This Response to Information Request on issues affecting Roma in Hungary updates information provided in the March 1998 Research Directorate Issue Paper entitled Roma in Hungary and should be read in conjunction with that paper. Responses to Information Requests HUN29312.E of 28 April 1998, HUN28974.E of 5 March 1998 and HUN28975.E of 5 March 1998 contain related information that may also be of interest to the reader, as does the March 1998 Research Directorate compilation Selected Legal Documentation Pertaining to the Rights of Minorities, Including Roma, in Hungary.

May 1998 Elections and the Formation of a New Government

Hungarian parliamentary elections, held on 10 and 24 May 1998, saw the Socialist government of Gyula Horn defeated by the centre-right Fidesz Hungarian Civic Party (International Herald Tribune 26 May 1998; VOA 24 May 1998; The Globe and Mail 26 May 1998). Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) observers confirmed that the elections "fully complied with the OSCE norms" (MTI 25 May 1998). A new centre-right coalition government, headed by the Fidesz Hungarian Civic Party in an alliance with the Smallholder's Party (Független Kisgazdapárt - FKGP) and the Hungarian Democratic Forum (Magyar Demokrata Fórum - MDF), was sworn in on 8 July 1998 (CEO 9 July 1998). Although several Romani candidates ran in the May 1998 elections, none were able to obtain parliamentary representation (RPC 9 Apr. 1998; ibid., 16 July 1998). Hungary's last parliament had one Romani MP, a member of the then junior coalition partner, the Liberal Alliance of Free Democrats (Szabad Demokraták Szövetsége - SZDSZ) (AFP 17 Mar. 1998).

The far-right Hungarian Justice and Life Party (MIEP) cleared the requisite 5 per cent electoral threshold, winning 5.55 per cent of the popular national vote and obtaining 14 seats in Parliament (CEO 28 May 1998; AFP 13 May 1998; The Globe and Mail 26 May 1998). In the 1994 elections the MIEP secured only 1.4 per cent of the popular vote (AFP 13 May 1998). The ranks of the MIEP allegedly include skinheads, "far-right republicans, nationalists and neo-nazis" (CEO 26 May 1998; ibid., 10 July 1998). Known for its anti-Semitic and anti-Roma views, the MIEP is opposed to Hungary's membership in NATO and the EU and "under the ultra-nationalist slogan 'Hungary for the Hungarians,' it advocates restoring Hungary's borders to the state of before the Trianon [post World War I] peace treaties" (AFP 13 May 1998; CEO 26 May 1998; The Globe and Mail 26 May 1998). Hungarian politicians and Romani and Jewish leaders have expressed concern over the MIEP's electoral victory and AFP reports the MIEP's success has "sparked fears of nationalist and racial bigotry and charges that it may discredit the country's new democracy" (AFP 13 May 1998; The Globe and Mail 26 May 1998; Kossuth Radio 19 May 1998; RFE/RL 18 May 1998). Hungarian Jewish leaders now "fear an extremist position may become an acceptable level of political discourse" (The Globe and Mail 26 May 1998).
A 15 June 1998 Constitutional Court decision permits the MIEP to form a parliamentary caucus despite a 1990 Parliamentary regulation that stipulated parties must have at least 15 seats before being able to do so (CEO 16 May 1998; ibid., 18 May 1998; MTI 15 June 1998). The Constitutional Court ruling enables MIEP members to be elected to parliamentary committees and gives them the opportunity to wield greater influence in Parliament (CEO 16 June 1998; MTI 15 June 1998

).

At the inauguration of Hungary's new parliament, Hungarian President Arpad Goncz stated that "finding a solution for the deprivation and exclusion of our Gypsy citizens ... has become a serious problem for the entire society" (MTV 18 June 1998). Addressing the Parliamentary Committee for Human Rights, Minorities and Religious Affairs a few days before being appointed Interior Minister, Sandor Pinter affirmed that "it [is] important to continue dialogue between the authorities and the Gypsy community, but the elimination of mutual prejudices can only be the result of a longer process" (MTI 30 June 1998).

Responding to the government's new programme, published in late June 1998, sociologist and researcher of national minorities Peter Rado found "concrete measures fundamentally missing from the programme's chapter on national minorities.... There is no new element in this compared to the past" (Magyar Hirlap 30 June 1998). The government's programme includes a plan to transfer control over minority education and cultural institutions to minority self-governments (ibid.). Éva Hegyesi Orsós, chairperson of the Office for National and Ethnic Minorities, said that minority education and cultural institutions should only be transferred if sufficient financial resources are also concurrently transferred to the self-governments (ibid.). Peter Rado also expressed concern over the proposal (ibid.). Csaba Tabajdi, the former state secretary for minority affairs, "expressed concern over the programme of the new government coalition. [He] said that it was a step backwards in terms of the political autonomy of minorities in the country because it listed Romanies not as a minority group but as one of the groups of socially disadvantaged people in Hungary" (Hungarian Radio 1 July 1998). A copy of the government's programme was not available to the Research Directorate at the time of writing this report.

