caught in the trap of integration - roma problems and prospects in hungary

7/31/2019 Caught in the Trap of Integration - Roma Problems and Prospects in Hungary

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Caught in the Trap of IntegrationRoma Problems and Prospects in Hungary

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Bureau for European Comparative Minority Research

Caught in the Trap of IntegrationRoma Problems and Prospects in Hungary

International Roma ConferenceBudapest, June 22-23, 1999

Budapest, 2000

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Published with the support of theMinistry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Hungary

Copyright 2000 by the Bureau for European Comparative Minority ResearchPublished by the Bureau for European Comparative Minority Research

H-1093 Budapest, Lnyay u. 24.Phone: +36.1.216-7292, 456-0779, fax: +36.1.216-7696

Internet: www.eokip.hu, e-mail: [email protected]

All rights reserved

ISBN 963 00 3539 1

Translation by Peter SherwoodPhotos Judit M. Horvth, Gyrgy Stalter

Cover design by AVARRO Graphics Ltd.1118 Budapest, Frankhegy u. 8. E-mail: [email protected]

This book is composed in BakerSignet.

Typeset/Layout by MATT DTPH-1119 Budapest, Etele t 32/c. E-mail: [email protected]

Printed in Hungary by Reprota Ltd.

1037 Budapest, Zay u. 1-3. E-mail: [email protected]

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Contents

PREFACE

I. POLITICS AND ROMA POLITICS

Erika Trzsk: The unavoidableToso Doncsev: Government strategyGabriella Varj: Government action promoting the social integration of the RomaPter Eckstein-Kovcs: The Romanian Governments policies for the RomaVasile Burtea: Roma in the Romanian Governments ProgrammeMiroslav Kus: The Roma question in the Slovak RepublicEdit Bauer: Squaring the circle: Roma in Slovak societyRon Korver: Strategies for human and/or minority rights in the European Union

II. DEBATES AND DEFINITIONS

Pter Kovcs: Roma and the Roma question in the context of human rights in theCouncil of EuropeGyrgy Csepeli: Rom or human being?Ern Kllai: The Roma and research on the RomaBalzs Krmer: Debate and deadlockgnes Darczi: Accepting responsibility for ones identityIvn Szelnyi: The Roma of Csenyte: the first 150 years

III. CONFLICTS AND THEIR RESOLUTION

Jen Kaltenbach: Roma conflicts and the prospects for integration, as seen fromthe Ombudsmans perspectivesImre Furman: On notions of discriminatory practiceIstvn Haller: Roma in post-1989 RomaniaFerenc Csortn: Who are the Roma of Romania?Istvn Kemny: Language and education: assimilation and segregation

Lajos Ary-Tams: The education of Roma pupils in the light of research in theOffice of the Commissioner for Minority Rights

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Andrea Szalai: Educating the Roma minority: language use and linguistic rights ineducation

IV. STRATEGIES

Sndor Palsti: Integration into society and the Hungarian ConstitutionRbert Veresegyhzy: Improving productivity: laying the foundations for

prosperityEndre Miklssy: The socio-economic (re)integration of the Roma

AUTHORS

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I. THE POLITICS OF ROMA POLITICS

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Erika Trzsk

The unavoidable

A look at the proceedings and at the map will show that there is virtually no part ofHungary that is not populated by at least some Roma. For Hungary, one of themost difficult areas in the negotiations on European integration is undoubtedly thatof human rights; in particular, the development of a conceptual framework andstrategy appropriate to this issue. The issue, that is, of how all of us in Hungary aredealing with the Roma question, also poses one of the most demanding challengesto Hungarian society. One might almost say that the question of the Roma has

become a fashionable topic in Hungary, since it is preoccupying a vast number ofpeople, from the prime minister to the research institutes of the HungarianAcademy. At the same time, the situation of those concerned is catastrophic. Thisis, in itself, a serious matter, but if we were to see this in a narrow way, withoutconsidering the context of the increasing antipathy (or at least lack of tolerance) ofthe majority society, a question of vital concern to all of Hungarian societywould become extremely difficult to handle. On the other hand, this is not a

problem faced by Hungary alone; all the societies of Central Europe are seriouslyaffected. That is why we have invited to our conference scholars and governmentrepresentatives from the Czech and Slovak Republics, as well as from Romaniaand Poland.

Thus the choice of the theme of this conference, organised by the Bureau forEuropean Comparative Minority Research* (BECMiR) in conjunction with theOffice for National and Ethnic Minorities, is no accident in the Hungary of the lastyear of the millennium. Yet this conference is not a political forum; rather, it offersa framework for sharing their thinking on this theme by all the participants:representatives from the neighbouring countries, international organisations suchas the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the EuropeanUnion, those from the Roma organisations, scholars in the field, and distinguishedoffice-holders from the Hungarian government.

In a country where the [Hungarian] minorities beyond its borders are adominant concern, the fair and responsible study of the culture of its ownminorities with their involvement and participation is still some way off.(Mria Nemnyi). This conference is an attempt to change this picture. In myview, although the government has secured approval for its medium-term plan ofaction, in the Roma question the only way to progress beyond government policies

* The Institute (from 2000 on: Bureau) for European Comparative Minority Research is a researchinstitute linked to the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Established in 1998, it was not intendedas yet another research institute located at the intersection of politics and scholarship; rather, it aims to

provide a bridge between the sciences concerned with social phenomena and the politics shaping themodus operandi of society. This is, indeed, the role it is playing now in organising this internationalconference on the Roma.

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that lag behind events is to forge realistic, long-term plans to treat the possibilitiesof Roma integration in a broader, extended perspective which will make clear theroles of those involved by providing a system of timetables and guarantees. Inother words, we must ask ourselves where we would like to be by, say, 2010? I

imagine all of us here are aware that the real losers of the change in politicalsystem since 1989 have been the Gypsies. With the Changes of 1989-90, theGypsies lost their means of living for the second time in the last hundred years,wrote Gbor Kertesi in his work,Employment and unemployment among Gypsiesbefore and after the Changes. The mass unemployment brought about by theChanges managed to destroy in a few short years virtually all the achievements ofthe slow, if ambiguous, process of modernisation that was integrating the Romathrough the extension of basic education and the expansion of unskilled jobs inindustry. These processes coincided with the burgeoning of political democracy inHungary and also with the emergence of a self-awareness among the Gypsies, or,at least, among a not insignificant proportion of them. In the 1990 census, forexample, the number of those claiming Gypsy ethnicity was unprecedentedly high,a number impossible to imagine in previous years. Their decline in society maywell, in their eyes, discredit political democracy itself. If they see no prospects fortheir future, no hope for their children, they may turn away from the institutions ofdemocracy and towards social deviance and political radicalism writes GborKertesi in the work cited above. This unprecedentedly profound crisis amongHungarys Gypsies was, incidentally, anticipated in Istvn Kemnysrepresentative, nation-wide Gypsy surveys in the early 1970s. At the time there

was no appetite for this scholarly prognosis.I remember very well the idea formulated by Kemny when, as young

researchers, we had been working together in this field for about a year, an ideathat stunned us all: once Hungary starts to modernise, it will be Hungarys Gypsieswho will have the most to lose. Thus, although Kemnys research clearlyarticulated the danger well in advance, for over twenty years we failed to takeaction. Moreover, I believe that if anything, Hungary is somewhat better off, as faras knowledge of this history and these facts are concerned, than its neighbours;this is clear from the studies published in the periodical Regio in 1991, and such

publications as the Hungarian Central Statistical Offices Gypsy Census of 1993.This means that no-one dealing with the Roma question, whether scholar orgovernment employee, can claim that they have to start from zero.

