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Add to Preferred SourcesThe Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities has urged the Romanian authorities to step up their efforts to combat discrimination, against the Roma in particular, and to improve the protection of national minorities in a number of areas.
In a new Opinion assessing the progress made since 2011 published today, the committee acknowledges the authorities´ efforts to promote minority cultures and education, as well as to ensure that national minorities are represented in parliament. However, it also highlights a number of issues where immediate action is needed.
Romania should create a consolidated and coherent legal framework for the protection of minority rights, since the current legislation in force regulates different aspects, but is disjointed, full of grey zones and open to contradictory interpretation. The draft law on the status of national minorities, proposed in parliament more than ten years ago, has not yet been adopted.
Prejudice against the Roma remains a matter of considerable concern. Despite the resolute stance of the National Council for Combating Discrimination, the court rulings and statements from the authorities, racist incidents continue to be reported. Intolerant language which used to be restricted to extreme right political parties has entered the mainstream political discourse, in particular at local level.
The Committee urges the authorities to act swiftly to prevent, investigate and prosecute offences committed with racial or xenophobic motive, and to take a robust stance against discriminatory language in political discourse.
Furthermore, it regrets that the revised strategy for the integration of the Roma minority does not identify sources of funding nor contains mechanisms to ensure its implementation. Roma continue to suffer discrimination in access to housing, employment, healthcare and education.
In spite of the authorities’ efforts to eradicate it, Roma segregation at schools is still reported. According to different surveys, 22% of Roma children do not attend school and Roma constitute 70% of school dropouts. Evictions of Roma have continued without adequate alternative housing being proposed.
With regard to political representation, the Committee notes that the 2015 electoral law which provides for the election of one representative of each national minority on a preferential basis, does not create favourable conditions for free and fair competition between national minority organisations.
Finally, the opinion welcomes that public radio and television channels continue to broadcast a wide arrange of programmes for or about national minorities.
In Romania, the national minorities which benefit from measures to promote and protect the rights of persons belonging to national minorities are those represented in the Council of National Minorities. These are currently twenty: Albanians, Armenians, Bulgarians, Croats, Czechs, Germans, Greeks, Hungarians, Italians, Jews, Macedonians, Poles, Roma, Russian-Lipovans, Ruthenians, Serbs, Slovaks, Tatars, Turks, Ukrainians.
Original source: CoE
Published on 21 February 2018