Report 2019 by Mikó Imre Association for the Protection of Minority Rights

MIKÃ&#x201C; IMRE

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

REPORT 2019 THE VIOLATION OF MINORITY RIGHTS AND THE ETHNIC DISCRIMINATION FACED BY THE HUNGARIAN COMMUNITY IN ROMANIA

201

MIKÃ&#x201C; IMRE

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

REPORT 2019 THE VIOLATION OF MINORITY RIGHTS AND THE ETHNIC DISCRIMINATION FACED BY THE HUNGARIAN COMMUNITY IN ROMANIA

CONTENT

1. VIOLATION OF LINGUISTIC RIGHTS............................................................................. 9 1.1. Bilingualism in the public sphere............................................................................ 9 1.2. Bilingualism in the judiciary.................................................................................. 15 1.3. Bilingual place name signs.................................................................................... 17 1.4. Bilingual street signs............................................................................................ 19 1.5. Town hall inscriptions........................................................................................... 21 1.6. Safety measures.................................................................................................. 24 1.7. Linguistic rights of inmates.................................................................................. 25 1.8. Driving test in Hungarian...................................................................................... 25

2. ETHNIC DISCRIMINATION........................................................................................... 26 2.1. Discrimination in the education system................................................................26 2.1.1. Lack of textbooks for pupils in the minority education system...................26 2.1.2. Teaching Romanian to pupils belonging to minorities................................28 2.1.3. The University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science and Technology of Târgu Mureș/Marosvásárhely............................................................... 31 2.1.4. Discriminatory Romanian tests at university application.......................... 34 2.1.5. Attempts to close a Hungarian school resurface...................................... 35 2.1.6. Banning the textbook on “The History of Szeklers”................................... 36 2.2. Discrimination in the healthcare system.............................................................. 37 2.3. The “Beke-case”, terrorism charges under dubious circumstances...................... 39 2.4. Discrimination and intolerance during the visit of Pope Francis........................... 40

3. THE PERSECUTION OF HUNGARIAN SYMBOLS......................................................... 42 3.1. Banning the Szekler flag.................................................................................................... 42 3.2. Banning the administrative flags featuring regional symbols............................... 45 3.3. The persecution of the Hungarian flag................................................................. 46

4. HATE SPEECH AND DISINFORMATION TARGETING THE HUNGARIAN COMMUNITY... 48 4.1. The responsibility of political leaders in combatting hate speech......................... 48 4.2. Anti-Hungarian discourse and disinformation in the media................................... 51 4.3. Hate speech on social media............................................................................... 53 4.4. Hate speech and violence in sports..................................................................... 55

5. THE ILLEGAL APPROPRIATION OF THE MILITARY CEMETERY IN THE UZ VALLEY.... 58 6.THE RESTITUTION OF PRIVATE PROPERTY................................................................. 62 7. THE ACTIVITY OF THE MIKÓ IMRE MINORITY RIGHTS LEGAL SERVICES ASSISTANCE IN 2019.................................................................................................. 66 Conclusion.............................................................................................................................. 70

In 2019, the MikĂł Imre Minority Rights Legal Services Assistance continued its work advocating for and promoting the rights of the Hungarian community in Romania. This involves a constant monitoring of the state of minority rights in Romania, from linguistic rights to education, as well as cases of ethnic discrimination and hate speech. The latter aspect in particular requires enhanced attention, as the intensity of hate speech has increased in recent years and anti-Hungarian discourse has spread. We find it extremely important to write a thorough report each year, detailing these various minority issues, a report based on data, research, and also our own experience in handling these cases. Writing such a comprehensive report is relevant, because despite progress in some areas, numerous problems still persist, problems that need to be detailed and analysed through relevant examples. However, because we know that listing problems is not enough in itself to address these issues, we also make sure to include meaningful and solution-oriented suggestions for dealing with the various forms of discrimination and hate speech, which are also meant to prevent similar problems in the future. We believe it is crucial to inform the international community and the relevant forums regarding the issues faced by the Hungarian community in Romania.

Erika BenkĹ&#x2018;

Director of the MikĂł Imre Minority Rights Legal Services Assistance

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, there being no comprehensive law on minority language use. 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 July 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, while both the new Administrative Code and the previously valid Law no. 215 of 2001 contain this provision, official documents and information of public interest are mostly available exclusively in Romanian.

VIOLATION OF LINGUISTIC RIGHTS

In 2019 it 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, local council resolutions are published exclusively in Romanian, whereas before these were required to be released in the minority language as well. 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. The same applies for the communication of companies that provide public transportation, heat and water supply, for example. “Useful information” for pensioners posted exclusively in Romanian, in a town where the majority of the population is Hungarian. Unfortunately, many pensioners do not possess the necessary language skills in Romanian to understand the difficult legal and administrative terminology

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. Unfortunately, almost 75% 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. The situation is the worst in Sălaj county (with a 23% Hungarian population), where only 6% of the websites were translated into Hungarian, while the most websites available in Hungarian are the pages of the institutions in Harghita county (where Hungarians make up more than 85% of the population), but even there, pages that have a full Hungarian content constitute merely 49% of public institution websites. 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.

In an attempt to reinsert some of the provisions containing favourable language policies for minorities, the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania submitted a modified version of the Administrative Code to Parliament. Besides reintroducing the above-described provisions, this proposal would ensure that there In its current form the Administrative Code lacks several are sanctions in place, in case pubpositive provisions proposed by representatives of the lic institutions refuse to comply with Hungarian minority, provisions which would ensure that the rules regarding language use. It linguistic rights for national minorities are updated according to the needs of the community would also extend the use of minority languages to police departments and the prefect’s office, among others. Unfortunately, this modified version of the Administrative Code is yet to be discussed in Parliament. Until then, the Administrative Code remains in its current form, as adopted by the 2019 Government Ordinance, which the Constitutional Court recently declared to be fully compliant with the constitution.

VIOLATION OF LINGUISTIC RIGHTS

Beyond 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. One of their actions in 2019 resulted in a first court ruling ordering the removal of a bilingual greeting sign on the border between Covasna/Kovászna county and Brașov/Brassó county. The sign in question had been put up in 2013 by the Brașov County Council, as a result of successful discussions with the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (DAHR). Tanasă’s organisation sued the county council in November 2018, arguing that the Hungarian population in Brașov/Brassó county does not reach the threshold of 20%, and therefore putting up bilingual signs violates the law, according to Tanasă. However, as our organisation has repeatedly argued in connection with similar cases initiated by the above-mentioned organisation, and as several leading political figures have also pointed out following this incident, the law does not prevent public administrations from putting up bilingual signs when the required threshold of 20% is not reached. As expressed by Attila Kovács, the president of the Brașov county organisation of DAHR: “The county and the city council took a decision that even though the percentage of Hungarians does not reach 20%, they will nevertheless put up the signs, thus recognising and emphasising the historical bilingualism of Brașov/Brassó county.” Others have stressed that this incident also points to a double standard when it comes to the linguistic rights of the Hungarian community. As Árpád Antal, the mayor of Sfântu Gheorghe/ Sepsiszentgyörgy in neighbouring Covasna/Kovászna county underlined, such an interpretation of the law would mean that the bilingual (Romanian-German) place name signs in Sibiu/ Hermannstadt (where the German population does not reach the 20% threshold) are also illegal, yet they have been up for several years and no-one sued the local council for this. Representatives in Brașov/Brassó county declared that they will appeal the court decision and will continue to fight for linguistic diversity in their county. They eventually moved the sign and put it on the territory of Covasna/Kovászna county. It is extremely regrettable that the justice system supports such malicious, nationalist endeavours, overriding in this case a peacefully reached decision by Romanian and Hungarian representatives in Brașov/Brassó county, a decision that should instead have been held up as a positive example and a sign of normalcy and respect in interethnic relations.

Intolerance for bilingualism at its height: the Romanian-Hungarian greeting sign at the border between Covasna and Brașov county was ordered to be removed by the courts

Other actions of the said organisation led by Tanasă against the rights of the Hungarian community included in 2019 the continuation of law suits, as well as initiating new ones 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). They also filed lawsuits involving bilingual or Hungarian inscriptions on various public institutions, such as schools, theatres, but also an inscription placed on a traditional Szekler gate, street signs, as well as filing several complaints against various local administrations for putting out information in Hungarian.

