A/HRC/20/33/Add.1
On national and ethnic minorities
56.
The Special Rapporteur urges the Government to ensure adequate
representation of ethnic and national minorities in the Hungarian Parliament.
Moreover minority self-governments should be strengthened, including through the
allocation of adequate financial, human and technical resources. The Special
Rapporteur also recommends that the Government take the necessary measures to
ensure that students learning in minority language schools, or studying minority
languages in bilingual schools or as a second or foreign language, have sufficient
learning hours and access to qualified teachers. He recommends that the Government
provide adequate financial resources to bilingual schools.
On the situation of the Roma minority
Structural and institutionalized discrimination
57.
The Special Rapporteur encourages the Government to build upon the richness
and diversity of its population to develop a more tolerant and inclusive society. In this
regard he strongly recommends that the Government invest in education. School
classes which are inclusive and representative of the society’s ethnic and cultural
diversity, unbiased schoolbooks aimed at reflecting with objectivity and accuracy the
history of minorities, well-trained teachers and human rights courses are in this
respect essential to instil a tolerant and respectful mindset from an early age.
58.
Racial discrimination, racism and negative stereotypes against the Roma
minority within State institutions, including the police and the judiciary, is a reality
that Hungary should not deny. The Special Rapporteur urges the Government to
develop regular and mandatory human rights training for State agents including
within the police and the judiciary, ensuring that such training includes issues related
to racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance. Efforts should
also be made to improve relations between the police and Roma to restore confidence,
and allow better reporting of racist acts to the police. Proper and prompt investigation
of complaints against police misconduct towards Roma should also be ensured.
Employment
59.
The Special Rapporteur urges the Government to take all the necessary
measures to reduce the high Roma unemployment rate. A first step in this direction is
to properly address racial discrimination against Roma in the labour market, and
ensure that discriminatory attitudes against the Roma in employment are effectively
sanctioned. The Special Rapporteur also recommends that the Government ensure
that institutions financed by the State budget employing more than 50 persons and the
legal entities in which the State has a majority ownership effectively establish and
implement equal opportunities plans and recruit Roma.
60.
The Special Rapporteur also urges the Government to ensure decent and
qualified jobs for Roma by avoiding addressing their unemployment mainly through
public work programmes that have already yielded limited results in reducing the
Roma unemployment rate and removing them from poverty and social exclusion. He
encourages the Government to adopt more special measures to promote the
employment of Roma in both the public and private sectors.
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