Ethnic conflicts and racial regulations in Romania

Alert DateMay 31, 2009 Country: Romania Address: Harghita, Sanmartin General Type: Racist violence Racism and discrimination phenomena: Extremism - organised Racist Violence, Anti-roma/zinghanophobia, Inter-ethnic
Groups affected / Interested in: Roma & Travelers
Victims Data
Victims Nationality/Ethnic Origin N/A
Victims Gender N/A
Victims Age N/A
Victims Number N/A
Fatalities - deaths N/A
Perpetrators Data
Perpetrators Nationality/Ethnic Origin N/A
Perpetrator Gender N/A
Perpetrator Age N/A
Perpetrators Number N/A
Extremist/Organised Group Violence No

In 2009, ethnic violence against the Roma took place in localities in Harghita country: Sanmartin and Sancraieni – localities mostly inhabited by Hungarian and Roma ethnics.

According to Roma NGOs, on May 31st, 2009, against the background of increasing tension caused by some members’ of the Roma community stealing deeds, a conflict was ignited. Approximately 400 Hungarian ethnics from Sanmartin gathered and went towards the 40 houses of the Roma in the locality and caused damage to houses (broke windows, doors, destroyed goods from within the houses) and several cars, as well as killed several dogs belonging to the Roma. A few days later, a house was set on fire. The Roma fled their houses to the woods or in the fields. According to Roma NGOs, after two months, 50 of the 170 Roma in the locality, had not returned to the village for fear of being attacked. Locals continued to gather in the village and threaten the Roma for weeks after the initial incident.

The NGOs criticized the authorities’ response, signaling a void of authority and lack of involvement of local authorities, against the background of accumulating tensions, thus allowing for collective justice implemented by the majority. They added that the atmosphere of tension had been signaled by NGOs on several occasions. They also maintained that, in reply to their protests, authorities either denied that this was a case of interethnic conflict, or even drew the NGOs’ attention into not exaggerating the situation, and criticized them for calling the conflict “interethnic”, despite it falling under the typology of similar cases where the European Court for Human Rights had ruled against Romania. NGOs pointed out that authorities did not support the people living in the woods for so long, or the children placed in insecure conditions. Four months after the conflict, NGOs described the situation of the Roma as being critical, since they had to sell their horses in order to be allowed back into the village and thus lost their only source of income while they were no longer required to perform the occasional agricultural activities they used to. [1]

A week after Sanmartin, in Sancraieni, another similar locality in Harghita county, ethnic Hungarian residents set fire to several stables belonging to the Roma community after the police freed a Roma man who had stabbed an ethnic Hungarian. [2]

In both localities, as a means of settling the conflict, protocols were drafted under the supervision of local authorities. These protocols however included provisions only for the Roma to abide by, while Roma NGOs protested the manner in which they were imposed on the Roma communities in the villages. Provisions included: “Whoever does not own land of at least 0.50 hectares may not go to the fields and own horses. Dead-line: permanent”; “Every day civilized behaviour. On a PERMANENT basis”; “Using the public pool in hygienic conditions”; “All stealing to be stopped – On a PERMANENT basis”. [3]

The vice president of the Senate’s Legal Committee, Mr Iulian Urban,  proposed a similar protocol in July 2009, including seven conditions, for the Roma in Balotesti, Ilfov county. NGOs issued a letter of protest against the Senator’s initiative. [5] Balotesti is mainly made of Romanian and Roma ethnics.

The protocol proposed by the Senator included conditions such as: when Roma commit crimes or anti-social deeds, the leaders of the community cooperate with the police in order to defer them to justice or that no Roma will have the right to refuse a job offered by the Employment Agency. [6]

NGOs which criticized the Senator’s protocol, and which are part of the European Network Against Racism – ENAR Romania network, also referring to the Sancraieni and Sanmartin protocols, stated the following: “Such protocols, destined only to a part of the community, on ethnic grounds, closed under the supervision of authorities, and implemented with their help, betray the principle of racial laws of Nazi Germany. Putting discrimination into law has been the necessary step in order to ‘justify’ the Holocaust”. [7] The Romanian state on the other hand, in a reaction to the NGO submission before the OSCE-ODIHR,  did not seem to find anything wrong with the idea and presented the Sancraieni protocol in the following terms: “Furthermore, on July 13, 2009, the representatives of local communities of Sancraieni village (Roma and Hungarian) signed in the mayoralty, before a mediation commission, the ‘protocol for a peaceful life together’, in which the Roma community members committed themselves to a civilized behaviour, including the immediate pulling down against the offences against personal property, registering of their horses and starting formalities for sending their children to school ”. [8]

According to a police address sent to Romani CRISS in reply to a letter sent by the NGO, the Romanian Police Inspectorate mentioned that the police of Miercurea Ciuc (municipality of Harghita) were conducting investigations in a criminal file including 38 persons, for home violation and damage of goods. [9]  The Romanian state reported to the OSCE-ODIHR in October 2009 that three criminal files were sent by the Police to the Prosecutor’s Office for Sanmartin and three for Sancraieni, for breaking the entrance, goods destruction, violent acts, instigation to discrimination. [10] No further information as to the progress of the cases was available.