The issues of modernisation and globalisation naturally raise a raft of newand complex problems for us all, since we all find ourselves in a new situation. Inthis context, we must ask whether what we are doing is solving the question of theminorities, and within this of the Gypsies, or rather simply eliminating individualcultures, making distinctive cultures uniform? Or perhaps something else again? In

particular, what happens to those who cannot follow the rules of the (new) game,

because they are not prepared for it? And what has caused this lack ofpreparedness? Is it the result of legal restrictions, conflicts between the relevant

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laws, the slow pace or the arbitrary application of the international harmonisationof laws? Or is it prejudice and discrimination in everyday life, marginalisation inthe new economy, loss of role? And there are many more questions like this,questions, to which we are trying to find answers, questions which we must try

and answer, not just here, at this conference, but in our daily lives. For we are allparticipants in these processes, those who are here and also those who, alas, are nolonger with us, particularly Jnos Bogdn, whose painfully early death robbed usof one who also sought answers and believed that the majority as well as theminorities, scholars as well as civil servants, could together, with steady andunflagging work, move things forward and make it easier to bear that which seemshopeless and unbearable.

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Toso Donchev

Government strategy

The Office for National and Ethnic Minorities of the Hungarian Government hasrecently organised a number of conferences jointly with the Council of Europe, theHungarian Academy of Sciences, and the embassies in Hungary of the AustrianRepublic and the Federal Republic of Germany. The aim of these meetings, as ofthe symposiumProspects for Roma Integration in Hungary, is to contribute to thedevelopment of a long-term strategy for the Gypsy population. As a sociologistand a scholar I am convinced that the results of scholarly research must be takenon board by those shaping minorities policy. The accumulated wisdom of thevarious research projects has much to contribute to decisions taken by theadministration. I say this with conviction gained through twenty years of researchon minorities in Hungary, particularly on the identity of Hungarys Bulgarians.Before my present appointment I was president of both the Minorities Round-Table and the National Bulgarian Council and in these capacities I can say that, inthe preparatory phase of decisions on minority policies hitherto, partial use wasmade of scholarly research in this area. The recently approved government decreeno. 1047 contains a package of medium-term measures designed to improve thelife and social status of the Roma. Decree 1048 establishes an InterdepartmentalCommittee on Roma Affairs, and outlines medium- and long-term goals. Item 4 in

the section on medium-term measures sets out the necessity for developing acomprehensive, long-term strategy for social and minorities policy, founded onscholarly research and in the interests of promoting the social integration of theRoma and improving their way of life and their status in society. This makes itclear that the long-term strategy must build on the results of scholarship and the

proposals of those involved in research. The governments task is to selectproposals on which economically viable programmes may be based. The primeminister personally received the head of the National Roma Council and assuredhim of his personal commitment to Roma affairs. He reiterated the importance of

carrying out the medium-term plan of action and also proposed that there shouldbe annual plans of action to prioritise the specific tasks affecting the variousdepartments. The prime minister will pay particular attention to student bursariesand scholarships for young Roma, and has designated additional resources for this

purpose. It is our hope that this support for talented young people will lay thefoundations for the Roma elite of the next millennium. The prime ministerentrusted the task of developing and co-ordinating these tasks to the Office for

National and Ethnic Minorities.

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Gabriella Varj

Government action promoting the social integration of the Roma

What is the current position of the Roma in Hungary? Where do we start from indefining the Governments tasks and goals?

Hungarys Roma live in disadvantaged circumstances and are sociallymarginalized. This is well-known and their problems have been the subject ofdetailed studies. The Roma are generally seen as the most serious casualties of thechange in Hungarys system of government after 1989.The disadvantages affecting them surface in three areas that reinforce each other:-

the set of disadvantages in the social, health, employment, and other fields;- the mass of problems affecting the Roma as a minority; and- the problems of the relationships between social groups belonging to the Roma

minority and the non-Roma majority.The Roma are not a homogeneous group and their complex problems differ in anumber of respects across regions and local communities. They are constantlychanging and a thorough knowledge of them is vital to the shaping of policies toresolve their problems and alleviate their lot.

Are the measures outlined in the law on minorities adequate to deal with theproblems oppressing the Roma?

The law on minorities guarantees the Roma minority rights and opportunitiesidentical with those of the other recognised national minorities in Hungary.Despite the admitted contradictions and some operational problems, the RomaMinority Councils have brought about new opportunities to develop andstrengthen cultural autonomy. The capacity of the Roma to assert their interestshas been strengthened. In settlements where up to now they have not beeninvolved with decision making, today the Roma minoritys opinion is also taken

into account and decisions affecting the Roma are made with their activeparticipation. After the elections for minority self-governments in 1998, more than3,000 individual minority representatives in 768 Roma Minority Councils became

part of the public activities of the local settlements. The law on minorities treatsRoma culture as having the same value as, and on a par with, the culture of theother national minorities.

The position of the biggest Hungarian minority, the Roma community,however differs as I indicated above in a number of respects from that of theother minorities in Hungary. Its problems are not only of a linguistic and cultural

nature; they are of a kind that cannot, for the most part, be solved within theframework of the law on minorities, and require government action of other kinds.

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To increase the chances of the social integration of the Roma, concerted effortsand action at the levels of central government as well as county and local councilswill be required.

Does the present Government have a distinctive package of measures to offer?

The Roma policy of the government continues and builds upon the achievementsof previous administrations. The new medium-term package of measures was

prepared on the basis of a review of the medium-term package of 1997, conductedwith the participation of the National Roma Council, the relevant governmentdepartments, representatives of civilian organisations, as well as experts in thefield. Because of the large number of modifications and additions put forward, itseemed sensible to formulate the governments proposals in a new GovernmentDecree. Following some months of preparation and technical harmonisation, thenew medium-term package was accepted by the government in May 1999.

The goal of the tasks formulated in this package is to rein back socialinequalities, prevent and diminish prejudice and discrimination, as well as toreinforce the Roma communities sense of identity and promote their culture. The

problems of social integration of the Roma must be regarded simultaneously as aminority and as a socio-political issue. The task before us is to ensure thatmembers of the Roma minority can decide for themselves that they can be full andequal members of society without loss of their identity and minority culture.

The importance of the package of medium-term measures

By accepting it the government pledges that improving the social position of theRoma, the biggest minority living in Hungary, is a government priority ofexceptional importance.

In line with the complex nature of the problem, the medium-term packageoffers a multilateral programme of action consisting of educational, cultural,employment, agricultural, areal, social, health, housing, anti-discriminatory, andcommunicative components. To co-ordinate the executive aspects of these

objectives, and to harmonise the work of the ministries and the nation-wideorganisations involved, the government established an InterdepartmentalCommittee on Roma Affairs, the membership of which is detailed below.

The task formulated in the medium-term package aims to promote the socialintegration of the Roma without, however, exacerbating existing tendenciestowards segregation. Some of the objectives concentrate on specifically minority

problems, such as education and culture; others, such as the programmes withsocial, housing, employment, and areal content, are aimed at the Roma populationas a disadvantaged sector of society. Support for disadvantaged sectors in society

is intended to reach the Roma population, too, as effectively and as productively aspossible.

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In the medium-term package there is also a new element: the recognition ofthe need to develop a long-term social and minority policy that is bothcomprehensive and based firmly on scholarly research.

The actions proposed in the medium-term package and the measures it proposesto be taken by the various ministries

The sixth chapter of the annex to the medium-term package of measures identifies41 objectives for the ministries and nation-wide organisations. The packageidentifies the departments responsible for each task and sets out timetables forimplementation. Within the medium-term package the areas of education andculture are given priority.

In the area ofRoma minority education the most important goals in primaryeducation are improvements in terms of content, while for secondary educationand tertiary training they are to improve drop-out rates, ensure the obtaining ofqualifications, and the nurturing of talent. To achieve this, the maintenance of theexisting training programmes and institutions must be complemented by the

provision of training college places in secondary education and, should the Romaminority so demand, the establishment of additional centres of teaching andlearning.

Bearing in mind the report on minority education of the ParliamentaryCommissioner for the Rights of National and Ethnic Minorities, another importanttask is to increase the proportion of Roma children participating in kindergarten

education, and generally in schools and other levels of education. To promote theapplication of minority rights in education, professional training should be

provided for the officers of the minority councils so that they can exercise therights guaranteed for them by law.

