The Roma and minority self-governments in Hungary

Immigrants and Minorities

Volumn 15, Issue 1, 1996, Pages 42-58

  Kovats, Martin ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF PORTSMOUTH   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ETHNIC MINORITY; LEGISLATIVE IMPACT; ROMA PEOPLE; SELF-GOVERNANCE;

HUNGARY;

EID: 0030424243     PISSN: 02619288     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/02619288.1996.9974877     Document Type: Article

References (48)

1. The 13 officially recognized minorities are: Gypsies, Germans, Croats, Slovaks, Romanians, Bulgarians, Greeks, Poles, Armenians, Ruthenes, Serbs, Slovenes and Ukrainians.
2. E. Oltay 'Hungary Passes Law on Minority Rights', Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Research Report, Vol.2, No.33 (20 Aug. 1993), p.58.
3. Of the 21,150 councillors elected to local authorities on 11 December 1994, only 231 were officially registered as Roma, and most of these only received their mandates as a result of the preferential system for minority representation Beszámoló az Országgyiülésnek a helyi önkormányzati képviselök es polgármesterek 1994 évi választásaról [Report to Parliament on the election of local government councillors and mayors] (Budapest, 1995), pp. 1-21, unpublished report.
4. Beszámoló a magyarországi roma (cigany) helyzetével foglalkozó 1993 októbere és 1994 februárja között végzett kutatásról [Report on research carried out into the situation of the Hungarian Roma (Gypsies) between October 1993 and February 1994], Magyar Tudományos Akadémia Szociológiai Intézete [Institute of Sociology of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences] (Budapest, 1994), p.6, unpublished report.
5. E. Ågoston, Hungary - The State of Crisis-Management in the Social Stratum of Unemployed Gypsies, Ministry of Labour (Budapest, 1994) p. 2.
6. Beszámoló a magyarországi . . . op. cit., p.25.
7. Ibid., p.9.
8. In 1994, 72 per cent of the Roma lived in poverty compared with 15 per cent of the non-Roma population. Népszabadság, 13 May 1995.
9. J. Kenedi, 'Why is the Gypsy the scapegoat and not the Jew?', The East European Reporter, Vol. 2, No. 1 (1986), pp. 11-14.
10. A survey carried out in 1994 asked which of the following would you gladly have as a: colleague neighbour friend family member Hungarian German 74% 72% 70% 67% Jew 69% 66% 67% 64% Black African 33% 30% 31% 22% Gypsy 22% 15% 18% 16% J. Lendvay & I. Szabó, 'Zárt karokkal' [With closed arms], Heti Világgazdaság, 29 April 1994, pp. 105-6.
11. Népszabadság, 28 July 1994.
12. C. Tabajdi, 'Pártsemleges (köz)akarat' [Non-party political (public) aspiration], Népszabadság, 21 Nov. 1994.
13. Magyar Nemzet, 20May 1995.
14. The Hungarian word 'önkormányzat, while literally meaning 'self-government', is more commonly used to refer to local government. The Minorities Law discriminates using adjectives, that is 'kisebbségi önkormányzat' = minority self-government, and 'helyi önkormányzat' = local government (county councils are 'megyei önkormányzat').
15. 1993 évi LXXVII törvény a nemzeti és etnikai kisebbségek jogairól [Law LXXVII on the Rights of National and Ethnic Minorities], Magyar Közlöny, 22 July 1993, sec.22 para.1.
16. Ibid.,sec.22para.2.
17. Ibid.,sec.23.
18. Phralipe, No.8, 1994.
19. Minorities Law 1993, sec.23 para.2 (amended). J. Báthory (ed.), Kisebbségi Kodex [Minority Code] (Budapest, 1994), p.20.
20. Minorities Law 1993 Ch. XII. J. Báthory (ed.), A kisebbségek jogai Magyarországon [The Rights of Minorities in Hungary] (Budapest, 1994).
21. Law LXXVII, sec.32.
22. G. Noszkai, 'Örvénybe iktatva' [Into the Maelstrom], Népszabadság, 8 Aug. 1994, p.15.
23. Law LXXVII, sec.26
24. Ibid.,sec.29.
25. Népszabadság, 14 Nov. 1994.
26. Law LXXVII, sec.26.
27. Ibid., sec.38.
28. Ibid., secs 58-64.
29. Noszkai, op. cit.
30. Ibid.
31. Tabajdi, op. cit.
32. M. Blaha, 'Pogram-e a Program' [When is a programme a pogrom?], Amaro Drom, April 1994.
33. It is estimated by Elemér Sánta, formerly president of the Hajdú-Bihar county Cigánytanács [Gypsy Council] and now president of the Cigány Munkások és Vállalkozók Országos Szövetsége [National Alliance of Gypsy Workers and Entrepreneurs], that fewer than 2000 of the 800,000 members of the Hungarian Socialist Workers Party were Roma. Interview with Elemér Sánta, Budapest 4 January 1994.
34. Roma Parlament, Roma Forum, Érdekszövetség [Interest Alliance], Roma Kerekasztal [Roma Roundtable], Roma Érdekegyeztetö Tanác [Roma Conciliation Council].
35. Commenting on the distribution of of state support for minority organisations in 1994, the Pulitzer Prize winning writer, Mr Zsolt Csalog, president of the human rights organization the Raoul Wallenberg Society, argued: The amount allocated to the Roma is truly shameful . . . Those who cosy up to the Government have received money, those who have been critical and tried to achieve something have not. Let's be blunt about it: this money does not go to help self-organization, but on the contrary, to encourage rivalry and is aimed at the manipulation of minority self-organization and, ultimately, its destruction. Amaro Drom, May 1994.
36. I. Vajda 'Minket ne válasszanak külön' [Don't set us apart], Amaro Drom, March 1995. The precise number of Roma who voted for Roma self-governments cannot be known, but clearly the vast majority of those who did vote were not Roma. Almost 900,000 ballots were cast, yet the total Roma electorate is probably not much greater than 200,000 (over half the Roma population is under eighteen). Not all Roma could vote in these elections as they were only held in one-third of the areas where Roma live (but usually where the Roma population is larger). The national turnout in December 1994 was just over forty per cent, however it is not known if more or less Roma went to the polls than the national average.
37. Noszkai, op.cit.
38. Népszabadság, 23 May 1995.
39. Law LXVII, op. cit. sec.59, para. 1.
40. Népszabadság, 18 Oct. 1994.
41. Népszava, 13 Oct. 1994.
42. Népszava, 18 Oct. 1994.
43. National and Ethnic Minorities in Hungary - Government Programme, Office for National and Ethnic Minorities (Budapest, 1994), p.4.
44. Beszámoló az Országgyülésnek. . . op. cit., pp.24-5.
45. Tabajdi, op. cit.
46. Népszabadság, 3 May 1995.
47. 'Nyeröviszonyok' [Winning positions], Beszelö, yearVI, no. 19, 11 May 1995, p.25.
48. Research commissioned by the Government in 1993 found Roma unemployment to exceed 60 per cent compared with a a national average of eleven per cent. Despite a great deal of progress being made in improving the living conditions of the Roma in the 1970s and 1980s, the same report found that the size of accommodation occupied by the Roma is similar to that of the lowest income group in 1985! Thirty-three per cent of Roma households live in one-room accommodation and forty-two per cent in two rooms. It should be noted that Roma families tend to be larger, with a birthrate three times the national average. Beszámoló a magyarországi roma. . . op. cit.