VIOLATION OF LINGUISTIC RIGHTS

Observation and recommendation: 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 new Administrative Code, just like the previous law on public administration, 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 organisations 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 organisations, 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

1.3. Bilingual place name signs A frequent issue regarding bilingualism in areas where there is a significant number of Hungarians concerns 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 signals the hesitation or even unwillingness of local authorities to acknowledge the multicultural aspect of some municipalities. Romania’s new 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. Before this Code was adopted, the name of a city/town could be put up in Hungarian for instance, only if the Hungarian population living there reached 20%.

The Satu Mare Tribunal: bilingualism in legal proceedings is rarely ensured, even in a county like Satu Mare, where roughly 35% of the population is Hungarian

Observation and recommendation: The existing legal framework for using the language of minorities in legal proceedings allows for a wide use of these languages. However, in most cases the costs of translation and interpretation have to be supported by the parties themselves, which clearly restricts the basic right of citizens to use their mother tongue in court. A legislative proposal has recently been tacitly passed in the Senate (without a meaningful discussion or debate on the matter), which states that the Ministry of Justice has to cover the costs of translation in civil cases as well. Whether this proposal will eventually become law, is yet to be seen, but the chances of it are very low at this point. Nonetheless, it would be a step in the right direction, in order to ensure that members of a national minority can use their mother tongue during all stages of the legal process, and regardless of the nature of the cases, in a way that does not burden them with additional expenses.

The local administration in Sighetu Marmației/ Máramarossziget took this opportunity and was among the first to put up the name of their city in Hungarian also, as a gesture to the Hungarian community living there, who make up 10% of the population. However, members of the Hungarian community could not enjoy the bilingual signs for long. One day after the signs had In Sighetu Marmației/Máramarossziget the Hungarian denomination on been put up, the name of the this sign was painted over just one day after it was put up city in Hungarian was already painted over. Only some of the Hungarian inscriptions were visible by the next day, someone had purposely vandalised the signs. In order for this incident to be properly investigated and for the perpetrator to be identified, the Mikó Imre Minority Rights Legal Services Assistance filed a complaint to the Prosecutor’s Office. The case is pending.

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. Attempts to include such provisions in the Administrative Code have so far failed. Nonetheless, several international treaties ratified by Romania and various international recommendations regarding the implementation of these treaties, strongly urge states to put up bilingual street signs. As our organisation has repeatedly signalled, there is an ongoing fight on the part of Romanian authorities against putting up bilingual (Romanian and Hungarian) street signs in Târgu Mureș/ Marosvásárhely, one of the major Transylvanian cities, with a Hungarian population of 43%.

Anti-Hungarian sentiment often manifests itself in a narrow-minded attitude towards bilingual place name signs

A first ruling by the Mureș Administrative Court invalidated two local council resolutions from 2017, both of which stipulated that street names should be put up in Hungarian as well. These resolutions were challenged in court by Lucian Goga, the Mureș county prefect, who has been known in recent years to relentlessly attack bilingual signs, as well as taking a harsh stance against Hungarian symbols across the county. One of the said resolutions adopted by the city council and then annulled by the court proposed that the names of the streets and squares should be translated into Hungarian as well, when such a possibility exists, like in the case of proper nouns: Trandafirilor/Rózsák (Roses), Tineretului/Ifjúság (Youth).

Our organisation has dealt with several similar cases over the years. Other such instances in 2019 include a road sign marking one of the entrances into Covasna/Kovászna county, as well as the place name sign of Salonta/Nagyszalonta.

Observation and recommendation: Cases such as the above clearly demonstrate a hostile attitude towards Hungarian 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 multilingualism 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.

Attempts to put up bilingual street signs in Târgu Mureș/Marosvásárhely have mostly been initiated by activists, while official signs put up by the local administration are exclusively in Romanian

VIOLATION OF LINGUISTIC RIGHTS

Following the 2017 ruling, the mayor’s office failed to appeal the decision, and thus the decision became final. The failure to appeal was due to the fact that the legal department of the local administration did not take the initiative. Our organisation offered to provide legal assistance, but this was denied by the Romanian municipal secretary at the mayor’s office, who had also previously expressed a negative opinion regarding the said two resolutions. It is regrettable that the courts back local authorities in their vicious pursuit to curb the basic linguistic rights of the Hungarian community. In this context, it is also disappointing that articles relating to the use of bilingual street signs were eventually scraped from the initial version of the Administrative Code. These would have allowed for bilingual street signs to be put up in the local administrative units where a minority constitutes at least 20% of the population.

Observations and recommendations: As stated above, the new Administrative Code does not require for street signs to be bi-/multilingual, even in 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. However, in a 2012 report on the application of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, several recommendations were included, interpreting the term “place name” as meaning not only the name of settlements, but also street names.

VIOLATION OF LINGUISTIC RIGHTS

1.5. Town hall inscriptions There have been numerous lawsuits, as well as currently ongoing cases 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”. Szeklerland is a historical region in Eastern Transylvania, composed of Covasna, Harghita and parts of Mureș county, where the Hungarian community constitutes roughly 75% of the total population. These lawsuits are mostly initiated by Dan Tanasă’s aforementioned organisation, the Civic Association for Dignity in Europe. Their activity is focused on not only questioning, but actively fighting against the linguistic rights of the Hungarian minority, as demonstrated by the “Town hall” cases, but also other Hungarian or bilingual inscriptions. Due to the vague and often contradictory legal provisions, the local councils generally lose these court cases. The justification presented in court by Tanasă’s organisation and others, for example the Covasna County Prefect’s Office, is that the terms “Községháza” and ”Városháza” were borrowed from Hungary, and are not legally accurate, because they are not the exact translation of the Romanian “Primărie”, which according to them would be “polgármesteri hivatal”. However, several Hungarian-Romanian dictionaries translate the words “községháza”/”városháza” as “primărie”. Moreover, in cases where the Romanian “primărie” was translated as “polgármesteri hivatal” - as some local councils in mostly Hungarian-inhabited municipalities have done, in order to settle lawsuits and avoid fines -, 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. Legislative proposals initiated by Hungarian representatives have suggested that in cases such as the “Town hall” inscriptions historical and linguistic communities should be allowed to use the contextually equivalent translation of Romanian denominations and expressions, instead of their loan translation. Unfortunately, along with several other minority-friendly modifications to the Administrative Code, these have not been passed in Parliament so far.

VIOLATION OF LINGUISTIC RIGHTS

In recent years our organisation has been closely monitoring the development of these cases all over Szeklerland. More than 30 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. Some mayors opted to take down the signs upon first notice, but the majority decided to take their case to court. However, so far, no Hungarian mayor has been successful in their fight for this basic form of linguistic rights. Either in a first or a final ruling, all “Town hall” inscriptions have been ordered to be taken down. In one such instance, Tanasă’s organisation asked the courts back in 2016 to call on the mayor of Corund/Korond to take down the town hall inscription from the forefront of the building. A court ruling in September 2016 by the Harghita County Tribunal ordered the mayor to take down the Hungarian inscription. The reason given was the usual one mentioned above, namely that the equivalent translation of “Községháza” in Romanian is not “Primăria” (which was the Romanian inscription on the building), but “Casa Comunală”. The inscription was then taken down and replaced in 2017 with “Casa Comunală” written in Romanian next to the Hungarian “Községháza”.