In the sphere ofculture, both the network of specialist institutions servingthe preservation of Roma cultural values and the education system linking thegroups promoting the cultural activities of the Roma must be further expanded. Inthis task an important role will be played by the National Roma Information andEducation Centre. Under the aegis of the National Roma Council since its

establishment in the autumn of 1998, the Centre is funded by a grant of 180million forints provided from the Government central budget.

An important role has been played in recent times by Roma communitycentres established by local initiatives and fulfilling a wide range of roles; thesehave also received financial support from the central budget. The communitycentres are an important source of strength in the local communities and inmaintaining Roma culture.

In addition to education, the realisation of objectives in employment and inareal development is of prime importance.

Regarding employment, the programmes already in place must be developedfurther by renewing the technical co-operation agreements between the county

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employment centres and the Roma minority councils and other organisations, bycontinuing the centrally-organised occupational and training programmes for thelong-term unemployed, by expanding the schemes for the support ofunemployment among school leavers, and by organising additional public works

programmes to improve the labour-market situation of the Roma population. Thedisadvantaged among the population must be helped to become moreentrepreneurial.

Among the goals in agriculture, priority is given to supportingdisadvantaged families through the continuing operation and further expansion ofthe social land programme. Training and specialist advisory services must be

provided to help the participants in the social land programme to become farmers,primary producers, and entrepreneurs.

In the framework of areal development, the county area developmentcouncils and the county employment centres must be involved in the creation ofsupport systems which may be used to initiate complex development programmesto improve the employment situation of disadvantaged groups, among them theRoma.

To carry out the areal development programmes, additional, separatefunding must be guaranteed to supplement the self-funded share of costs borne bythe regional, county, and local crisis-resolving programmes

Among thesocial, health, and housing programmes a particularly importantgoal is the clearance of housing estates and similar environments, or alternativelythe improvement of their infrastructure and services. A research programme must

be initiated to improve the state of health of the Roma and to preventdiscriminatory practices against them in the health service. The National RomaMinority Councils experience of the housing programme should be evaluatedwith a view to making proposals about solving the housing problems ofdisadvantaged families.

High priority among the anti-discriminatory programmes must be given tothe practical implementation of the laws forbidding discrimination against thedisadvantaged and to ensuring that police behaviour towards those in the Romaminority remains within the law. Bodies and institutions defending the law, and

preventing or resolving conflict, must be supported.To promote the carrying out of the package of programmes a

communicative plan is required. Citizens not directly involved with Roma mattershave so far received little information about the problems of the Roma and themedium-term package of measures. The events of the past year suggest that muchof society is neither aware of the problems of the Roma population nor interestedin improving their situation. The prejudices at local level greatly intensify the

problems of the social integration of the Roma. The existence of prejudices mustbe seen as a social fact of life, the elimination of which is conditional on

understanding its causes and its intensity.

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In improving equality of opportunity for the Roma the package of medium-term measures must also target the whole of society and its armoury of institutions.This is the only way that the life of the Roma can be improved.

In order to create a true-to-life image of the Roma for the majority of

society, a strategic plan must be developed in conjunction with the National RomaCouncil and experts in the media.Communication and co-operation must be improved between the Roma

population and the various institutions: education, health, social and other services.This will be achieved by initiating programmes aimed at eliminatingdiscriminatory practices and offences and by attempting to change the climate ofsocial prejudice. There is a need to develop networks for the prevention andresolution of conflict at a local level.

The financial basis of the objectives defined in the medium-term package ofmeasures

Resources for carrying out the tasks of the medium-term package must be foundfrom within the budgets of the departments involved. Item 3 of the documentstates that the chair of the Interdepartmental Committee on Roma Affairs mustinform the Government by 15 September each year about progress on thetimetable for the execution of the package, and budgetary requirements for thefollowing year. Resources from the departments come in the form of earmarkedgrants and from sources associated with disadvantaged groups and required for

their other professional tasks.Efficiency improvements in the deployment of regular and special grants

will be gained by applying quality control to the rules of expenditure in line withgovernment regulations reshaping the support system to conform with EUrequirements.

The role of the Interdepartmental Committee on Roma Affairs

The medium-term goals of the package of measures can be successfully achieved

only by wide-ranging co-operation. It was to this end that the Government set upthe Interdepartmental Committee on Roma Affairs.

The Committees role is to promote the social integration of the Roma byco-ordinating the implementation of the objectives defined in the medium-term

package of measuresThe Interdepartmental Committee is chaired by the Minister of Justice, with

the chairman of the Office for National and Ethnic Minorities as deputy chair.The Committees regular membership consists of designated under-

secretaries of state at the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Health, the

Ministry of Agriculture and Regional Development, the Ministry of Justice, theMinistry of Youth and Sports, the Prime Ministers Office, the Ministry of

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National Cultural Heritage, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Finance,and the Ministry of Social and Family Affairs, as well as the chair of the NationalRoma Council.

Additionally, the Committee can co-opt deputy under-secretaries of state

from six further ministries as well as chairs of the Public Foundation for the Romaof Hungary and the advisory board of the Gandhi Public Foundation.The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Rights of National and Ethnic

Minorities is a member of the Interdepartmental Committee ex officio.Representatives of nation-wide organisations, the chairs of county

assemblies, representatives of social organisations of the Roma minority, as wellas experts and scholars have the right to attend, and participate in, certain meetingsof the Committee, by invitation.

Some essentials, without which the package of programmes cannot be carried out

Tangible results from the medium-term package of measures can be expected onlywith the active participation of the Roma minority councils and organisations aswell as of the communities affected. The discussions and the decisions require theinvolvement of as many experts of Roma origin as possible.

The various ministries will each year draw up a plan of action to ensure thesuccessful implementation in the following year of an agreed proportion of theobjectives outlined in the medium-term package, so that specific tasks may becarried out. The ministries will ensure that appropriate financial resources will be

made available for these specific tasks from the budget of each ministry. Animportant goal is to link to the medium-term package and to the annual plan ofaction, at regional, county, and local level, the launching of as many independentinitiatives as possible, as long as these take into consideration the given area orsettlement and the particular situation and needs of those affected.

A new objective of the medium-term package of measures is thedevelopment of a long-term socio-political and minority policy strategy with thegoal of improving the social position and way of life of the Roma. The long-termstrategy might be based on the results of scholarly research and experiences gained

in the course of government action in this area. The general goal in terms ofminorities policy is the development in Hungary of a minority-friendlyenvironment in which those citizens who belong to a minority settled in Hungarycan freely enjoy the rights guaranteed them by law. In the case of the Roma thereis the additional requirement as in the case of other disadvantaged groups thatthey have appropriate living conditions and a lessening in the degree of socialinequality.

The roots of these problems lie deep in society and the economic system,hence only in the long term can change of any kind be reasonably expected.

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Romanian legislation in matters of discrimination still leaves something tobe desired. Though the criminal code has stipulations forbidding discrimination onthe grounds of race, ethnicity, language, or religion, these apply only to those in

public office. The Romanian constitution outlaws discrimination and also states

that in human rights matters if there is a conflict between Romanian law andinternational treaties adopted by Romania, the latter are to prevail. This is evidenceof a considerable degree of openness towards anti-discriminatory action in

practice. None the less, it is the intention of the National Minority Office under mydirection to prepare explicit anti-discriminatory legislation to be placed before theRomanian parliament.

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Vasile Burtea

Roma in the Romanian Governments Programme

I am here, in a country where the political debate about the Roma is part andparcel of Government policy, to inform you of the situation of the Roma inRomania, a country where this is very far from being the case.

There is, of course, a sense in which one might say that there already existin Romania administrative and political frameworks for discussing minoritymatters; but these structures can by no means be identified with a deliberateGovernment policy. Although the Government set up an Office for the Protectionof Minorities after elections in the autumn of 1996, those for whom it is intendedhave yet to see any concrete steps taken by this Office.

My view, and this almost certainly shared by other voters, is that theGovernment should not be expected to clarify concepts or articulate theories; itshould take action. A Government that merely conducts inquiries and clears upmisconceptions is a weak and helpless Government.

