Minority Report 2020 by Mikó Imre Association for the Protection of Minority Rights

MIKÓ IMRE

Minority Rights Legal Services Assistance Founded by RMDSZ/UDMR/DAHR

REPORT 2020

THE VIOLATION OF MINORITY RIGHTS AND THE ETHNIC DISCRIMINATION FACED BY THE HUNGARIAN COMMUNITY IN ROMANIA

2020

MIKÓ IMRE

Minority Rights Legal Services Assistance Founded by RMDSZ/UDMR/DAHR

REPORT 2020 THE VIOLATION OF MINORITY RIGHTS AND THE ETHNIC DISCRIMINATION FACED BY THE HUNGARIAN COMMUNITY IN ROMANIA

CONTENT

1. VIOLATION OF LINGUISTIC RIGHTS....................................................................................... 7 1.1. Bilingualism in the public sphere.......................................................................................................7 1.2. Bilingualism in the judiciary............................................................................................................. 10 1.3. Bilingual place name signs ................................................................................................................ 11 1.4. Bilingual street signs ........................................................................................................................... 13 1.5. Town hall inscriptions ........................................................................................................................ 14 1.6. Safety measures ................................................................................................................................... 16 1.7. Driving test in Hungarian ................................................................................................................. 16 1.8. Discrimination in the healthcare system....................................................................................... 17 1.9. Linguistic discrimination in retail .................................................................................................. 19 1.10. Protests against linguistic rights ................................................................................................... 20 2. ETHNIC DISCRIMINATION ..................................................................................................... 22 2.1. Discrimination in the education system ....................................................................................... 22 2.1.1. Lack of textbooks for pupils in the minority education system .................................. 22 2.1.2. Teaching Romanian to pupils belonging to minorities .................................................. 23 2.1.3. The University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science and Technology of Târgu Mureș/Marosvásárhely ........................................................................................... 25 2.1.4. Attempts to close a Hungarian school resurface ............................................................. 28 2.2. The “Beke-case”, terrorism charges under dubious circumstances ...................................... 29 2.3. Discrimination in administrative territorial disputes ............................................................... 30 3. THE PERSECUTION OF HUNGARIAN SYMBOLS ................................................................... 32 3.1. Banning the Szekler flag ................................................................................................................... 32 3.2. Banning the administrative flags featuring regional symbols ................................................ 33 3.3. The persecution of the Hungarian flag .......................................................................................... 34 4. HATE SPEECH AND DISINFORMATION TARGETING THE HUNGARIAN COMMUNITY ... 36 4.1. Hate speech in politics ........................................................................................................................ 36 4.1.1. Grave anti-Hungarian hate speech manifested by the President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis ........................................................................................................................... 37 4.1.2. Political leaders instigating against the Hungarian community ................................. 39 4.2. Anti-Hungarian discourse and disinformation in the media .................................................. 42 4.3. Hate speech on social media ............................................................................................................ 44 4.4. Hate speech and violence in sports ................................................................................................ 46 5. THE ILLEGAL APPROPRIATION OF THE MILITARY CEMETERY IN THE UZ VALLEY ....... 48 6. THE RESTITUTION OF PRIVATE PROPERTY ......................................................................... 51 7. THE ACTIVITY OF THE MIKÓ IMRE MINORITY RIGHTS LEGAL SERVICES ASSISTANCE IN 2020 ............................................................................................................... 52 8. CONCLUSION........................................................................................................................... 54

VIOLATION OF LINGUISTIC RIGHTS

1. VIOLATION OF LINGUISTIC RIGHTS The use of minority languages in public institutions and the judicial system is still one of the top issues affecting persons belonging to national minorities. The existing legal framework is often incoherent, it does not provide adequate mechanisms for implementation and monitoring, and the updating of language policies has been consistently blocked in the past few years.

1.1. Bilingualism in the public sphere The legislative framework on linguistic rights for national minorities is by no means coherent, various provisions are spread across a range of laws. Moreover, while laws are generally permissive, concrete norms aimed at implementation, monitoring and follow-up are often lacking. There is a general lack of accountability when it comes to enforcing legal provisions regarding minority rights, which needs to be addressed. The implementation of minority-friendly language policies (even where required by law) is sporadic and generally depends on the goodwill of local administrations. There is an overall lack of accountability when it comes to enforcing legal provisions regarding minority rights, there being no clear pathway for a legal recourse in cases of non-compliance. Since 2019, the legislation that applies in most aspects regarding the use of minority languages in and by local public institutions is the Administrative Code. This stipulates that in the administrative territorial units - be these a municipality or a county - in which a national minority constitutes at least 20% of the total population (according to the latest census), the authorities of the local public administration, public institutions under their jurisdiction, as well as the deconcentrated public services (local and regional offices/institutions belonging to the various ministries) must ensure the right of national minorities to use their mother tongue in their dealings with these institutions. On the level of municipalities, this is relevant in the case of 322 municipalities, while on a county level this is relevant in a total of 6 counties in Romania, where the Hungarian population exceeds the required threshold of 20%: Covasna, Harghita, Mureș, Bihor, Satu Mare and Sălaj. In practice this means – among other things – the obligation to make public information available in Hungarian as well. However official documents and information on public interest are mostly available exclusively in Romanian. Every year we look at the websites of institutions belonging to the local and county level public administrations in these six counties, as well as those of the deconcentrated public services, in order to assess their willingness to communicate public information in Hungarian as well. It is unfortunate that many of these websites still lack any information in Hungarian, with the rest ranging from a complete page in Hungarian (mostly in areas where Hungarians make up the absolute majority of the population) to partial or minimal Hungarian content.

VIOLATION OF LINGUISTIC RIGHTS

In 2019 the Administrative Code was adopted again in a modified form through a government ordinance, this version, however, significantly curtailed several positive provisions that ensured linguistic rights for national minorities. For instance, alternative thresholds have been scraped, meaning that language policies cannot be enforced in administrative units where the percentage of a minority does not reach 20%, which is a huge disadvantage for minorities living in large cities, where they might constitute a community of several thousand inhabitants and yet do not meet the required threshold. Moreover, the names of streets, squares and parks are not required to be put up in a bilingual or multilingual format, not even in cases where minorities exceed the 20% threshold. Furthermore, in the administrative territorial units, where a national minority constitutes at least 20% of the total population, decisions of normative nature have to be made public both in Romanian and in the language of the minority in case. However, in practice this measure is taken only in cases, when the leaders of the city/town belong to the Hungarian community. The biggest problem is that there are no monitoring institutions and no accountability when it comes to enforcing such provisions. In addition, in case of non-compliance, there is no sanctioning. Beyond the incoherent legislative framework and the systematic opposition to updating language policies, the linguistic rights of the Hungarian community are also endangered by individual attacks, fuelled by blatant anti-Hungarian attitudes. The Civic Association for Dignity in Europe, led by Dan Tanasă, a widely known anti-Hungarian nationalist provocateur, continues its vicious fight against Hungarian signs and inscriptions (see chapters 1.3, 1.4). Other actions of the organization against the rights of the Hungarian community include many other lawsuits against local administrations that put up bilingual signs on the forefront of their town halls (see chapter 1.5), Szekler or Hungarian flags (see chapter 3). In many cases the justice system tacitly supports these nationalist endeavours and the decisions point to a double standard when it comes to the linguistic rights of the Hungarian community.

It is unfortunate that many of the official websites still lack any information in any minority language

Updating language policies is also problematic, as the case of the much-disputed Administrative Code demonstrates. After being adopted by Parliament in 2018, and containing some favourable provisions regarding linguistic rights for minorities, it was contested at the Constitutional Court by several parties, as well as the President, with the court eventually deeming it unconstitutional on procedural grounds. Taking into consideration another attempt of updating language policies, the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR/RMDSZ) wanted to decrease the required 20% threshold to 10%, because they considered it too high, especially in the case of the scattered communities, where, according to the law, they cannot use their mother tongue. Besides introducing the abovedescribed provisions, they proposed the introduction of the concept of „significant”, instead of using exact quantities. They wanted to make language policies applicable in those regions where significant Hungarian communities live, however they met considerable opposition. Moreover, there have been several endeavors by local authorities to make official documents, such as birth certificates, marriage certificates etc, available in Hungarian too. They met strong oppositions from the central government.

Observations and recommendations: The reason why linguistic rights are not applied in practice, although the obligation is stipulated in the national legislation, is due to the fact that there are currently no mechanisms that ensure their implementation. The Administrative Code does not provide the possibility to fine non-compliant local administrations and public institutions. Therefore, both the legislative and the executive bodies of the state should commit, first and foremost, to a more comprehensive approach toward ensuring the use of minority languages in relations with the public administration. To this end, linguistic rights should be set within a legislative framework that specifies concrete measures for implementation, while also ensuring that adequate sanctioning mechanisms are stipulated within the relevant laws on the implementation of linguistic rights for national minorities. Moreover, further positive measures need to be adopted in order to ensure the use of minority languages, most importantly by allocating the necessary human and financial resources needed for implementation. It is also relevant that, when monitoring the situation of the rights of national minorities, international organizations put particular emphasis on studies and data regarding implementation, considering that states often stop at codifying minority rights, including linguistic rights in laws, while doing little to ensure proper application.

VIOLATION OF LINGUISTIC RIGHTS

1.2. Bilingualism in the judiciary The use of minority languages within the Romanian judicial system continues to be problematic, which negatively affects the access to fair trial for citizens belonging to a national minority. This is an issue frequently raised by international organizations, most recently in the 2018 report by the Council of Europe on Romania in light of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.

Currently, the regulations regarding legal procedures within the Romanian judicial system allow the use of their mother tongue for members of national minorities only in some cases, while even in those, the costs of translation and interpretation often have to be supported by the parties themselves. For instance, the Civil Code states that both parties can use their mother tongue during the oral phase of a trial, however, the costs of interpretation have to be paid by the parties themselves. This rule does not apply to witnesses as well, meaning that in civil cases witnesses can only testify in Romanian. Moreover, according to the Penal Code, during the investigative phase, as well as during the trial itself, all information must be communicated to the accused party in their mother tongue, both orally and in a written form. In this case, the costs of the translation are supported by the state. However, if the defendant is found to be guilty, they will likely be required to reimburse the costs of translation and/or interpretation. If the judge, the lawyers and both parties concerned are Hungarian, the existing laws allow for the possibility to conduct the entirety of a trial in Hungarian. Nevertheless, the decision whether or not to do so, is ultimately left to the discretion of the judge. All of this points to a chaotic, haphazard and incidental use of minority languages in legal proceedings in Romania, rather than a systematic approach.

VIOLATION OF LINGUISTIC RIGHTS

Observations and recommendations: It would be ideal if the law on the use of the mother tongue was extended to civil actions also, because the right to a fair trial, the right to represent one’s legal interest in court, regardless of the severity of the issue, is very important. It is also essential to be able to represent one’s point of view in one’s mother tongue and for this reason the change in the legislation would be highly recommended.

1.3. Bilingual place name signs As fas as bilingualism is concerned in areas where there is a significant number of Hungarians, one of the main issues is the lack of bilingual (Romanian and Hungarian) place name signs, or the vandalisation of these. While the latter is a sign of negative attitudes towards the Hungarian community on the part of the majority population, the former clearly shows the hesitation or even unwillingness of local authorities to acknowledge the multicultural aspect of some municipalities.

Romania’s Administrative Code provides local administrations the opportunity to decide whether or not they want to put up the name of their city/town on the road signs in a minority language, regardless of the percentage of that minority. The bilingual town sign of Gheorgheni/ Gyergyószentmiklós, where the majority of inhabitants are Hungarian, was damaged in the beginning of 2020, on the 24th of January. The Hungarian inscription of the place name sign was sprayed over. The same thing happened with the Lacul Roșu/ Gyilkos-tó sign nearby.

Vandalisation of bilingual place name signs is still commonplace and a continuing problem in Romania and it is a blatant symbol of anti-Hungarian sentiments

The Oradea/Nagyvárad Tribunal: bilingualism in legal proceedings is rarely ensured, even in a county like Bihor/Bihar, where the Hungarian population exceeds the required threshold of 20%

An unknown perpetrator painted over the Hungarian inscription of the place name signs in Salonta/Nagyszalonta

Unfortunately, this is not the first or the last time that such anti-Hungarian acts have taken place in Transylvania. In the same month, another incident took place, when an unknown perpetrator painted over the Hungarian language part of the place name signs in Salonta/Nagyszalonta.

