have brought these two children
here," she said on air. "It seems like further proof of using the
children for the purposes of adults to justify actions of adults. "The
girl's family was outraged at the protests which prompted the
investigation, saying child marriage was part of their tradition.
(REUTERS) 

summary 

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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
e-mail: [email protected] 

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