The Romanian people want action, but this action is slow in coming. AGovernment should be clear about its ideas even before it begins to govern, andmust come forward with a political programme that it wants to put into action.This is what is demanded of the entire Romanian Government and its youngoffshoot, the Office for the Protection of Minorities.

I regard the existing legislation on elections in Hungary as also being a lawon minorities. In actual fact, it seems to me a rather confused piece of legislation; Iowe whatever understanding of it I have gained primarily to Professor Kaltenbach,who kindly tried to elucidate it for me in 1997, and also to a number ofconversations with my sociologist colleagues va Orss and Pter Rad; to all ofthem my heartfelt thanks.

At the same time I was very glad to learn of the multicultural educationprogramme, which in my view is a high-quality achievement, at least as regards itstheoretical foundations. I am greatly looking forward to hearing what steps have

been taken to implement this programme. For, if the implementation of thisprogramme approaches anywhere near the goals outlined in the theory, it is boundto offer invaluable experience for all minorities, but especially for the Roma. WhatI have said about the election legislation and the multicultural education

programme is no empty compliment. These form part of the teaching materials formy courses at the Department of Minority Studies in the University of Bucharest.

My impression is that the fact that the Hungarian Government is concernedabout the Roma is not only advantageous to you, but also a great challenge. I thinkthat the political and theoretical work being carried out in this part of Europe by

Hungary is perhaps the most valuable of its kind in Europe and the most likely topoint the way to the future.

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Coming back to Romania: the fact that there is, as yet, no centralised,conscious Roma policy does not mean that certain steps have not been taken.Quite a few notable achievements can be credited to local authorities and Romaorganisations. Research has been carried out in the various regions of Romania

which has made some progress possible. Nation-wide, too, representative sampleshave been the subject of research and have helped to identify these peoplesfundamental problems. The first of these was carried out in 1992 and the resultingvolume is often cited throughout Europe. It is hoped that the research carried outin 1998 can be published next year.

The organisation of which I am head is the Unitary Organisation of theRoma and aims to integrate the majority of Roma intellectuals. Our campaignsdraw attention to the still-unsolved core problems of the Roma. As a sociologist Ican say that these fall into two parts. On the one hand there are the material issues,consisting essentially of problems of poverty, shortages in housing and food, anunfulfilling way of life, marginalisation, and the strategies for survival thataccompany these. Roma communities play no part in public affairs and this is thesource of the other range of problems, those in the cultural sphere. The two sore

points are thus poverty and marginalisation. These problems are in a reciprocal,reproductory relationship. The cultural disadvantage leads to absenteeism fromschool, which in turn leads to the Roma being left out of the process ofmodernisation, thus preserving their defence mechanisms, which are then passedon from one generation to the next. And all this must be seen in the context of thecollapse of the Romanian economy.

The material issue surfaces in three ways. First, in the form of the absenceof property ownership and unemployment. By the ownership of property I meanthe ownership of agricultural land and other land where the Roma live. Both raiseserious legal issues. A study of the employment patterns of the Roma revealed thatsome 89% have no permanent place of employment, though less than 3% receiveunemployment benefit. Before 1989, 49% of those Roma capable of work wereemployed in the agricultural sector, that is to say, in agricultural co-operatives.Following the land reform of the new era, only 19% of this original 49% receivedany land. This was the result of the way in which the law formulated the right to

land ownership: though the Roma did indeed work in agriculture, only those whohad been employed in agricultural co-operatives in their place of residence wereentitled to land. I realised at the time that the legislation was drafted that thisrestriction was a threat to the Roma and drew the attention of the legislators to it. Isuggested changes to three articles in the proposed law but parliament paid noattention to our proposals; its disregard, we realised, was intentional.

The next problem is the education and training of Roma children. InRomania the education of children is free, that is to say, no-one has to pay schoolfees. What is not free, however, is clothes to wear at school, food to eat there, the

provision of some school equipment, the cost of travel, and all those items thatmust be paid for by parents. These costs are often quite beyond the means of

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Roma families. After 1989 it was often the case that even certificates of technicaland vocational training were of no practical use, since skilled workers andlabourers were no longer in demand in the employment market. It is no secret the Romanian press and even local authorities are quite open about it that no

Roma are appointed to the posts advertised.The third area is that of health. I need give only one example of theallocation of health resources: in many maternity wards and homes the supportstaff have designated separate wards for Roma mothers giving birth.

As for the cultural aspects, the problems are those of identity, customs anddress, and discrimination problems that are difficult to provide evidence for and

pin down from a legal angle. We have not yet managed to acquire the legal skillsrequired to catch the offenders red-handed, to articulate the issues, and thus to seeklegal redress.

With respect to the issue of human rights violations, what is most painful isthat we are incapable of respecting our own laws, laws that have already been

passed by parliament. A number of Romanian laws discriminate against the Roma.The most eloquent of these is social security law 67, which is respected only in thetwo months on either side of the elections. What we are trying to do is to increasethe sensitivity of both the administration and the general public to the Romaquestion and strengthen communication between these two spheres. When Iworked in the Ministry of Employment I tried to establish an area supervisorynetwork to identify employment problems among the Roma. It proved impossibleto fully develop this structure, because of inadequate facilities for the work of

supervisors on the sites, but even so, we secured valuable feedback and provedthat work supervisors of Roma origin can be perfectly good officials. They are

perhaps less corrupt than their gadjo (non-Roma) counterparts, and can attend veryfairly to the problems of both Roma and non-Roma, and their presence in such

places and roles has contributed to the establishment of an improved dialoguebetween the Roma and the local administrations. It helped the Roma to articulatewhat they expected of the authorities and thus take further steps toward law andorder and civilisation. The scheme was originally rather more ambitious: the goalwas to encourage local governments to employ more Roma as officials and

administrators. Launched on 10 May 1999 with $75,000 dollars from the SorosFoundation, the scheme is currently training 110 Roma as local administrators inseven counties of Romania. We hope to be able to employ at least half of them.This is a considerable outlay, but if the project is successful, it will justify ourefforts. I believe that both Hungary and Romania will have success in addressingand resolving the problems of the Roma. This important issue must be addressed

by both government bodies and by non-governmental organisations. I am sure thatit would make sense to translate our most valuable experiences into each otherslanguage.

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Miroslav Kus

The Roma question in the Slovak Republic

The Roma question is one of the most urgent and most hotly-debated issues inSlovak society. The new Slovak Government, unlike its predecessor, has shownthe will to deal with this issue. It has not only made a declaration; it has takengenuine steps towards the goal: it has reorganised the cabinet committee dealingwith minorities in such a way that the representatives of the eleven minoritiesrepresented have a majority; it has established a post of deputy prime minister(currently occupied by Pl Csky) for human and minority rights and arealdevelopment; it has set up a Department of Human and Minority Rights underJuraj Hrabko, and a Committee for Human and Minority Rights with Lszl Nagyat the helm. Several ministries (Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Education,Ministry of the Interior) now have a minorities department. The SlovakGovernment has also established a supra-departmental office for Roma affairs,under the leadership of Danihel Vincent, a doctor of laws of Roma origin. He hasorganised a series of round-tables which have also yielded evidence of the value ofnew approaches to the issues.

Two extraordinary events have aggravated the Roma question in the SlovakRepublic. First, the floods of July 1998, which led to a dramatic decline in the

position of the Roma in eastern Slovakia; and second, the introduction from the

end of 1997 of compulsory visas for Slovak citizens by Great Britain as a result ofthe number of Roma refugees seeking asylum there.

In 1998 the United Nations Development Program published a report onhuman rights in the Slovak Republic which described the position of the Roma inthe Slovak Republic as extremely bad. According to the report this is a minoritythat has failed to produce an elite, which has no credible political representation,whose members are marginalized on the lowest rungs of the social ladder andshunned by the majority.