VIOLATION OF LINGUISTIC RIGHTS

Furthermore, the population of Baia Mare/Nagy-bánya totals around 115 thousand people, 10.3% of whom are Hungarian. Although this percentage does not reach the legally required threshold of 20% for putting up place name signs in minority languages, in 2016 the local council unanimously decided to put up multilingual signs. Unknown perpetrators painted over the trilingual place name signs marking the entrances into Baia Mare/Nagybánya/Neustadt in Maramureș/Máramaros County, by using red, yellow and blue spray paint (the colours of the Romanian flag). This case is particularly grave, given that it concerns 12 of the 13 place name signs in the city, indicating that this action was planned and prepared in advance. Another unfortunate incident took place in Boroșneu Mare/Nagyborosnyó in September, 2020, a village located in Covasna/Kovászna county, with a 90% ethnic Hungarian population. The Hungarian inscription on the village sign was painted over with a black paint just a few days after a carved, ornamental Szekler gate was built at the initiative of deputy mayor Antal Kanyó at one of the entrances to Boroșneu Mare/Nagyborosnyó – as the deputy mayor himself specified.

VIOLATION OF LINGUISTIC RIGHTS

1.4. Bilingual street signs When it comes to bilingual inscriptions, street signs are arguably one of the most controversial issues. The Romanian legislation does not expressly stipulate that street signs should be bilingual in municipalities with a significant minority population.

There is an ongoing fight on the part of the Romanian authorities when it comes to putting up bilingual (Romanian and Hungarian) street signs. It was no different this year. In the case of Târgu Mureș/Marosvásárhely, there are still no bilingual street signs in 2020. It is regrettable that even though Hungarians make up 48% of the population of the city, such important cases are still not solved. Even after repeated calls, the local council has not taken the initiative.

Further similar anti-Hungarian acts in 2020 include the one in Mera/Méra in Cluj/Kolozs county and in Viile Satu Mare/Szatmárhegy in Satu Mare/ Szatmár county. The trilingual place name signs marking the entrances into Baia Mare/Nagybánya/Neustadt were vandalised. In 2016 the local council unanimously decided to put up multilingual signs

Our organization initiated proceedings before the competent Public Prosecutor’s Office in all of these cases, most of them are still pending.

Observations and recommendations: Such cases clearly demonstrate a hostile attitude towards the Hungarian community and their signs and inscriptions, even in cases when they are required or allowed by law, and even when there is political will and understanding. This signals that these issues, aside from the legal and the political aspect, also need to be dealt with at a social level, ensuring that multiculturalism is more widely accepted. Therefore, while it is important that linguistic rights are upheld, strengthened and updated by positive measures and clear legislation, a wider, large-scale promotion of tolerance and multilingualism is required.

The Hungarian inscription on the village sign, a village with a 90% ethnic Hungarian population, was painted over

It is unfortunate that even after repeated calls, the local council has not taken the initiative to put up bilingual signs in Târgu Mureș/Marosvásárhely

We fail to understand the logic of the court ruling when it comes to the Romanian inscriptions of the street name signs in Miercurea Ciuc/Csíkszereda, why the Romanian version has to be put on top of the Hungarian one, instead of being simply next to each other

According to the final ruling of the Bucharest Court of Appeal in June, this year, the street signs in Miercurea Ciuc/ Csíkszereda must be replaced with the ones where the Romanian version of the street name is on the top. The mayor of Miercurea Ciuc/Csíkszereda was sued by the Civic Association for Dignity in Europe (ADEC), led by Dan Tanasă, a famous anti-Hungarian provocateur, in 2018, because the name of the streets appears in a line on the street signs, where the first one is in Hungarian and then comes the Romanian one. The lawsuit had begun at the Harghita Tribunal, afterwards being continued at the Bucharest Tribunal. According to the

VIOLATION OF LINGUISTIC RIGHTS

ruling, the mayor of the city is obliged to replace the street signs with the ones that have on the top the name of the street in Romanian, and below it in Hungarian. It is the more incomprehensible why the names cannot be linear and the Romanian version has to be on the top of the Hungarian one. As a result of a previous verdict, traffic signs in Miercurea Ciuc/Csíkszereda had to be replaced for similar reasons.

Observations and recommendations: There is a need for clear legislation regarding the use of minority languages when it comes to the street name signs. The Administrative Code does not require for street signs to bi-/multilingual, even is cases when the percentage of a minority in a given town/city exceeds 20%, which is the minimum threshold for applying other linguistic rights for national minorities. This can be very confusing and causes problems not only for the authorities, but also instigates intolerance towards the Hungarian population. Unfortunately bills submitted to the Romanian Parliament that seek to clarify the situation are repeatedly rejected by the overwhelming majority of Romanian political parties, even though the Romanian Parliament should be the one to pass unambiguous legislation in this respect. It is highly unfortunate that there is no political will at this point in Romania to find a proper solution in order to finally put an end to the endless inscription trials that concern bilingual street signs. Unfortunately, parties in the Parliament often turn legislation proposals regarding bilingualism into a populist political stance.

1.5. Town hall inscriptions Lawsuits against various local councils in Szeklerland for putting up inscriptions that read “Községháza” (used in smaller towns) or “Városháza” (used in cities) – both meaning “Town Hall” in Hungarian, alongside the Romanian equivalent, which is “Primărie”- still continue and as a result of this negative practice, such inscriptions will soon disappear. As a result of this, in 2020 the inscription of the Hungarian „Városháza” had to be removed in villages and cities, where the majority population belongs to the Hungarian minority and speaks Hungarian, such as Băile Tușnad /Tusnádfürdő, Sândominic /Csíkszentdomokos.

The Civic Association for Dignity in Europe, led by the abovementioned provocateur, Dan Tanasă, is famous for initiating lawsuits of such nature. His activity is mainly focused on questioning and fighting against the linguistic rights of the Hungarian minority. One of the unfortunate cases where there is no Hungarian sign allowed in a town is Băile Tușnad/ Tusnádfürdő, where both the Hungarian “Városháza” and the English “Town Hall” were ordered to be removed. Sândominic/Csíkszentdomokos was facing a similar problem regarding town hall inscriptions, a village in Harghita/Hargita County with 97% Hungarian population. Dan Tanasă sued the village for the first time in 2016, which was followed by a second lawsuit in 2018. The first lawsuit was rejected by the Harghita/Hargita County because of missing documents, but Tanasă won the trial of the second lawsuit by the end of 2018. The mayor was sued on the ground that the sign is not the proper Hungarian translation and that it was written only in Hungarian. They appealed the ruling, which resulted in the case being heard by the Târgu Mureș Court of Appeal. The legally binding decision was proclaimed in December of 2019, which resulted in an order to take down the Hungarian “village hall” inscription.

VIOLATION OF LINGUISTIC RIGHTS

In recent years our organization has been closely monitoring the development of these cases all over Szeklerland. Tens of local councils have been called upon to remove the “Town hall” inscriptions in Hungarian, and the ones that refused to do so have been subsequently sued. Due to the vague and often contradictory legal provisions, the local councils generally lose these court cases. Most of the justifications presented in court are that the terms “Községháza” and ”Városháza” are not legally Sândominic/Csíkszentdomokos: Like many accurate, because they are not the exact others in Szeklerland, the mayor of Sândominic/ Csíkszentdomokos, a 97% Hungarian-populated translation of the Romanian “Primărie”, which village, has to take down the Hungarian according to them would be “Polgármesteri „Village hall” inscription hivatal”, but they were borrowed from Hungary. However, several HungarianRomanian dictionaries translate the words “Községháza”/”Városháza” as “Primărie” and in the local Hungarian environment and in the local language use, it is not “Polgármesteri hivatal”, but “Községháza” or “Városháza”. Moreover, in cases where the Romanian “Primărie” was translated as “Polgármesteri hivatal”, the plaintiffs have looked for something else to object to, like the order of the bilingual inscriptions, or the position of these, which only serves to show that their purpose is to eradicate Hungarian inscriptions, by any means necessary.

Observations and recommendations: The action of the previously mentioned NGO, namely the Civic Association for Dignity in Europe against the use of “Town hall” inscriptions in Hungarian cannot be comprehended as anything other than a vicious campaign against the Hungarian community. The lack of an explicit legal framework and adequate monitoring mechanisms contribute to the above-mentioned cases. It is more than worrying that these absurd cases are admitted in court, and that local councils successively lose them. Instead of facilitating a better understanding between the majority and the minority communities, it creates unnecessary tensions and increases distrust towards the institutions of the Romanian state.

VIOLATION OF LINGUISTIC RIGHTS

1.6. Safety measures The issue of safety measures and warning signs has not been handled promptly and to a satisfying degree, since in most cases they are still only available in Romanian. It is highly discriminatory and can lead to serious dangers.

The lack of Hungarian inscriptions, for example warning people of high voltage, can lead to serious consequences

Unfortunately, the translation of safety measures and warning signs is a continuing problem in Romania. Our organization noticed a lack of Hungarian inscriptions warning people of high voltage danger, or fire exits or fire exit plans, or any explanation in Hungarian about the safety measures provided in swimming pools, for example. The absence of such explanations and bilingual safety warning signs in regions where a significant portion of the population is Hungarian is a great risk factor, and leads to an environment, where people – especially small children who do not grasp Romanian yet – are prone to accidents that can even be fatal.

1.7. Driving test in Hungarian The opportunity to take the driving test in Hungarian for the members of the Hungarian minority is still valid, however this is not guaranteed during the practical test with a police officer, who tend to be mostly Romanian and most of them do not speak Hungarian at all, even in the areas where the majority of the population is Hungarian. In case of a revoked driving license, the written exam can be taken exclusively in Romanian.

Although Hungarian speaking people can take the written exam in Hungarian, with learning materials also available in Hungarian, in case of the road test with a police officer, where one is taking the actual driving exam, there is no such opportunity. Police officers tend to be mostly Romanian, do not speak Hungarian in most cases, and in order to manage this discrepancy, officers usually employ the help of people who want to take the test that speak both Romanian and Hungarian, to translate for the people who do not speak Romanian fluently, and thus might not understand the police officer’s instructions. This can make the communication during the test rather problematic and challenging, since one has to comply with the received instructions on the spot, not to mention that it is not the job of the prospective drivers, who are nervously waiting to take the test themselves, to translate for their colleagues. As it was stated above, in case a driving license has been revoked because of a serious traffic violation or any other reasons, the written exam must be taken in Romanian, since there is no possibility to take it in Hungarian. Our organization tried to find out the reasons for this discriminatory practice, however, even after several inquiries from the relevant authority, we were not given any plausible explanation in relation to this practice. In order to make the process of obtaining a driving license easier, writing tests should be assured in Hungarian in all of the cases and there should be Hungarian-speaking police officers to ensure better communication.

VIOLATION OF LINGUISTIC RIGHTS

1.8. Discrimination in the healthcare system This year was an outstanding and challenging one due to the global health crisis. It has never been more pressing and crucial to draw attention to the importance of national, regional and local authorities communicating vital public information in minority languages as well. It is unfortunate that there have been no significant steps in the healthcare system that would ensure that the Hungarian community has access to it and to healthcare information in a way that is not discriminatory. In 2020 there have been several issues within the healthcare system which negatively affected the Hungarian community.

Safety instructions in minority languages and the use of minority languages within social and health care facilities is highly important. As underlined in a March 30th message by the Committee of Experts of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, these issues are especially relevant in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. We welcome the fact that the Committee drew attention to the responsibility of Council of Europe Member States, particularly the ones that have ratified the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages – as is the case of Romania – in “addressing their nationals in all the languages traditionally spoken in their countries” during this crisis. Sadly, Romania has failed to ensure the communication of information regarding the pandemic in most of the cases in any language other than Romanian or English. Daily briefings by the Strategic Communication Team in charge with informing the public have not been held Declarations necessary for leaving the house in Hungarian. Moreover, all the questionaries during the lockdown, which lasted approximately regarding the situation of a patient, whether 2 months during the spring, were available they had been in contact with anybody only in Romanian previously infected by COVID-19 or travelling to countries with greater risk are provided only in Romanian. Declarations necessary for leaving the house during the lockdown, which lasted approximately 2 months during the spring, were available only in Romanian. These, however should have been bilingual. It is a widespread problem in Romania that official government websites overwhelmingly communicate in the state language only, which in this time of crisis has made the access to credible information by persons speaking minority languages more difficult. It would be particularly important for the websites of Public Health Directorates operating in each county to provide information in minority and regional languages as well. It is extremely important that in this time of crisis relevant recommendations and information are also published in regional and minority languages, in order for Romanian citizens belonging to a national minority to be able to benefit from an official source of information from the government of Romania, and to ensure that they are not subject to discrimination.

