Observation (CEACR) - adopted 1999, published 88th ILC session (2000)

1. The Committee notes the detailed information contained in the Government's report and the attached documentation. It also notes with interest that a new Labour Code is being drafted which will eliminate the inconsistencies between national legislation and international standards as regards equality. The Committee requests the Government to keep it informed of any developments in this regard.

2. Further to its previous observation, the Committee notes with interest the adoption by Parliament of the Emergency Ordinance No. 36/1997, amending and supplementing a number of provisions of the 1995 Education Act concerning equal access of national minorities to vocational training and education. The Committee notes that section 123(2) provides for the right of national minorities to constitute and administer their own private institutions, and requests the Government to indicate whether any such institutions have been established. Please also provide information on the general application of the Emergency Ordinance No. 36/1997, as amended.

3. While noting an overall increase in the number of minority language students attending vocational training, apprenticeship and post-secondary institutions, the Committee notes that they continue to be disproportionately under-represented in relation to their number in the general population (7,172 minority language students out of a total of 333,539 students, and those being only Hungarian- and German-speaking students), accounting for approximately 2.2 per cent of the total student body at the technical level. In its previous observation, the Committee had already noted this proportional imbalance in the education and training of minorities and had recalled that, while inequalities in access to vocational training and education rarely originate in legislative provisions that are directly discriminatory, indirect discrimination might arise out of practices based on stereotypes relating to minority groups and myths concerning their educational abilities. It had requested the Government to undertake studies into the educational opportunities available to minority groups and to assess how the 1997 amendments to the Education Act enhance the opportunities for their access to higher and technical education, which in turn lead to better jobs. The Committee also requested the Government to inform it of any positive action measures taken to encourage members of national minorities to avail themselves of the possibilities of mother-tongue education introduced in the 1995 Education Act. The Committee notes that the Government's report does not give any reply to these requests. It notes, however, from the Government's fifteenth periodic report to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD/C/363/Add.1, 17 May 1999) that the Ministry of Labour and Social Security has devised a special programme of vocational guidance, which is operated by the local employment and social security offices through agents of the Rom. The Committee requests the Government to provide, in its next report, detailed information on this programme as well as its impact on the access of the Rom to educational opportunities. The Committee trusts that the Government's next report will also contain the information already requested regarding any other action, including research, undertaken to increase the educational opportunities of national minorities.

4. With regard to access to employment and particular occupations, the Committee notes from 1998 data provided by the Government on occupations held by the economically active population, that the number of Hungarian speakers holding management and executive, administrative and economic posts increased, so that Hungarian speakers occupied 7 per cent of such posts. There are no longer any Rom holding high-level posts, whereas 0.7 per cent of such posts were occupied by Rom in 1996). The data also confirms the trend noted in the previous observation that the highest proportion of Hungarian speakers and Rom are found in the agriculture sector. The Committee further notes the 1988 statistical data on the employment and unemployment rates of men and women who are ethnic Hungarians and Rom, which indicate that the employment rate of women belonging to these groups is lower than for men, and that the unemployment rate for Hungarian-speaking minorities increased from 4.5 per cent in 1997 (with 4.7 per cent for men and 4.3 per cent for women) to 5.4 per cent in 1998 (with 5.6 per cent for men and 5.1 per cent for women). The data also show that the unemployment rate for the Rom is particularly high, amounting to 13.8 per cent in 1997-98 (with 13.2 per cent for men and more than 14 per cent for women). The Committee takes note that these statistics are disaggregated by sex and encourages the Government to continue to provide such data in future reports.