Education Issues

In March 1998, Parliamentary Ombudsman for National and Ethnic Minority Rights, Jenõ Kaltenbach, released a report critical of the state of minority education in Hungary (MTI 3 Mar. 1998; Roma Rights Winter 1998a, 6; RPC 3 June 1998; Hungarian Radio 2 Mar. 1998). Mr. Kaltenbach labeled minority education in Hungary "professionally chaotic and legally hazy", condemned irregularities in the supply of minority language texts and raised concerns over the "frequent abuse of the money allocated for minority education" (Roma Rights Winter 1998a, 6; RPC 3 June 1998). The Ombudsman also stated that he was not satisfied with the progress of the government's July 1997 medium term package aimed at improving Romani living conditions (please see section 2.6 of the March 1998 Roma in Hungary Issue Paper for further information on the package) (ibid.). According to the Ombudsman, "one of its most important shortcomings is that it provides no adequate financial background for its passages on education" (ibid.; see also Hungarian Radio 2 Mar. 1998). Peter Rado noted that the new programme of the coalition government "forgot about the medium-term Gypsy action plan that should definitely have been mentioned either as something to be continued or to be placed on new foundations" (Magyar Hirlap 30 June 1998).

In a March 1998 press conference organized in reaction to the release of the Ombudman's report, the Deputy State Secretary of Education stated that the government's budget will allocate 400 million Hungarian Forints (Ft) (approximately Cdn$2,740,000) to assist in the publication of minority language textbooks (MTI 3 Mar. 1998). Ft24,000 (Cdn$164.40) was to be allocated "per student for the education of Gypsy pupils to help them catch up academically, and Ft7,600 (Cdn$52.06) as extra assistance for primary school day care" (ibid.). The Deputy Secretary also stated that financial assistance to schools teaching or using minority languages had "also increased significantly" (ibid.).

In addition to information on vocational programmes and schools designed for Romani children the attached Hungarian government critique provides comment on figures related to Romani school attendance.

Intolerance and Legal Developments

A number of public establishments in the south-eastern town of Békéscsaba reportedly deny entrance to Romani patrons (Roma Rights Spring 1998a). The town's police chief stated during a meeting on the issue that "although discrimination against Roma is against the law, the police cannot force the owners to serve Roma customers" (ibid.). According to Roma Rights, legal rights activists claim police do have the ability to act in these cases (ibid.). The local Romani self-government in the town had stated that it might initiate legal proceedings over the alleged cases of discrimination (ibid.).

The house of a Romani family in north-eastern Hungary was burned down in an arson attack in March 1998 (RPC 16 Mar. 1998). The town's mayor gave approximately DM200 in emergency aid to the family and provided them with clothing and emergency accommodation (ibid.). By 8 June 1998 police had still not identified those responsible for the attack (Roma Rights Spring 1998b).

By 31 July 1998 local officials in the town of Zámoly, in western Hungary, planned to force ten Romani families to leave the town's cultural centre, where they had been living since October 1997 (RPC 29 Apr. 1998). The local government had moved the families to the centre when their accommodation became uninhabitable (ibid.). Local authorities reportedly do not intend to assist the families in finding new accommodation (ibid.). Ms. Éva Hegyesi Orsós has asked the county administrative office to investigate the local government's decision (ibid.). Ms. Hegyesi Orsós believes "the problem can only be solved through continuous negotiations with the families involved. The decision of the local government may be illegal, as it cannot be reconciled with the social and child protection laws" (ibid.). Information on further developments to this case was not available at the time of publication.

On 11 May 1998 a 19 year old man was sentenced to "ten months in prison, suspended for two years" for attacking and breaking the nose of a young man who the accused believed was of Jewish origin (RPC 21 Apr. 1998; IHF June 1998, 111). The Heves County Court decision, which is final, "is the first judgement in Hungary based on Paragraph 174/b of the Criminal Code, which terms violence against a member of a national, ethnic, racial or religious group a crime" (ibid.; IHF June 1998, 111). See section 3.5 of the March 1998 Roma in Hungary Issue Paper for further information on the 1996 modification of Paragraph 174/b of the Hungarian Criminal Code.

