Observation (CEACR) - adoptée 1997, publiée 86ème session CIT (1998)

1. The Committee notes the Government's report and the explanations it contains which answer the previous comments concerning the legislative and practical protection that exists against discrimination in employment on the basis of political opinion.

2. In its previous observation, the Committee noted that the 1995 Education Act was perceived by some workers' organizations to endanger the teaching and learning of the mother tongues of the country's ethnic minorities and thus to have an impact on the equal employment opportunities of members of the national minorities. The Committee requested from the Government detailed information, in addition to that already supplied, on how the Education Act is being applied in practice so that the Committee can assess whether the current language policy meets the cultural and economic needs of minorities while enabling them, if they so wish, to engage in trades and professions using their own languages.

3. The Committee notes with interest from the Government's report that the Emergency Ordinance of 10 July 1997 to amend and supplement the Education Act, in force as of the 1997-98 school year, changes certain of the provisions of the principal Act upon which the Committee had made comments. A new section 5(2) provides that "The State promotes the principles of democratic teaching and guarantees the right to differentiated education, on the basis of educational pluralism, for the benefit of the individual and of the whole society". The Committee notes in particular the following amendments: sections 8(1) ("Education at all levels is provided in the Romanian language. It shall also be provided, in accordance with the present Act, in the languages of the national minorities, and in the languages of international circulation"); 8(4) ("Both in state and private education, school documents, to be named by order of the Minister of Education, shall be in the Romanian language. Other school documents may be in the language in which the schooling was given"); 120(2) ("In primary education, the subjects History of the Romanians' and Geography of Romania' shall be given in the mother tongue, according to curricula and textbooks identical to those used in classes being taught in Romanian. At the junior and senior high school levels, these subjects may be taught, upon request, according to curricula and textbooks identical to those used in classes being taught in Romanian, with the obligation to transcribe and to assimilate the toponymy and Romanian names into the Romanian language"); 122 ("In public vocational, secondary and post-secondary specialized education, the language for teaching may be the mother tongue, with the obligation to assimilate the specialist terminology into the Romanian language"); 123 ("(1) In public university education, groups, sections, colleges, faculties and institutions with tuition in the mother tongue may be organized, upon request. In such case, assimilation of the specialist terminology into the Romanian language must be assured. (2) Higher education institutions will be encouraged to have multicultural structures and activities so as to promote harmonious inter-ethnic cohabitation and integration at the national and European level. (3) Upon request, the training of Romanian-speaking specialists in national minority languages will be encouraged"); and 124 ("In education at all levels, admission and graduation examinations may be taken in the language in which the respective subjects are taught in accordance with the law").

4. The Committee also notes the statistics provided by the Government on the increase in the percentage of scholastic units having minority language tuition, in particular for the Hungarian speakers (from 4.4 per cent -- of which 4.1 per cent are Hungarian-speaking -- in the 1992-93 school year to 5.3 per cent -- of which 5 per cent speak Hungarian -- in the 1996-97 school year). The actual number of minority language school-goers decreased (from 241,355 in 1992-93 to 221,331 in 1996-97). It also notes that in 1996-97, 32,400 minority language students attended 65 senior high schools, but only about 6,000 (and those being only Hungarian- and German-speaking students) attended the 31 vocational or post-secondary training institutions, accounting for approximately 1.8 per cent of the total student body at this technical level.

5. The Committee recalls the importance of promoting equal access to vocational training set out in the Convention, which determines the actual possibilities of gaining access to employment and occupations. In its 1996 Special Survey on Equality in Employment and Occupation, the Committee observes that, while inequalities in this area rarely originate in legislative provisions that are directly discriminatory, indirect discrimination may arise out of practices based on stereotypes relating to minority groups and myths concerning their educational aspirations and abilities. The Committee accordingly requests the Government, on the basis of the data supplied showing the proportional imbalance in the education and training of minorities in relation to their numbers in the general population, to undertake studies into the educational opportunities available to them. Such research could assess how the 1997 amendments to the Education Act enhance opportunities for their access to higher and technical education, which in turn lead to better jobs. It asks the Government to inform it of any positive action measures taken to encourage members of the national minorities to avail themselves of the possibilities for mother-tongue education introduced by the above-mentioned provisions of the Education Act.

6. Regarding the employment opportunities of the Rom and the Hungarian-speaking minorities (which, according to the 1992 census, constitute 1.8 and 7.1 per cent of the active population respectively), the Committee, in its previous observation, noted the data on their economic and employment profiles and asked to receive more recent statistics so as to be able to assess the trend in their equal employment opportunities. It notes that, according to the 1996 data provided in the Government's report on the jobs held by the economically active population, the Rom and the Hungarian-speakers are both least represented in management and executive, administrative and economic posts (ethnic Hungarians hold only 3.2 per cent of such posts and Rom, only 0.7 per cent of such posts) and most represented in agriculture (ethnic Hungarians make up 26.2 per cent of the agricultural workforce and Rom, 34.8 per cent). The Government states that on 31 January 1997 it created the Department for the Protection of National Minorities (DPNM), under the Prime Minister. The Department has regional bureaux, whose functions include, inter alia: legislative initiatives; supervision -- including the receipt and treatment of complaints -- of the enforcement of the relevant laws; financial aid to groups of citizens belonging to national minorities; and the promotion and development of programmes for the maintenance and spreading of the ethnic culture, identity, language and religion of these minorities. The Council for National Minorities, noted by the Committee in past observations, will continue its advisory role with the DPNM. In the context of the DPNM, the National Office for the Social Integration of the Rom has been established, and the 1997 programmes for this minority include a seminar on the prevention of discrimination against the Rom; round tables to find solutions to particular problems; publication of works on the lives of Roma personalities; and measures to encourage the employment of Rom in the public service. The Committee welcomes these institutional measures and asks the Government to inform it, in its next report, on the success of the initiatives of the DPNM and its Office for the Social Integration of the Rom, in particular details on any affirmative action measures taken to increase the number of Rom in public employment, in accordance with Articles 3(d) and 5 of the Convention.

7. Article 2 of the Convention. In previous observations, the Committee had requested information on the adoption of the Bill on National Minorities and on the work of the minority joint committees, created in the context of the above-mentioned Council for 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. The Committee notes that, according to the Government's report, a new Bill on National Minorities is being drawn up, copies of which will be provided to the Committee once adopted. The Committee requests the Government to keep it informed of progress in the drafting of this new text, and looks forward to receiving a copy of it.

8. Measures of redress. For a number of years the Committee has been following up on the report of the 1991 Commission of Inquiry, in particular with regard to Recommendations Nos. 6 (requests for medical examinations 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 systemisation policy against certain minorities). Noting that the Government gives no further information on Recommendation No. 6, the Committee asks it to do so in its next report. Regarding the compensation for and rebuilding of destroyed houses, the Committee notes that, according to the Government, following the cessation of the systemization policy and under Act No. 18/1991 (already noted in previous observations), title to certain occupied land on which housing exists is now vested in dwellers enjoying usufruct and, in the majority of cases, this has benefited persons whose houses had been destroyed in the past and who moved to these lodgings. Other land in question which has not been built upon subsequently will also be restored, upon demand, to the former owners. The Committee requests the Government to keep it informed, in future reports, of the restitution of such property to the affected persons belonging to minorities. Also noting that, in past observations, it had been able to note quite a large number of cases where compensation had been granted to persons who took part in the 1987 strike which had been examined by the Commission of Inquiry, the Committee would be grateful if the Government would inform it in future reports of any new cases of compensation granted.