The Slovak state must respect the civil rights of the Roma, desist from

attempting to regulate and stigmatise the Roma by force, guarantee that the Romacan exercise the whole spectrum of their rights as citizens, take steps to opposediscrimination against the Roma in the institutions of the state as well as thenegative treatment meted out to them, and not least analyse the causes of theintolerance and the rejection they experience. Whatever proposals are put forward,

particular attention must be paid to the fact that their effectiveness could welldepend on whether the Roma themselves are involved in their consideration andimplementation.

Discrimination is very much a fact of life today. An opinion poll reported in

1994 that 94% of the population in the Slovak Republic would rather not haveRoma as their neighbours. Recently the daily Sme reported that several restaurants

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and diners in the eastern Slovak city of Koice had banned Roma from theirpremises. A concrete, positively discriminatory plan must be developed toinfluence the public role of the Roma in the Slovak Republic, starting with thehigh unemployment rate, through the school system and on to the personal security

of the Roma, who are themselves often the victims of crime, particularly at thehands of skinheads.Those who met to exchange views and experiences about the rescue of the

Roma of Slovakia in March 1999 formed three working groups. These consistedof representatives, respectively, of the various charities, of the centraladministration and the local councils, and of independent experts on the Roma.Our proposals to the Slovak Government are based on these discussions.

Proposals from the representatives of the charities

A database of Roma organisations and projects is needed; a foundationshould be established to maintain them; a framework for co-operation must becreated between non-Roma and Roma NGOs in Slovakia; representatives of thisminority must be involved in the legislative process; a campaign for tolerancemust be initiated in the state-owned public media. Proposals for the longer terminclude reform of the school system, with an emphasis on the acquisition ofadvanced models of communication; teacher training of much greatereffectiveness than at present; the involvement of parents in the framing of schoolregulations; changes in the system of auxiliary schools; and more effective means

of organising after-school activities. The most important step is the creation of amechanism for multilateral dialogue between the Government, the primeministerial Roma Office, and the relevant ministries. A special committee shouldinvestigate racist attacks on minorities and legal practice must evolve so that racistcrimes are dealt with in accordance with international legal standards. The idea ofnominating mediators to work with the police and local communities should becentrally promoted. Programmes fostering tolerance between majority andminority should be multiplied.

The package of proposed measures was organised along the following

fundamental lines: a realistic assessment of the Romas opportunities; the need foroverinvestment in teaching and the social areas; the ensuring of the minimum

possible level of Government intervention; and educational broadcasts in thepublic service media.

Proposals from the representatives of central administration and of localgovernment

They suggest that the Roma themselves articulate their demands. More money

should be made available for the Roma from the budget and a multilateral dialogueshould be ensured between central administration, the local authorities, and the

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Roma minority. Problems of the regions should be solved locally. After a longeducative process xenophobia is diminishing and it will soon be possible to make

better use of the opportunities afforded by the Phare programmes. Advisory bodiesare needed at the level of central government. The number of social workers

employed by the state should be increased and Roma enterprises and housingprogrammes should be supported. Roma students must be integrated into theschool system. They propose the creation of a college in eastern Slovakia to trainRoma social workers and musicians, and the organisation of six-month courses foradministrators. The University of Koice should establish a chair in Roma culturalstudies.

The proposals of the independent experts in Roma studies

Parliament should repeal law 74 of 1958 concerning the compulsory settling downof travelling peoples, and also amend the education act. Pre-school educationshould be made more effective through year zero courses (the insertion of a

preparatory year before the normal first year), and textbooks should be updated toreflect the characteristic features of the Roma and their way of life. Romainitiatives should be publicised in the media and journalists awareness of themshould be encouraged.

This working party proposed to the Slovak Government that it should notkeep producing new plans and programmes, but rather develop those that arealready in place and have proved effective. Government officials should take part

in trainings organised by NGOs, and a foundation should be set up to helpeliminate Roma unemployment. NGOs should play a role in the organisation oftrainings to foster communication between the majority and the minority, andshould themselves take an active part in such sessions.

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Edit Bauer

Squaring the circle: Roma in Slovak society

The integration of the Roma cannot be seen as just an internal problem ofindividual countries. The Roma problem is a European problem, if only becausethere is hardly a country on the continent that does not have a population of Roma,even if of differing sizes. The issue surfaces, sometimes quite unexpectedly andwith surprising force, on the road to the European Union and Europeanintegration. We witnessed this in Slovakia when the Roma began to emigrate andsuddenly the problem of the Roma of Slovakia became topical and acquired greatsignificance. I use the term Roma intentionally, and not Gypsy, as the Romadefined themselves as Roma when the Slovak constitution was adopted; this isaccepted by the law which declares that they are a nationality [i.e. ethnic group].This is how they are referred to in the Slovak definitions.

The number of Roma living in the Slovak Republic is estimated at between400,000 and 520,000. They live mainly in isolated groups, but there are areaswhere they are gradually becoming the majority. They are particularlyconcentrated in eastern Slovakia, in the Szepessg [Slovak: Spis] region, in formerGmr county and around Rimaszombat [Slovak: Rimavsk Sobota and the areaof which it is the capital]. It is particularly difficult to make an assessment of thesituation of the Roma, precisely because of the protection afforded them by law. In

the 1990 census no more than 80,000 declared themselves to be Roma. None theless, when we claim that the Roma question is not, perhaps, primarily an ethnic orminority issue, but rather a matter of socialisation or civilisation, we must concedethat, as has already been mentioned, the main casualties of modernisation have

been the Roma. In 1988 some 14,000 Roma lived in what the scholars refer to asRoma settlements; in Hungarian we might well call them pr. By 1998 thisfigure had risen to more than 120,000. Some households are without mains wateror electricity. Perhaps the most dramatic lesson from this survey was that,irrespective of whether they completed their schooling or not, in practice 100% of

the children who grew up on these settlements failed to obtain employment. Waysout of this situation are extremely difficult to find. Various medium-term planshave been drawn up over the last few years, all of which have foundered, eitherthrough lack of funding, or through paternalistic-socialist attempts to imposegeneral models of self-assertiveness or life-strategies on those living in a variety ofcultures, attempting to promote assimilation without recognising that happinesscannot be imposed on people against their will. After its election in the autumn of1998 the present Government quickly recognised that no strategy or grand plancan be conceived without the involvement of the Roma themselves; their situation

cannot be resolved without their own efforts. There is however another, veryserious limitation that cannot be ignored: they do not have sufficient internal

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resources to be able to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps. Let me givejust one example: when it became clear that the educational attainments of theRoma were tragically low, the Komensky University of Bratislava tried to developa catching-up course of its own devising. It had only two applicants. When they

looked into the reasons for this low take-up, it emerged that in the entire westernSlovakian secondary school system there were no more than five Roma. It mustalso be said that every local council is tempted to find its own loyal Romaminority, which is not a difficult achievement in what is undoubtedly a highlyfragmented Roma population. The consequences of this are at times bizarre. Thesocial system has come under such enormous pressure that it is today on the vergeof collapse. Furthermore, it is in practice counterproductive from the point of viewof the large numbers of Roma voters. It fails to encourage them to look foremployment; rather, it promotes a derived, secondary way of life at a low level,with a derived, system of needs, for which they receive a measure of politicalsupport. Anyone who devotes himself to the Roma question in this part of theworld is attempting the well-nigh impossible. It is like trying to square the circle.But squaring the circle, that it is to say, searching for a solution to the impossible,looks as if it is unavoidable.

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Ron Korver

Strategies for human and/or minority rights in the European Union

Reading the program I realised that I would not be the most suitable person toenter into details on ways to study the social situation of the Roma in Hungarysince the previous speakers and speakers to come are far more knowledgeable inthese respects than I am. What I will do is trying to explain the EuropeanCommissions view on the situation of the Roma in candidate countries and theunderlying reasons for giving it so much attention.

I will first outline the European policy on the issues of minorities, then Iwill turn to the issue of minority rights in the context of enlargement.