5. In its previous observation, the Committee noted the establishment of the Department for the Protection of National Minorities (DPNM) and the National Office for the Social Integration of the Rom, and requested information on the success of the initiatives undertaken by them, in particular with regard to any affirmative action measures taken to increase the number of Rom in public employment. The Committee notes with interest from the Government's report that Government Decision No. 459/1998 establishes an Inter-Ministerial Committee for National Minorities which advises DPNM. It also notes that a subcommission for Rom has been established within this Inter-Ministerial Committee, which has a working group composed of Rom representatives designated by the Working Group of Rom Associations (GLAR) - an apolitical forum of civil associations of Rom. It also notes that a Protocol on the Development of a Strategy for the Protection of the Rom Minority has been concluded between the DPNM and the GLAR. While welcoming these initiatives, the Committee, at the same time, is also concerned about the statement of the Government in its report submitted to CERD that the higher unemployment level of the Rom is due "not to any refusal to recruit Rom/Gypsies or to a preference for dismissing them in the event of staff cutbacks, but to other causes, including: (1) the lack of interest on the part of the Rom/Gypsies in attending school and learning a trade; (2) their increased preferences for casual work; (3) the limitation of their income, by their own choice, to state children's allowances and social assistance; and (4) their preference for own-account, frequently, illegal activities". The Government further states that "it will not be possible to eliminate this disproportion between supply and demand without a change of attitude and a higher standard of general education among Rom/Gypsies". While the abovementioned initiatives indicate the Government's intention to continue to address the question of the Rom through institutional and policy measures, the Committee nevertheless points out that the elimination of distinctions in employment and education depends on the general context of the integration of the Rom in society on a basis of equality of opportunity and treatment without which a full application of Convention No. 111 would be illusory. This requires measures aimed at, inter alia, promoting a climate of tolerance through awareness raising and education in the entire field of employment and education and beyond. The Committee notes from the CERD report that the DPNM is formulating a series of projects to improve Rom employment levels and initiate gainful activities in cooperation with national and international partners. The Committee hopes that these projects will include steps taken to raise public awareness on the issue of tolerance towards the Rom communities and requests the Government to provide information in its next report on the impact of these projects as well as on any other measures taken to improve the status of the Rom, in regard to access to employment and occupation, including affirmative action measures taken to increase the number of Rom in public employment, in accordance with Articles 3(d) and 5 of the Convention.

6. Article 2 of the Convention. The Committee notes that the new Bill on national minorities is still under elaboration which would prohibit and penalise discrimination against minorities. It hopes that the Government will provide information on any developments concerning its adoption. The Committee also repeats its previous request for information on the work of the minority joint committees, created in the context of the Council of National Minorities, and referred to by the Government as forming part of the national policy for the elimination of discrimination in employment based on race, colour and national extraction.

7. Measures of redress. For a number of years, the Committee has been following up on Recommendations Nos. 6 (requests for medical examinations due to treatment received while in custody, made by persons who went on strike in 1987 and who have been subsequently rehabilitated by the courts) and 18 (rebuilding of the houses destroyed as part of the systematization policy against certain minorities) of the report of the Commission of Inquiry. Regarding the compensation for and rebuilding of destroyed houses, the Committee notes the series of normative acts initiated by the Department for the Protection of National Minorities aimed at the restitution of property belonging to national minorities: the Emergency Ordinance No. 21/1997 (approved by Act No. 140/1997) on the restitution of property which belonged to the Jewish community; Emergency Ordinance No. 13/1998 and Emergency Ordinance No. 83/1999 on the restitution of property to communities belonging to national minorities; and Government Ordinance No. 112/1998 on the restitution of property to communities (organizations and religious cults) belonging to national minorities. The Committee notes that 17 buildings have been returned through these Acts. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the number of outstanding claims for restitution of property and to keep it informed of such restitution of property to the affected persons belonging to national minorities. The Committee also notes that section 10 of Act No. 118/1990 has been amended to grant compensation and a number of benefits to persons who have been persecuted for political reasons for taking part in the 1987 events; benefits include, inter alia, a monthly compensation of 60,000 lei for the person concerned or the surviving spouse, exemption from local taxes and free urban transport. The Committee notes in particular that the persons concerned are entitled to free access on a priority basis to medical assistance and medicines as well as to have their period of employment taken into account for the period covered for purposes of calculation of benefits. In follow-up of Recommendation No. 6 of the report of the Commission of Inquiry, the Committee requests the Government to provide information in its next report on the implementation of the provisions of Act No. 118/1990, as amended, and in particular with regard to requests for medical examinations made by persons who went on strike in 1987 and who have been subsequently rehabilitated by court order. Also noting the attached list of cases where compensation has been granted to persons who took part in the strike of 1987, the Committee encourages the Government to continue to provide information on any new cases in which such compensation has been granted.

8. The Committee notes with interest that Act No. 108/1999 on labour inspection has been adopted and establishes an independent labour inspectorate with monitoring and advisory responsibilities. It notes that section 5(e) of the Act provides that the labour inspectorate may submit proposals to the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection for the improvement of existing legislation and the enactment of new legislation.

9. The Committee is raising other points in a request addressed directly to the Government.