VIOLATION OF LINGUISTIC RIGHTS

Another unsolved problem is related to Hungarian-speaking employees in the healthcare system. According to article 7, paragraph m) of Law no. 110 of May 19, 2017: one of the basic principles of public health care is „providing in the healthcare units and within the personnel specialized in medical or social assistance, persons who know the language of national minorities in those administrative-territorial units, where the citizens of national minorities either have a share of over 20% of the inhabitants or their number is at least 5000, in compliance with the other provisions of the job description”. In this respect the situation is unchanged, there are no concrete solutions. Despite of the fact that relevant legislation was passed in Parliament, the measure was not put in practice, due to the fact that in the last four years since the bill passed the Ministry of Health has not provided the specific methodology required for the medical and social institutions to put these measures into practice. Various ministers of health were questioned by UDMR/RMDSZ MPs on why this particular metholodology is still not completed. Such an extension of the linguistic rights of minorities is an important step forward, nonetheless, there are still unfortunate cases in which a member of the Hungarian minority is not guaranteed the right to be attended within the healthcare system and social services by a person who speaks their mother tongue, on the contrary, they are discriminated or ill-treated. In one of the cases, an employee of the Emergency Hospital in Brașov/Brassó called on a person, who tried to get some information about a patient, that in their identity card it says “Romania” and not Hungary, so they must be able to speak Romanian when asking for information at an institution. The aggrieved party reported the case, but there has been no proper investigation within the institution. Our organization filed a complaint to National Council for Combatting Discrimination (CNCD), the case is still under investigation. Other problems within the Romanian healthcare system which affect national minorities include the lack of critical information for patients in their mother tongue. These are – in most cases – available exclusively in Romanian, including information on vaccines, or brochures released by the Ministry of Health for mothers with newborn babies. Diagnoses by doctors are also written exclusively in Romanian. Finally, information on medicines is also not available in any language other than Romanian, which is extremely dangerous given that not understanding the use, the proper dosage, or the side effect of a certain medication, can lead to serious consequences for patients.

Observations and recommendations: The communication of relevant information and recommendation in minority languages is of the utmost importance for the well-being of its speakers, such as Hungarian. It is regrettable that even during a global health crisis, the implementation of linguistic rights within the healthcare system continues to be problematic, despite the existing legislation. Not to mention that, in practice, these rights are virtually nonexistent in interethnic environments where Hungarians do not form a majority. Therefore, the lack of adequate metholodology also makes the application of sanctions in case of non-compliance problematic. Moreover, the state should ensure – where possibble – that patients are also informed in writing about their condition, as well as concerning relevant information in their mother tongue, especially during epidemics. Finally, pharmaceutical companies should provide the relevant information about medication not only in Romanian, but also in the language of national minorities, such as Hungarian, especially taking into account the fact that this information is already available for most medications, since the vast majority of these are distributed by the same companies across Europe. The central government does not give adequate attention to this issue, quite the opposite, it actually delays and slows down the process of implemenation.

VIOLATION OF LINGUISTIC RIGHTS

1.9. Linguistic discrimination in retail Linguisting discrimination in everyday life is still one of the main problems that the Hungarian community has to face. Violation of language rights, humiliation and disrespect are some of the issues that affected people belonging to the Hungarian national minority working in a store of a multinational company in Transylvania’s Szeklerland. Szeklerland is a historical region in Eastern Transylvania, composed of Covasna/Kovászna, Harghita/ Hargita and part of Mureș/Maros county, where the Hungarian community constitutes roughly 75% of the total population.

The presented case is related to two anonymous former Hungarian-speaking workers of a store of a multinational company, who faced strong ethnic and linguistic discrimination. Unfortunately, there are many supermarkets and stores operating in Szerklerland, where the management and Romanian staff show disrespect towards the employees and customers belonging to the Hungarian minority. They tend to have a negative attitude toward the Hungarian-speaking customers, they sometimes even get annoyed and express their displeasure in a harsh way, if a client speaks Hungarian. According to a Hungarian employee, who was working as a cashier in a shopping center in a city in Szeklerland from 2017 to 2020, in their spare time this employee checked the spelling of the incorrectly written Hungarian tags. At first, the department manager accepted these corrections, however, the labels ended up mostly in the boss’s office, instead of ending up on the products. After the change of management, the new department manager had an even more negative, discriminatory and restrictive attitude. He used to scold the Hungarian employees for using Hungarian when talking to each other. Shockingly, even though the workers used their mother tongue when speaking about work, the manager did not stand it and yelled at them that they had no permission to speak in Hungarian at their workplace. Another strange experience at this particular shopping center was that even though it is located in the middle of Szeklerland, where there are mostly Hungarian-speaking customers, the staff members had to greet customers in Romanian first, then in Hungarian. Cashiers could great customers in Hungarian only if they knew them personally. Another cashier shared similar experiences, saying that the main problem which caused major scolding on the part of the manager was talking in Hungarian with the Hungarian customers.

Observations and recommendations: Any kind of manifestation of discrimination, intolerance and injustice targeting the Hungarians at their workplace is totally unacceptable, since legal provisions prohibit discrimination at the workplace. As Hungarian is one of the 20 legally accepted minority languages, employees and customers speaking it as their mother tongue should be free to use it whenever they want.

VIOLATION OF LINGUISTIC RIGHTS

1.10. Protests against linguistic rights Anti-Hungarian manifestations are not uncommon on the side of different NGOs and the Romanian population in general. Instead of showing respect towards the rights of the minorities, many show a hostile and highly offensive behaviour.

VIOLATION OF LINGUISTIC RIGHTS

offices of the central administration – the new Administrative Code basically elevates the right of using minority languages from the local to the national level, which according to his interpretation makes Hungarian the second official language of the state nationwide. The speaker also protested against the modifications introduced to the education law by the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR/RMDSZ), which in his view obliges every university in Romania, irrespective of the language of teaching, to allow admission exams and final exams in Hungarian. In a petition the protesters asked the President not to promulgate the laws in question, and upon encouragement from their leader shouted the slogan “the Romanian language is the only master”.

Observations and recommendations: Aside from spreading fear and intolerance regarding linguistic rights for national minorities, the fact that these nationalist Romanian organizations are protesting against the items of the Administrative Code concerning the use of the mother tongue is ironic, given that representatives of the Hungarian community have also criticized this new version, arguing that it severely curbs minority rights and is a setback compared to previous provisions on minority language use.

The fact that nationalist Romanian organizations are protesting against the items of the Administrative Code concerning the use of the mother tongue is ironic, given that representatives of the Hungarian community have also criticized this new version, arguing that it severely curbs linguistic rights

Romanian civil society organizations held a protest in Bucharest to protect the Romanian language in March, 2020. They intended it as a continuation of protests held in July of 2019, when organizers rallied against the then newly adopted Administrative Code in front of the government building. This time they gathered in front of the presidential palace, upon the call of an organization called the Path of the Nation, as well as the mobilization by the Civic Forum of Romanians in Covasna/Kovászna, Harghita/Hargita and Mureș/Maros counties. The more than 100 protesters marched with giant flags, singing patriotic chants and holding huge signs with messages like: “the nation state was written in the constitution with the blood of Romanians” and “Romanian is the only official language in Romania”. In his speech the initiator of the gathering, Mihai Tîrnăveanu, the leader of the Path of the Nation association stated that – by demanding that linguistic rights are also guaranteed in the local

ETHNIC DISCRIMINATION

2. ETHNIC DISCRIMINATION Systematic ethnic discrimination is still a persisting problem in Romania. It occurs most notably within the educational system, but also in several aspects of healthcare, not to mention double standards in the justice system.

2.1. Discrimination in the education system The education in and the teaching of minority languages has become a staple of minority rights advocacy, and rightly so, as more and more scientific studies have shown the wide benefits of ensuring access to education in the mother tongue.

Based on the principles of equality and non-discrimination, all children, including children attending a school where the language of education is a minority language, should be ensured equal access not simply to education, but to quality education, preferably high-quality education. Children in Romania belonging to a national minority generally have access to minority language education, depending on their number and the size of their local communities. For example, Hungarian children studying in their mother tongue make up around 5% of the total number of pupils in the country. Regarding access to quality education, however, there is still considerable room for improvement. 2.1.1. Lack of textbooks for pupils in the minority education system Regarding access to quality education in one’s mother tongue, a crucial problem has to do with the lack of textbooks available in Hugarian in primary and secondary education. Education is one of the vital issues in 2020, which due to the global health crisis has suffered some big changes. It has taken place in the cyberspace as hibrid, online education, which made teaching and learning more difficult.

The shortage of textbooks available in Hungarian is still an increasingly concerning matter

Even though children have been using tablets, computers and telephones to be able to attend primary or secondary education, textbooks still play a vital role and the shortage of books available in Hungarian is still an increasingly concerning matter. Many of the textbooks in the past years arrived late, mostly because they were still in the process of being drafted, approved or printed. This negative practice continues in 2020, too.

In Februray, 2020, there have been no textbooks for Hungarian-speaking 7th graders in many subjects, yet, the inspectorates could order textbooks for the 2020-2021 school year. One month into the second semester many of the textbooks for Hungarian 7th graders had still not arrived in schools, including Chemistry, Mathematics, History, not to mention the Romanian language and literature books.

ETHNIC DISCRIMINATION

At the start of the 2020-2021 academic year, Hungarian pupils again suffered the consequences of the ill-working educational system. As an example, textbooks for 8th graders, a generation which has been facing the same problem for years, arrived for the start of the 2020-2021 academic year in just three subjects, namely Romanian language and literature, Hungarian language and literature and English language. Current 8th graders are the „victim generation”, as they started virtually every school year without textbooks since the preparatory classes. Moreover, children belonging to the Hungarian minority and studying in their mother tongue are given specific textbooks only in a few subjects, but all other textbooks are translations of the Romanian textbooks. It is worth noting that the quality of the translations from Romanian to Hungarian is not always adequate, and there have been some cases of poorly translated expressions in them. Furthermore, starting from the next academic year, 9th graders are going to be taught based on a new national curriculum, which hasn’t been adopted yet. This may lead to serious consequences, since it is highly unlikely that textbooks will arrive on time for the next academic year. In such an ill-working environment, where there are no proper textbooks, children will suffer the consequences, which is completely unacceptable.

Observations and recommendations: Taking into account the education system in 2020, the shortage of textbooks may lead to more severe consequences than in the past few years. In light of the shortage of textbooks that has been plaguing primary and secondary education in Romania for several years now, it is important that when designing any educational reforms, particular attention is paid to the process of implementation, the resources needed, as well as anticipating possible shortcomings and solutions. This is especially relevant in the case of the minority language education system, which is more vulnerable when it comes to the implementation of new laws and methodologies, and is susceptible to being disproportionately affected by any difficulties, complications and shortcomings that have not been anticipated and properly addressed. In the case of textbook printing this would entail a review of the entire process, starting from procurement and approval, all the way to the translation of these books, ensuring that all this is done in time, so that pupils studying in a minority language duly receive all their learning materials at the beginning of the school year, and are not victims to discrimination and double standards.

ETHNIC DISCRIMINATION

2.1.2. Teaching Romanian to pupils belonging to minorities Teaching the official language of Romania to students belonging to the Hungarian minoritiy is a continuing problem.

While steps have been made in order to facilitate the process of learning Romanian for Hungarian students, this is by far not complete and requires further improvements

From 1st to 8th grade pupils are studying according to the new national curriculum, which was adopted in 2011, meaning, among other things – that they study the state language according to a modified curriculum, desgined especially for minority pupils. Older pupils continue to study Romanian from the same textbooks as pupils whose mother tongue is Romanian, in which theoretical knowledge, including difficult literary texts and high level grammatical analyses still play a vital role. Overall, Romanian teachers agree that theoretical knowledge should be further reduced and significantly more practical exercises should be included into these new Romanian textbooks. The adoption of the new national curriculum for the mentioned classes is still pending, which, according to the plans, is going to be implemented starting from the next academic year.

Moreover, in the case of Romanian homeworks and assignments in general, the activity definitons and descriptions are worded entirely in Romanian, even for pupils at the elementary level, when children are just starting to get to know the language itself and its logic. In the case of pupils or their parents, who do not understand Romanian properly, students cannot solve these excercises. In our opinion, it does not facilitate things, on the contrary, it makes it more difficult for children to learn the official language of the state, as teachers, both in writing and orally, are being strongly advised to communicate during the Romanian classes exclusively in Romanian. Children themselves complain, according to their teachers, that without translation they do not understand at all what is happening during the Romanian classes.