Well, the Unions policy is incorporated into its human rights policy. Therights of minorities are part of universal and indivisible human rights. Thegeneral obligation of EU members to accept and protect the specific rights of

persons belonging to minorities arises from their commitment to internationalhuman rights standards. The EU participates, in its own right, in the UN, theOSCE and the Council of Europe and actively contributes alongside its MemberStates, to the work of the UN bodies dealing with minority issues, including theCommission on Human Rights and the Sub-Commission on Prevention ofDiscrimination and Protection of Minorities.

The Commission also stipulated in 1993 that all draft directives for

association agreements and economic co-operation agreements with thirdcountries should incorporate a clause specifying that relations between theCommunity and the country concerned are based on respect for democratic

principles and human rights. (This clause is therefore incorporated in all theEurope Agreements except those with Hungary and Poland which werenegotiated before 1993.)

However, it is fair to say that the Unions policy on human rights anddemocratic principles has only developed gradually it only actually becameexplicit in the 1993 Maastricht Treaty. The Treaty literally says: respect for

human rights is one of the main prerequisites for membership of the EuropeanUnion, a basic principle influencing all its activities. Article F2 states that theUnion shall respect fundamental rights as guaranteed by the 1950 EuropeanConvention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

This was then strengthened by the Amsterdam Treaty of 1997 whichintroduced further provisions. For the first time, action can be taken in theevent of serious and persistent breaches of fundamental rights occurring in anyMember State. It is possible via Amsterdam that a member state could beexpelled for failure to respect human rights.

All the mentioned provisions concern human rights generally, rather thanminority, or Roma rights, specifically. To date, the assumption has been that

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protection of individual human rights at Community level is adequate to satisfyminority needs. Minority rights are not an area for Community action, and theyfeature rarely on the EUs internal agenda. Protection of minorities is an area leftto member states who have taken a wide range of approaches according to

specific circumstances. The need for the EU to formulate a minority rightspolicy of its own has not seemed obvious. And indeed, the case against directEU involvement can be made in terms of the principles of subsidiarity andrespect for diversity, widely recognised today as the key to effective and locallyacceptable solutions.

However, the basic principles of liberalism and democracy on which theEU is based need to be constantly confronted in practice with new realities andchanging circumstances if they are not to lose credibility. There have been somerecent developments which seem to point the way for more action at Communitylevel for the protection of minorities. There is also the very significant fact thatenlargement to the East will radically alter the picture with regard to minoritiesas many of the new members have significant minorities and have minorityissues which will be new to the EU (besides the specific Roma related social

problems one can think of the issue of ethnic minorities living in non-memberstates). This is an area where enlargement may be expected to have an impact oncurrent EU policy. I will consider this in a moment. I want first to look at recentdevelopments on minority policy on the EUs internal agenda.

The Maastricht Treaty signalled the willingness of member states to seethe EU developing cultural and educational action programs to promote the

flowering of the cultures of the Member States, while respecting their nationaland regional diversity (Art. 128). While this is not explicitly aimed at ethnicminorities, it does represent recognition of the value of cultural diversity in theEUs basic constitutional document. This provides a legitimate basis for furtherdevelopment of EU action in the field of minority rights.

Amsterdam has also opened up new possibilities by adding reference toethnicity to the EUs anti-discrimination agenda. The new Article 6a gives theEuropean Community competence to take appropriate action to combatdiscrimination based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability,

age or sexual orientation. We could as a result of this see increased resort to theCourt of Justice, as well as to the European Court of Human Rights, by membersof minorities. This could give a major new impulse to the member states way ofthinking about the treatment of minority issues.

I want now to turn to the issue of minority rights in the context ofenlargement. Preparations for enlargement have already set the EU addressingthe issue of the rights of ethnic minorities which is a new area for the EU.

This issue first came onto the agenda as a matter of external policy, whenthe EU began to redefine its relations with the countries of Central and Eastern

Europe after 1989. The obvious aspiration of the CEE states to return to Europehas presented the EU with an opportunity to influence developments by

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including minority rights into a broad definition of political conditionality.The political criteria for membership laid down in the European Council

of Copenhagen in 1993 state that: the applicant country must have achievedstability of institutions guaranteeing democracy, the rule of law, human rights

and respect for and protection of minorities. Therefore, the treatment ofminorities in candidate countries is an area of concern for the EU and it is beingmonitored, through the Association Partnership and through the RegularReports, the first of which has been published in November last year [1998].

Allow me to look briefly at this Regular Report for Hungary. The Reportconcentrates naturally on the situation of the Roma minority, and notes that:Continued attention needs to be paid to the respect of the human rights of theRoma by the Hungarian authorities. The Roma are not always granted equaltreatment before the law ()

The Ombudsman for National and Ethnic Minorities raised some criticalpoints concerning education of the minorities, especially Roma childrensuffering discrimination through segregated classes and schools. The Ministryhas not accepted the Ombudsmans report.

The government adopted a comprehensive Roma action programme inJuly 1997, which the Report deems positive but notes that there appear to beonly limited sums available from the central budget.

As I said in my opening words I will not enter into detail on thebackground of social problems that Roma are encountering in Hungary, but Ithink that it is obvious for all that are present here today that the Roma deserve

better attention to improve their situation in the Hungarian society on all levels,including housing, medical care, education including nursery schools, jobopportunities and training, and at the same time to recognise, even to encourage

preservation and development of their precious identity, including theirlanguages, their family ties and their special cultural values.

The situation of the Roma minority in Hungary is therefore viewed by theCommission as a priority area in Hungarys accession preparations. I shouldnote in this context that, through the Phare program, the Commission has beenmaking modest sums available to NGOs who are working at improving the

conditions of the Roma minority. NGOs supporting minorities typically receiveabout 10% of the funds allocated to the Phare Democracy Programme and PhareLIEN Programme for disadvantaged groups.

On top of that we are now in the process of negotiating a Pharecontribution from the Phare National Budget for 1999 for the Programme in thefield of Education that has been elaborated by the Ministry of Education in co-operation with the Ministry of Social and Family Affairs. I must say that wewere pleased to see that the Ministries themselves made significant fundsavailable for the implementation of the Programme. This Programme comprises

three elements laid down in the following (simplified) aims: reduction of thenumber of drop-outs and to increase the Roma participation in higher education.

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I will not elaborate on the modalities of the Programme as it stands but as far asI can judge it looks very promising since it incorporates a lot of elements thathave already proved their value on smaller scales.

The Union is constantly evolving, and as I said earlier, the minority issue

is one area where we may see enlargement having an impact on the EU.Furthermore now that the Treaty of Amsterdam has been adopted, employmentwill be high on the European agenda as well. With an unemployment rate underthe Roma population of over 75% this can only lead me to the conclusion thatthere should be a strong will to improve the situation of the Roma in CentralEurope in general and Hungary in specific. Allow me to finish my speech byexpressing my hope that this conference will contribute to achieve this aim.

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II. DEBATES AND DEFINITIONS

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Pter Kovcs

Roma and the Roma Question in the Context of Human Rights in the Council ofEurope

1. The European Convention on Human Rights

The European Convention on Human Rights is one of the most effective andrespected mechanisms for human rights protection; yet its ability to protectminorities has so far been limited, partly because of its legal format. Thougharticle 14 of the Convention proscribes discrimination against minorities, amongstothers, the legal protection afforded by this article is not autonomous; it can applyonly in conjunction with statutory laws enacted in the Convention or its annexes:The enjoyment of the rights and freedoms set forth in this Convention shall besecured without discrimination on any ground such as sex, race, colour,language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin,association with a national minority, property, birth or other status.

This Article as such does not, as the European Court of Human Rights haspointed out, exclude the possibility of what has been called positivediscrimination. In the view of the European Court what article 14 in fact

proscribes is differential treatment lacking objective and reasonable justification,or without reasonable balance between the methods used and the goal aimed at.

On the contrary, differential treatment is justified in so far as it is based on theobjective evaluation of essentially different facts and if, in the public interest, italso guarantees a just balance between the protection of the interests of thecommunity and the rights and freedoms guaranteed in the Convention.

