Question of Democracy and Minority Rights in Romania

http://www.americanhungarianfederation.org/docs/ForeignPolicyReview_Autonomy.pdf

There seems to be considerable confusion about autonomy for Hungarian minorities in the so-called Successor States, including Romania. Dismissing the minorities’ democratically expressed demand for autonomy as merely politics is not only inaccurate but also insensitive toward a group that is subjected to discriminatory practices and policies that threaten the group’s ability to preserve its unique culture.

Two key characteristics of autonomy are giving a population the right to self-government while leaving certain powers to the central state and enabling an ethnic, national or cultural minority to preserve its customs, language, religion and social structure.

Various forms of autonomy are successfully used in several countries in Europe to accommodate conflicting rights. And although representatives of the Hungarian community in Romania, including RMDSZ, have requested autonomy, it has been inexplicably denied them by a multi-ethnic state that describes itself as a unitary one.

While autonomy can be found in the political platforms of political parties, it is essentially a question of democracy and minority rights in a state such as Romania. Why then would we want to remain silent? See attached article, Autonomy: The Path to Democracy and Stability in Romania, Frank Koszorus, Jr., Foreign Policy Review, 2009. http://www.americanhungarianfederation.org/docs/ForeignPolicyReview_Autonomy.pdf See also, Autonomy, Sovereignty, and Self-Determination: The Accomodation of Conflicting Rights, Hurst Hannum (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1990).

So let’s not let partisan politics overshadow and interfere with minority rights and democracy.

FK