ETHNIC DISCRIMINATION

Another issue of concern affecting Hungarian-speaking students was the incorrect Hungarian translation of some expressions in certain written exam questions at the school-leaving examination, the so-called Baccalaureate. This may have been a problem especially for the Hungarian-speaking graduates in Szeklerland, who were not able in all of the cases to compare the original set of questions with the Hungarian ones. Students feared that translation errors may affect their graduation results, as well as their chances for further studying. Any small loss of points is particularly significant for graduates, as the admission to higher education institutions highly depends on their graduation results.

Observations and recommendations: We believe that the methodology of teaching Romanian, which refers to the exclusive use of the language learned in language classes is not effective, and we also consider that this should be changed in order to learn better Romanian. Any measures taken should be pupil-centred, ensuring that minority children acquire proper language skills in the state language. The Romanian state must find the most appropriate way to ensure that children’s rights to master the language of the state is not violated. Furthermore, the incorrect translation of the Baccalaureate exam questions in any subject is unacceptable, because it sets back the opportunities of the students belonging to the Hungarian minority to get into the best higher education institutes.

2.1.3. The University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science and Technology of Târgu Mureș/Marosvásárhely Hungarian higher education in the field of medicine is highly important and concerning, which can also be related to the right of the Hungarian community in Transylvania to be attended by a doctor who speaks their mother tongue. The community perceives the merge of the University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science and Technology of Târgu Mureș/ Marosvásárhely and of the Petru Maior University as another attack, because any steps taken backwards, any regress, in terms of the achievements in the domain of education and higher education can have irreversible cultural consequences for the Hungarian minority in the long run. This is why the case of the Hungarian line of study at the University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science and Technology of Târgu Mureș/Marosvásárhely is an inevitable pivotal point of the Hungarian politics in Transylvania, given that jeopardizing the Hungarian-language based higher education can have unforeseeable consequences. Taking into consideration all these, we will present the unsolved and increasingly problematic situation of the University.

The University of Medicine in Târgu Mureș/Marosvásárhely is presently the only higher education facility in Romania that provides medical training in Hungarian. Despite the fact that the Hungarian community has been asking for a Hungarian department for years, instead of moving towards an acceptable solution, the situation seems to be deteriorating. In the following we will summarize the absurd ongoing situation of the University by drawing a timeline of events that lead to the current situation of the University.

Baccalaureate examination sheets are often incorrectly translated to Hungarian, thus putting Hungarian students into a difficult position

News surfaced in April of 2018 that the leadership of the University of Medicine and Pharmacy and those of the Petru Maior University, which is a purely Romanian university, have agreed

ETHNIC DISCRIMINATION

to merge the two institutions. The objections of the Hungarian professors within the senate of the University of Medicine were not enough to impede the decision, as they made up merely a third of the vote. They expressed concern over the fact that the Hungarian leadership received no concrete assurances as to how the university would keep its multicultural character in case of a merge.

Despite the legal requirements, no progress has been made regarding the Hungarian department of the University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science and Technology of Târgu Mureș/Marosvásárhely. At the inaugurual meeting of the Senate of the University elected for the 2020-2024 term, the Rector of the University made a public promise to improve the relations with the Hungarian Department. It is unfortunate that this has not been solved so far.

Despite the outrage of students, professors, prominent political leaders and the entire Hungarian community of Romania in general, the merge of the University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Târgu Mureș/Marosvásárhely and the Petru Maior University was finalised in September 2018, and consequently the already unstable and never quite fully materialised multicultural aspect of the university is in more peril than ever before, as the percentage of Hungarian students and professors dropped significantly.

In the spring of 2020, the only undergraduate accredited educational program, the Hungarian line of study at the Department of Medicine was re-accredited. However, the enrolment numbers offered by the Committee of ARACIS ( Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in Higher Education) for the Hungarian students significantly dropped: from 200 to 120. On the other hand, they increased this number for the Romanian students from 270 to 300.

In early 2019 the senate of the university decided to establish an English faculty, after resisting for years the idea of creating a Hungarian department, as required by the 2011 Law on Education, on the grounds that it would violate the autonomy of the university. Regarding the issue, Hunor Kelemen, the president of the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR/RMDSZ), declared that “the creation of a Hungarian department is a legitimate expectation of students and professors”, adding that “it is difficult to find an argument against it – especially now that [the university] can accommodate an English faculty”.

The case of the Hungarian line of study at the University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science and Technology of Târgu Mureș/Marosvásárhely is an inevitable pivotal point of the Hungarian politics in Transylvania, given that jeopardizing the Hungarian-language based higher education can have unforeseeable conseqeunces

There has also been significant setback regarding the ongoing problem expressed by Hungarian professors and students, namely that practical courses are taught exclusively in Romanian, even for students who chose to study in a language other than Romanian. The High Court of Cassation and Justice (the supreme court of Romania) ruled that this practice is not discriminatory. In December, 2019, following a final court ruling, Hungarian professors and students lost the lawsuit they had initiated back in 2018 against the university for deciding to merge without the consent of the Hungarian leadership.

According to the conducted analyses, the ARACIS Committee had made a mistake in the accounting of some essential indicators. For example, they did not take into consideration the number of lecturers at the department and the potentially advertisable and existing jobs. If they had taken these into account, according to the simulations, the maximum enrolment number could have been approximately 170. Regarding this matter, there have been several consultations with Senator Zoltán Novák and State Counselor László Borbély. Hunor Kelemen, the president of UDMR/RMDSZ, signaled the obvious unjustice to the then Minister of Education, Monica Anisie and asked for notifying the ARACIS Committee about this issue. The Rector of the University filed a complaint which received majority support within ARACIS, however, the necessary quorum did not come together at that meeting. Thus, the Hungarian leaders dit not meet the deadline for filing an appeal.

Observations and recommendations: In light of the increasingly problematic situation of medical training in Hungarian in Romania, this issue can only be satisfactorily solved, if the provisions of the 2011 National Law on Education - which states that higher education institutions that are designated as being multicultural by the Ministry of Education have to establish separate faculties or departments for minority students - are unequivocally implemented. However, in the last ten years almost no steps were taken into that direction. This would solve numerous problems and anomalies that the Hungarian line of study is currently facing, but most importantly it would secure and strengthen the multicultural character of the university and safeguard the future of medical training in Hungarian. Regarding Romanian higher education in minority languages in general, this should be as broad as possible, addressing the needs of the minority communities. Therefore, higher education in minority languages should include not only the fields of study that are directly linked to the survival of a minority community, such as training teachers, but also the ones that are linked to the development of that community and of the region that they inhabit, and which are traditionally taught almost exclusively in the state language, such as engineering sciences.

ETHNIC DISCRIMINATION

2.1.4. Attempts to close a Hungarian school resurface The Roman-Catholic High School in Târgu Mureș/Marosvásárhely ceased to operate as an independent institution in 2018. In October 2016 the National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) launched an investigation against Zsolt Tamási, the head of the school, and Ștefan Someșan, the former school inspector because of alleged illegalities committed during the establishment of the school in 2014. In February of 2018, the Romanian Parliament adopted a law on the re-establishment of the school, which was declared unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court a month later. Finally, the school could reopen as the II. Rákóczi Ferenc Roman-Catholic High School in Târgu Mureș/Marosvásárhely in accordance with Government Decree No. 48/2018 and Decree No. 4320 of the Ministry of Education adopted on the 9th of August, 2018. After these two lawsuits were initiated, these sought the annulment of the Government Decree and the revocation of the Ministerial Decree.

Following this the Unirea High School, its parents’ community (Representative Council of Parents Within the Unirea National College) the Civic Association for Dignity in Europe, led by Dan Tanasă and the People’s Movement Party, led by its executive chairman, Marius Pașcan, attacked the Government Decree No. 48/2018 in the Administrative Court, a decree, which made the establishment of the school possible under the auspices of the Bólyai High School. On the 15th of January, 2020, they adjourned the lawsuit, until the Constitutional Court deliberates on the constitutional objections, as the Târgu Mureș Court of Appeal raised a constitutional objection against the Emergency Ordinance No. 2018/48 of the Romanian Government, which together with other three legislative amendments permitted the re-establishment of the II. Rákóczi Ferenc Roman-Catholic High School through a Ministerial Decree. However, the Court annulled the Decree that made the functioning of the school legal.

ETHNIC DISCRIMINATION

2.2. The „Beke-case”, terrorism charges under dubious circumstances The alleged “terrorism” charges against István Beke and Zoltán Szőcs are further proof of the abuse of power on the part of authorities against members of the Szekler community.

In November 2015, the Directorate for Investigating Organised Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) arrested István Beke, the leader of the Sixty-Four Counties Youth Movement in Târgu Secuiesc/ Kézdivásárhely, under the alleged charges of terrorism. He was accused of planning to set off a bomb made of petards during the 1st of December festivities celebrating the National Day of Romania. Later that month authorities also arrested Zoltán Szőcs, the president of the same organization, for allegedly taking part in planning the attack. In July 2018, Romania’s High Court sentenced both of them to 5 years in prison on charges of terrorism.

According to the families of István Beke and Zoltán Szőcs, the main reason behind the rejection for their parole was a politically motivated one

The official accusations of the prosecution from 2016 stand as follows: while Beke was initially accused of attempted attack against the collectivity (also allegedly called “acts of terrorism”) and attempt to violate the rules pertaining to explosives, Szőcs was accused of inciting to the above-mentioned two acts. On first degree the court changed the legal classification of the two acts to attempt (Beke) and incitement (Szőcs) to change the constitutional order, sentencing them to 11 months in prison, which was the exact amount of time the two had already spent in detention during the initial trial.

Absurdly, the High Court, ruling on a second and final degree, changed the legal classification of the acts yet again, back to the original charge of terrorism. This ruling was shocking, unexpected and difficult to comprehend, given that between the second and the first ruling no new piece of evidence was presented which would have warranted this decision. The High Court not only changed the official accusations, but also increased the sentence to 5 years for each of the two detainees.

The Romanian state continuously tries to impede the possibility of the functioning of the Rákóczi Ferenc Roman-Catholic High School in Târgu Mureș/ Marosvásárhely

This has been appealed by the leaders of the school, so the Bucharest High Court will rule on the case in February 2022, most probably after the investigation concerning the constitutionality of the other lawsuit. The management of the school repeatedly asked for the case to be heard at a different court on the grounds of conflict of interests, since the judge assigned to the case was herself a member of the parents’ community of the Unirea High School. All objections concerning the incompatibility of the judge were rejected. The case is still ongoing.

On the grounds of serious procedural errors having been committed during the trial, Beke and Szőcs asked for their case to be reviewed, a request that was denied in 2019. Requests by the two convicts to reduce their jail sentences have also been denied. Taking into account the developments in 2020, there was a request to parole István Beke and Zoltán Szőcs, which was also rejected. The reason of the rejection was that in November 2020 István Beke was diagnosed with COVID-19, however he did not have serious symptoms and recovered quite fast. According to István Beke’s family, this decision was probably a politically motivated one.

ETHNIC DISCRIMINATION

Observations and recommendations: The highly irregular way in which this case was handled seems to have been politically motivated and encouraged by the sensationalist media coverage, it also gives rise to serious doubts regarding the impartiality of the Romanian justice system. Moreover, the decisions in this case are likely to increase interethnic tensions, especially in the region of Szeklerland, since they erode the trust of Romanians in the Hungarian community as “loyal citizens”, as well as the trust of the Hungarian minority in the fairness of the Romanian justice system and in the Romanian state in general. When it comes to the charge of “terrorism”, the concept itself is an extremely broad one, given the differences between the actual disruptive and disastrous violence connected to actual terrorism, and alleged politically motivated false terrorism charges against young men who were arrested and imprisoned based on some gross and inappropriate jokes about petards.

2.3. Discrimination in administrative territorial disputes Another concerning issue regarding the Hungarian community is related to certain administrative territorial disputes, where the parties involved are not treated equally.

Regarding the border dispute between Gheorgheni/Gyergyószentmiklós, one of the biggest cities of Harghita/Hargita County in Szeklerland, which is mostly Hungarian-populated, and the locality of Bicaz Chei/Békás-szoros, part of the Romanian region of Moldova, has lasted nearly ten years.

