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Statement
of László Hámos, President at
Hearing on before
the April
17, 2002 NATO
Enlargement: Thorough Examination Needed Mr. Chairman, the Hungarian Human Rights Foundation (HHRF) was formed 26 years ago to articulate the human rights concerns of 1.6 million Hungarian-Americans. The purpose of the organization is to promote the cultural, linguistic and religious rights of Hungarian minorities living in countries surrounding Hungary. We appreciate the opportunity of this hearing to convey our position on selecting Slovakia and Romania for NATO membership at this time. After 1989, HHRF was an early and vocal proponent of NATO enlargement to include those countries in Central and Eastern Europe which met the criteria of institutionalized human rights reforms, including full protection of the rights of national minorities. During the first round of expansion, the breadth and depth of domestic reforms achieved by the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland in establishing functioning, sustained democracies was the primary focus. Now, during the next round of admissions, closer examination of and attention to the domestic realm is again warranted as NATO faces of the specter of admitting ten countries concurrently in what would be an irrevocable move. It is important that the United States not make a superficial and premature decision. It is HHRF's firm opinion that it is in the interest of NATO, Romania and Slovakia, and the sizeable Hungarians minorities in these two countries for Romania and Slovakia to be fully integrated into the trans-Atlantic alliance. Admission, however, should occur only based upon performance and compliance with the culture of democracy, a sustained, demonstrated commitment to the common values which NATO members share. Ambassador Nicholas Burns, U.S. envoy to NATO, recently described "two tests" for the enlargement of NATO (Financial Times, April 3, 2002): "Will the new members strengthen the alliance rather than weaken it? And can we be assured each new member is fundamentally committed to democracy and will achieve political stability?" Unfortunately, 12 years after the fall of communism, numerous serious human and minority rights abuses-a linchpin of true democracy-remain in these countries to be rectified. The following brief overview represents ongoing, significant inadequacies in redressing the legacy of communism as regards the 600,000 and 2 million-strong Hungarian communities in Slovakia and Romania. We understand that the challenge facing these two countries is enormous due to a lack of progress for the past 12 years in the specific, critical issues we enumerate below. However, an unparalleled opportunity exists now for Slovakia and Romania to provide the evidence in living up to their promises and demonstrate their commitment to democratic ideals. The ball is in their court. Romania 1. Continued Violation of the Sanctity of Private Property: Failure to Return Church and Communal Properties Illegally Confiscated Under Communist Rule The four historic Hungarian religious denominations (Roman Catholic, Protestant, Lutheran and Unitarian) have extensive documentation of at least 2,091 church properties illegally confiscated from them between 1945-1989 under communism. None of these properties-save six- have been returned to their rightful owners. 11 years after the fall of communism a Law on Restitution of Private Property was adopted on January 17, 2001 and is touted by the Rumanian government as having "settled" the restitution issue. But in fact, this law explicitly excluded communal and church properties on the promise that these would be covered under a separate law. Today, there is still no such law. While neighboring countries long ago addressed and resolved this matter, the decade-long delay by Rumania constitutes an ongoing, major blow to religious freedom, civil society and the Hungarian minority's ability to maintain community and church life. The inviolability of private property is a fundamental pillar of democracy and indispensable element of a functioning market economy. But this principle is not entrenched in Rumania and the government is recalcitrant on the issue: the Rumanian constitution's provision that "private property shall be equally respected by law irrespective of its owner" (Article 41/2) is ignored; repeated Council of Europe and European Union documents calling on Rumania since 1993 to settle this issue on the principle of restitution in integrum are snubbed; although the relevant international instruments have been ratified by Rumania, they are immaterial. Even the United States' Special Envoy on Property Restitution Issues, Stuart Eisenstat, couldn't make headway on this issue. It is also become patently clear that even the numerous government decrees passed since 1996 as temporary, good-will measures to return select, high-profile buildings until a comprehensive law could be enacted were hollow promises, propagandistic in nature to obtain credibility for Rumania abroad and lacking the requisite intention and means for their implementation. While the six properties mentioned above were returned to their rightful owners in this manner; the constitutional court, local councils, judicial system and even the government's very own Ministry of Culture stymie, hinder, and oppose restitution of the other properties identified in these decrees. On what grounds then is the latest deadline of April 30 agreed to by the ruling PSD to submit the above-mentioned necessary legislation to Parliament to be expected? 