It is a hard fact that, although the European Court of Human Rightsfrequently alludes to article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights,there have been few cases where judgements were decided on the basis ofcomplaints by national, ethnic or linguistic minorities or their members; indeed,few cases came within purview of these concerns.1

Ten years were to pass before there was a ruling relevant to minorities; yetin Buckley v. the United Kingdom, 25 September 1996, the complainant lost,despite the positive view of the Committee. This was the case of a Roma womanwho, unwilling to settle down, preferred a nomadic way of life and was prosecuted

by the local council on the grounds of environmental protection and disfiguringthe local landscape. Mrs Buckley wanted to park her caravan in Meadow Drove,South Cambridge, but ran into council by-laws which, partly for hygienic andsocial security reasons, provided for Roma families specially prepared residencesinstead of the previous, higgledy-piggledy arrangement of caravans. The licensing

policy of the local council was, however, intended to ensure that the number of1

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those specially settled should not exceed a certain number; indeed, as emergedduring the trial, the council was not loath to admit that the new settlement did notwish to take in any more nomadic Roma. There remained the possibility of MrsBuckleys being settled in the village, but this she firmly rejected.

The complainant alleged that article 8 of the European Convention onHuman Rights2 had been contravened, i.e. her right to have her private liferespected had been violated. The European Court of Human Rights, thoughreserving judgment,3 took the view that, on the evidence of the facts presented, thelocal council did not exceed its discretionary powers in law.

It is true that some cases were brought by complainants of Roma origin, butthese did not necessarily reflect specifically Roma concerns. A ruling of this kindwas announced on 24 September 1992, in Gyula Kolompr v. Belgium, where theissue was the protracted nature of the extradition proceedings in Holland in thematter of a Yugoslav citizen resident in Holland, who was charged with majoroffences in Italy and minor ones in Belgium. The European Court of HumanRights threw out the case, since the delay in the extradition proceedings wasdirectly attributable to the behaviour of the complainant.

Likewise, the case of Assenov et al. v. Bulgaria, judgment on which wasissued on 28 October 1998, involved Roma participants. These young men fromShumen were charged by the Bulgarian police with the offence of illegal streetgambling, which brought their parents into an affray on their behalf. Though thecomplainant claimed in his appeal to the European Committee of Human Rightsthat he was targeted because he was a Roma, the Committee saw no evidence of

the ethnic prejudice claimed by the complainant when, it was said, the policespoke to him in an offensive tone.4 As he could not offer supporting evidence(statement by a witness, etc.), this element of the complaint was rejected when thecase was with the Committee,5 and so the Roma dimension did not surface in thesubsequent phases of the complaint. The complainants could, however, claim ameasure of success, in that several points in their complaint detective practice inBulgaria, procedures applied to those being taken into custody, failure toinvestigate complaints about physical abuse were found to be justified andresulted in the European Court of Human Rights issuing a condemnation of

Bulgaria.

2. Conventions for the Protection of Minorities in the Council of Europe

As is widely known, the Council of Europe has produced two agreements for theprotection of minorities,6 The European Framework Convention for the Protectionof National Minorities and the European Charter for Regional or Minority234

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Languages. While the Framework Convention does not distinguish between thevarious national minorities, the Charter does, since the languages designated as notidentified with a particular area are governed only by the objectives and

principles, and even by these only mutatis mutandis.7 While the commentary to the

Charter8

does not spell out which these languages are, it was clear in the course ofdrafting that Government experts meant the Yiddish and Roma languages. Thelater draft of the commentary referred by name to these two languages and the

practice of the Charter confirms this interpretation.

3. The Committee of Ministers and Expert Bodies

The role of the Committee of Ministers in the activities of the Council of Europe isof pivotal importance, yet it is much less known to the public than work of theParliamentary Assembly, which tends to be the focus of media attention.

Should there be a special Ombudsman for Roma Affairs in the Council ofEurope? Though the Parliamentary Assembly has more than once made a proposalalong these lines,9 the view of the Parliamentary Assembly10 has been that sincethe establishment of the position of Commissioner for Human Rights wasimminent, and that since part of the remit of this post was to make accessible to allthe practice of human rights, it was a post by definition suited to the achievementof goals such as these and that therefore the designation of a special Ombudsmanfor Roma Affairs was not indicated. However, the Assembly stressed that theindividual states could use these institutions, among others, to help ensure the

participation of the Roma in public life, and that appropriate use should made inthe international arena particularly of the guarantees secured in the EuropeanConvention on Human Rights and the European Framework Convention for theProtection of National Minorities.

The expert preparatory work of the Committee of Ministers is carried out bya variety of committees of government experts. These expert committees aremutually supportive, examining according to their remit different butinterconnected aspects of the same problems.

The CDMG and the problems of the Roma

The CDMG, the committee dealing with issues of European migration, issued areport in 1995 entitled The Situation of Gypsies (Roma and Shinti) in Europe. Inthis it pointed out that where the Roma live a nomadic or semi-nomadicexistence, problems with respect to opportunities for settlement continuouslyarise. In this context it is worth pointing to Resolution 75(13) of the Committee

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of Ministers on the social position of Europes nomadic peoples, of whichappendix B runs partly as follows: Areas designated for the settling down andresidence of nomadic peoples must ensure that their hygiene and security needsare met, and ways of pursuing their livelihood must be encouraged and facilitated

(...). In 1995 the Committee of Ministers instructed the Steering Committee forSocial Policy (CDPS) to consider what kind of support might be needed toimplement resolution 75(13).11

In fact, the original proposals have stood the test of time, even though theterm nomadic is no longer appropriate to describe the way of life of the Romaand the CDMG has itself said that the definition 12 is less than fortunate.13 In theview of the CDMG, in the event of the possible renewal of the proposals something that should be done with the active involvement of all the Romacommunities attention should also certainly be devoted to the economic sphere.

The MG-S-ROM and the problems of the Roma

Subsequently the Council of Europes committee of experts on Roma issues (MG-S-ROM) in 1996-1997 designated the following areas as being those where theRoma population is particularly disadvantaged:a) opportunities for employment, unemployment;

b) legal problems in the area of human rights (discrimination on the grounds ofethnicity, acts of coercion, police behaviour, access to legal rights, racism,racist attacks, incitement to racial hatred);

c) legal status (citizenship, minority rights);d) education and culture (the extent of childrens participation in the education

system, underperformance, reading and writing skills, knowledge andpromotion of Roma culture);

e) the media (access to the media, Roma journalists, the presentation of the Romain the media);

f) the disadvantaged position of Roma women and children;g) matters of health;h) housing and urban development (unsuitable accommodation, ghettoization);

i) the nomadic way of life;j) relations with the authorities;k) migration across national frontiers.Subsequently the MG-S-ROM attempted a more detailed mapping of the thematic

points listed, including actual practice as well as the description of the legal ideal.In this area it also tried to intensify professional links with the Organization for

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1213

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Security and Cooperation in Europe and the appropriate bodies of the EuropeanUnion.14

ECRI and the problems of the Roma

ECRI, the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance, is the bodyspecifically charged with countering racial prejudice, intolerance and racism,

partly by monitoring the legislation and legal practice of the member states andpartly through its own initiatives. In General Policy Recommendation No. 3 ECRIdraws the attention of member states to the following:- They should sign and ratify the relevant international agreements, above all the

European Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities andthe European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.

-

00000000They should take effective measures against discrimination anddiscriminatory practices, including bringing forward civil legislation relevant toemployment, housing, and education, and forbidding through punitivemeasures their local authorities from practising any kind of discrimination,while ensuring, should such practices occur nevertheless, that legal aid andcompensation is available if the basic rights of the Roma have been violated.

- In training those in the justice system, appropriate attention should be devotedto the complex issue of the Roma.

- The media, with their great responsibility in this sphere, should give special

emphasis to this issue and to the fight against prejudice in the training ofjournalists.- They should be alert to the phenomenon of segregation in education, take

action against it, and promote Roma history and culture in the schoolcurriculum.