Like many others in Szeklerland, the mayor of Cozmeni/Csíkkozmás was ordered to take down the Hungarian “Községháza” (Town hall) inscription. In a stroke of ingenuity and as a sign of protest, flowers in front of the town hall were arranged to spell the banned sign

Following this, Tanasă sued the mayor once more for refusing to comply with a legally binding court order. According to the latest ruling by the Târgu Mureș Court of Appeals, mayor Mihály Katona was ordered to pay the equivalent of 20% of the gross minimum wage, that is 416 RON for each day starting from the 21st of October 2016, until he removed the „Községháza” inscription. The court also ordered the mayor to pay an additional 100 RON for each day starting from the 21st of October 2016 to the association of Dan Tanasă, until the said inscription was removed. As a contrast, Lóránt Vincze, MEP and the president of FUEN, drew attention to the bilingual (Romanian-German) Primăria – Rathaus inscription on the forefront of the town hall in Ghimbav/ Vidombák/Weidenbach, where the German population constitutes a mere 1%, but the German inscription was allowed, nonetheless. Vincze commended the local administration for being mindful of the German heritage of the town, and reproached the double standard applied by the Romanian state, which is not willing to show the same consideration towards the Hungarian community of Romania.

...

VIOLATION OF LINGUISTIC RIGHTS

Observations and recommendations: It is difficult to comprehend the actions of the above-mentioned NGO against “Town hall” inscriptions in Romania as anything other than a vicious campaign against the Hungarian community. It is even more disconcerting that these absurd cases are admitted in court, and that local councils successively lose them, which serves to show that the Romanian judicial system is also biased. It creates unnecessary tensions within the Hungarian community and increases distrust towards the institutions of the Romanian state.

1.6. Safety measures

1.7.

Linguistic rights of inmates

The rights of Hungarian inmates in jails continue to be severely curtailed. The possibility of using one’s mother tongue in jails is quite limited. Prisoners are entitled to sessions with a psychologist, as well as lessons with teachers, both of whom are usually Romanian. Hungarian inmates, especially in areas where there is a significant Hungarian population, should be ensured adequate psychological treatment, as well as lessons by a person who speaks their mother tongue. This, however, is hardly the case. For instance, in the prison in Miercurea Ciuc/ Csíkszereda, located in a county where 85% of the population is Hungarian, none of the teaching personnel or the psychologists are Hungarian.

1.8. Driving test in Hungarian

The lack of safety instructions and warning signs in Hungarian is not only discriminatory, but it can also lead to serious injuries.

These info sheets detailing escape plans and procedures to be followed in case of a fire must be displayed in every public institution, however, all information featured on them is written exclusively in Romanian

VIOLATION OF LINGUISTIC RIGHTS

Our organisation found that in most cases safety instructions and warning signs are only available in Romanian. We have not found any Hungarian inscriptions warning people of high voltage danger, of fire exits or fire exit plans, nor have we seen any explanation in Hungarian about the safety measures provided in swimming pools, for example. The lack of such explanations and bilingual 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 understand Romanian - are prone to accidents that can even be fatal. Our organisation is aware of at least two work-related accidents resulting in serious injury due to the lack of proper information provided to workers in their mother tongue.

Members of the Hungarian community have for a few years had the opportunity to take the driving test in Hungarian. This has been very helpful in the case of the written exam, with learning materials also available in Hungarian. However, the second part of the driving test is a practical test with a police officer, who tend to be mostly Romanian, most of whom do not speak Hungarian at all, even in areas where the majority of the population is Hungarian. This means that, although the possibility to take the exam in Hungarian exists in theory, it is not assured in the case of the actual driving test, given that police officers tend not to speak Hungarian. 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 instructions of the police officer. However, this makes the communication during the test rather problematic and challenging, which is obviously not ideal when one is receiving instructions and has to comply with them 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.

ETHNIC DISCRIMINATION

2. ETHNIC DISCRIMINATION Systematic ethnic discrimination still persists in Romania today, 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.

ETHNIC DISCRIMINATION

their books also have to be translated from Romanian to a minority language. Not to mention that the quality of the translations is not always the most adequate, and there have been some cases of poorly translated expressions in textbooks. Teachers attribute this to the fact that texts are sometimes translated word for word, ignoring the context. At the start of the 2019 school year numerous textbooks for Hungarian pupils were still waiting to be approved in the procurement process, while others were still being translated. One month into the second semester in February 2020 almost half of the textbooks for Hungarian 7th graders have still not arrived in schools, including Chemistry, Math, History, not to mention the Romanian language and literature books, designed according to the modified curriculum for children whose mother tongue is Hungarian. This is especially worrisome, as the teaching of the state language has always been extremely problematic and the learning process very difficult for Hungarian children (as we shall elaborate in the next subchapter), even without factoring in the lack of textbooks. Last year, the National Council for Combatting Discrimination fined the Ministry of Education for the fact that the new Romanian textbooks for Hungarian pupils have consistently arrived late in the past few years, with children being without proper educational materials for months.

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 the mother tongue, an increasingly concerning matter has to do with the lack of textbooks available in Hungarian in primary and secondary education. At the start of each school year, Hungarian pupils suffer the consequences of a discriminatory and ill-working educational system. An entire generation, starting with the current seventh graders, have been facing the same problem ever since they got into the educational system. They are being taught based on a new national curriculum adopted in 2011, however, many of the textbooks printed according to this new curriculum have in the past years arrived late, well after the start of the school year, mostly because they were still in the process of being drafted, approved or printed. It is worth noting that this is a problem which disproportionately affects children studying in a minority language, since - besides the usual lengthy process of approving textbooks - most of

Due to the severe lack of textbooks, many Hungarian pupils have been forced to study without proper teaching materials for years. Conscientious professors try to compensate for this by putting together their own teaching aids, paid for mostly from their own pockets

ETHNIC DISCRIMINATION

Observations and recommendations: 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 discriminat ion and double standards.

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and the textbooks. Overall, Romanian teachers agree that content focused on theoretical knowledge should be further reduced, and significantly more practical exercises should be included into these new Romanian textbooks, exercises that focus primarily on useful knowledge and develop the use of everyday Romanian.

2.1.2. Teaching Romanian to pupils belonging to minorities Another issue of concern affecting students belonging to the Hungarian minority continues to be the teaching of the state language. In recent years, there has been a slow, but progressive adaptation of the national curriculum for teaching Romanian to minorities. The aim is for these children to study Romanian as a second language, instead of studying it according to the same methodology as children whose mother tongue is Romanian, which was the norm until a few years ago. However, there are still a number of problems when it comes to implementing the new methodology. These issues are most apparent when children have to make the transition from elementary to secondary education, when the Romanian textbook suddenly shifts from a methodology that focuses primarily on communication skills, with close to no grammar, to a methodology in the fifth grade that includes considerably more grammatical analysis. Our organisation has sought out the opinions of several teachers who teach Romanian to Hungarian pupils according to the new textbooks based on the new methodology of teaching the state language to minority students. While they agree that there is some improvement compared to the old methodology, a change that is already somewhat detectable in the language skills of pupils, there is still considerable room for upgrade when it comes to both the new methodology

Despite some improvements in the new methodology, Hungarian pupils are still forced to read difficult literary texts in Romanian and study high level grammar

However, this new methodology only applies until 7th grade, as the implementation of the new methodology is done progressively, meaning that older pupils continue to study Romanian from the same textbooks as children whose mother tongue is Romanian, with difficult literary texts, often written in an archaic form of Romanian, not to mention high level grammatical analysis. This method has undeniably failed, as national exams show year after year. For instance, a recent study looking at the results of the national tests for 8th graders found that the success rate for pupils attending a Hungarian school was much lower than the national average, the main reason for their low scores being poor test results in Romanian language and literature. Of course, many factors may contribute to low test results among these pupils, but experts agree that the inadequate teaching of the state language is certainly one of them, arguably the most important one. And this is one area where a lot can be done to improve the situation.

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The office of the ombudsman has recently weighed in on the issue, calling on the Ministry of Education to ensure the teaching of the state language according to the modified curriculum and textbooks as soon as possible, in the schools where the language of education is a minority language. This problem, as well as the lack of textbooks demonstrate that the issue of education in the case of minority children is not automatically solved by ensuring a minority language education system. Ensuring quality in education is also key. As pointed out in the Recommendations of the UN European Regional Forum on Minority Issues, children and parents should not be forced to choose between quality education or perpetuating their own linguistic and cultural identity.