The borders of administrative territorial units are sometimes drawn without any consideration to the ethnic composition of the localities in question, as the example of the ruling connected to the Békás Gorge shows

ETHNIC DISCRIMINATION

The legal debate is related to the Békás Gorge, which stretches along the border of Harghita/ Hargita and Neamț counties, and the territory belonging to it. According to a law from 1996 all localities had to register their boundaries in a cadastral survey. In 1998 the cadastral offices of Harghita/Hargita and Neamț counties drew up a record. According to this, the gorge and its surrounding area belonged to Cheile Bicazului. The administrations of Gheorgheni/Gyergyószentmiklós and Harghita/Hargita County have been trying to pursue the annulment of this record and to rectify the county borders for a long time. In 2019, the Prahova Tribunal decided in favour of Harghita/Hargita County and the cadastral record from 1998 was considered invalid. Neamt County and Cheile Bicazului appealed the decision at the Ploiesti Court. According to the Ploiesti Court of Appeals’ ruling in 2020, the territorial and administrative rights of the Békás Gorge were granted to the municipality of Bicaz Chei, which, besides other things, means that Gheorgheni/Gyergyószentmiklós cannot count on the tax revenues coming from the tourism and trade there. According to Csaba Borboly, the President of the Harghita County Council, Harghita/Hargita County and its prefect were excluded from the proceedings of the lawsuit so that the evidences would not be taken into consideration, even though several laws stipulate that in the case of border disputes the counties concerned must be involved. The latest developments include the decision of the Ploiești Court of Appeal, which rejected Harghita County’s application for revision, thus not changing its previous judgment and excluding Hargita/Harghita County from the lawsuit.

THE PERSECUTION OF HUNGARIAN SYMBOLS

3. THE PERSECUTION OF HUNGARIAN SYMBOLS

THE PERSECUTION OF HUNGARIAN SYMBOLS

The number of Hungarian mayors losing lawsuits for putting up the Szekler flag, which is the symbol of the historic region of Szeklerland and an expression of the identity of the local people, continues to grow.

Further cases of banning the Szekler or Hungarian flag include the unfortunate situation of Remetea/Gyergyóremete in Harghita/Hargita county. The previously mentioned Dan Tanasă filed a lawsuit against the mayor of Remetea to take down the flags from the façade of the town hall. The ruling was in favour of Dan Tanasă, therefore the mayor of Remetea/Gyergyóremete had to remove the local administrative flag of the village, the Szekler flag and the Hungarian flag from the façade of the Mayor’s Office. The mayor complied with the decision and the event of the flags’ removal was witnessed by more than a hundred participants.

Over the past few years there have been many cases in which prefects and the nationalist organization of Dan Tanasă have demanded that Hungarian mayors in Szeklerland remove the Szekler flag from the building of the local administration or other public spaces. Many lawsuits have been initiated against the mayors that refused to take the flags down. Most of these court cases have already been lost by the mayors, while some are still ongoing. However, due to the continuous pressure from authorities and seeing how these cases are lost one by one in court, many mayors are discouraged from fighting for the rights of their local community and decide to take down the Szekler flag upon first notice.

Observations and recommendations: The Szekler flag, symbol of Szeklerland, is no different than the regional symbols used across Europe in various countries, not to mention the fact that other regions in Romania, like Moldova and Bucovina, can use their flags freely in public spaces. Due to the relentless persecution of the Szekler flag and other local symbols there is a tension within the community and the previously more balanced interethnic relations between the Romanian and Hungarian communities in the region have visibly deteriorated.

3.1. Banning the Szekler flag

In terms of banning the Szekler flag, one of the telling examples in 2020 is the case of Băile Tușnad/Tusnádfürdő, a 90% Hungarian-town. According to the ruling of the Bucharest Tribunal, not only the town flag, but also the Szekler flag must be removed from the front of the Town Hall. As many other cases, this is also connected to the Civic Association for Dignity in Europe (ADEC), led by the famous Romanian provocateur, Dan Tanasă, who sued the town for placing the two flags in front of the Băile Tușnad/Tusnádfürdő municipality building. Besides this, he also sued the town because of the Hungarian „Városháza” and English „Town Hall” (see chapter 1.5) inscriptions.

3.2. Banning the administrative flags featuring regional symbols Despite the fact that it is legal for territorial administrative units to adopt their own flags, the cities and the counties with a Hungarian majority population are not allowed these same rights.

The county councils of Covasna/Kovászna and Harghita/Hargita, as well as the municipalities of Sfântu Gheorghe/Sepsiszentgyörgy and Miercurea Ciuc/Csíkszereda adopted administrative flags in recent years, but subsequently lost lawsuits, with the courts declaring these flags illegal. A law entered into force in 2015, which clearly states that territorial administrative units are allowed to adopt such administrative flags, and describes the legal procedure needed for such a council decision to be lawful. Despite the fact that every county in Romania adopted an administrative flag, which was then approved by the Government, the above-mentioned two county councils and municipalities, as well as numerous other towns and cities with a Hungarian majority are denied this right based on trumped-up arguments.

Observations and recommendations: It is unfortunate that the Romanian Government has still not solved the issue of the administrative flags and the regional symbols. Given how politically charged this issue is, we believe that prolonging hesitation in regard to these administrative symbols would contribute to the uncertainty and lack of trust of the local administrations towards the central Government, therefore in order to enhance the institutional trust, the Government should clearly regulate this matter. While the use of the Szekler flag is banned on the façade of the public institutions in Szeklerland, other regions in Romania, like Moldova and Bucovina, can use their flags freely in public spaces.

THE PERSECUTION OF HUNGARIAN SYMBOLS

3.3. The persecution of the Hungarian flag The Hungarian flag is also frequently a target for Romanian authorities, nationalist NGOs and individuals. According to the Romanian legislation, the flag of another country can only be displayed in the presence or the occasion of a visiting for an official setting, and the Romanian flag is also put up next to it. However, this does not apply to the private sphere, but most importantly, it does not take into account the fact that apart from being the national flag of Hungary, the horizontally displayed red, white and green colours are considered a national symbol by all Hungarians, and thus by the Hungarian community of Romania as well. The Hungarians of Romania have been regularly using this flag at the commemoration of the historical events of the 1848 revolution in the last 30 years, without any disruption or problems from the authorities. However, recently the prefects of Covasna/Kovászna and Harghita/Hargita counties started to search for legal reasons to obstruct this particular set of commemorative events organized by Sfântu Gheorghe/ Sepsiszentgyörgy and Odorheiu Secuiesc/Székelyudvarhely municipalities.

As prefects have repeatedly done in the past few years, the prefect of Covasna/Kovászna county once again fined Árpád Antal, the mayor of Sfântu Gheorghe/Sepsiszentgyörgy, with a total amount of 10 000 lei. Iulian Constantin Todor fined the mayor for decorating the city with the colours of the Hungarian flag, on the occasion of the March 15th celebrations, and for failing to put up a Romanian flag next to each Hungarian flag and cockade.

THE PERSECUTION OF HUNGARIAN SYMBOLS

Romanians living outside the country also use the Romanian national colours during their various events, which does not mean that on such occasions they are representing the Romanian state. Furthermore, beside the mayor of Sfântu Gheorghe/Sepsiszentgyörgy, the mayor of another mostly Hungarian-populated city, Odorheiu Secuiesc/ Székelyudvarhely, was also fined for the same reasons. This measure, which dampens commemorations each year, is aggravated by the fact that even during a global health crisis, local representatives of the central government are preoccupied with counting the Hungarian flags in the city, comparing the number of displayed flags during the Romanian National Holiday and March 15th events, and take every opportunity to penalise the leaders of the Hungarian community. Prefects have been fining the mayors who decorated their localities with Hungarian flags for March 15th celebrations since 2018. Another unfortunate case is also connected to Dan Tanasă, the president of the Civic Association for Dignity in Europe (ADEC), who sued Odorheiu Secuiesc/Székelyudvarhely for the Hungarian flags. The Bucharest Tribunal upheld the lawsuit of the above-mentioned association, and ordered the mayor of Odorheiu Secuiesc/Székelyudvarhely to remove the Hungarian flags from the interior of the City Hall. These are flags, which the mayor got as gifts from one of their twin cities in Hungary and displayed them in his own office and in the Balázs Orbán council hall.

Observations and recommendations: What we are witnessing is an absurd, but sadly not an uncommon situation. Taking into account the fact that Romania has committed to preserving the identity of its national minorities, which is emphasized in different international treaties and agreements and also through Romania’s own national legislation, such a measure of persecution, as presented in the examples above, is unacceptable. The symbols, including the Szekler flag, the Hungarian flag or any other local symbols are intrinsic elements of the Hungarian identity. The banning of the flag of Hungary is a confirmation of the vehement opposition of the Romanian state towards any manifestation of regional identity. We consider that the adoption of relevant laws, clearly stipulating the right of minorities to use their national, regional and local symbols and a methodology of proper implementation would be a demonstration of Romania honoring to its international commitments.

Prefects have been fining the mayors who decorated their localities with Hungarian flags for March 15th celebrations since 2018

The use of flags in Romania is regulated by Law nr. 75 of 1994, which establishes the correct use of the Romanian and other national flags during the visits of official foreign delegations. However, during their events, national minorities can use their own symbols freely, as stipulated in Government Resolutions 1157/2001 and 223/2002. The fact that each year the Romanian government conflates the Hungarian national colours, used by our community to symbolise our belonging to the Hungarian nation, with the state symbols of Hungary, is a false equivalence.

HATE SPEECH AND DISINFORMATION TARGETING THE HUNGARIAN COMMUNITY

4. HATE SPEECH AND DISINFORMATION TARGETING THE HUNGARIAN COMMUNITY Recent years have witnessed an alarming rise in fake news content in media outlets across the world, including the EU. Fake news generally tends to disproportionately affect linguistic, cultural, ethnic and other minority communities and contributes greatly to the propagation of false images and prejudices concerning minorities, which in turn generates an increase in hate speech and hate crimes against these vulnerable communities.

4.1. Hate speech in politics A significant change compared to previous years is that anti-Hungarian manifestations, racism, xenophobia and hate speech have entered the mainstream political communication, not only the leaders of extremist political formations, but also politicians, who play a decisive role in the country’s leadership have used them as political tools. According to the United Nations Strategy and Plan of Action on Hate Speech, 2020, hate speech is defined as: “any kind of communication in speech, writing or behavior, that attacks or uses pejorative or discriminatory language with reference to a person or a group on the basis of who they are, in other words, based on their religion, ethnicity, nationality, race, color, descent, gender or other identity factor.” Taking into account the above-cited document, hate speech, of which anti-Hungarian hate speech stands out, flared up several times in Romania during the course of the last year.

Hateful, anti-Hungarian graffity (Urăm rasa ungurească/ We hate the Hungarian “race”) ruined the street image of Cluj-Napoca in the street of the railway station

HATE SPEECH AND DISINFORMATION TARGETING THE HUNGARIAN COMMUNITY

4.1.1. Grave anti-Hungarian hate speech manifested by the President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis Severe anti-Hungarian statements made on the 29th of April by Romanian President Klaus Iohannis shocked the approximately 1.2 million Hungarians living in the country.

The President showcased his most primitive, aggressive and cynical side through his performance, unprecedented in Romania since the regime change. The statements of the President were sparked by the tacit approval of a draft law on the autonomy of the Szeklerland region in the lower house of Parliament. Initiated by the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR/RMDSZ), the main points of this document are allowing important decisions affecting the region to be made at a local level, a larger percentage of the money generated by the region to remain there, and for the Hungarian language, spoken by the majority Hungarian population of the region, to receive official status alongside Romanian. In his malicious statement, the President deliberately confused autonomy with independence, and accused the Social Democratic Party (PSD) of conspiring with UDMR/RMDSZ to “sell Transylvania to the Hungarians”, for which – according to Iohannis – the president of PSD receives a quid pro quo from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. Through his statements the President stigmatized the entire Hungarian community, marking its members as potentially endangering the national security of Romania. “It is incredible what kind of agreements are being reached in the Romanian Parliament,” President Iohannis stated, “while we, me, the government and the other authorities are fighting the coronavirus outbreak, the Romanian Social Democratic Party, the big Romanian Social Democratic Party, is fighting in secret parliamentary offices to give Transylvania to the Hungarians.” Besides the transmitted information, the Hungarian language, a language spoken by more than 6% of the citizens of Romania, was disrespected and mocked by the President using an extremely sarcastic tone and imitating a Hungarian accent while saying “Good day” in Hungarian to the previously mentioned opposition party.