2. Failure to Restore the Independent Hungarian State University in Cluj Native-language education is the single most important factor in securing a national minority's identity and survival. Immediately after the 1989 Romanian revolution, the governing National Salvation Front explicitly pledged to restore the independent Hungarian-language Bolyai state university, which the former dictator abolished in 1959 by forcibly merging it with the Romanian Babes University. In the past decade, successive Romanian governments have dishonored the pledge through extra-legal measures (unlawfully ignoring a 1995 petition signed by a half-million citizens), diversion (offering a German-Hungarian university never seriously intended), deceit (claiming that the supposed "multi-cultural" character of the rump institution somehow compensates for the real article) and even threatening to disallow a privately-funded initiative (through proposals to deny accreditation unless "sufficient" Rumanian-language instruction is offered). Today, after so much obfuscation, the government still has not issued the necessary instructions to allow two Hungarian-language divisions (Humanities and Natural Sciences/Mathematics) at the Babes-Bolyai University, and additional departments instructing in Hungarian in other divisions of the institution. Nor is there adequate Hungarian-language instruction at other, key state institutions such as the Gheorghe Dima Music Academy in Cluj, the University of Agricultural Sciences in Cluj, the Tirgu Mures Technical University and the Oradea University. These expansions are another commitment that the ruling PSD promised the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Rumania in Article 7 of their Agreement for the year 2002. Babes-Bolyai President Andrei Marga has promised to take the issue before the university's senate should the needed government directive materialize-which hasn't- but the body can still veto the initiative, as it has done in the past. 3. Official Harassment of Csángó Hungarians The right to identity and native-language education is not secure in Rumania. In fact, you can be harassed for asserting these as is the case with the Csángós, a culturally distinct, centuries-old ethnic Hungarian community numbering more than 100,000 who live in the northeastern part of Rumania. The Csángós very existence is continually denied by the authorities, coupled with the falsification of census data, and forceful action is taken when they attempt to assert their aspirations through legitimate means. Although the legal mechanism for their native-language instruction exists in the Law on Education and the Council of Europe's Framework Convention on National Minorities, local and national-level authorities refuse to implement these in the case of the Csángós. For example, on November 14, 2001, the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers adopted a resolution supporting the Parliamentary Assembly's Recommendation 1521 (2001) on Csángó Minority Culture, among others, urging the Rumanian government to ensure their native- language education. Nevertheless, on the very same day, Deputy School-Inspector of Bacau/Bákó County Livia Liliana Sibisteanu threatened with fines and house searches those Csángó families in Cleja/Klézse who offered native language classes held in their own homes. Five days later, inspectors of the local Institute of Public Health visited the houses in question, banning the holding of classes. 4. Continued Imprisonment and Harassment of Ethnic Hungarians The continued selective prosecution and conviction of ethnic Hungarians for resistance to the Ceausescu regime in December 1989 present compelling evidence of a strong anti-Hungarian bias in the judicial system. Of the six police fatalities that occurred in the two Hungarian majority inhabited counties of Hargita and Covasna-three ethnic Rumanian and three ethnic Hungarian-prosecution occurred only in the ethnic Rumanian cases. 12 years after the overthrow of the Ceausescu dictatorship, as recently as July 2001, an ethnic Hungarian from Targu Secuiesc/Kézdivásárhely, Antal Reiner, was imprisoned. A total of six ethnic Hungarians were singled out for the lynching of the local representative of dictatorial rule, Aurel Agache, a particularly brutal police major who, on December 22, 1989, armed with his service revolver, tried to prevent the mob from entering the local Communist Party headquarters in the town. The Council of Europe's Opinion 176 of 1993 specifically called on the Rumanian authorities to "reconsider in positive manner the issue of releasing those persons imprisoned on political or ethnic grounds." Yet, these six defendants were sentenced to several years in 1999, a full six years after the recommendation, four of them in absentia, while Reiner and Dezso Héjja (who was granted a presidential pardon this March) were imprisoned. The government could introduce a law in the Parliament which would exonerate these individuals, but until now has not shown a willingness to do so. 5. Shortcomings in the Implementation of the Law on Public Administration Implementation of the Law on Public Administration, adopted May 23, 2001, is frequently obstructed at the local level. The law mandates the use of the native language in localities where the given minority population exceeds 20 percent and includes the display of bilingual government institution, street- and place name signs in these settlements. Outside of compactly Hungarian-inhabited areas though, this law is blatantly ignored despite the will of the people. Moreover, those in a position to intervene on the part of the central government do not do so. The most egregious examples occur in Cluj County. The ultra-nationalist Mayor of Cluj/Kolozsvár ( 22 percent ethnic Hungarian), Gheorghe Funar, has repeatedly declared that the signs will not be displayed as long as he occupies his post, thereby