The work by Antal Örkény and István Vári discusses the challenges of studying the Roma minority in Hungary by presenting a framework regarding its social integration, chances for equal opportunities, poverty, criminalisation as well as stigmatisation.
The essay of András Sajó explores the relation of human rights and reason and emotion on the example of the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen 1789. He shows that - contrary to received wisdom, and despite the 'cult of reason' so typical of French political thought - the Declaration is largely the result of conflicting collective sentiments of the day; it was chaos, passion, and fear which could secure a strong foundation of constitutionalism and human rights, not the 'light of reason'.
Ernő Kállai, the Ombudsman on National and Ethnic Minorities was interviewed by Szilvia Varró on his work and his Roma origin.
The Forum deals with human rights issues of the Hungarian Roma minority. The authors were asked by the editorial board to express their opinion on the following questions. Already the definition of Roma minority, the answer to the question 'who is a Roma?' is widely debated. This is partly the source for the dilemmas relating to self-government and representation - including parliamentary representation - of Roma, and the ways in which such representation can be secured. The problems of the Roma minority as a social minority, i.e. how to reduce their social declassation and segregation are a very serious challenge for not only politics, but also to legal regulation. A closely connected subject is the question of prospects of Roma on the labour market and in the education. Further pieces deal with the causes of majority prejudices against Roma, and the possibilities of reducing them. The elimination of discrimination against Roma, and the positive measures necessary to ensure equality of chances require on the one hand appropriate legal regulation and proper application of laws, keeping in mind that behind different solutions one can always track different political alternatives. In general, the experts of each mentioned subject were asked to reflect on how the increasing exclusion or even ostracism experienced by the Roma can be inhibited, and what perspectives for their integration can be seen. Compared to this question, the currently dominant theme of public discourse, notably, the problem of the intensifying hate speech against Roma - and ways of legislative, or, constitutional amendments, or the renewed effort in properly applying existing laws which would counter it - seems secondary, even if not insignificant.
We present summaries of the latest decisions of the European Court of Human Rights, of the Hungarian Constitutional Court, and a decision of the German Federal Constitutional Court on the ban of an animal rights campaign which compares the suffering of animals to that of the victims of the Holocaust.
On February 23, 2009 a Molotov cocktail attack and a double murder occurred in Tatárszentgyörgy, killing a Roma father and his child, leaving relatives injured and frightened, and burning out a house. Three non-governmental human rights organizations - the Office for the Protection of the Rights of National and Ethnic Minorities (NEKI), the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (TASZ) and the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) - undertook a field study, investigating how public authorities (police, fire department, and medical staff) dealt with the case because some circumstances indicated possible illegal omissions on their part. The report published here affirmed those possibilities, and found several irregularities which the authorities have barely (or secretly) investigated, communicated, let alone remedied. ■
Visszaugrás