Hate speech, anti-Hungarian manifestations, racism and xenophobic rhetoric targeting the Hungarian minority have entered the mainstream political communication. The most prominent case of anti-Hungarian hate speech was exhibited by the President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, in the spring of 2020, when beside his malicious statements, he also mocked the Hungarian language

HATE SPEECH AND DISINFORMATION TARGETING THE HUNGARIAN COMMUNITY

Following these events, on the 4th of May, Klaus Iohannis made another statement in which – instead of an apology – he doubled down on his previous anti-Hungarian rhetoric, practically giving way to ultranationalist discourse in the country. In these new declarations the head of state criticized the tacit adoption of the Administrative Code, once again attacking the PSD for supporting a draft law which – due to minority rights granted by it to the Hungarian community – could lead to the autonomy of Szeklerland, affirmed Iohannis. The President called the law drafted with the help of UDMR/RMDSZ a parallel administrative code, and spread misinformation about this document by stating that it would make the use of the Hungarian language compulsory throughout Transylvania. In fact, the said law would allow the use of Hungarian alongside Romanian in those areas where at least 20% of the population is Hungarian-speaking, in accordance with several international treaties signed by Romania. After receiving several complaints, the National Council for Combatting Discrimination (CNDC) thoroughly investigated the matter and its deciding committee found, in an overwhelming majority, that the President did in fact deliver an offensive, discriminatory statement targeting Hungarians. They fined President Iohannis with a total of 5000 RON (approximately 1000 euros). In an announcement following the Council’s decision, the Office of the President stated that Iohannis rejects the fine given to him by the CNDC for his anti-Hungarian statements, and will challenge the decision in court. Subsequently, then Prime Minister Ludovic Orban, a fellow party member of Iohannis, launched a political attack against the CNDC, arguing that the fine given to the President was unjust. Hunor Kelemen, the president of UDMR/RMDSZ reacted by saying that instead of challenging the decision, the President should apologize for his instigatory speech. According to the former Prime Minister, the CNDC is under the influence of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), and the President’s remarks were not discriminatory, but in fact unveiled the “complicity” between PSD and UDMR/RMDSZ. In Ludovic Orban’s view the biggest sin of the Social Democratic Party is that they voted for a law which would make the use of minority languages compulsory everywhere in the country – an openly false claim, as the legislative proposal he referred to contains no such provisions. By making these statements, Ludovic Orban, as the second highest ranking official in the country at the time, joined the President in creating and intensifying the anti-Hungarian atmosphere in Romania.

HATE SPEECH AND DISINFORMATION TARGETING THE HUNGARIAN COMMUNITY

Romania, together with the main opposition party (PSD), for supposedly provoking the present health crisis. As this is not the first time the President has engaged in xenophobic rhetoric targeting the Hungarian minority, his renewed comments are extremely serious and grave.

Observations and recommendations: The appalling and false statement of President Klaus Iohannis brought back dark times characterized by the incitement of ethnic tension, the tearing down of ethnic peace and the intimidation of minority communities. His harsh nationalist outburst directed against the Hungarian community, the Hungarian language and culture, seriously damaged Romanian-Hungarian relations, and set back the possibility of political dialogue by several decades. We firmly condemn the President’s instigatory rhetoric, which stigmatized an entire community.

4.1.2. Political leaders instigating against the Hungarian community There are a few notorious anti-Hungarian political figures in mainstream Romanian politics, that regularly instigate against the Hungarian community in Romania. It is not unusual at all for Romanian politicians to resort to anti-Hungarian rhetoric in order to boost their popularity and gain political capital.

Marius Pașcan, for example, the group leader of the People’s Movement Party in the Romanian Parliament asked President Klaus Iohannis and the then Prime Minister Ludovic Orban to outlaw the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR/RMDSZ). This came after Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán wished good luck to pupils preparing for the History Baccalaureate exam in Hungary through a Facebook post, to which was attached a picture of a globe, showing a 19th century map of the world, with a visible 19th century Hungary, which provoked Pașcan’s furious reaction. During last year Romanian political elites have been continuously scapegoating the Hungarian community, in an attempt to divert attention from the fact that the government is not able to provide adequate solutions to the problems created by the pandemic, and from the economic crisis created due to bad decision-making and inadequate policies adopted by the government.

A number of organizations from Transylvania also initiated legal cases against the President, denouncing him in court. According to these organizations, the President incited the country’s population to hatred and discrimination, which is illegal. In a June 9th decision, the ProsecutorGeneral’s Office ordered the case to be closed, on the grounds that the statements made by the head of state did not violate article 369 of the Criminal Code (invoked by the denouncers). The prosecutor determined that the President cannot be criminally charged, because the message of the statement made by Iohannis has to be considered from the perspective of free speech and the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights. However, while they did not charge the President, the transcript of the decision does make the following observation: “In our view, certain elements of the speech in question do go beyond the limits of free speech (even beyond the accepted forms of severe criticism), which is why, on the whole, also taking into consideration the tone, it may be qualified as hate speech.” The speech by President Iohannis was strongly condemned not only by Hungarian organizations in Transylvania, but also leading German publications. Moreover, on the 30th of July, during a press briefing, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis spoke about the grave situation the country finds itself in due to the Coronavirus pandemic, and called for strict measures and sanctions, while also accusing the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in

It is a very worrying situation that an extremist, ultra-nationalist political group with legionary roots has entered the parliament, a group whose sole purpose is to spread extremist ideas and to adopt anti-Hungarian laws.

One of the most worrisome results of the parliamentary elections held in December, 2020, is that for the first time in the last 12 years, an ultra-nationalist, extremist party has entered the Romanian Parliament with a very strong support. This is incredibly worrying, as the Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR) is totally against minorities and promotes legionary ideas.

HATE SPEECH AND DISINFORMATION TARGETING THE HUNGARIAN COMMUNITY

Just one day after the 2020 Parliamentary Elections, George Simion, co-president of the Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), known as the provocateur of the incidents in Valea Uzului/ Úz-Völgye, drew attention to himself with another anti-Hungarian demonstration. He said: “The Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania has no place in the Romanian Parliament. (…). AUR, however, opposes the establishment and operation of political parties on ethnic grounds.” His statement is aggressive and frightening to the Hungarian community. George Simion declared that AUR would launch a national campaign to modify the Constitution to ban political parties established on ethnic grounds. Simion also stood as a candidate at the elections to the European Parliament on the 26th of May, 2020, when he released a campaign video, entitled “Let’s outlaw the so-called Szeklerland!” In his video, he falsely claimed that the ethnic Hungarians from Szeklerland want to separate the region from Romania, to oppress the Romanians who live there and they are helped by UDMR/RMDSZ and by the Government. Another proeminent member of AUR is Dan Tanasă, an anti-Hungarian blogger, the president of the Civic Association for Dignity in Europe (ADEC), known for filing lawsuits against the use of Hungarian symbols in Szeklerland and against Hungarian inscriptions.

The members and co-president of the Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR) had already been known for their discriminatory actions and statements against Hungarians, based on ethnic grounds, even before the party was formed.

Taking into account other developments, the Cluj Court of Appeal annulled a 2015 fine given to Gheorghe Funar, known for his extreme nationalism, formerly the mayor of Cluj-Napoca/ Kolozsvár, by the National Council for Combatting Discrimination, after the said politician called Hungarian the language of horses during a debate on television in 2014. Gheorghe Funar ran for president in 2014 as an independent candidate, and appeared as a guest on Romanian public television (TVR), together with Barna Tánczos, then senator from the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania. After Tánczos greeted viewers both in Romanian and Hungarian, Funar asked the host of the programme to reprimand the senator:

Gheorghe Funar, former mayor of Cluj Napoca/ Kolozsvár, calls Hungarian the “language of horses” on Romanian public television (TVR)

“Inform the interlocutor sitting on my right that we live in Romania (…), and ask him not to use a single word in the language of the horses, because the official language in Romania is Romanian. In Budapest he can speak Hungarian, here he should speak Romanian. If I become the president of Romania, I can assure you, no-one will speak Hungarian. Not on Romanian television either.”

HATE SPEECH AND DISINFORMATION TARGETING THE HUNGARIAN COMMUNITY

Barna Tánczos lodged a complaint against the extremist politician at the National Council for Combatting Discrimination (CNCD), which in March of 2015 decided to fine Funar with a total of 2000 RON (appr. 420 euros). Funar challenged the decision in court, and after 5 years of litigation, in May, 2020, the Cluj Court of Appeal decided in favour of the plaintive, forcing the CNCD and Barna Tánczos to pay for Funar’s legal expenses. Moreover, on the 13th of May, a large majority in the Romanian Parliament voted for the 4th of June, the day the Treaty of Trianon was signed in 1920, to become a national day in Romania. The Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania voted against the proposal, the Save Romania Union abstained, while all other parties voted in favour.

The compulsory celebration of Trianon day does not serve the good understanding and ethnic peace between the Hungarian and the Romanian communities

Given the highly sensitive topic of Trianon among the members of the Hungarian community it is believed that celebrating such events and making it compulsory for municipalities to organize a celebration does not serve the good understanding and harmony of the Hungarian and Romanian communities. Therefore, this particular bill is highly controversial and it tends to dwell on historical parities that are completely irrelevant in the 21th century.

Although several speakers emphasized that this decision is not aimed against minorities, and they only wish to strengthen the historical significance of the event, it is our belief that the said law is wholly unnecessary, moreover extremely harmful, because it does not serve to heal national traumas, and that we should concentrate on the future, instead of the past.

Observations and recommendations: As demonstrated by this year’s happenings, instead of condemning expressions of racism or any other form of hate speech, political parties, parties and organizations resort more and more to using expressions of hate speech against vulnerable groups such as national, ethnic or other minorities. Moreover, beyond denouncing these attitudes, there is a need for immediate, clear and adequate actions on behalf of political groups. The response should be proportional to the severity of a particular statement involving hate speech, also taking into consideration whether it targets a member of a vulnerable group or an entire community. Furthermore, political parties should consider establishing offices that provide legal aid to victims of hate speech and discrimination. Finally, considering that the media are often the ones promoting hate speech against certain vulnerable groups, politicians should openly boycott and therefore refuse to give interviews to/appear on media outlets or specific television programmes which have in the past printed/aired messages of hate speech, either through their own news anchors and reporters, or by giving a platform to politicians, activists and opinion-makers who propagate openly nationalist, racist, xenophobic or any other kind of hateful rhetoric.

HATE SPEECH AND DISINFORMATION TARGETING THE HUNGARIAN COMMUNITY

4.2. Anti-Hungarian discourse and disinformation in the media Media is considered the fourth power, in other words the fourth pillar of democracy, which refers to the press and news media, which have the explicit capacity of advocacy and implicit ability to frame the issues of the day. Even though it is not formally recognized as a part of a political system, it can wield significant power and have social influence and bring about changes in policies. It is quite unfortunate that the content of the media is not always loyal to reality, it is used often as a channel to transmit fake information. It is not uncommon in Romania for the media to attack the Hungarian community by appealing to nationalist sentiments within the majority population and by stoking fear, in order to reach higher ratings.

There are many popular news channels in Romania, where politicians, political commentators and journalists frequently voice deeply concerning instigatory remarks targeting the Hungarian minority. These talk-shows are fuelled by purposely false, distorted and nationalist claims regarding the Hungarian community with the purpose of shocking viewers. In 2020 our organization filed several complaints to the National Audiovisual Council, as well as the National Council for Combatting Discrimination, regarding hate speech featured on primetime news shows. One of the most famous is “Lumea lui Banciu”/ “Banciu’s world” hosted by Radu Banciu on B1TV, who has for years openly spread hate speech targeting Hungarians, and who was fined many times by the above-mentioned bodies, and yet remains in his spot. In one of the broadcasts in February, 2020, the previously mentioned journalist, Radu Banciu, falsely highlighted the cruel fate of Romanians in Covasna/Kovászna and Harghita/Hargita counties, where Romanian residents are oppressed, have no rights and slowly lose their national identity.

