|
Romania’s governing program will widen national minorities’ rights so that they can preserve their cultural and ethnic identity, Prime Minister Emil Boc said in early January, local media reports. Asked whether the governing program includes a new law regarding national minorities, Boc said there is no new law, but a normative act regarding national minorities, which takes into account the Constitution and the Venice Commission.
|
|
( Read more...
)
|
|
Kelemen Hunor, UDMR presidential candidate, officially launched his campaign on October 16, in Miercurea Ciuc. His message focuses on identity and autonomy: “our common dream, wish and will” is preserving our identity, language and obtaining regional territorial autonomy for the region where the majority population is represented by Hungarians.
|
|
( Read more...
)
|
|
Florin Cioaba, the so called king of the Roma, attended last week in Tg. Mures a seminar on minorities, organized by the Bernady Gyorgy Cultural Foundation. In an interview, Cioaba explained why the Roma don’t have their own parliamentary group and the reason for supporting President Traian Basescu at the presidential elections.
|
|
( Read more...
)
|
|
„Even if you were born later, open your mind to the memories you inherited from your ancestors. You will feel pain, but you will not be ashamed. The shame will be left in the past”. This is the message of Elie Wiesel, at the inauguration of the Holocaust Monument in Bucharest. The monument commemorates the victims of fascism – Jews and Roma. The initiative of building this monument comes from the Ministry of Culture and Cults, at the International Commission’s for Holocaust Study in Romania recommendation – the Wiesel Commission. The monument was created by the sculptor Peter Jacobi.
|
|
( Read more...
)
|
|
Two recent studies conducted by SOROS showed that the employment measures implemented by the Romanian authorities have very low efficiency because of ethnic discrimination, of employees’ reticence and of the high level of qualification courses. On the other hand, the women from Roma communities consider themselves inferior compared with men, but the education and participation on labor market degree, determine another gender and domestic structures in Roma families.
|
|
( Read more...
)
|
|
Ethno-Cultural Diversity Resource Center (CRDE) launched on Tuesday, September 28, 2009, the report entitled “Monitoring the implementation of the European Regional and Minority Languages Chart”. The report analyzes how Romania implemented the provisions of the European Chart of Regional and Minority Languages regarding mass media. The Chart was adopted in 1992 in Strasbourg and was ratified by the Romanian Parliament by Law no.282/2007.
|
|
( Read more...
)
|
|
UDMR proposed several amendments to the Education Law. Boc Cabinet took on responsibility for this law last Tuesday, September 15. Most of the amendments refer to education in mother tongue, especially to education in Hungarian language.
|
|
( Read more...
)
|
|
Apparently in opposition, because there were two separate meetings, in fact unified, because both organizations had as main discussion subject the issue of autonomy. UDMR and Hungarians from Transylvania National Council in Miercurea Ciuc and Hungarian Civic Party and Szecklers’ National Council in Odorheiu Secuiesc organized meetings approaching as main issue Szcklers’ Land autonomy.
|
|
( Read more...
)
|
|
When they have to go to school, many Roma prefer to hide their ethnicity. The discrimination in schools forces many Roma graduates of the 8th grade to choose the open competition with the Romanians when they apply for high school, despite the fact that they have special places reserved, as an affirmative measure. They do this in order to demonstrate that they are as good or even better prepared than the majority.
|
|
( Read more...
)
|
|
Human and financial significant sacrifices, national minorities and new emigrants, reinvented traditions and a difficult definition. This is the way Volker Reiter could characterize this year’s edition of the ProEtnica festival. It is very difficult to organize for nine years this intercultural festival, but he doesn’t regret. Without ProEtnica, the Romanian diversity would be poorer.
|
|
( Read more...
)
|
|
Proetnica Festival at its ninth edition cannot be considered just a simple event anymore. Over 850 representatives of the 20 national ethnic minorities participated at the 9 days ProEtnica Festival, presenting their traditional costumes and folklore, books’ launching, films, concerts, theater shows, workshops where the public can learn the traditional manufacture, etc. During the festival “Agora of Ethnic Communities” was published in four editions. So, ProEtnica is already a tradition.
|
|
( Read more...
)
|
|
A conflict latent for a while broke out two weeks ago between Hungarians and Roma in Sincraieni, after a Hungarian was stubbed by a Roma. Several Roma organizations organized a protest in front of the UDMR headquarters in Bucharest, but the UDMR leaders appreciated that this protest should not have taken place in front of their headquarters, but in front of state authorities, and that it is not an interethnic conflict, but a social and economical one.
|
|
( Read more...
