April 27, 2009

Summary of the measures taken by the Hungarian authorities concerning the violent crimes committed against members of the Roma community  

Since the democratic transition, Hungary has done a lot for the amelioration of the situation of Roma. Without aiming at completeness, it has to be mentioned here the setting up of around 1000 Gypsy minority self-governments, the anti-discrimination lawyer network, the establishment of the independent Gypsy radio, Radio-C, and many other civil, cultural and political initiatives.

The incumbent government also considers Roma inclusion as an important priority. It was one of the initiators of the Decade of Roma Inclusion (2005-2015) Programme, in which it also held the presidency between 2007-2008. The government has initiated numerous specialised programs to help Roma in the field of education, housing, employment and health care.

In the past three years, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour (MSAL) initiated programs in 31 settlements related to the improvement of the housing of Roma, the elimination of territorial segregation. The main goal of the program is to establish the conditions for the social inclusion of those living in Roma settlements or settlement-like environment (ghettos). In order to accomplish this, the administration has initiated the construction of social housing, infrastructural development, as well as renewal works of residential buildings, within the context of the housing subprogram. In the context of the social welfare subprogram, the Ministry supported the initiation of employment and training programs; the easing of the conditions necessary for the utilisation of social services; and the establishment of the conditions necessary for the integrated education of children. In the year 2008, further 7 settlements received the possibility to implement their own programs, with HUF 880 million of support.

Hungary is the only country in the region to apply a Equal Opportunity Funding Policy in the fields of education and urban development. Its purpose is to give support only to applications, programs, which ensure the decreasing or the elimination of the educational and territorial segregation of Roma. This policy includes the so-called Function Extension and the Integrated Social Urban Rehabilitation tenders announced in 2008 in the context of the Regional Operative Program of the New Hungary Development Plan (NHDP), and a guide was also elaborated concerning equal opportunities within the context of the project, to be accomplished within the NHDP, aimed at the complex development of the 33 micro-regions in the most disadvantaged situation.

Roma communities have been invited to participate in the planning and the monitoring of the governmental measures. The government adopted the Governmental Decree on the establishment of the Council of Roma Integration (hereinafter: CRI) in December 2006. Members of the CRI include, besides the representatives of the ministries concerned, the Chairman of the National Gypsy Self-government, and seven persons invited for 2 years by the Minister of Social Affairs and Labour on the basis of the proposals made by the Roma NGOs. The CRI is a consultative, advisory body, which participates in the preparation, the implementation and the monitoring of government decisions aiming at the social inclusion of Roma. The Civil Umbrella, set up in 2007, is a consultative, advisory civil organisation operating besides the CRI. The so-called Roma Steering and Monitoring Committee operates within the context of the Council of Roma Integration – primarily based on the participation of the civil delegates in the Council.

The participation of Roma was a determining factor in the national public utility and public employment programs. In 2008, the national budget ensured HUF 3.5 billion for the implementation of the public employment programs, which involved the employment of 13,500 persons during the year. The activity of Roma in labour market training programs and adult training programs is gradually increasing. The number of Roma participating in vocational training within the central program called “One Step Forward!” aiming at the improvement of the labour market chances of those with a low level of education was considerable. In 2007-2008, the national budget ensured HUF 10.6 billion for the implementation of the “One Step Forward!” program.

11 consortia partnerships from among the 39 winning tenders of the EQUAL Community Initiative initiated in 2005 started experimental programs mainly related to the possibilities for the augmentation of Roma employment. The National Employment Public Foundation (NEPF) supports programs helping the inclusion of Roma in the labour market with several hundred million forints yearly.

Numerous employment promotion programs are being implemented with the support of the European Union, within the context of the Social Renewal Operational Programme (SROP) of the New Hungary Development Plan.

The central program named “Decentralised Programs for the Employment of the Disadvantaged” has been initiated within the SROP and is being implemented by the regional labour centres and their local offices, with extensive social partnership.

The START programs, which have been going on for years, are aimed at giving incentives to employers to employ those who are marginalized in terms of their labour market situation. Building on the favourable results of the START programs in promoting the employment of the younger generation, the programs START-PLUS and START-EXTRA have also been elaborated. The implementation of the program makes it possible to support more than 22,000 adults. There was altogether HUF 2.66 billion available in 2008 within the context of job creating tenders supporting enterprises in two programs, which made it possible to support around 160-170 enterprises.

The main goal of the program called “The Road to Work” is to give incentives to those assisted by social aid while being long-term unemployed so that they seek work and to improve the terms of their employment. According to plans, the program beginning on 1 April 2009 will achieve the temporary employment in 6 hours of about 60-66 thousand persons yearly.

Even though serious and regrettable crimes have been committed recently in Hungary against certain Roma families, it would be misleading to judge the situation of Roma in Hungary exclusively from these crimes.

Regarding the gravest crimes, also involving murder, and receiving intensive press coverage in the domestic as well as in the international press, the Ministry of Justice and Law Enforcement has informed on the following:

1. On 2 November 2008, several shots were fired at, and several Molotov cocktails were thrown at house number 7 and 8 on Dózsa György Street, Nagycsécse.  The Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County Police Headquarters initiated an investigation against (supposedly at least two) unknown offenders, on the basis of a well-founded suspicion of felony of homicide committed against several persons. As a result of the attack, two persons in the house number 8 on Dózsa György Street (one man and one woman) lost their lives because of their wounds from the shots. It was the two persons who started to extinguish the fire who were hit by the shots from the shotgun fired through the window on the street side of the house. The investigation is under way with great forces, since then taken into the competence of the National Bureau of Investigation.