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Observations and recommendations: When it comes to the teaching of the state language to minorities, any measures taken should be pupil-centred, ensuring that minority children acquire proper language skills in the state language, which focus primarily on communication competences (rather than literature and theoretical grammar), thus preventing later disadvantages for minority youth on the labour market. Regarding the specific problems related to the teaching of the state language in Romania, the methodology of teaching Romanian to minorities should be continuously adapted and improved at a much faster pace, as the effects, results and challenges of the new, revised methodology become more evident, with a special focus on the quality of the textbooks and teaching aids, as well as the compatibility of these with the overall goals and methods set forth in the new methodology. The provisions of the 2011 National Law on Education, which stipulates not only that students who study in a minority language education system have to be taught Romanian based on a modified curriculum, but also that the evaluation of these pupils should be accordingly adapted as well, must be effectively implemented as soon as possible.

2.1.3. The University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science and Technology of Târgu Mureș/Marosvásárhely

Hungarian 9th graders read about communication theory in their Romanian textbooks, instead of acquiring actual basic communication skills in the state language

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 separate and independent Hungarian department for years, instead of moving towards an acceptable solution, the situation seems to be deteriorating. 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 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.

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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 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 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 (DAHR), 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 newly merged University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science and Technology hails itself as a “European university”, while continuously undermining the European values of multiculturalism and equal opportunity

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. In June of last year, the High Court of Cassation and Justice (the supreme court of Romania) ruled that this practice is not discriminatory.

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There is also concern over the drop in the number of Hungarian students, as it came to light during the summer that enrolment numbers would be increased for Romanian students (from 270 to 300), but would be significantly decreased, almost halved, for Hungarian students (from 200 to 120). This reinforced concerns over a shrinking Hungarian line of study, making any claims for an independent Hungarian department or more autonomy for Hungarian professors almost impossible in the future, and also making it extremely difficult for them to be represented in the university leadership due to their low percentage overall. In December, 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 the university without the consent of the Hungarian leadership.

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. 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.

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2.1.4. Discriminatory Romanian tests at university application News surfaced in July of 2019 that a 2016 government ordinance basically allows higher education institutions to include Romanian language tests in their entrance exams for those students who attended schools where the language of teaching was other than Romanian. Several Bucharest-based universities, as well as some Transylvanian universities have been reported to use such tests.

The office of the Ombudsman took a decided stance against the discriminatory practice of introducing Romanian tests for minority students applying for university

The office of the Ombudsman argued that this was discriminatory towards minority students, who – just like their Romanian colleagues – already have to take an oral and a written Romanian exam, as part of their final exams after finishing 12th grade. The oral exam in particular is focused on assessing language and communication skills, and any student that passes this exam can be assumed to speak the state language at a satisfactory level, thus making an extra Romanian test conducted by universities completely redundant, an additional burden for students, as well as being a clear double standard. The office of the Ombudsman consequently called upon the Ministry of Education to modify the said discriminatory provisions. The National Council for Combatting Discrimination also received complaints to this effect and initiated their own inquiries.

After months of uncertainty and after initially declaring that the said regulation would stay in place, the Ministry of Education announced in October that “they would consider” the modifications proposed by the Ombudsman, which was interpreted as the Ministry taking steps to modify the discriminatory methodology. The office of the Ombudsman declared they will not close the case until the promised modifications are made.

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2.1.5. Attempts to close a Hungarian school resurface After months of uncertainty, legal and political struggles following the closing of the II. Rákóczi Ferenc Roman-Catholic High School in Târgu Mureș/Marosvásárhely in 2017, it was finally allowed to open for the 2018-2019 school year through an ordinance of the Ministry of Education. As we have described in our 2017 report, the building of the said school, which had been confiscated from the Roman-Catholic Church by the communist regime, was regained by the church, after which they opened a Catholic school there in 2014. However, the Romanian National Anticorruption Directorate accused the school’s leadership of “corruption” for allegedly running the school without authorization – even though the Ministry of Education had previously approved the opening of the school. This was followed by months of uncertainty, during which time parents, teachers, representatives of the church and Hungarian politicians fought to keep the school open. The situation seemed to have been favourably solved by the 2018 ordinance of the Ministry of Education.

The II. Rákóczi Ferenc Roman-Catholic High School in Târgu Mureș/Marosvásárhely: malicious attempts to close the school resurface

However, in April of 2019, the People’s Movement Party, led by its executive chairman, Marius Pașcan, and the Civic Association for Dignity in Europe, led by Dan Tanasă, both known for their persistent nationalist actions against the Hungarian community, attacked the ordinance in court.

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They were joined in their lawsuit by the Unirea High School (that shares the building owned by the Roman-Catholic Church with the Hungarian Catholic school in question). They argued that the 2018 ordinance, which allowed the Catholic School to re-open, is unconstitutional. In its first ruling issued in November, the court declared the 2018 ordinance allowing the school to re-open to be void. The Roman-Catholic Church appealed the decision. Depending on the court’s final ruling, there is a risk that this issue, which plagued the Hungarian community back in 2017-2018, and which seemed to have been resolved, will re-emerge, potentially resulting in the closing of yet another Hungarian school.

2.1.6. Banning the textbook on “The History of Szeklers” Hungarian pupils in Szeklerland are prevented from learning about the specific history and culture of their region.

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2.2. Discrimination in the healthcare system In the year 2019 there have been no significant steps to ensure that the Hungarian community has access to healthcare and healthcare information in a way that is not discriminatory. Despite initial opposition, an amendment proposed by the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania was adopted in Parliament in 2017, extending the linguistic rights of minorities in the fields of healthcare and social assistance. The amendment in question states that in municipalities where a minority population exceeds 20%, or the alternative gap of 5000 inhabitants, members of that minority must be guaranteed the right to be attended within the healthcare system and social services by a person who speaks their mother tongue. Such an extension of the linguistic rights of minorities is an important step forward, since there have been several cases in recent years of patients being shamed and ill-treated within the healthcare system for not speaking Romanian properly.

As our organisation has repeatedly signalled, a textbook entitled “The History of Szeklers” has been banned since 2013. Despite the fact that the book was written by renowned historians and academicians, its contents cannot be taught in schools. However, as several international treaties ratified by Romania - including the Framework Convention on the Protection of National Minorities - stipulate, teaching minority youth about their cultural heritage and history is a fundamental right, and just as important for preserving the identity of a community as learning the mother tongue. The lack of any development and the general silence surrounding the issue is disheartening and it proves the effectiveness of the Romanian state when it comes to attempts aimed at suppressing regional identities, in particular the Szekler identity. ...

Crucial information on medication is featured exclusively in Romanian, both on the boxes, as well as on the descriptions contained inside these

However, the law in question still lacks a methodology that would ensure proper implementation, since the Ministry of Health has not yet issued the specific measures that typically accompany such laws. As the law currently stands, it is not clear how the expenses of hiring staff that speaks the relevant minority language(s) would be covered. The lack of adequate methodology

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also makes the application of sanctions in case of non-compliance problematic. Our organisation submitted an inquiry to the Ministry of Health regarding the issue of the much-needed methodology, to which the Ministry replied that this is not their competency, basically diverting responsibility to the healthcare institutions. There has been no development since. 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 effects of a certain medication, can lead to serious consequences for patients.

Observations and recommendations: 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 non-existent in interethnic environments where Hungarians do not form a majority. Therefore, an adequate methodology that includes clear sanctioning mechanisms is paramount. Moreover, the state should ensure - where possible - that patients are also informed in writing about their condition, as well as concerning relevant information (epidemics, vaccines etc.) in their mother tongue. Finally, pharmaceutical companies should provide the relevant information about medication not only in Romanian, but also in the language of national minorities, especially considering that this information is already available for most medications, since the vast majority of these are distributed by the same companies across Europe.

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2.3. The “Beke-case”: false terrorism charges 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 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 organisation, 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.

The families of the two detainees and Hungarian civil society in general have consistently kept protesting against their sentencing, as well as the fact that they have unjustly been labelled “terrorists”

The official accusations of the prosecution from 2016 stand as follows: while Beke was initially accused of attempted attack against the collectivity (also 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.