)
|
|
Romania and Hungary signed the Protocol of the 7th session of the Hungarian-Romanian Expert Committee on coordinating the national minorities’ issues. The document signed last Tuesday, July 14, stipulates the need of imperative measures to be taken by Hungary in order to ensure the parliamentary representation of Romanians, but the parties could not agree on Hungarians’ representation in the Romanian local administrative structures.
|
|
( Read more...
)
|
|
Baltesti village is located at less than 100 km from Bucharest. Here, “Habitat for Humanity” association together with the Soros Foundation Romania and the local administration decided to develop the project “A house for the future”. The project is meant to create a pattern for supporting the communities leaving in poor conditions in Romania and is targeting the Roma families.
|
|
( Read more...
)
|
|
The Democratic Union of ethnic Hungarians in Romania (UDMR) on Sunday announced that Kelemen Hunor, 42, will run in presidential elections in the autumn on the party’s ticket. According to Kelemen the present presidential candidacy is totally different form what UDMR did till now: this candidacy is not about goals, but about messages.
|
|
( Read more...
)
|
|
Two boys aged 15 and 16 have been charged in connection with the intimidation of Romanian families in south Belfast, BBC reports. Both have been charged with provocative behaviour. The 15-year-old is also charged with intimidation. They were arrested in the wake of vandalism and attacks on the homes of more than 100 Romanian migrants, all of Roma ethnicity.
|
|
( Read more...
)
|
|
At the EP elections on Sunday, June 7 DAHR succeeded to mobilize 8,92% of the voters, obtaining 431,739 votes. This is the best result at elections of the Democratic Alliance of the Hungarians from Romania after 1990. The three Hungarian MEPs are bishop Tokes Laszlo, Sogor Csaba and Iuliu Winkler, all of them having before too a mandate.
|
|
( Read more...
)
|
|
The National Council for Combating Discrimination (CNCD) encountered last year 71 cases of discrimination from the 867 petitions received. The discriminatory language and behavior in public were obvious present, according to the report published on April 28. The CNCD member determined that 9% from the overall petitions received are discrimination situations. As a result, five penalties were applied, of an overall amount of 8.700 lei, 25 warnings and 39 recommendations.
|
|
( Read more...
)
|
|
Roma situation in EU countries is a problem that is still waiting to be solved. The European institutions are moving slowly, despite the fact that at all levels clear positions were expressed. Meanwhile, according to an European poll recently published, half of the Roma declare themselves discrimination victims regarding the employment, housing and education, and a quarter of them says that they were victims of aggression, threats or harassment during the last 12 months.
|
|
( Read more...
)
|
|
The protests that started in Chisinau after the April 5 elections had consequences in Bucharest as well. The aggressive reaction of the Moldovan authorities toward Romania, which they accused of involvement into the protest actions, determined Bucharest to modify the legislation on granting the Romanian citizenship.
|
|
( Read more...
)
|
|
On April 8, in the past, the Transylvanian Roma celebrated the "day of the horses" (the horses were taken out from their winter shelter). This date received a new significance at the beginning of the 70's. At the first Roma World Congress, on April 8 1971, the Roma nations' symbols were chosen: the flag and hymn and on April 8 the International Roma Day was proclaimed.
|
|
( Read more...
)
|
|
Discrimination in the media is a provoking subject. Present to discuss it were: on one side the Roma minority’s representatives and on the other one the journalists. In the middle, PER Regional Center and the National Council of Audiovisual. The result was a debate where the Roma said that sometimes the press discriminates, and the journalists opined that in principle they reflect the reality.
|
|
( Read more...
)
|
|
The Democratic Union of Hungarians from Romania (UDMR) and the National Council of Hungarians from Romania (NCHR) have announced publicly the joint list of the candidates for the European Parliament;s elections. On the first seats, the eligible ones are Laszlo Tokes (CNMT) and former Euro-parliamentarians Iuliu Winkler and Sogor Csaba (UDMR).
|
|
( Read more...
)
|
|
Nothing dramatic thou. The Hungarian President László Sólyom believes it is unfriendly the autoritary gesture of Romanian autorities to forbid the military plane landig in Romania, on March 15. In exchange, the Bucharest acussed the Hungarian President of lack of respect towards Romanian Constitution. Despite this roughness, the Romanian-Hungarian relations stay in a good shape.
|
|
( Read more...
)
|
|
The Romanian Peasant Museum from Bucharest is hosting a photographs’ exhibition with and on Roma from Hungary, Slovenia, Romania, Poland and Ukraine, taken by Marina Obradovic. The exhibition is entitled SHUKAR, which in Romanes language means beautiful, good, reason for joy.
|
|
( Read more...
)
|