2. On 18 November 2008, in Pécs, a Yugoslav M52P3 type, so-called defensive hand grenade, a regular military equipment, was thrown in the window of a family house, into the bedroom, and blew up there. The two persons lying on the bed in the room (Zoltán P. and Mónika Hajnalka P.) lost their lives. Extensive data collection has been performed in the direct environment of the committed crime. In the course of the data collection, it has been established that the deceased persons were on bad terms with several persons, due to their private life and their illegal activity. It has also been established that the deceased persons had been convicted several times, and had been under criminal proceedings at the time of their murder as well. According to the collected data, they had been making a living on the basis of income originating from their illegal activity. The investigation is under way with great forces.

3. On 23 February 2009, in Tatárszentgyörgy, unknown offenders shot a father of Roma origin and his five-year-old son in a house that had caught fire. The Department of Counter-Terrorism and Extremism of the National Bureau of Investigation is investigating the case against an unknown offender because of homicide committed against several persons.

In one case out of three (Pécs), the Police have already produced results. The supposed offenders have been arrested recently. In this case the racist motive can be excluded, as the victims and the suspects belonged to the same community. Obviously, until the court decision, the presumption of innocence is the legal due of all persons, and a final standpoint cannot be taken yet in this case either. In the other two cases, the investigation is still under way, however there was no sign (inscription, flyer, etc.) that would have indicated a clearly racist motive, and neither is there any extremist or illegal organisation, which would have “assumed responsibility” for the act. According to criminologists, other motives cannot be excluded, either, as of yet.

According to Hungarian law, in a criminal case it is the final judgement of the court that establishes the person of the offender, and consequently the motive. Thus, the “racist motive” cannot be considered as proven before the establishment of the person of the offenders and before the court takes its decision. Journalists and politicians may make declarations according to their conviction and their intuitions, but all responsible players have to bear in mind the effect of the declarations on inter-ethnic relations.

The action plan that has been elaborated by the National Police Headquarters (NPH) for the treatment of the problems, which have occurred in the recent months, and which are endangering public safety, is the following:

On the basis of the action plan, 104 settlements in the country may be registered clearly as especially endangered as far as their public safety situation is concerned. These settlements are situated in 12 counties, and they amount to 3.3% of all settlements in Hungary. The Police have effected intensive controls in these settlements for two weeks in August 2008, as a result of which the inhabitants reacted highly positively concerning the constant police presence.

Recently, mostly unknown offenders have committed such crimes, in several parts of the country, affecting the Roma population, where shotguns and so-called Molotov-cocktails were used as weapons. On the basis of the analysis of the hitherto committed crimes, it may be stated that these have been committed typically in the night hours, and the buildings affected by the attacks may be found usually in the outer parts of the settlements, mostly in places bordering forests or bushy areas. The NPH has taken measures aimed at the protection of public order and public safety, as well as at crime prevention, ordering the police organisations to take these conditions increasingly into consideration when organising the patrolling activity of the patrolling units. Besides the above, the NPH has called the attention of the territorial police organisations to check the identity of all persons whose clothing, behaviour or other characteristics may imply the relevance of such a control, when performing their controlling activity.

It was determined as a further requirement that the police organisations were to take contact with the leaders of the territorial civil guard organisations and involve these in performing their duties. They were to initiate the joint patrolling of the civil guards with the police, where this is possible, while the civil guards were also to perform their duties individually, in endangered settlements, mainly in the night hours. Besides the above measures, the Chairman of the National Civil Guard Association has already taken the necessary steps vis-à-vis the chairmen of the county level organisations in order to organise the performing of the duties of the civil guards and to support the performing of their tasks.

Several police concepts have been prepared lately, which go beyond the primary measures, and from among which the following professional program, based on three pillars, shall begin to be implemented in 2009:

1. Following the integration of the Police and the Border Guards, permanent units continue to be organised within the context of the Stand-by Police. According to the professional concept, a new, 4^th Department shall be formed, besides the present deployment departments. The three sections of the new department shall be established in three different points of the country: in the areas of Vas, Győr-Moson-Sopron and Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg counties.  The main source of the bringing up to full strength of the new organisational unit shall be given by the so-called excess staff above the permanent staff forces of the county police headquarters of the region. The task of the thus formed subunits, besides the more efficient securing of mass events in any part of the country, shall be the strengthening of public police presence.

2. It is necessary to strengthen the public security of the 104 settlements identified in the above-mentioned survey as endangered, with police services. The funds necessary for the implementation of this task for filling up the 150 district commissaries shall be ensured by the Government. Presently already 113 appointed district commissaries are performing their services in the affected 12 counties.

3. The third pillar of the program is a plan to increase the staff in order to improve the feeling of security of the population, and to increase the number of police performing service in public areas, by establishing an armed security guard within the organisation of the Police. As a first step in this direction, the Miskolc Law Enforcement Secondary School shall train 100 persons as armed security guards in 2009. The armed security guards, who shall be in a public servant status, shall mostly perform tasks related to guarding public buildings, thus the trained police staff presently performing tasks related to guarding public buildings with a post designated within the organisation of the county police headquarters may be freed of their tasks, and it will be possible to reorient this staff to defend public order, thus increasing the total police staff performing duties in public areas.

The Hungarian Government is doing everything possible to stabilise the situation, the Hungarian authorities are treating with high priority the attacks against Roma, and are doing everything so that nothing will disturb the peaceful co-existence in Hungary.