E/CN.4/2000/16/Add.1 page 23 102. Nevertheless, observers have commented that, during the democratic transition, the Gypsy communities suffered not only from increasing social disadvantages, but also from attacks from the far right and from discriminatory measures by institutions, the State and local government. The various political actors were unable to prevent “traditional” discrimination against Gypsies by local governments, schools, employers, the police and occasionally prosecution authorities. 103. At the last census, in 1990, 148,000 people said they were Roma or Gypsies, but the actual number is estimated at 500,000 (5 per cent of the total population). It should be pointed out here that the term “Gypsy” is quite acceptable and commonplace in Hungary, unlike in Romania or the Czech Republic, where it is used pejoratively. It does not refer to a homogeneous ethnic group. After arriving in Hungary in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the Gypsies led a nomadic life until the eighteenth century. The industrial mass production methods of the twentieth century rendered superfluous their traditional occupations in commerce and crafts (adobe brick-making, trough-making and trade). As a consequence, a great many of them undertook unskilled jobs in large factories during the socialist industrialization and became commuting residents of workers’ hostels. They were the first to lose their jobs and their modest livelihoods after the change of regime in the 1990s. The Gypsy minority that lives in Hungary can be divided into three large groups according to tribal origin and native language. The Romungros, whose mother tongue is Hungarian, constitute the majority of the Gypsies. The Olah Gypsies, whose native language is Gypsy, constitute approximately 20-22 per cent, while the Beyash Gypsies, who speak an archaic version of Romanian, make up 8-10 per cent of the Gypsies in Hungary. 104. The Government has stated that it is aware of the problems faced by the Gypsies, but it considers these problems not to be a question of racial discrimination as such but one of the economic and social circumstances of this ethnic group that have been brought about by Hungary’s changeover from a centralized to a liberalized economy. The Roma also have to put up with certain prejudices arising from ignorance and intolerance in the majority of the population, but there has never been any form of institutionalized racial discrimination in Hungary. Nevertheless, the Gypsies do suffer from poverty, a lack of education and professional training, marginalization and high crime rates. Government representatives maintain that measures already taken on the political, economic and social levels should in the medium term facilitate better integration of the Gypsies. 105. However, non-governmental sources told the Special Rapporteur that there is built-in racial discrimination and an insidious form of racism in Hungarian society, and that this discrimination and racism is encouraged by some State officials, particularly the police and local government. These feelings sometimes lead to outbreaks of violence. The Special Rapporteur will try to illustrate the different viewpoints he heard in what follows. B. Forms and manifestations of racial discrimination against Gypsies 1. Prejudices and discriminatory practices 106. The Gypsies are the only minority that is physically distinguishable from the rest of the Hungarian population. The Government officially promotes multiculturalism and peaceful