Seven skinheads were found guilty of vandalism and violence in June 1998 after beating up a Romani boy in the summer of 1995 (RPC 9 June 1998). Six of the defendants were sentenced to one year probation, the seventh was given a six month jail sentence and one year probation (ibid.). The judge in the case stated that if the crimes had been committed after the 1996 modifications to paragraph 174/b of the Criminal Code the sentence would have been harsher (ibid.).

Also in June 1998 a first instance court sentenced a man from Sajokaza in Borsod County to ten years imprisonment for installing a lethal electric fence around his property (RPC 4 June 1998). The fence caused the death of a young Romani boy in July 1997 (ibid.). The court found the man "guilty of manslaughter and attempted homicide on several people.... The judge reasoned, that the use of the 'electric shepherd' cannot be regarded as negligence, but attempted multiple manslaughter" (ibid.). The defendant, who is appealing the court's decision, did not put up warning signs around his property (ibid.).

Roma Rights reported that according to a sociological study published in a Hungarian daily in March 1998 ten per cent of all police officers in Hungary are "explicitly racist" (Spring 1998c). Over 80 per cent of the 1,530 police officers surveyed consider Roma violent and 54 per cent believe crime is an essential element of the Romani identity (ibid.). Of those surveyed 78 per cent believe there is a link between race and criminal activity (ibid.). Please see the Spring edition of Roma Rights, available at the Ottawa Documentation Centre and on the Internet at www.errc.com, for further information on this police survey.

According to media reports published in January 1998, approximately half of all Hungarians surveyed in a recent poll admit they do not like Roma (Roma Rights Winter 1998b, 10; AFP 16 Jan. 1998). Approximately 33 per cent of Hungarians would like to curb the immigration of "coloured" immigrants and 13 per cent admit to being anti-Semitic (ibid.).

In early 1998 Ombudsman for National and Ethnic Minority Rights, Jenõ Kaltenbach, released a report to the Hungarian parliament "detailing 352 cases of abuse 'the majority of which concern Roma'" (Roma Rights Spring 1998c). In an April 1998 interview with a Hungarian daily the Ombudsman stated that intolerance toward minorities had grown in 1997, as had the severity of the cases (MTI 20 Apr. 1998). Kaltenbach also noted that a similar increase in extremist incidents can be seen across Europe (ibid.).

The International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF) 1998 report states that "discrimination against Roma and continuing police brutality" were among the chief human rights problems in Hungary in 1997 and early 1998 (June 1998, 106). The IHF annual report also stated that in 1997 "hostility towards Roma among [the] non-Roma population was on the increase and the tendency to segregation was supported by local self-governments, often openly" (ibid.). Please see the IHF 1998 annual report available at the Toronto and Ottawa Documentation Centres for further details.

Hungarian Government Critique of the Issue Paper Roma in Hungary

The Hungarian Government's Office for National and Ethnic Minorities prepared a critique of the Research Directorate's March 1998 Issue Paper Roma in Hungary. The four-page critique, which is electronically attached to this Response, provides general and specific comments on the research style, contents and terminology of the March 1998 paper. The critique provides information on and clarification of the role and effectiveness of local Romani self-governments and the situation of Romani children in the education system. The critique's annex outlines the mandates and goals of vocational training programmes and schools designed specifically for Romani children.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.

References

Agence France Presse (AFP). 13 May 1998. Eszter Szamado. "MIEP's Election Success Sparks Fears of 'Racial Bigotry'." (FBIS-EEU-98-133 14 May 1998/WNC).

_____. 17 March 1998. Eszter Szamado. "Hungary's Minorities Fight for Voice." (NEXIS)

_____. 16 January 1998. "One in Two Hungarians Don't Like Gypsies: Poll." (NEXIS)

Central Europe Online (CEO). 10 July 1998. "Right-Wing Parties in Hungary Come from Behind in '98 Elections." [Internet] www.centraleurope.com [Accessed 15 July 1998]

_____. 9 July 1998. Reuters. "Hungary's Parliament Swears in New Government." [Internet] www.centraleurope.com [Accessed 15 July 1998]

_____. 16 June 1998. Reuters. "Far-Right Hungarian Party Allowed to Form Caucus." [Internet] www.centraleurope.com [Accessed 16 June 1998]

_____. 28 May 1998. Reuters. "Hungarian Rightists Seek More Recognition." [Internet] www.centraleurope.com [Accessed 29 May 1998]

_____. 26 May 1998. "The Hungarian Justice and Life Party (MIEP)." [Internet] www.centraleurope.com [Accessed 29 May 1998]

The Globe and Mail [Toronto]. 17 July 1998. "Foreign Exchange."