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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. 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. Their lawyers declared that they would take the case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

Observations and recommendations: The highly irregular way in which this case was handled, as well as the final ruling, which seems to have been politically motivated and encouraged by the sensationalist media coverage, gives rise to serious doubts regarding the impartiality of the Romanian justice system. Moreover, this decision is likely to increase interethnic tensions, especially in the region of Szeklerland, since it erodes 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.

2.4. Discrimination and intolerance during the visit of Pope Francis During the visit of Pope Francis to Romania in late May – early June of 2019, anti-Hungarian sentiment rose to the surface, as Romanian authorities tried to downplay and even hide the significant Hungarian presence at one of the sites where the Pope was due to celebrate mass, namely the shrine of the Virgin Mary in Șumuleu Ciuc/Csíksomlyó, which has been a site of pilgrimage for Hungarian Catholics for centuries. As the majority of Roman-Catholics in Romania live in Transylvania, and given that the above-mentioned pilgrimage is of an enormous religious and cultural significance not only for RomanCatholics, but the entire Hungarian community in general, the news that Pope Francis would visit this site was received with great joy. Romanian authorities, however, were very keen on erasing

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all signs of the fact that the mass at Șumuleu Ciuc/ Csíksomlyó would be mostly attended by Hungarians. In the last minute the Romanian Protection and Guard Service objected to the Hungarian inscription on the Pope’s chasuble to be worn at Șumuleu Ciuc/ Csíksomlyó. The inscription in question was the motto of On orders from the Romanian Protection and Guard Service, the motto of the visit (Let’s walk togeththe Pope’s visit written in Hungarian had to be hidden on the chasuble er!) written in Hungarian: Járjunk együtt! The authorities argued that the Hungarian version was not the official motto of the visit, and even though the Vatican had previously approved the design of the chasuble, this had to be changed so that the Hungarian text was not visible. Further attempts to hide the presence of Hungarians continued on the day of the mass itself. The same Protection and Guard Service denied entry into the VIP sector for several prominent members of the Hungarian community. For instance, Béla Kató - the bishop of the Transylvanian district of the Reformed Church in Romania - was turned away by guards, even though he arrived in time, with his invitation in hand. The bishop recounted that while he was discussing with the guards, he saw people carrying Romanian flags being allowed in. Other Hungarians not allowed in the VIP sector shared the bishop’s concerns, namely that there was a concerted effort on the part of Romanian authorities to ensure that the front rows of the crowd would be filled with Romanian officials and people holding Romanian flags, while also making sure that the presence of the significantly larger Hungarian crowds would be minimised. We find it extremely regrettable and a sign of intolerance that at the Șumuleu Ciuc/Csíksomlyó pilgrimage site, a focal point of the Transylvanian Hungarian identity, Romanian authorities deemed it threatening to showcase the diversity that characterises the Transylvanian social and cultural landscape.

THE PERSECUTION OF HUNGARIAN SYMBOLS

3. THE PERSECUTION OF HUNGARIAN SYMBOLS The persecution led by Romanian political leaders, authorities, as well as extremist organisations and groups against the symbols and identity markers of the Hungarian community continues, with more unfavourable outcomes in 2019.

3.1. Banning the Szekler flag The number of Hungarian mayors losing lawsuits for putting up the Szekler flag continues to grow, with some of them even receiving exorbitant fines.

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down. The vast majority 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. Following a recent court order, the Hungarian, the Szekler, as well as the administrative flag of the county had to be removed from the assembly hall of the Covasna County Council. Basically all flags relating either to the national, the regional or the local Hungarian identity were ordered to be taken down, while all other flags that have been in the hall for years (for example the flag of Israel or the flag of the USA) can stay – as pointed out by Sándor Tamás, the president of the County Council. This sends a clear message from the Romanian justice system that Hungarian symbols are not tolerated in Romania. The decision of the courts points to a clear double standard in Romania. The Hungarian flag was removed, while flags of other countries were not, although the same law applies to all flags of foreign countries. Moreover, as our organisation has repeatedly signalled in our reports and newsletters, the regional flag of Szeklerland is also persecuted by Romanian authorities, despite the fact that other historical regions in Romania, such as Bucovina or Moldova, can use their flags freely. At present Covasna and Harghita counties, the only two counties in the country that have a Hungarian majority, are also the only ones that are not allowed to use their county flags.

The Szekler flag is the symbol of the historical region of Szeklerland. As an expression of its distinct regional identity, it is very important and meaningful to the local community

Over the past 8 years, there have been several dozen cases in which prefects and the nationalist organisation of the previously mentioned Dan Tanasă have demanded that Hungarian mayors in Szeklerland remove the Szekler flag from the buildings of the local administration or other public spaces. Most of these have resulted in lawsuits against the mayors that refused to take the flags

Assembly Hall of the Sfântu Gheorghe/ Sepsiszentgyörgy local council: the Romanian, the EU, the US and the NATO flag are allowed, while the Szekler flag and the administrative flag of the city (featuring regional symbols) are banned

Other new cases in 2019 include a Szekler flag hoisted on the Márton Áron square in Odorheiu Secuiesc/Székelyudvarhely. The organisation of Dan Tanasă filed a complaint to the local mayor’s office, asking for its removal. The mayor responded that none of the arguments listed in the complaint are valid, given that the Szekler flag is not the flag of another country,

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but a regional flag, the symbol of a community, and moreover, the flag is hoisted on a private property (belonging to the Catholic church), not a public one. In a similar case involving a Szekler flag put up next to a monument in Ojdula/Ozsdola, Dan Tanasă’s organisation won the lawsuit and the mayor was ordered to remove the flag. However, he chose to appeal the court’s decision, which he deemed to be highly irregular, given that the flag is located on a private property belonging to the consumer association.

Observations and recommendations: The Szekler flag is the symbol of the historic region of Szeklerland, and as such it is an expression of the identity of the local people. In this regard it 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. The relentless persecution of the Szekler flag and other local symbols has caused considerable tension within the community. Moreover, due to these actions on the part of Romanian authorities, the previously more balanced interethnic relations between the Romanian and Hungarian communities in the region have visibly deteriorated.

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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 - an approval ordered to be necessary by the law from 2015 - 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.

The Romanian flag is the only one that is allowed on the forefront of the mayor’s office in Zagon/Zágon, the local administrative flag featuring regional symbols had to be taken down following a court order

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2019 developments include a decision by a court in Bucharest, calling on the mayor of Zagon/ Zágon to take down the flag of the town containing local symbols from the forefront of the mayor’s office. The lawsuit, like most such lawsuits, was initiated by the organisation of Dan Tanasă, who went directly to court, without even inquiring at the local council about the flag and what it represented. As the decision of the court is not final, the mayor decided to appeal it, although he is not optimistic, given that in recent years courts have usually ruled against the use of any local and regional symbols used by the Hungarian community. Like so many other similar cases initiated by Tanasă, this one shows once again that he is not interested in a broader conversation about local and regional symbols, he is not interested in learning about their significance and importance to the local community, nor does he want to reach a compromise in this regard. He is only interested in banning all Szekler, Hungarian and other local symbols, and he counts on the judicial system to achieve this, which has so far aided him in his quest to ban these 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 an official setting, if 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. Just like in 2018, last year the centre of Sfântu Gheorghe/Sepsiszentgyörgy was decorated with Hungarian flags on the occasion of the national day of Hungarians on the 15th of March. And similarly to 2018, the Covasna county prefect, Sebastian Cucu, fined mayor Árpád Antal for doing so, a fine that the mayor appealed in court. The first court ruling invalidated the 2018 fine, but after the prefect appealed, a second ruling came out in November 2019, which deemed the fine to be legal. In court, the mayor of Sfântu Gheorghe/Sepsiszentgyörgy, as well as two other mayors in Szeklerland who were fined under similar charges, had argued that, according to the law, those ethnic minorities that have a national organisation, may use their own symbols during their events, a fact ignored in the second ruling.Unfortunately, it is often the case that even if the first ruling is favourable to the Hungarian representatives, the second ruling generally comes to the opposite conclusion. This may be due in part to the fact that there are less Hungarian judges in higher courts.