 

Sources:

  1. OSCE – ODIHR, Side event: Populism - Extremism – Racism – Social Exclusion, Presentation of Sanmartin report based on information gathered by representatives of Romani CRISS, Equal opportunities Association, “Roma ACCESS Tomis” Association Constanta and independent persons, Doc. HDIM.NGO/0538/09, 7 October 2009, available at: http://www.osce.org/odihr/39568 (Accessed on 27.01.2012)
  2. US Department of State 2009 Human Rights Report Romania, available at: http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2009/eur/136053.htm (Accessed on 27.01.2012)
  3. Attia Biro, The 11 commandments of the Hungarians from Sancraieni to the gypsies: that they tie their dogs, build toilets in their households, register their horses, stop stealing, that they gather wood, in Hotnews.ro, 14 July 2009, available at: http://www.hotnews.ro/stiri-esential-5961661-cele-11-porunci-ale-maghiarilor-din-sancraieni-catre-tigani-lege-cainii-faca-gospodarie-inregistreze-caii-nu-mai-fure-adune-lemne.htm (Accessed on 27.01.2012)
  4. Center for Legal Resources, Press release: The Nazi uniform, the racial laws and Romania of the year 2009,  27 July 2009, available at: http://www.crj.ro/EN/-July-The-Nazi-Uniform-the-racial-laws-and-Romania-of-the-year-/ (Accessed on 27.01.2012)
  5. US Department of State 2009 Human Rights Report Romania, available at: http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2009/eur/136053.htm (Accessed on 27.01.2012)
  6. See Senator Urban’s blog entries: The Hungarians have imposed on the gypsies the conditions for peace to be made in Sancraieni: Do not steal! Wash! Get a job!, 14 July 2009 available at: http://www.urbaniulian.ro/2009/07/14/maghiarii-au-impus-tiganilor-conditiile-sa-faca-pace-la-sancraieni-nu-furati-va-spalati-va-luati-de-munca/ (27.01.2012) and Unexpected success: The peace in Balotesti; All the Roma leaders have signed the Protocol of social living, 15 July, 2009, available at: http://www.urbaniulian.ro/2009/07/15/succes-nesperat-pacea-de-la-balotesti-toti-liderii-rromilor-au-semnat-protocolul-de-convietuire-sociala/ (Accessed on 27.01.2012)
  7. Protest Letter, The Protocol from Balotesti, following the model of racial laws, under the heading of the Romanian Senate, 16 December 2009, available at: http://www.crj.ro/userfiles/editor/files/Scrisoare_de_protest_Balotesti_16_dec.pdf (Accessed on 27.01.2012)
  8. OSCE – ODIHR, Side event: Populism - Extremism – Racism – Social Exclusion, Comments of the Romanian delegation in reply to the presentations concerning the conflicts in Sancraieni and Sanmartin villages (Harghita County, Romania), Doc. HDIM.DEL/0571/09, 8 October 2009, available at: http://www.osce.org/odihr/39617 (Accessed on 27.01.2012)
  9. Romanian General Inspectorate Address No 189.243/S4/OG/11.06.2009 to Foundation Roma Center for Social Intervention and Studies Romani CRISS, available at: http://www.romanicriss.org/Raspuns%20Sanmartin%20IGPR.pdf (Accessed on 27.01.2012)
  10. OSCE – ODIHR, Side event: Populism - Extremism – Racism – Social Exclusion, Comments of the Romanian delegation in reply to the presentations concerning the conflicts in Sancraieni and Sanmartin villages (Harghita County, Romania), Doc. HDIM.DEL/0571/09, 8 October 2009, available at: http://www.osce.org/odihr/39617 (Accessed on 27.01.2012)
  11. See also a documentation film made by Romani CRISS NGO in partnership with other NGOs and with the financial support of OSI – Human Rights & Governance available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDwfmyvEfS0 (Accessed on 29.02.2012), also the video for this entry