_____. 26 May 1998. "Stock Market Falls After Hungarian Vote."

Hungarian Radio [Budapest, in Hungarian]. 1 July 1998. "Former Minorities Chief Slams New Government's Policy on Romanies." (BBC Summary 3 July 1998/NEXIS)

_____. 2 March 1998. "Ombudsman: Minority Education Discriminates Against Romanies." (BBC Summary 4 Mar. 1998/NEXIS)

International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF). June 1998. Annual Report 1998: Human Rights Developments in 1997. Vienna: IHF.

International Herald Tribune [Paris]. 26 May 1998. Christine Spolar. "Ex-Dissident to Lead Hungary in a Shift to the Right." (NEXIS)

Kossuth Radio [Budapest, in Hungarian]. 19 May 1998. "Hungary: Romany Bodies in Hungary Divided Over Election Support." (FBIS-EEU-98-140 21 May 1998/WNC)

Magyar Hirlap [Budapest, in Hungarian]. 30 June 1998. "Hungary: Opposition Criticizes Government Program." (FBIS-EEU-98-181 1 July 1998/WNC)

MTI [Budapest, in English]. 30 June 1998. "Hungary: Ministerial Candidates Brief Parliament Committees." (FBIS-EEU-98-181 2 July 1998/WNC)

_____. 15 June 1998. "Hungary: Court Decides MIEP Can Set up Parliamentary Group." (FBIS-EEU-98-167 17 June 1998/WNC)

_____. 25 May 1998. "Hungary: Observers Confirm Elections Complied with OSCE Norms." (FBIS-EEU-98-145 27 May 1998/WNC)

_____. 3 March 1998. "Hungary: Ministry to Support Minority Education in Hungary." (FBIS-EEU-98-063 7 Mar. 1998/WNC)

MTV Television Network [Budapest, in Hungarian]. 18 June 1998. "Hungary: Goncz Addresses Inaugural Session of Parliament." (FBIS-EEU-98-169 18 June 1998/WNC)

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) Newsline [Prague]. 18 May 1998. "Hungary's Major Parties Concerned About Far-Right Gains." [Internet] www.rferl.org [Accessed 21 July 1998]

Roma Press Centre (RPC). 9 June 1998. "Seven Skinheads Sentenced." [Internet] www.romapage.c3.hu [Accessed 15 July 1998]

_____. 4 June 1998. "Land Owner Sentenced to Ten Years Imprisonment for Homicide." [Internet] www.romapage.c3.hu [Accessed 15 July 1998]

_____. 3 June 1998. "The Ombudsman of Minorities Not Satisfied with the Realisation of the Government's Roma Program." [Internet] www.romapage.c3.hu [Accessed 15 July 1998]

_____. 29 April 1998. Margit Horváth and Mária Varga. "Local Government in Zámoly Refuses to Help Roma." [Internet] www.romapage.c3.hu[Accessed 15 July 1998]

_____. 21 April 1998. "Valid Verdict for the Felony of Violence Against Member of a Racial Group." [Internet] www.romapage.c3.hu [Accessed 15 July 1998]

_____. 9 April 1998. Zsolt Zádori. "Romani Candidates on Election Lists." [Internet] www.romapage.c3.hu [Accessed 15 July 1998]

_____. 16 March 1998. Margit Horváth. "Ethnic Conflict or Damaging." [Internet] www.romapage.c3.hu [Accessed 15 July 1998]

Roma Rights: Newsletter of the European Roma Rights Centre [Budapest]. Spring 1998a. "Snapshots From Around Europe: Disco Lock-Outs in Hungary." [Internet] www.errc.com [Accessed 25 June 1998]

_____. Spring 1998b. "Snapshots From Around Europe: Arson Attack on Romani House in Csolnok, Hungary." [Internet] www.errc.com [Accessed 25 June 1998]

_____. Spring 1998c. "Snapshots From Around Europe: Reports on Public Attitudes About Roma in Hungary" [Internet] www.errc.com [Accessed 25 June 1998]

_____. Winter 1998a. "Snapshots From Around Europe: Ombudsman Criticises Education Policy for Hungary's Ethnic Minorities."

_____. Winter 1998b. "Snapshots From Around Europe: State of the Nation: Half of Hungary Averse to Roma, Abuses On-Going."

Voice of America (VOA). 24 May 1998. Stefan Bos. "Hungary/Elections." [Internet] gopher://gopher.voa.gov [Accessed 29 May 1998]

Attachment
Office for National and Ethnic Minorities [Budapest]. Nd.

Comments on the Research Paper on Roma in Hungary Compiled by the Research Directorate of the Immigration and Refugee Board Ottawa, Canada, March 1998.