The local group of the scouts holding several national and regional flags during the celebrations held in Sfântu Gheorghe/ Sepsiszentgyörgy on the national day of Hungarians

Observations and recommendations: Whether we are talking about the Szekler flag, the Hungarian flag, other regional and local symbols or administrative flags with regional symbols, such a measure of persecution against these is unacceptable, given that in numerous international treaties and agreements, as well as through its own national legislation, Romania has committed to preserving the identity of its national minorities. The symbols of any community are an intrinsic element of its identity. We ask that Romania honours its international commitments by adopting relevant laws to this effect, which clearly stipulate the right of minorities to use their national, regional and local symbols.

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.

HATE SPEECH AND DISINFORMATION TARGETING THE HUNGARIAN COMMUNITY

The resolution adopted by DAHR was followed by an immediate backlash from some prominent Romanian political figures. Former prime minister Mihai Tudose, who in early 2018 threatened to hang Hungarian political leaders who dared to hoist the Szekler flag, once again demonstrated his deep intolerance towards the symbols of the Hungarian minority. He wrote on his social media page: “Everyone is free to sing under the shower, at home, whatever they want. And to have on the walls of their bedroom whatever colours they want. BUT outside their home, this COUNTRY where they, the ethnic Hungarians live, is Romania!! Its anthem is that of Romania. Its flag is that of Romania.” Tudose, was at the time of this post a member of Pro Romania, the newly formed party of former prime minister Victor Ponta. The vice-president of this party, Laurențiu Rebega, also came out harshly against the use of the Hungarian minority’s symbols, “warning” the leaders of DAHR that “Pro Romania does not accept such an attack against the integrity and the sovereignty of Romania”. Unfortunately, not content with expressing his disapproval against the use of these symbols, Rebega willfully exaggerated and distorted facts, accusing DAHR of separatism and of wanting to create “an ethnic enclave on Romanian territory”.

Left: “We are Romanians, we are forever masters here!” (On a Hungarian school in Bucharest) Right: “Out with the Hungarians from the country! Romania [belongs] to Romanians!” (In the historic centre of Cluj-Napoca/Kolozsvár) Such anti-Hungarian inscriptions are sadly quite common

4.1. The responsibility of political leaders in combatting hate speech Unfortunately, not only do political leaders in Romania often fail to condemn expressions of racism, xenophobia and hate speech, but some have themselves promoted negative images of national minorities and other vulnerable groups, going as far as inciting to violence. The Democratic Alliance of Hungarians (DAHR) in Romania held its biyearly congress in 2019, where – among other things – the roughly 1000 delegates of the organisation adopted a resolution, in which they stipulated that the Hungarian flag, the Szekler flag, as well as the Hungarian and the Szekler anthem are the national symbols of the Hungarian community in Romania. This was necessary in light of the increased scrutiny by Romanian authorities in recent years against the use of these flags, as well as against the singing in public of the two anthems, a scrutiny that often resulted in legal action and even fines for the use of the above-mentioned symbols (see chapter 3).

Former prime minister Mihai Tudose: “Everyone is free to sing under the shower, at home, whatever they want. And to have on the walls of their bedroom whatever colours they want. BUT outside their home, this COUNTRY where they, the ethnic Hungarians live, is Romania!!”

Former Romanian president Traian Băsescu, who has been known in recent years to publicly incite hatred against the Hungarian community in Romania, frequently voicing his disapproval against the official use of the Hungarian language, as well as the symbols of the Hungarian minority, has also joined the chorus of

HATE SPEECH AND DISINFORMATION TARGETING THE HUNGARIAN COMMUNITY

indignants following the above described events. He took opposition parties to task for even accepting the invitation of DAHR to take part in the congress, where – according to Băsescu – representatives of DAHR made “unconstitutional, autonomist” statements. Regarding the flags and the anthems that DAHR adopted as being the national symbols of the Hungarian community, the former president said that these measures are “offensive to Romania”. We find it extremely regrettable that the use of the Hungarian community’s national symbols is still met with such animosity and intolerance in Romania today. Even more disconcerting is the fact that the rhetoric employed by the above-cited prominent political leaders is reminiscent of the xenophobic and chauvinist messages and ideas that were rampant within the Romanian political discourse of the ‘90. Following the nationalist backlash, Hunor Kelemen, the president of DAHR, said that the goal of the party was simply to transmit a message to Romanian society, namely that the Hungarian community wants to be allowed to use freely and without the fear of retribution “the symbols which define us, and which are a part of our ethnic and linguistic identity”.

Observations and recommendations: Political leaders, parties and organisations must unequivocally condemn expressions of racism, xenophobia and any other form of hate speech directed against vulnerable groups such as national, ethnic or other minorities. Moreover, denouncing these attitudes is not enough in itself, it should always be followed by immediate, clear and adequate actions on behalf of political groups, especially when the person committing the offense is a member of that specific party/group/organisation. 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, given that political parties have established networks within local communities and usually have the necessary financial and human resources, they 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 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. At the forefront of the nationalistic fearmongering and anti-Hungarian discourse in Romania are often some of the most popular news channels, where politicians, political commentators and journalists frequently voice strongly xenophobic messages targeting the entire Hungarian community of Romania. These talk-shows are fuelled by purposely false and distorted claims regarding the Hungarian minority with the purpose of shocking viewers. In 2019, our organisation filed tens of complaints to the National Audiovisual Council, as well as the National Council for Combatting Discrimination, regarding deeply xenophobic discourse featured on prime-time news shows, like the one hosted by Radu Banciu on B1TV, who has for years voiced strongly anti-Hungarian messages, and who was fined several times by the above-mentioned bodies, and yet remains in his post. Following a political dispute in Parliament in April of 2019, and referring to the leader of the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania, Hunor Kelemen, he said the following: “You only have Hungarian hatred in your soul. Hungarians made a monstrous scandal, as is their style. They have no friends, they are enemies with the Ukrainians, enemies with the Slovaks, enemies with the Serbs, enemies with the Romanians.” In July, referring to the discriminatory practice of introducing Romanian tests as a part of university application for non-Romanian students (detailed in chapter 2.1.4), he initially addressed Csaba Borboly, the president of the Harghita County Council (who questioned the discriminatory practice), after which he once again openly stigmatised the entire Hungarian community, saying: “You are the only ethnicity that cannot speak Romanian even today. Only you are not smart enough to learn this language, even though you live here, you suck this blood and ultimately Romanian money, because we pay you. […] Learn the Romanian language or go home! Wherever they pretend home is…” Although he is by far the most vehement and constant exponent of anti-Hungarian hate speech on national media, Banciu is not the only one. Several TV presenters of another channel, Realitatea TV, also frequently voice deeply concerning instigatory remarks targeting the Hungarian community. One example is Cosmin Gușă, who at the thought of a Hungarian party entering government said the following: “In Romania? In my country? For them [Hungarians] to come and co-govern? To pee on me, here, in Romania?”

HATE SPEECH AND DISINFORMATION TARGETING THE HUNGARIAN COMMUNITY

4.3. Hate speech on social media

Another host on the Realitatea news channel, Denise Rifai, was appalled at the thought of

Anti-Hungarian sentiment and hate speech are almost completely unchecked on social media, which has become a breeding ground for xenophobic rhetoric in recent years. It is quite alarming that, not only average citizens, but political leaders also use social media as a platform to instigate against Hungarians and thus play the so-called Hungarian card in order to obtain political capital (see chapter 4.1). As we have shown throughout this report, incitement to hatred against the Hungarian minority in Romania is still widely present in Romanian society. There has been some improvement, especially compared to the ’90, when hate speech against minorities and especially Hungarians was a mainstay of the Romanian political discourse. Some of these hateful messages have now been relegated to social media.

Banciu often uses fearmongering and instigatory tactics to pit Romanians against the Hungarian community, claiming that Romanians living in Szeklerland, where the majority of the population is Hungarian, “have no rights whatsoever”

Hungarian inscriptions being featured on town halls. “In Romania they wrote in Hungarian? […] In this Romania, where the official language is Romanian? So, they wrote the word ‘Town Hall’ in Hungarian, in the Romanian state?” Aside from openly spreading hate speech on national television, such remarks are doubly damaging, because they fuel intolerance in the majority population, by presenting bilingualism and linguistic rights in general as something that is unnatural and which threatens Romanian identity, the Romanian language and even the state itself.