HATE SPEECH AND DISINFORMATION TARGETING THE HUNGARIAN COMMUNITY

broadcasts in April, 2020, was the draft law on the autonomy of Szeklerland. The host, mostly together with politician Eugen Tomac, one of the guests, voiced instigatory and discriminatory remarks, falsely claiming that Hungarians in Romania often act directly against the Romanian state. As falsely stated by Silviu Mănăstire, the draft law is stupid, incorrect and is aimed towards the sovereignty of the state. Besides the above presented journalists, several TV presenters of other channels also spread hate speech. One example is Oreste Teodorescu, host of ”Jocuri de putere”/”Games of power”, who generally attacks Hungarians. In May, 2020, Oreste Teodorescu, together with Marius Pașcan, insulted UDMR/RMDSZ and Hungarians in general. The whole show was characterized by Oreste’s anti-Hungarian manifestations. He falsely claimed that „UDMR/RMDSZ is showing striking similarities to the coronavirus, which once it enters the host body, multiplies its antinational genes and takes control of the political decisions. (...) They discreetly expect the weakening of the national immune system to help their irredentist program.” Marius Pașcan, famous for his anti-Hungarian sentiments, falsely pointed out that „Romanians are oppressed in three counties, slowly expelled by the Hungarians from there.” Pașcan falsely described the tragic situation of Romanians in Transylvania. In another broadcast of the same month, Oreste Teodorescu, together with his guests, namely Petrișor Peiu, Florin Roman, Bogdan Comaroni, Marius Pașcan, during the whole program were working on the suppression of the words of the only Hungarian guest, Botond Csoma, they constantly made false allegations that Klaus Iohannis’ famous anti-Hungarian speech was perfectly legitimate. Botond Csoma was not allowed to speak. The host of the show also said that Hunor Kelemen is the most arrogant, the most aggressive, anti-Romanian person.

Following the discourse of the president, Klaus Iohannis (see chapter 4.1.1), when he falsely claimed that Hungarians want to take over Transylvania, Radu Banciu, in one of the broadcasts in February, tried to fuel intolerance in the majority population, by inciting to hatred and spreading false information. According to him, it is mandatory to speak Hungarian in the Hungarianinhabited areas and Romanians have been forbidden to speak their mother tongue in their own country. Banciu questioned the need of autonomy in Szeklerland, as in his false view, everything in these areas belong to Radu Banciu often voices instigatory remarks Hungarians, there are no Romanian schools, to pit the Romanian community against the people do not speak Romanian and they do Hungarian community, claiming that Romanians in not issue official papers in Romanian. He Transylvania are obliged to learn Hungarian compared the situation of Romania to Spain and emphasized that the Catalans had been attacked by tanks. Claiming these, he wanted to allude to the fact that Hungarians should be treated in the same way in Romania. In his opinion based on false allegations, Hunor Kelemen, the leader of UDMR/RMDSZ would be sentenced in Spain to 18 years of prison. Another talk-show on B1 channel which frequently targets Hungarians with false and hateful rhetoric is entitled “Dosar de politician” lead by Silviu Mănăstire. The main topic of one of his

Many journalists openly spread hate speech on national television and fuel intolerance in the majority population

HATE SPEECH AND DISINFORMATION TARGETING THE HUNGARIAN COMMUNITY

We find it extremely regrettable that many journalists openly spread hate speech, frequently tackle topics that border on hate speech and do not shy away from expressing false or exaggerated claims in order to incite hatred against the Hungarian minority. It is quite sad that the abovementioned examples are not the only ones, the year 2020 was full of these manifestations.

Observations and recommendations: The above-described incidents are representative of the corrosive effect that the media can have when it comes to depicting the Hungarian community in Romania, and how it can frame an issue as harmless and - by any European standards - normal phenomenon as linguistic rights, or political representation for minorities, in a way that further incites negative and dismissive attitudes toward already controversial issues. Next to the responsibility of political leaders in combatting hate speech towards minorities, the media also undoubtedly have an obligation to present and discuss news in a way that is objective, balanced and does not promote false negative images and stereotypes about minorities.

HATE SPEECH AND DISINFORMATION TARGETING THE HUNGARIAN COMMUNITY

In terms of hate speech directed against the Hungarian minority one should not forget the antiHungarian provocateur, Dan Tanasă. Besides his much-disputed lawsuits, he also incites to hatred on his official Facebook page by sharing contents targeting the Hungarian community. In one of his Facebook post he shared his blog post related to the employees of Kaufland from Târgu Secuiesc/Kézdivásárhely wearing masks with the flag of Szeklerland. In the blog post he falsely claims that the mask with the flag of Szeklerland is a Hungarian separatist symbol that illustrates the endeavour to separate Transylvania from Romania. In the comment section many expressed their support for his post and for AUR, and also revealed their anti-Hungarian feelings. One of them shockingly commented that those who did something like this should get capital punishment.

4.3. Hate speech on social media Communicating through social media platforms has become more and more prevalent among political leaders. Due to the fact that the content of the communicated texts is rarely checked and regulated, social media has become a breeding ground for xenophobic rhetoric. It is quite alarming that not only average citizens, but also political leaders use social media to transmit their anti-Hungarian messages and instigate to hatred in order to obtain political capital.

As we have shown throughout this report, incitement to hatred against the Hungarian minority in Romania is still widely present in Romanian society and hate speech is continues to be a mainstay of the Romanian political discourse. One of the unfortunate cases of hate speech on social media this year is the speech of Rareș Bogdan, Member of the European Parliament. The speech was broadcasted live on his social media page in the middle of the electoral campaign in Târgu Mureș/Marosvásárhely, September 2020. The statement made by Rareș Bogdan in his capacity as MEP, is racist and incites hatred towards the Hungarian community and humiliates them. During his intolerable allegations he appealed to the people of Mureș/Maros county to crush UDMR/RMDSZ. In addition to this, he repeated the accusations of the President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, in which he falsely accused the legitimate political representatives of the Hungarian community of being agents of foreign interests. His behaviour can only be qualified as those of a person whose immediate purpose is to incite to hatred and/or discrimination towards a certain category of people, in this case, against Romanian citizens belonging to the Hungarian minority in Romania. In a democratic state, where fundamental human rights and freedoms, the right to identity and other such rights, are guaranteed by law, it is unacceptable for a Member of the European Parliament to resort to political means that are likely to divide society. As for the purpose of the statements, it is clear that they were said in order to create a hostile, humiliating and offensive atmosphere.

Social media platforms provide a space also for hateful rhetoric. Not just politicians or journalists, but members of the broader public use the cyber world to incite to hatred by exposing deeply xenophobic discourses

Observations and recommendations: The seriousness of the topic of hate speech is also shown by the fact that this year’s theme at the United Nations Forum on Minority Issues was „Hate Speech, Social Media and Minorities”. According to the United Nations: „Expression of online hate speech and discrimination mainly target minorities and often create a climate of exclusion, intolerance, hostility and even violence. There is indeed a need for careful and delicate effort to ensuring the respect for the right to freedom of opinion and expression while combating hate speech that may lead to harm for minorities.” In light of the frequent and alarming manifestations of xenophobia and hate speech on social media, it is clear that the legislation regulating hate speech in Romania should be amended, with a particular view to addressing the issue of online hate speech, a relatively new phenomenon, which nonetheless, has become widespread and is mostly unregulated.

HATE SPEECH AND DISINFORMATION TARGETING THE HUNGARIAN COMMUNITY

4.4. Hate speech and violence in sports Anti-Hungarian hate speech has been omnipresent in sports, mainly football, in the past years. Even though last year, in terms of sports, was not as active as previous years due to the pandemics, xenophobic chants and anti-Hungarian inscriptions were still present at the few football matches of the year. Regarding the issue of incitement to hatred, hostility or violence during sports events there is a lack of explicit legislation and a sanctioning system. Due to this fact, such incidents are not handled in a proper way from a legal point of view, which contributes to the continuous appearance of such cases. Due to the high degree of discrimination in the field of sports in Romania, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, through the Department for Emergency Situations (MAI-DSU), in partnership with the National University of Political Studies and Public Administration (SNSPA) and the Romanian Football Federation organized an online conference on this theme, entitled “Preventing, combating and mitigating the consequence of violence in the context of major sport events (in particular antisocial acts corresponding to violence, racism, discrimination, xenophobia, the of use of pyrotechnic materials and the consumption of alcoholic beverages)”, in November, 2020.

HATE SPEECH AND DISINFORMATION TARGETING THE HUNGARIAN COMMUNITY

Another incident targeting the Hungarian minority occurred in July, during the football match between FCSB and Sepsi OSK football clubs, where the supporters of the FCSB chanted severe anti-Hungarian slogans. After the match, the Romanian fans drew attention to themselves with obscene shouts against Hungary, repeating the above-mentioned “bozgor” and “Out with the Hungarians from the country!”. The supporters were tossing coins and lighters towards one of the players. Our organization turned to different bodies, especially regarding football matches in the Romanian first league, where Sepsi OSK, a team from a majority Hungarian region and with a few Hungarian players, is often the target of xenophobic chants during football games.

On March 4th, in the quarterfinals of the Romanian Cup, Sepsi OSK played against FC Petrolul Ploiești in the home town of the latter. During the match the supporters of the home team displayed such extreme anti-Hungarian behaviour that the game had to be interrupted for 10 minutes. During the entire match the supporters of the home team kept shouting obscene messages, calling their guests “bozgor” (a derogatory term meaning “person without a country”, frequently used by Romanian nationalists to refer to Hungarians) and chanting the hateful slogan which has sadly become a recurring theme of football matches: “Out with the Hungarians from the country!” They also threw matches and coins at some of the Sepsi OSK players. In the course of the entire game there was rarely a moment when these fans were cheering their own team, instead they spent their time swearing at Hungarians. In the 89th minute the referee interrupted the game due to the xenophobic chants and ordered the players to go to their locker rooms. After a 10-minute break the game was resumed.

It is quite commonplace for Romanian football fans to chant offensive anti-Hungarian slogans during football matches

The term „bozgor”, a derogatory term meaning “person without a country”, is frequently used by Romanian nationalist football fans, to refer to Hungarians

Observations and recommendations: In their approaches to tackling hate speech and acts of hatred in sports, national bodies, institutions, organizations, sport federations and clubs etc. should clearly distinguish between measures aiming at preventing such phenomena and measures of handling cases that already occurred. Furthermore, it is important to stress the role of sport clubs in combating hate speech among their supporters, by establishing clear regulations and imposing sanctions, such as removing offenders or in some extreme cases even permanently banning them. In terms of sanctions, it is more effective to sanction sport clubs, rather than individuals or groups of individuals, firstly because, sanctions often make perpetrators more hostile and are rarely conducive to long-term solutions, and secondly, penalizing teams/sport clubs will motivate them to more effectively monitor the acts of hate speech committed by their own supporters, especially in the case of repeat offenders. Regarding the latter issue, membership cards for supporters might be a useful way of keeping track of repeat offenders and thus imposing adequate sanctions for these perpetrators. Our organization initiated several meetings with the Romanian Football Federation in order to present them proposals regarding adequate sanctions and a various other constructive proposals aimed at changing the attitude of supporters, however, during this process we did not experience constructive response from their part.

THE ILLEGAL APPROPRIATION OF THE MILITARY CEMETERY IN THE UZ VALLEY

5. THE ILLEGAL APPROPRIATION OF THE MILITARY CEMETERY IN THE UZ VALLEY The case of the illegal appropriation of the military cemetery in the Uz Valley is still a grave concern. The site in question has been the source of disharmony for several years between the local administrations of Dărmănești/Dormánfalva in Bacău county and Sânmartin/Csíkszentmárton in Harghita county, but a 1968 law clearly states that the valley belongs to the latter. Nevertheless, attempts by Harghita county officials to impede the appropriation of the cemetery through legal means have so far failed.

THE ILLEGAL APPROPRIATION OF THE MILITARY CEMETERY IN THE UZ VALLEY

Under the guise of “refurbishment”, officials from Dărmănești/Dormánfalva put up numerous crosses made of concrete on the graves and erected a monument featuring legionary symbols in memory of the Romanian soldiers that fought in World War II. It is absolutely shocking and unacceptable that some of these concrete crosses have been directly placed on the actual burial sites of identified Hungarian soldiers. The said local administration had no official permits to conduct these works, as later confirmed by the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Culture, as well as the Bacău County Prefect’s Office. The situation escalated on June 6th, 2019, when several thousand Romanian commemorators forcefully broke into the cemetery and attacked a group of Hungarian civilians, who had come together to form a human chain around the cemetery in order to prevent the illegal takeover. After arriving to the scene, the group of Romanian commemorators (that included several violent football hooligans) demanded that the cemetery gate be opened, while shouting: “Go home!”, “Go to Budapest!” and the sadly familiar chant “Out with Hungarians from the country!” As this crowd became more and more angry and unmanageable, police forces lost control over the situation. The increasingly aggressive Romanian group broke the gates of the cemetery, destroyed several wooden crosses, placed on the graves, that marked the memory of Hungarian soldiers and started hitting the Hungarians present with wood broken from the fence and causing great material and moral injury. More serious violence was only prevented because the police forces escorted the Hungarian protesters – who had been peacefully praying while these events took place – out from the cemetery.

