Commission Report 2002 (Hungary)

Minority rights and the protection of minorities

The Law on the Hungarian Minorities living in Neighbouring Countries (``status law'') entered into force in January 2002 and created some political concern in the region, notably in Slovakia and Romania. The law was designed to foster the position of the Hungarian minorities abroad and granted them, on the basis of registration, in Hungary, certain rights and privileges in the areas of education and culture. Following the recommendations of the Council of Europe`s Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission) on the roles and tasks of kin-states and home-states in minority protection, Hungary adopted in December 2001 and January 2002 legislation implementing the status law, which is broadly compatible with these recommendations. As agreed in a Memorandum of Understanding between Hungary and Romania, the law should have been revised in certain points in June 2002, but no progress can be reported in this respect. As regards Slovakia an agreement on the application of the law is still pending. Hungary committed itself to repeal before accession any provision which would not be compatible with EC law (see Chapter 27 - Common Foreign and Security Policy).

Hungary has a well-developed institutional framework protecting the interests of its minorities and promoting their cultural and educational autonomy. The Office for National and Ethnic Minorities, established in 1990, is in charge of developing a policy framework for minority issues.

The 1993 Law on Representation of National and Ethnic Minorities enabled minorities to choose their representatives at the level of self-governments with considerable power, through which they could voice demands and make proposals. Two elections have been held since 1993 within this framework and there has been a significant increase in the number of self-governments established, of which there are currently 3 158.

The Ombudsman for the Rights of National and Ethnic Minorities monitors the implementation of minority rights and investigates complaints of violations. In 2001, some 453 new cases (431 in 2000) were registered at the Office of the Ombudsman, of which 292 (291 in 2000) affected the Roma Community. Most cases targeted the activities of local governments (118), police (49) and courts (31). Around two thirds of these cases were followed-up by the Ombudsman.

In June 2002 the Prime Minister`s Office became responsible for National and Ethnic Minorities; a political State Secretary is in particular in charge of Roma related issues, which were separated from minority affairs in general. Within the Ministries of Education and Employment and Labour, Ministerial Commissioners in charge of Roma affairs had been appointed.

In addition, a Roma co-Ordination Council had been set up. The Council is a consultative body headed by the Prime Minister and responsible for steering the development of a new Roma policy. It is assisted by the secretariat of the political State Secretary for Roma affairs in performing its tasks.

Furthermore, the monitoring system was strengthened and the concerned Ministries were requested to provide sytematic data on the implementation of the medium-term programme.

There are 13 recognised minorities in Hungary.

Amongst those, it is the Roma community that is most seriously affected by social inequalities: around 70% of Roma of working age are at present unemployed. Only 33% of Roma children start secondary education (compared to 90% of non-Roma children) and the percentage of Roma with higher education is small (scarcely 1% of the total). Housing conditions are very poor for a large proportion of Roma and often do not meet the most basic health and safety requirements. Recent health surveys confirmed a life expectancy for Roma of 15 years below the Hungarian average.

Despite the efforts of the Government to address the situation through the continued implementation of the 1999 medium-term programme for the social integration of the Roma, members of the Roma community continued to suffer from widespread discrimination in education, employment, the criminal justice system and access to public services, health in particular.

The implementation of the 1999 medium-term programme has further progressed, but slowly, due to ineffective planning and lack of proper co-ordination between the Ministries involved. Support measures mainly focused on the areas of education, employment, social policy, legal protection and culture. Certain forms of assistance were targeted specifically at the Roma while some other resources were made available in general to persons belonging to national or ethnic minorities or concentrated on economically/socially disadvantaged groups. However, the programme itself does not provide a detailed strategy for addressing the problems specified.

The total amount of Government resources that was made available for actions benefiting mainly the Roma increased from around EUR 18 mio in 1998 to around EUR 38 mio in 2001. The budgeted figure for 2002 is EUR 49 mio, representing a 15% increase (9% in real terms).

So far, some results within the medium-term programme have been achieved in the areas of education, employment and health. Some positive developments can be noted also within the judicial system.

In the area of education, measures undertaken include the provision of scholarships (12 500 in 2002 as 7 580 in 2001), the construction of student dormitories and support for vocational education programmes and certain pilot projects such as the Ghandi Secondary School. Specific educational and teaching materials for Roma education have been prepared and are being used as of the 2002/03 school year. However, the measures do not address the frequent transfer of Roma children out of the mainstream system into special education facilities. According to estimates there are still around 150 schools in Hungary where special Roma classes are maintained.

Employment initiatives generally focused on public work schemes. At local level, the Roma self-government concluded agreements with labour centres, creating increased access to these facilities for Roma. Employment perspectives within this initiative are however limited to the short- or medium-term.

In the area of health, the National Health Programme, as part of the economic development plan (Széchenyi Plan), provides targeted support to Roma on drug prevention and health development, and provides nursing care where needed.

Within the judicial system the overall attitude towards Roma has slightly improved during recent years and courts have started to sentence perpetrators of racially-motivated crimes against Roma, according material compensation for injuries and ordering apologies.

Persons belonging to national and ethnic minorities may receive legal assistance free of charge through a special anti-Discrimination Network of legal aid offices set up by the Ministry of Justice in co-operation with the National Roma self-government and the Office for National and Ethnic Minorities. The Network, established in late 2001, offers free counsel and representation to individuals claiming discrimination. Between October and December 2001, the Network had handled some 200 cases, of which 140 could be closed. Most of the cases related to housing (43), criminal law (32), social issues (26) and employment (20). However, the operation of this Network is rather restrictive and covers only issues related to discrimination against persons belonging to national and ethnic minorities. Furthermore, the fact that this system does not cover the costs of the legal proceedings, which must be paid by the plaintiff if the case is not upheld, acts as a disincentive.

On the whole, the Hungarian Government has continued to make efforts to address the situation of the Roma minority. In this respect the medium-term programme offered a good basis, yet continued efforts, including efforts to tackle the specific problem of discrimination, are necessary to achieve positive changes in the situation of the Roma. Roma policy is not well integrated into general social development strategies and exists as a separate and parallel project. In this respect the long-term strategy proposed by the Government in summer 2001 would have been a further step in the right direction; however, it had not yet been adopted. The Government is currently revising its Roma policy and the forthcoming adoption of a new comprehensive anti-discrimination law will be a major step forward in this regard.

As reported in previous years, Hungary is a party to the Council of Europe Framework Convention on National Minorities. The Resolutionadopted by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on the basis of the opinion on Hungary by the Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention largely endorsed the above assessment.

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