Slovakia's five years of backsliding on human rights hit an all time low as 23 members of the 526,000-strong Hungarian minority, and 183 other "undesireables", have been stripped of their citizenship under a law enforced since summer 2011. The law stipulates that citizens must report any citizenship of another state, and failure to do so is punishable by law and a 3,000 plus Euro fine. Reporting citizenship of another state, in turn, triggers official action by police authorities and the Interior Ministry to formally revoke Slovak citizenship. Loss of citizenship means that individuals who were born and raised in Slovakia and have been law-abiding, tax paying members of society, lose their voting rights, state social and medical benefits, along with all identity, residency and travel documents. As aliens in their own homeland, they must apply for temporary living and work permits.
Former New York Governor George Pataki visited Oradea (in Hungarian: Nagyvárad), Romania, on January 15 to meet with Rev. László Tőkés, Vice President of the European Parliament and head of the Transylvanian Hungarian National Council (THNC). Pataki emphasized the importance of education rights for the 1.2 million-strong Hungarian community and the potential benefits of regional autonomy. Accompanied by his daughter Allison Pataki-Levy, the Governor participated in Sunday services followed by a meeting with prominent members of the educational and academic communities.
At Tuesday’s Europe and Eurasia subcommittee hearing in the House, Representative Jean Schmidt of Ohio (2nd District) narrowed in on Romania’s failure to complete property restitution for religious denominations 22 years after the fall of communism. Expressing her concern for corruption, the dismal record on restitution for the four historic Hungarian churches and the impending trail of State Secretary Attila Markó, the Congresswoman asked Deputy Assistant Secretary for Human Rights, Democracy and Labor Thomas O. Melia:
What target date has the Administration given the Romanian government for restoring the remaining 5,000 properties belonging to religious communities illegally confiscated under communism? Is the State Department aware that the Romanian restitution committee has met only twice in two years and for the past nine years handled only one-third of all religious property claims?
Is our Embassy in Bucharest prepared to send an observer to the trial of Attila Markó set to begin September 6 in Buzau? The only Hungarian member of the Romania restitution committee who has been scapegoated and falsely indicted for “abuse of power” because he approved restitution of a specific property in 2002?
BUCHAREST, Romania — An ethnic Hungarian party is threatening to topple the Romanian government by withdrawing from the coalition if a plan to reconstitute the country into regions isn’t revised. A dispute over how Romania should be divided has flared up over the past week, after President Traian Basescu failed to back proposals to create a new region incorporating a mainly Hungarian area in central Romania.
Television host Charlie Rose was Master of Ceremonies at a moving tribute to the late giant of American diplomacy—and true friend to Hungarians—Ambassador Richard C. Holbrooke, who passed away suddenly last December. In addition to his wife, Kati Marton, and their respective children, speakers seen in the video below include U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Senator John Kerry, former French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, Asia Society President Vishakha N. Desai, Christiane Amanpour of CNN and Frank Rich of The New York Times. HHRF’s László Hámos and Emese Latkóczy were honored to be invited to the New York memorial.
Richard C. Holbrooke, the Obama administration’s special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan since 2009 and a diplomatic troubleshooter who worked for every Democratic president since the late 1960s and oversaw the negotiations that ended the war in Bosnia, died Monday evening in Washington.
hétfőn Washingtonban - az amerikai tv-csatornák által közölt halálhírt röviddel később megerősítette hivatalosan Barack Obama elnök kormányzata is.
Changes Adopted by Slovak Parliament Need Major Revision
November 17, 2010
On October 21, the Venice Commission published its official opinion on amendments adopted in June 2009 to Act No. 270/1995 on the State Language of the Slovak Republic. The Commission determined that certain provisions in the State Language Law are incompatible with international standards and though the desire to promote the official language is understandable, the state is not absolved “of the obligation to comply with the provisions of the international conventions for the protection of national minorities…”
Another instance of the Slovak State Language Law being enforced has occurred, though Slovak authorities have repeatedly promised not to enforce the law before the newer amendments are adopted.
The Slovak State Television and Radio Council fined the Municipal Television station in Komárno/Révkomárom – a 60 percent Hungarian inhabited city – 136 Euros ($190) for airing two commercials exclusively in Hungarian.
Following the first round of debates, on October 20 the Slovak Parliament adopted modifications to the State Language Law previously submitted by the government on September 24. The vote was 78 yeas to 66 nays out a total 150 members.
While the changes contain significant “improvements”, the very discriminatory and punitive premise of the Law still exists. Nor are the critical Implementation Principles of the Law slated to be rescinded or modified.
Although OSCE High Commissioner for National Minorities Knut Vollebaek twice stated, on September 28 and 30, that he would like to see all sanctions removed from the Law, this did not occur. His formal opinion is still forthcoming.
Media in Slovakia reported on October 14 that a Slovak-language regional weekly paper, MY-Nitrianske noviny was fined 1,500 euros for publishing an advertisement—in Hungarian only–back in May. The fines were imposed by the Slovak Consumer Protection Agency (SOI) without issuing the prior warning required by law. The legal reference was the Law on Advertising (Act 147/2001, Article 3 § 6) which cites the State Language Law. The advertisement targeted Hungarian readers at the express wish of the advertisers. Advertisements published in English or German have never been sanctioned.