The illegal appropriation of the military cemetery in the Uz Valley has sparked arguably the most intense interethnic conflict in Romania since the nineties

In April 2019, Hungarians from Romania learned that the local government of Dărmănești/ Dormánfalva (Bacău county) illegally took ownership of a First World War German, Austrian and Hungarian military cemetery in Valea Uzului/Úz-völgye (Uz Valley), actually belonging to the jurisdiction of the village of Sânmartin/Csíkszentmárton in neighbouring Harghita county. There is a general consensus among historians that Hungarian soldiers from the Miskolc region in Hungary are resting here. The fights that took place in this Valley during the First and the Second World Wars are heavily documented and the identity of the buried soldiers are confirmed. However, officials from Dărmănești/Dormánfalva unfoundedly claim that 52 Romanian soldiers were also buried in this cemetery, despite the fact that the actual burial ground of the Romanian soldiers was identified and located several kilometres away.

In July, the local government of Dărmănești/Dormánfalva started to retroactively acquire the permits necessary for the concrete crosses that they had already put up back in April. It is clear from this that in the moment of making these modifications in the cemetery the local government in question did not have the documents and permits required by law, but despite this, no charges were made.

THE ILLEGAL APPROPRIATION OF THE MILITARY CEMETERY IN THE UZ VALLEY

The situation is aggravated by the fact that none of the competent authorities brought charges against the illegal occupation of the cemetery or for using public funds to achieve this, nor were any of the people who broke into the cemetery and violently attacked the Hungarian group prosecuted. By contrast, some of the leaders of the Hungarian community, who had been peacefully praying in a human chain, were given hefty fines. Both sides have initiated numerous lawsuits in connection with these incidents. Following several months of investigations after the incident, the public prosecutor in charge decided to close the case. This prosecutor absurdly claims in his ruling that „Out with Hungarians from the country!” is a „supposed anti-Hungarian chant”, which in this case cannot be classified as a crime of incitement to hatred and discrimination on grounds that it did not refer to an entire community, only to those present at the cemetery. The prosecutor considered the case to be closed. Similarly, he also ruled out the charges of incitement to hatred and discrimination, the disturbing of public order, desecration of graves, aggression, violence and wrecking and thus closed the case. The Mikó Imre Minority Rights Legal Services Assistance, appealed this decision, the General Prosecutor approved the decision of the Prosecutor to close the case. Thereafter our organization appealed the court’s decision to close the case and take no further action, and the ruling was in our favour, meaning that the Prosecutor has to investigate further in the following charges: aggression, violence and wrecking, incitement to hatred and discrimination and disturbing of public order. However, the Prosecutor approved the final decision to close the case regarding the desecration of graves. In addition to this two more suits are still ongoing, in which our organization is currently representing the local administration of Sânmartin/Csíkszentmárton in two cases regarding the incidents connected to the Uz-valley case. One of them concerns the annulment of the building permit which allowed the erection of the crosses for the Romanian heroes in the area of the cemetery. We also requested that the Tribunal order the demolition of the illegal works done so far. The second case is connected to the request of the annulment of the local council resolution of Dărmănești/Dormánfalva in which they illegally declared the cemetery to be part of their own public property.

THE RESTITUTION OF PRIVATE PROPERTY

6. THE RESTITUTION OF PRIVATE PROPERTY Unfortunately, there has not been much progress in Romania regarding the restitution of private property confiscated during the communist regime, despite numerous international commitments taken by Romania to this effect. What is more, in recent years we have been witnessing a backward trend in these cases, with many formerly returned properties following lengthy court battles, now being re-nationalised. Such was the case of many properties belonging to the Hungarian churches that we have been frequently reporting on in our newsletters and reports of the past few years, but also properties belonging to other private landowners and entities.

For instance, the vast majority of the more than 600 Transylvanian castles and mansions, as well as their surrounding land - confiscated from mostly Hungarian landowners - have still not been returned to their rightful owners. Landowners complain that even the mansions and castles that have been returned are mostly in a very poor state and require urgent refurbishment and constant upkeep. However, the land that has been given back together with these big properties is often only a small fraction of the originally owned acreage, and without the income generated by the land (mostly woodland) it is next to impossible to manage the upkeep of these large buildings, which are important cultural and touristic landmarks. Not to mention the fact that, similarly to the church properties, some of the big estates that have been returned are now also in the process of being re-nationalised. Such is the case of the Mikes family estate, where a large manor house, several accompanying buildings and about a quarter of the 12000 hectares of land that the descendants reclaimed have been returned, only for the court decision to be disputed by Romsilva, a state company in charge with managing forests belonging to the state. Of the 3500 hectares of woodland returned, Romsilva is now reclaiming 3000, citing irregularities during the original restitution suit. Besides being a blatant attempt to backtrack the legally settled restitution process, this also represents a huge economic setback for the descendants of the Mikes family, as well as the people they had employed, because under the law, they are not allowed to conduct any economic activity on the said land until this lawsuit is over. This ongoing lawsuit over the woodland of this particular family is clearly illustrative of the reason why the Romanian state mostly returned old buildings pertaining to these big estates, while holding on to the land surrounding them. The former requires money for its upkeep (which is why most of them were not used by the state and were left to ruin), while the latter generates revenue, and is therefore more valuable to the state. Property rights, however, should not be subject to such considerations.

Observations and recommendations: The issue of the stagnating and often reversed restitution process in Romania is an affront to the basic right to ownership and an open discriminatory campaign against certain religious and ethnic minorities. Although Romania has slowly been returning confiscated private properties for years, it has not done so in equal measure, as ethnic and religious minorities are clearly being discriminated against, an issue also mentioned year after year in the US State Department’s annual reports on Romania.

THE ACTIVITY OF MIKÓ IMRE MINORITY RIGHTS LEGAL SERVICES ASSISTANCE IN 2020

7. THE ACTIVITY OF MIKÓ IMRE MINORITY RIGHTS LEGAL SERVICES ASSISTANCE IN 2020 Besides regularly informing the international community concerning the violation of minority and linguistic rights in Romania through our newsletters, reports and recommendations submitted to international organizations, the Mikó Imre Minority Rights Legal Services Assistance has been engaged in numerous lawsuits and filed several complaints to the competent national bodies that deal with issues of discrimination and hate speech.

National Audiovisual Council

National Council for Combatting Discrimination

75.000 RON

45.000 RON

Complaints submitted to the National Audiovisual Council

9 closed 1 pending

In 2020 we submitted a total of 10 complaints to the National Audiovisual Council, which are mostly connected to hate speech featured on different TV networks. Out of the 12 complaints, 9 cases have been closed, while 1 is still under review. Complaints from 2020, as well as cases submitted to the Audiovisual Council in previous years and closed last year have resulted in total fines of 75 000 RON. Complaints submitted to the National Council for Combatting Discrimination

3 closed 16 pending

Regarding the total of 19 complaints submitted to the National Council for Combatting Discrimination, 16 are still pending and 3 have been finalised. These 3 have resulted in fines totalling up to 45 000 RON.

Although last year was not as active as previous years due to the pandemic, some sports events still took place, where anti-Hungarian hate speech was still present. We have turned to different forums to find adequate solutions in tackling this problem. We turned on one occasion to FIFA, filed 3 complaints to CNCD, where we reported the racist manifestations and filed 2 complaints to the Romanian Football Federation. Based on the complaints FCSB football club has so far been fined with 5 000 RON for the racist manifestations in a match with Sepsi OSK, other cases are still under review. In addition, three players were each fined with 5 000 RON. As part of our commitment to inform the international community regarding the discrimination faced by the Hungarian minority in Romania, in 2020 the Mikó Imre Minority Rights Legal Services Assistance attended the most relevant human rights and minority forums in Europe, such as the UN Forum on Minority Issues and its preparatory European Regional Forum, both held entirely virtually, due to the pandemics. The theme of the UN Forum was „Hate Speech, Social Media and Minorities”. At both of these forums we spoke about the alarming manifestations of xenophobia and hate speech on social media directed against the Hungarian community. Furthermore, our organization attended an online conference organized by the Institute for the Protection of Minority Rights, based in Budapest, where the participants held presentations connected to the theme of the conference, namely „Legal Protection of Hungarians in the Carpathian-Basin”. Moreover, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Romanian Football Federation and other important institutions initiated a professional discussion on the theme of hate speech prevailing in sports. Our organization attended the conference entitled “Preventing, combating and mitigating the consequence of violence in the context of major sport events (in particular antisocial acts corresponding to violence, racism, discrimination, xenophobia, the use of pyrotechnic materials and the consumption of alcoholic beverages)”, in November, 2020, organized by the abovementioned organizations. Finally, in our newsletters we regularly inform the international community about new cases. In light of this, in 2020 we sent out 17 newsletters, summarizing cases related to linguistic rights, discrimination or hate speech.

CONCLUSION

8. CONCLUSION The year 2020 was also problematic regarding minority rights in Romania. There have been no significant improvements, but many worrisome developments. The violation of linguistic rights is a continuing problem affecting the Hungarian minority in Romania. There is still considerable room for improvement in the Administrative Code, especially when it comes to the use of minority languages in the public sphere or in the judiciary system. In view of bilingual inscriptions, such as bilingual place name signs, street signs or town hall inscriptions, there is an ongoing struggle to ensure minority rights, since the legal framework is incoherent and not satisfying, not allowing specific issues, but also not expressly prohibiting them. In addition to this, endeavours related to updating language rights created more tension between the majority and minority population, instead of facilitating a better understanding between them. The COVID-19 global health crisis presented us with new challenges for this year, as far as the healthcare sytem is concerned. Communicating vital public information in minority languages is of the utmost importance during pandemics. It is extremely unfortunate, that Romania failed to ensure the communication of information and relevant recommendations regarding the pandemics in minority languages in most of the cases. Discrimination in the education system is arguably one of the most controversial issues. The introduction of a new national curriculum has not solved all the problems, on the contrary, it created new ones. The shortage of textbooks available in Hungarian is still an increasingly concerning matter. The current 8th graders have consistently been studying without proper teaching aid ever since they started school, being the first generation to suffer the consequences of an ill-working system. As it is planned, a new national curriculum is going to be extended to the education of the 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th graders, starting from the next academic year. However, the adoption of the new national curriculum is still in progress, which may also affect the next school year, since it is highly unlikely that the new textbooks will arrive until September, 2021. Furthermore, the teaching Romanian to Hungarian speaking pupils continues to be deficient. Another issue of concern is the incorrect translation of some expressions in certain written exam questions, at the Baccalaureate examination. The attempts to ban national, regional and local symbols of the Hungarian community continued this year, too. More and more settlements and institutions are losing symbols of such nature because of lawsuits initiated by government agencies or anti-Hungarian NGOs, cases which are unfortunately validated by the judiciary. Hate speech, anti-Hungarian manifestations, racism and xenophobic rhetoric targeting the Hungarian minority have entered the mainstream political communication. The most prominent case of anti-Hungarian hate speech was exhibited by the President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, in the spring of 2020, which directly affected all the members of society, more and more politicians, TV presenters expressed their views in a profoundly offensive and disgraceful way. Hate speech is becoming more and more prevailing on social media platforms, too. The importance of this

issue is also shown by the theme of the United Nations Forum on Minority Issues, which was „Hate Speech, Social Media and Minorities”. Not only politicians and journalists, but also people from the broader society have voiced their nationalist views, turning the majority population against the Hungarian community. Furthermore, sport events became a breeding ground for xenophobic chants, which due to the lack of explicit legislation and a sanctioning system is also difficult to control. The issue of the illegal appropriation of the military cemetery in the Uz Vallez is still a grave concern in 2020. Numerous lawsuits were initiated in connection with the incidents. Most of them are still ongoing, while one case was closed. There has not been much progress in Romania regarding the restitution of private property confiscated during the communist regime. Most of the cases remained unsolved and national and religious minorities are clearly being discriminated against. In lieu of a comprehensive package of laws guaranteeing the rights of national minorities, and given that minority issues are often used by majority politicians as a means of fearmongering and gaining political capital, any systematic change regarding the situation of minority rights in the near future seems unlikely. In this context, the role that Hungarian civil society can play in signalling discrimination and fighting for basic rights is crucial. Therefore, the Mikó Imre Minority Rights Legal Services Assistance will continue to closely monitor the situation of minority rights in Romania, and use all legal and diplomatic means to fight for the causes which are relevant for the Hungarian community in Romania.

NOTES

Minority Report 2020

Articles inside

Minority Report 2020

Minority Report 2020