Task 1:
Romanian Perspective

1. In the Romanian society there is a high amount of minorities that still generate an important debate for the public and the political sphere. The fall of the communism, brought to our attention the lack of a sustainable program, up to that date, to integrate the minorities within the boundaries of the country. Years after, the situation seems to get worse as the Anti- Semitism, which emerged as an aftermath of the old regime intensified, fueled by economic and political factors. The various minority groups historically have faced ethnic and religious intolerance, and since the mid-nineteenth century, constantly have voiced their dissatisfaction with the nationalist policies traditionally practiced by local authorities.

2. The main focus regarding the minorities falls on the hungarian and roma ethnics as they represent roughly 9% of the people living in Romania. Therefore, most of the governmental effort (not efficient!), go to fulfill the needs of the above mentioned minorities. The possibilities, for most of the minorities relies mostly on their own effort. So to say, it’s most likely a local initiative that grants the minorities the access to culture or to social interest. The-twenty-years-old freedoms of speech and expression facilitated the emergence of national minorities from the repression of the old regime, having now, theoretically, the same possibilities.

3. Having a background characterized both by incompetence in the relation with minorities and the weight of the communism, the society feels the need to learn how to deal with minorities. The important aspect that we would like to underline would be the following, being the core of this issue: minority as the perpetuum troublesome for the Romanian decision-making. The various minority groups historically have faced ethnic and religious intolerance, and since the mid-nineteenth century, constantly have voiced their dissatisfaction with the nationalist policies traditionally practiced by local authorities.

4. There are so many sensitive points in the matter of the minorities in Romania. First, there is, after the emergence of the Hungarian minority, the dispute over the extensive authonomy for the areas populated largely by these ethnics. In the same time, the programs implemented by the leaders of the Hungarian Party try to create a barrier between Romanian and Hungarian ethnics. Politically, for no logic reason, they try to break the mutual understanding that we can encounter in these areas.

On the other hand, the main focus now on the Roma minority as it disrupts the internal affairs of the European Union. Most of the national programs step forward and try to express the support for these people. Most of them are completely useless. In the end, there are indeed some profit based-on campaigns that perform some mercenary work as delivering a training that a person cannot even digest.

5. Several projects regarding minorities’ rights have been implemented, among which we should mention the project organized in 2011 by the Open Society Institute. It was a European Monitoring and Advocacy Program entitled Equal Access to Quality Education for Roma, through which the Gypsies’ conditions have been monitored. The project extended over 8 countries from Central and Eastern Europe and several reports have been made to analyze different laws and politics for minority populations.

Another project regarded women’s professional status. ’Empowering Women Belonging to Ethnic Minorities’ was organized in Bucharest in 2009 by “CNSLR-Fraţia” and financed by the Netherlands Embassy. The leadership program was made up of 4 training modules and addressed a number of 20 women. Its main purpose was to develop participants’ knowledge and skills to sustain Gypsies’ problems on the labour market.

‘The Decade of Roma Inclusion’ Program  is an initiative of the World Bank and of the Open Society Institute, in which 9 Governments from Central and South-Eastern Europe take part and which has established to fight against the discrimination of Gypsies and to speed their integration as full-fledged European citizens.

6. Minorities’ rights protection is assured on the Romanian territory by several instruments such as, The Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities adopted on the 1^st of February 1995 in Strasbourg,  The European Charter form Regional or Minority Languages, The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 16, 1966, and in force from March 23, 1976 and the Document of the Copenhagen Meeting of the Conference on the Human Dimension of the CSCE from 1990.

7. Among the institutions created for the ethnic population’s rights, we could mention The Romanian Agency for Guidance and Assistance of Minorities and Under-Privileged People or the National Minority Council.