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.

...

Alarmed at the thought of several thousand Hungarians attending the mass held by Pope Francis in Șumuleu Ciuc/Csíksomlyó, a Facebook blogger with a significant following, and who often writes nationalist messages targeting the Hungarian community, posted the above threatening image, accompanied by the message: “If those responsible won’t take action, then we will!!!”

A school principal in Baia Mare/Nagybánya posted a series of anti-Hungarian messages on her Facebook pagein 2019. In one of these she lamented the existance of kindergarden groups for Hungarian children in her city, while in another she complained about the fact that during one particular school meeting Hungarian teachers talked to each-other in their mother tongue. In this latter post she expressed blatantly xenophobic attacks against the Hungarian minority: “This […] shows an arrogance, which can be seen more and more often in the case of this ethnicity lately. […] Maybe it is because of their ethnic pride, thinking themselves superior in a country in which the language and the nation is Romanian, and which is by far superior to this ethnicity in all aspects, thanks to the fact that the Romanian people have a continuity on these lands for thousands of years.”

HATE SPEECH AND DISINFORMATION TARGETING THE HUNGARIAN COMMUNITY

4.4. Hate speech in sports Racist, xenophobic and nationalist hate speech are quite commonplace during sport events in Romania, especially among football fans, who often display blatantly anti-Hungarian inscriptions and chant xenophobic slogans. Regarding these threatening and verbally violent discourses, the Romanian legislation is rather permissive when it comes to sanctioning the persons responsible for these actions. During the qualifying round for the 2020 European Football Championship, the Romanian national team first played in Norway, Oslo on the 7th of June, followed by a match on the 10th on the Ta’Qali National Stadium in Malta. During both games Romanian fans were continuously shouting anti-Hungarian slogans, even on the TV coverage one could hear for several minutes the sadly familiar chant: “Out with the Hungarians from the country!”

Observations and recommendations: 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.

Nationalist sentiment is rampant among Romanian football fans and is often directed against Hungarians

During the match in Oslo approximately 800 fans took part in this xenophobic action, which had clearly been planned beforehand. The situation is unacceptable in itself, but it is even more worrisome, if we take into consideration that these two matches had no Hungarian connotations, the opposing team was not Hungary, nor were any of the referees Hungarian, and in the qualifying round Romania and Hungary are not even in the same group. Romanian football hooligans

HATE SPEECH AND DISINFORMATION TARGETING THE HUNGARIAN COMMUNITY

regularly display hate speech and instigatory behaviour directed against racial and ethnic minorities, with the Romanian Football Federation being so far unable to address the situation in an effective manner.

HATE SPEECH AND DISINFORMATION TARGETING THE HUNGARIAN COMMUNITY

to the Fare network. Following the above incident, UEFA fined the Romanian Football Federation with 83.000 euros, and ordered a match to be played without spectators. We have also frequently turned to Romanian 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 games. In the last year we wrote 5 letters in total to the Romanian Football Federation and on two occasions to the Professional Football League, which resulted in a symbolic 5000 RON fine to Dinamo București football club, while several other cases are still under review.

“Only Romania, only Dinamo București. No autonomy on Romanian land!” – read this banner during a football match between Dinamo and Sepsi OSK

Given that the supporters of the national football team have manifested anti-Hungarian behaviour on several occasions this year, both at home and abroad, the Mikó Imre Minority Rights Legal Services Assistance has addressed letters regarding the issue to the Romanian Football Federation, as well as FIFA and UEFA, asking for the most severe punishment possible to be applied in the case of the national team. We have also addressed a complaint to the National Council for Combatting Discrimination. “In the hours following the two matches, several dozen Hungarian football fans signalled to us how unacceptable the behaviour of the Romanian fans present at the games had been, and so our organisation has taken the appropriate steps. We stand by our belief that sport should be about fair play” – declared Erika Benkő. Anti-Hungarian hate speech has unfortunately been omnipresent in Romanian football in the past years. In 2019 alone our organisation has filed 5 complaints to FIFA, 6 complaints to UEFA and one

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.

THE ILLEGAL APPROPRIATION OF THE MILITARY CEMETERY IN THE UZ VALLEY

5. THE ILLEGAL APPROPRIATION OF THE MILITARY CEMETERY IN THE UZ VALLEY

The site in question has been the source of discord 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 issue also has a diplomatic dimension, given that in a 2008 government decree signed by both the Hungarian and the Romanian government, they mutually agreed to consult one another before modifying each other’s military cemeteries. The issue sparked huge outrage among the Hungarian community in Romania, for whom the cemetery in Valea Uzului/Úzvölgye is a place of national remembrance.

In April of this year, 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 actually belonging to the jurisdiction of the village of Sânmartin/Csíkszentmárton. Under the guise of “refurbishment”, officials from Dărmănești/Dormánfalva put up numerous crosses made of concrete on the graves, and they have also erected a monument featuring legionary symbols, in memory of the Romanian soldiers that fought in World War II. 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, and yet, no legal action was initiated in the matter.

...

Romanian extremists ripping out the Hungarian wooden crosses from the graves in the military cemetery in Valea Uzului/ Úz-völgye, and replacing them with concrete crosses

The situation got even worse on June 6th, when several thousand Romanian commemorators forcefully broke into the cemetery and attacked the crowd of Hungarian civilians and public personalities from Szeklerland, 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 Romanian group (that included several violent football hooligans) demanded that the cemetery gate be opened, while shouting: “Out with the Hungarians from the country!” As this crowd became more and more angry and unmanageable, the police forces - that were present in order to prevent them from illegally occupying the cemetery - completely lost control over the situation. The Romanian group broke the cemetery gate, smashed several wooden crosses that marked the memory of Hungarian soldiers and hit Hungarians with flagpoles and rods torn from the fence. 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, thus practically leaving the military cemetery to the angry Romanian crowd, who continued to cause damages. 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.

THE ILLEGAL APPROPRIATION OF THE MILITARY CEMETERY IN THE UZ VALLEY

have been brought against the local council or its leader. th On June 24 , the Romanian Ministry of Culture retroactively approved the artistic concept of the illegally erected concrete monument in the cemetery, as well as the 50 concrete crosses put up in memory of the Romanian soldiers allegedly buried there. According to this document the local council of Dărmănești/Dormánfalva asked for the approval of the monument and the crosses on May 27th, that is one month after their construction had been finished.

THE ILLEGAL APPROPRIATION OF THE MILITARY CEMETERY IN THE UZ VALLEY

Both sides have initiated numerous lawsuits in connection with these incidents, suits that are still ongoing. The Mikó Imre Minority Rights Legal Services Assistance asked for the annulment of the permit obtained by the local administration of Dărmănești/Dormánfalva, as well as the local council resolution in which they illegally declared the cemetery to be a part of the public property of their town. Our organisation also filed a formal complaint at the court in Miercurea Ciuc/Csíkszereda concerning the damages caused in the cemetery by the crowds that broke in. We also denounced 3 local and county level officials at the National Anticorruption Directorate for emitting and approving the request of the Dărmănești/Dormánfalva local council to alter the cemetery, as well as Jean-Adrian Andrei, the Harghita county prefect, for not complying with his official duties and for not ensuring a lawful investigation of this case. These lawsuits are ongoing and the situation regarding the ownership of the cemetery is yet to be settled.

Angry Romanian groups breaking into the military cemetery on June 6th. Police forces lost control of the situation, which culminated in violence against the Hungarian protesters peacefully praying at the scene

It is apparent from the plans attached by the local government to their request that beside the small crosses, a bigger one was also erected, one that is clearly designed based on legionary symbols, which are forbidden in Romania. The legionary movement was founded in 1927 and it was banned in 1941. Its members took part in the extermination of Jews and in organising pogroms. Around 350-400 thousand Jews fell victim to their cruelties in Romania. 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. Not only the authorities, but leading political figures of the Romanian community also continue to downplay and even deny the events that took place. In so doing they do not shy away from disinforming the international community regarding the situation of the military cemetery and the illegalities that occurred.