- They should reinforce the presence of the Roma in civil society, and supportthe various organisations of the Roma.

- They should promote the dialogue between the police, the local councils, andthe Roma, through appropriate institutional means.

The CDDH and the problems of the Roma

In its decision no. CM/625/220695 the Committee of Ministers asked the SteeringCommittee on Human Rights (the CDDH) for its interpretation of the term vagrantin article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The CDDH concludedthat in order to avoid misunderstanding and because of the narrow judicialinterpretation of the word, it would best to remove it from article 5 of the

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Convention.15 Thus the conflict between the vagrant and the nomadic ways of lifewould be eliminated.16

CAHAR and the problems of the Roma

CAHAR is a committee of legal experts on questions involving asylum, refugeestatus, and those displaced from their homeland. In its decisions nos.CM/622/220695 and CM/623/220695 the Committee of Ministers requested anassessment of the nature of the international migration of the Roma. CAHARhowever concluded that, since national databases and statistical informationgenerally did not record ethnicity, no reliable figure can be given for the

proportion of cross-border migrations that might be attributable to the Romacommunity. None the less, it is clear that attacks on the Roma by virtue of their

being Roma come under the 1951 UN Convention on Refugees.17

The CDCC and the promblems of the Roma

In 1998 the Committee of Ministers charged the Council for Cultural Cooperation(CDCC) with preparing an agenda on the steps to be taken to ensure that Romachildren take part in education Europe-wide.

4. The Parliamentary Assembly and the Roma

The Parliamentary Assembly lies at the heart of the Council of Europe. Here themembers move proposals to foster intergovernmental co-operation. Its concern forthe issue of minorities is well-known; hence decisions on minority mattersgenerally make reference to the improvement of the situation of the Roma.Moreover, in considering applications for membership from other states, it devotes

particular attention to the Roma situation on the basis of information speciallyrequested, as happened in the case of Albania, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic,Slovakia, and Romania. In the interests of improving their chances of becomingmembers, these states undertook to implement certain legal reforms, which the

Parliamentary Assembly strove to monitor closely.In my survey of the activities of the Council of Ministers I already drew

attention to the Parliamentary Assemblys Recommendation 1203 (1993), whichurged the establishment of the post of Ombudsman for Roma Affairs. TheAssemblys Order 511 (1995) concerning the fight against racism, xenophobia andanti-Semitism highlighted the atrocities committed against the Roma and theimportance of combating them. The members also discussed the health problems

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of especially vulnerable communities, particularly the incidence of poliomyelitis,as well as options for the development of backward regions.

5. Conclusions

The Council of Europe has clearly been concerned with the problems of the Roma,generally considering them in the context of human rights more generally, orspecifically in the framework of minority protection. The question remains,however, to what extent these initiatives have remained at an Olympian height andhow far they have been able to percolate down to those who shape, and are shaped

by, Roma affairs. That is to say, what matters is how many effective steps havebeen taken towards making the acquis europen in Roma affairs genuinely aconcern for all.

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Gyrgy Csepeli

Rom or human being?

Before we can talk about any particular group, we must know who we have inmind. This applies equally in the case of the Hungarian Roma, even if thedefinition proves more elusive than is usually the case.

Group definition

The reason that groups of humans are often difficult to define is that the act ofdefining is itself part of what we want to define. Furthermore, since groups do notexist in a limbo, the would-be definer must also take into account the self-definition of the members of the group, as well as definitions that come fromsources that must be treated as being external to the group. A complicating factoris that more than one self-definition may be offered by members of the group, andthese will not necessarily be identical. Self-definitions may be based on variouscriteria, but even those based on identical criteria may not converge. A similarconfusion may reign over definitions originating from outside the group.Ultimately, the defining of a group may be counted successful only if a multipleconsensus is achieved through the convergence of competing internal and externaldefinitions.

The chief difficulty in defining the Roma minority is that a consensus of thiskind does not exist. The range of definitions from within the group are just asdiscordant as those from outside the community.

Roma and Gadjo

If this is, indeed, the case, the question arises: who are we talking about? There aremany who, though they may not know, somehow claim to know, or perhaps onlyto feel, that a Roma minority does indeed exist. We must, however, ask whence

comes the certainty of societys assumption about the existence of the Romaminority, which forms the basis of discussion of the Roma.

The primary means of defining a group is by giving it a name. Gyrgy Tatronce quoted from the book of Genesis to show that the reason we cannot discusshumanity in terms of group psychology is that in the competition for names therewas not a single name that every individual was willing to accept as his own:Then they said, Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top inthe heavens; and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroadupon the face of the whole earth. (Genesis 11.4)

The chief difficulty in defining the Roma minority would seem to be theabsence of a suitable name. The names in use foster only a negative definition.

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The Hungarian term cigny is a label originating from outside the group and, withits profoundly negative, prejudicial connotations, is hardly conducive to providingthe basis of a secure, well-balanced, positive sense of identity for those named bythe term. At first sight a more useful term might appear to be gadjo, which the

group we are interested in here uses to demarcate itself from those it feels areothers. Its definition is, however, also negative, since it says nothing about whomight be labelled non-gadjo.

The cognitive problems associated with negative definitions are exacerbatedby the fact that, whether we are looking at the functions of the terms cigny orgadjo, the situational and discourse variables preponderate strikingly over legal,historical, cultural and biopolitical definitions seen as objective in social terms

Boundaries between groups

Thus, the boundary exists, even if it is not clear who might be on one side of it andwho on the other. Nikos Fokas, who in his recent book applies set theory to thesocial sciences, regards as fractal those boundaries between sets which showcapriciously intertwining borders while none the less fulfilling their delimitingrole. For a fractal structure the fragmentedness of a border, the absence of anunambiguous bounding line, is connected with the fact that however hard wemight try to decompose the bounding line into sections, each section is furtherdecomposable, since the result of the decomposition is a reproduction of thestructure of the whole.

Applying this to the boundaries between human groups, this may mean thatevery member of a group carries, within him/herself, his/her group as a whole andthus the boundary that separates him/her from other groups. Bearing in mind themulti-level definition of groups, both the structural functionalism of TalcottParsons and the social dramaturgy of Ervin Goffman offer a number of definitionschemata, in each of which there may be different ways of treating the boundary

between the own group and the other group

From the outside, looking in

In 1999 I and two colleagues used focus-group techniques to seek answers to someof the issues involved in defining the Roma minority. First we sought externalfeatures of a definition, which led us to draw the following distinctions:

The first dimension isphysical appearance. An important role is played bythe assignment of colour. If the adjective used about skin, eyes, or hair is stt(dark), the probability of the person concerned being defined as cigny (Gypsy)increases. Fehr(white) can be adjectival in the case of teeth. It is hard to writethis down, but a frequently-mentioned criterion was body odour.

The second dimension issocial situation. A person may become a Rom byvirtue of the fact that he/she lives in a segregatedplace, known to be inhabited

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chiefly or solely by Roma (a settlement, ghetto). Similar weight is given topoverty, and here might be mentioned thefamily name.

The third, psycho-sociological, dimension proved to be the richest source ofperspectives. The chief source of being labelled a Rom is the indirectly

experienced one of hearsay. Furthermore, certain forms of behaviour areperceived as particularly characteristic of Roma, for example: the performing ofGypsy music, begging, bragging, aggressiveness, and solidarity. Guidance may beoffered by mode of dress, distinctive variety of Hungarian speech (vocabulary,intonation), and, naturally, (Vlach) Romany speech. Precise distinguishingfeatures were not elicited from the area of mood and lifestyle, which may alsoinfluence categorisation as a Rom.

Those asked genuinely believed that these attitudes did not reveal anynegative discriminatory tendency. It did not occur to them that the attitudesmentioned are very largely conditioned by the situation and in another contextmay have quite other values. It would therefore be interesting to carry out anexperiment in which assignment to a particular group is carried out in a contextwhere the person used as a stimulus possesses, in addition to the featu

caught in the trap of integration - roma problems and prospects in hungary

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