A few days ago, the HCLU was notified about winning an award at the 5th Roma Life –Central European Documentary Festival from the Foundation for Democracy and Political Culture for our film, Gyöngyöspata 2011. However, we declined to accept the award.

In order to find out how the HCLU came to this decision, please read the below letter written to János Simon, Festival Director.

“The water will stink” – says a Roma child in Gyöngyöspata, of one of the reasons why teachers do not allow them to participate in swimming training at school. This is just one example of discrimination faced by Roma children in the local elementary school. Still, HírTV, one of Hungary’s television news channels, is producing programs - including one made to seem as an investigative report - which aim to present the lack of segregation at the school. HírTV even went as far as to deem a journalist of the British paper The Guardian and the HCLU non-credible and liars. In its reaction to the HCLU’s film and article, HírTV is threatening the HCLU with a copyright lawsuit, however the letter not once refers to the contents and statements of our film contradicting their previous programs, which we find to be quite significant.

Hungarian Roma and non-Roma non-governmental organisations co-operated in the elaboration of a document containing expert observations on the Hungarian National Social Inclusion Strategy and its Action Plan, to share with European and national actors, who participate in the technical evaluation and further development of the Strategy.

Definite uneasiness can be felt on the third day of the trial on whether or not to disband the Militiamen Association for a Better Future (MABF), a group responsible for marching and causing fear during the spring of 2011, in the small Hungarian village of Gyöngyöspata. The presiding judge, Erika Mucsi is uncertain of the difference between the MABF and the Roma Civil Rights Movement (RCRM), but this isn’t the greatest cause for alarm. Instead of disbanding the group responsible for systematic racial misconduct, she studies the correlation between structural unemployment and crime committed in order to provide food and heating. The HCLU reports on the trial - the mood and the spirit of the trial was completely absurd, as if it had nothing to do with the events in Gyöngyöspata.

“Gyöngyöspata is a frightening example of „law and order”. Do we really want to set this as an example?” – the first sentence of the report already suggests the essence of Ernő Kállai’s observations. In December, the minority ombudsman published his report on public employment, the procedural practice of minor offense authorities, and the state of education in Gyöngyöspata. In his report, Ernő Kállai demonstrates the effects of measures taken on the public morale and the cohabitation of Roma and non-Roma since his investigation in the spring.

The video introduction of HCLU's 'Roma Program not only for Romas'

“Besides the fact that we find half of the tasks in the Gyöngyöspata Committee’s resolution to be disquieting, we find great flaw in that fact that none of the tasks involve the government, nor the examination of the responsibility of any police organizations,” said Eszter Jovánovics, Head of the Roma Program in the HCLU during the hearing held on October 27th 2011. In this meeting, the agenda of the Gyöngyöspata Committee (whose full name is “The committee investigating the process of uniformed crime, its background and events in Gyöngyöspata, as well as helping eliminate such crime) included the questioning of nonprofit organizations.

“We bring human rights to those living in total isolation, communities needing all the opportunities for just law enforcement that they can get,” says the HCLU’s web page. There are currently 15 working TASZPOINTs in Hungary, and our series of interviews will show how they work. Here, we discuss the TASZPOINT in Tomor, with Laci Siroki, the director.

A man from Borsodbóta had some logs valued at 3,200 forints in his wheelbarrow, when the police surrounded him, handcuffed him, and took him, along with his 17 and 19 year old sons, to jail. They kept them in jail for three days. Without taking into consideration that the 17 year old son was a minor, they interrogated him, didn’t give him proper representation, and made him sign papers without him knowing their content.

The 2/3 majority Hungarian Parliament, with a resolution published on June 7, set up an ad hoc parliamentary committee to investigate the events in Gyöngyöspata. Despite the fact that based on the title and preamble of the resolution, the task of the committee is to investigate the background of criminal activity by uniformed personnel and to assist in eliminating it, out of the nine tasks listed by the resolution five (!) are concerned with the evacuation of the Roma by the Red Cross and the role of Richard Field. The resolution – recalling the documents of the staged trials of the 1950s – is prejudiced when, among others, it states: “establishing who and why claimed untruthfully with regard to the long-existing activities of the Red Cross that the evacuation of the Romas from the scene was taking place, what was the reason and objective for this causing of panic”.

Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán
Minister of Interior, Sándor Pintér
Minister of State for Social Inclusion, Zoltán Balog
Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights, Minority, Civic and Religious Affairs Chairman, Tamás Lukács
Parliamentary Committee on Defence and Internal Security Chairman, Máté Kocsis
Member of Parliament, Ágnes Osztolykán
Parliamentary Commissioner for National and Ethnic Minorities, Ernő Kállai


Dear Excellencies,

The European Roma Rights Centre, Chance for Children Foundation, Amnesty International Hungary, the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (HCLU-TASZ), the Hungarian Helsinki Committee and the Legal Defence Bureau for National and Ethnic Minorities are writing to urge your prompt reaction to the patrols of Szebb Jövőért Polgárőr Egyesület (Civil Guard Association for a Better Future) paramilitary organisation in Hajdúhadház, organised from 12 April 2011.
About 180 representatives of Szebb Jövőért Polgárőr Egyesület began conducting patrols on 12 April 2011 around Hajdúhadház, where one quarter of the over 12,000 residents are Romani. Szebb Jövőért Polgárőr Egyesület have reportedly been patrolling in groups of 8-10 persons, clad in black military clothing, intimidating the Romani residents and filming them in their homes and gardens. They announced their intention to stay for at least two weeks and reportedly plan several demonstrations. Their current activities appear to be similar to the intimidation and harrassment that they inflicted on Roma in Gyöngyöspata from 1-16 March, unimpeded by the police.
The submitting organisations have previously expressed their concerns about Szebb Jövőért Polgárőr Egyesület, which is effectively a paramilitary group, listing its aims as preventing crime, protecting citizens and safeguarding public safety.  Szebb Jövőért Polgárőr Egyesület is linked to the Magyar Nemzeti Gárda (with the same aims and leadership as the banned Magyar Gárda) and the far-right political party Jobbik, whose inflammatory rhetoric about “Gypsy crime” contributes to inter-ethnic tension and risks provoking violence. A legal briefing prepared by HCLU-TASZ based on research in Gyöngyöspata outlines several provisions of the Hungarian criminal code that the Szebb Jövőért Polgárőr Egyesület’s activities appear to have violated: (art. 174/B Violence Against a Member of a Community, art. 176/A Harassment and art. 271 Public Nuisance), while the inactivity of the police raises concerns under legal provisions related to abuse of authority and disciplinary responsibility. 
The Hungarian Constitution guarantees the right to liberty and personal security,  while Hungary is bound by the European Convention on Human Rights, the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to ensure that all citizens can exercise their rights to liberty, security of the person and private and family life. 

Recalling the 8 April statement of Minister of State for Social Inclusion Zoltán Balog that “Nobody can assume the role of keeping the peace or act as a substitute for the police”, the European Roma Rights Centre, Chance for Children Foundation, Amnesty International Hungary, the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union, the Hungarian Helsinki Committee and the Legal Defence Bureau for National and Ethnic Minorities urge Hungarian authorities to swiftly condemn anti-Roma violence and intimidation by Szebb Jövőért Polgárőr Egyesület. We also urge Hungarian competent authorities to instruct Hungarian police to swiftly intervene to prevent and investigate any actions in violation of Hungarian law.

Sincerely,
          
Robert Kushen, Executive Director - European Roma Rights Centre   

Erzsebet Mohacsi, President  - Chance for Children Foundation

Orsolya Jeney, Director - Amnesty International Hungary
           
Balázs Dénes, Executive Director  -Hungarian Civil Liberties Union 

András Kádár , Co-chair  - Hungarian Helsinki Committee 

Erika Muhi, Director - Legal Defence Bureau for National and Ethnic Minorities

 
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European Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship, Viviane Reding
European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, László Andor
Head of the Roma Taskforce and European Commission Director-General for Justice, Françoise Le Bail
President of the European Parliament, Jerzy Buzek
MEP, Lívia Járóka
MEP, Kinga Göncz
MEP, Renate Weber
Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Thomas Hammarberg
Council of Europe Secretary General, Thorbjørn Jagland
Special representative for Roma Issues to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Jeroen Schokkenbroek
OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities, Knut Vollebaek
OSCE/ODIHR Senior Advisor on Roma and Sinti Issues, Andrzej Mirga
European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights Director, Morten Kjærum
European Commission against Racism and Intolerance Chair, Nils Muiznieks

On the 15th of February 2011, a group of European and Hungarian Romani and non-Romani organisations sent a letter to the Hungarian government, currently holding the EU presidency, and the European Commission, appealing for open consultation with NGOs on EU Roma policy related initiatives.