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. Hungarian 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.

The Bay mansion is a typical example of a private property belonging to Hungarian landowners that Romanian authorities refused to return to its rightful owners and is now left to ruin

THE RESTITUTION OF PRIVATE PROPERTY

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. Another woodland that is currently the subject of a lawsuit intended to re-nationalise that said property of 2900 hectares belongs to the Lรกris Commonage in Ojdula/Ozsdola. The lawsuit was

Members of the Lรกris Commonage protesting against the injustice of their forests potentially being re-nationalised

THE RESTITUTION OF PRIVATE PROPERTY

initiated by the Ministry of Finance in 2018 (joined in 2019 by Romsilva), who argue that the restitution of these woods was illegal, as these were not confiscated by the communist regime, but had been appropriated by the Romanian state prior to the communist era, and the owners had been compensated. However, documents presented in court by the Commonage show that the appropriation process had been started, but was never actually finalised. The court case, as most of these cases, is moving slowly, there having been held 3 court hearings until February 2020. In the meantime, the 986 members of the Commonage are deprived of their income, as timber production has been halted since the lawsuit began. It is fearful that this case, as well as another Commonage in Lueta/Lövéte undergoing a similar suit aimed at re-nationalisation, could serve as precedents for other cases to come. Such was the fate of church properties as well: it started with the Székely Mikó High School - formerly returned to its rightful owner, the Reformed Church, then re-nationalised in 2014 -, which was followed by numerous church properties having the same outcome.

The Hungarian community fears that the cases of the Ojdula/Ozsdola and the Lueta/Lövéte Commonage could serve as a precedent and that many more forests could be re-nationalised and taken from the local people

THE RESTITUTION OF PRIVATE PROPERTY

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 THE MIKÓ IMRE MINORITY RIGHTS LEGAL SERVICES ASSISTANCE IN 2019

7. THE ACTIVITY OF THE MIKÓ IMRE MINORITY RIGHTS LEGAL SERVICES ASSISTANCE IN 2019 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 organisations, 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. At the end of 2019 our organisation had 6 ongoing lawsuits, on issues ranging from the use of the Szekler flag on public property, to suits pertaining to procedural illegalities committed during the appropriation of the Uz Valley military cemetery.

Complaints submitted to the National Audiovisual Council

9 3

closed

pending

Last year, we submitted a total of 12 complaints to the National Audiovisual Council, mostly in connection with hate speech featured on various TV networks (see chapter 4.2). Of these, 9 cases have been closed, while 3 are still pending. Complaints from 2019, as well as cases submitted to the Audiovisual Council in previous years and closed last year have resulted in fines totalling up to 120 000 RON.

Complaints submitted to the National Council for Combatting Discrimination

2 20

closed

pending

Our organisation turned to the National Council for Combatting Discrimination on 22 occasions last year. 20 cases are still under review, with only two having been finalised in 2019. These two have resulted in total fines of 25 000 RON.

As anti-Hungarian hate speech displayed during sport events, especially football matches, has increased significantly in the last few years, we have turned to both national and international forums to find adequate solutions in tackling this problem. We filed 5 complaints to the Romanian Football Federation, and two to the Professional Football League. Based on these complaints, Dinamo București was fined with the symbolic sum of 5000 RON, while other cases are still open. We also turned to international organisations, such as FIFA and UEFA, 5 and 6 times, respectively, and on one occasion to the Fare network. Following the incident described in chapter 4.4, UEFA fined the Romanian Football Association with 83 000 euros and ordered a game to be played by the national team without spectators.

Total amount of fines:

National Council for Combatting Discrimination

National Audiovisual Council

25 000 RON

120 000 RON

Sports federations

5000 RON 83 000 EURO

THE ACTIVITY OF THE MIKĂ&#x201C; IMRE MINORITY RIGHTS LEGAL SERVICES ASSISTANCE IN 2019

As part of our commitment to inform the international community regarding the discrimination faced by the Hungarian minority in Romania, in 2019 we attended the most relevant human rightsand minority forums in Europe, such as the UN Forum on Minority Issus in Geneva, as well as its preparatory European Regional Forum in Brussels, and also the annual OSCE Human Dimension Implementation Meeting in Warsaw. Last year, the theme of the UN forums was minority education, while the HDIM minority section focused on empowering minority youth. In light of this, both in our oral and written contributions to these forums we spoke about the need of ensuring for minorities not only education in the mother tongue, but quality education, one that guarantees equal opportunities for majority and minority students. To the OSCE we also submitted written recommendations regarding linguistic rights. Finally, in our newsletters we regularly inform the international community about new cases. In 2019 we sent out 14 newsletters, summarizing a total of 17 cases of either discrimination or hate speech. We attended the 2019 OSCE Human Dimension Implementation Meeting in Warsaw, where we spoke about the severe lack of textbooks affecting Hungarian language education in Romania

At the UN Forum on Minority Issues in Geneva we stressed that a minority language education system is not enough in itself, and that ensuring quality should become a priority in designing education policies

8. Conclusion In the year 2019 there have been quite a few worrisome developments regarding the situation of minority rights in Romania, mostly generated by a systematic resistance on the part of the Romanian state to update these rights, whether we are talking about language rights, education in the mother tongue or others. After years of preparation and following intense discussions in the last two years in particular, the presently valid version of the Administrative Code is deeply unsatisfying when it comes to the use of minority language in the public sphere. Minority-friendly modifications have been rejected so far. This is extremely unfortunate, given that there is considerable room for improvement, ensuring that basic linguistic rights like bilingual inscriptions on public institutions, bilingual street signs, access to public information in minority languages etc., are not blocked by government agencies or the justice system. Despite the adoption of a new national curriculum, which was widely hoped to increase the quality of the minority language education system, the situation got progressively worse in the past few years. The current seventh graders have consistently been studying without proper teaching aids ever since they started school, as they were the first generation to suffer the consequences of an ill-working system that could not manage the changes introduced by the new curriculum fast enough. Moreover, the teaching of the state language to minorities continues to be deficient, which is reflected year after year in the national test results of Hungarian pupils, and which will be a huge disadvantage for them on the labour market later on. Higher education in Hungarian is still not provided by the state in many fields, most notably engineering, while the only university that provides medical training in Hungarian is slowly but surely shrinking its Hungarian line of study. After years of persecution by government agencies and nationalist NGOs, presently all national, regional and local symbols of the Hungarian community in Romania are banned from public spaces. The judiciary unfortunately validates these actions targeting Hungarian symbols, banning their use through court orders and often even giving out hefty fines to Hungarian officials who decide to fight for the symbols of their community. Hate speech and disinformation targeting the Hungarian minority, although relegated to a few nationalist TV shows, social media and sports events, is still a mainstay of everyday life in Romania. TV presenters spreading hateful, xenophobic messages are often fined, but these are symbolic sums at best, while the companies that employ them take no serious actions in the matter. Social media has become a breeding ground for anti-Hungarian rhetoric, with even many well-known

Romanian politicians using their social media pages to voice nationalist views and to turn the majority population against the Hungarian community, by spreading blatantly false information. The illegal appropriation by a nationalist Romanian local administration of the military cemetery in the Uz Valley, an important historic site for the Hungarian community of Transylvania, has sparked arguably the most intense interethnic conflict in Romania since the nineties, and in early June it nearly culminated in brutal violence. The situation remains at a standstill, no official inquiries into the circumstances of the illegal occupation have been conducted, while lawsuits initiated by Hungarian representatives and organisations are still ongoing. As our organisation has signalled repeatedly, rather than moving forward, restitution cases involving private properties confiscated during the communist regime have not only slowed down, but some are actively being reversed. The number of re-nationalised properties is growing each year, and it disproportionately affects the properties of national and religious minorities. 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 Mikรณ 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.

VIOLATION OF LINGUISTIC RIGHTS

NOTES

VIOLATION OF LINGUISTIC RIGHTS