overriding the local council's decisions. Similarly, mayors of several localities in Cluj County: Cornets/Magyarszarvaskend (59 percent ethnic Hungarian), Luncani/Aranyosgerend (35 percent), Bontida/Bonchida (22 percent) refuse to display bilingual inscriptions. The central government's representative, County Prefect Vasile Soporan, obligated with upholding the law according to Rumanian law, has so far failed to take action in any of these cases, nor has the Minister for Public Administration intervened. Slovakia 1. Benes Decrees Discriminate Against Ethnic Hungarians Post-communist property restitution is a tough, painful , though unavoidable issue that Slovakia has still not faced in order to become a truly functioning democracy. The 1945 Benes Decrees-as a precursor to the infamous modern-day practice of ethnic cleansing-- sought to create an ethnically pure nation-state, among others, by summarily revoking the citizenship of all ethnic Hungarians, confiscating all of their properties, closing their centuries-old schools and ordering their en masse expulsion. But, the discriminatory legal impact of the Benes Decrees remains in effect today. Even though, upon its July 1993 accession to the Council of Europe, Slovakia obligated itself to overcome this legacy, it has failed to do so. Today, ethnic Hungarian Slovak citizens are denied rightful claim to property restitution to which ethnic Slovaks are. Thousands of acres of land confiscated from ethnic Hungarians and given to ethnic Slovaks under the decrees still remain in the latter's possession. The assets of all Hungarian community organizations confiscated between 1945 and 1948 have yet to be returned to their rightful owners. The 100,000-member Hungarian Reformed Church, which had the majority of its buildings and schools confiscated, still has no legal recourse. Nor is there any expressed intention to redress these legal inequities. Most recently, Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda exclaimed "I take the liberty to declare with certainty that the Benes Decrees need not be abolished and will not be abolished" (OMRI-Slovak Digest, March 11, 2002). Can NATO embrace an aspirant country which refuses to overcome this anachronism? 2. Ethnic Hungarians Gerrymandered and Denied Representation The adoption
of the laws on redistricting and regional election in July and December,
2001, precluded a Hungarian majority in any of the eight new territorial
units and therefore prevented the election of a single ethnic Hungarian
chairman to head up any of these units. Through a combination of gerrymandering,
a two-round election system, and fierce propaganda for Slovaks to vote
for "Slovaks" (criticized by European Parliamentary Rapporteur
Wiersma to no avail), Hungarians, who were previously relatively well-represented
at the local level, now suffer serious under-representation on precisely
those local issues (education, culture, public administration) of greatest
importance to the cohesiveness of a minority. 3. Hungarian-Language Higher Education Imperiled The state of Hungarian-language higher education has reached crisis proportions in Slovakia: Today, nearly half as many ethnic Hungarians graduate from institutions of higher education (3.6 percent) than ethnic Slovaks (7.5 percent) at the national level. The number of ethnic Hungarian graduates from Konstantin University-where enrollment by minority students has dropped by a whopping three-fifths in the past five years-does not replace retiring teachers. Yet, for more than a year, the senate and accreditation committee of the university have failed to take up the issue of implementing a January 2001 government recommendation to create an independent Hungarian-language division of six departments within the institution for which monies have already been allocated. The purpose of the college would be to provide adequate training of ethnic Hungarian teachers for the 600,000 strong community as no such independent facility exists in the country. Upon joining the government coalition, the Hungarian Coalition Party relinquished its goal to establish of an independent Hungarian-language university, which would be necessary to reverse the declining trend in native-language education, in favor of pledges by the government to create the division at Konstantin University and narrow the gap between ethnic Hungarian and Slovak graduates. The government has failed on both counts. 4. Continued Legal Inconsistencies between the Law on the Use of Minority Languages and International Norms The Minority Language Law needs to be amended to bring it into full compliance with the European Charter on Regional or Minority Languages, which Slovakia ratified in June 2001, the last country with a Hungarian minority to do so. The Hungarian Coalition Party voted against the Minority Language Law adopted in July 1999 because of its serious shortcomings. Yet, a law who's ostensible intention is to benefit minorities can actually be passed in Slovakia over and above the objection's of the largest minority, representing ten percent of the population. There is no indication on the part of the Slovak government that it intends to reverse the discrimination contained in the law. 5. Failure to Adopt a Law on National Minorities Legislation has not even been drafted, let alone adopted which would establish an institutional system to promote and preserve national and ethnic minority culture. All other countries in East Central Europe with Hungarian minorities have adopted, or in the case of Yugoslavia, at lest drafted such a law. In addition, funding for minority culture has not been institutionalized and is subject to annual haggling during budgetary debates.
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