Hungarian American Coalition News, 1996 (5. évfolyam, 2-3. szám)

1996 / 2. szám

NEWS FROM OUR MEMBERS

HHRF Directors Honored by Hungarian Government

The Coalition congratulates László Hámos, Emese Latkóczy, Zsolt Szekeres, Baron Hans-Heinrich Thyssen Bornemisza and Bulcsú Veress who are among those honored for their “distinguished service through their educational, cultural, religious, public advocacy and economic development activities on behalf of and among minority communities.”

The Hungarian Human Rights Foundation, an organizational member of the Hungarian American Coalition, is among 20 organizations and individuals chosen by Government of Hungary to receive its “Minorities Award” (Kisebbségekért Díj.

The Hungarian Human Rights Foundation (HHRF) was founded in New York in 1976 as the Committee for Human rights in Rumania. The ad-hoc group of young Hungarian-Americans worked to alert the political leadership and public opinion of the West to the human rights violations suffered by the Hungarian minority in Rumania. By 1984, with the support of Baron Hans-Heinrich Thyssen Bornemisza, the group had become a private, nonprofit foundation which conducts monitoring, research and representational activities on human rights issues affecting the three and one-half million Hungarians who live as minorities in Central Europe. HHRF is headquartered in New York City, with offices in Budapest and Kolozsvár (Cluj), Rumania. The award was presented in Parliament on December 18, 1995, which the government of Hungary has declared as “Minorities Day,” to coincide with the date of Hungary’s accession to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities.

The award was given to HHRFs four directors — László Hámos, Emese Latkóczy,

Zsolt Szekeres, and Baron Thyssen Bornemisza—and to Bulcsú Veress, one

of the Committee’s original organizers.

Other organizations and individuals who were recognized on December 18 represent the Roma, German, and Slovak minorities within Hungary, and Hungarian minorities in Rumania, Slovakia, Voivodina and Transcarpathia. Recipients also included Gabriel Andreescu, President of Rumania’s Helsinki Human Rights Committee, Joseph Schweitzer, Hungary’s Chief Rabbi, and Duna Television, the satellite TV station which reaches out to Hungarianspeakers on three continents. Several diplomatic, cultural and humanitarian aid leaders also received the award.

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EMLA the Environmental, Management and Law Association

EMLA was organized in 1992 by Gyula Bándi, professor of environmental law at Eötvös Lóránd University in Budapest and the young American entrepreneur, Peter Kellner.

It had a two-fold mission:

lto build a brain trust which would be able to deepen awareness of important regional, national, and international issues, 2_to establish an organization whose knowledge and expertise could be shared.

In the relatively short time EMLA gathered over eighty of Hungary’s brightest and most prominent environmental experts which eventually formed EMLA’s Scientific Branch.

By mid-1994 EMLA identified the need for a legal pro-bono advisory service to assist the NGO and non-profit environmental community in Hungary. A key aim was to help in self-advocacy where possible, and also to provide the best counsel and representation available.

THE HUNGARIAN AMERICAN COALITION 818 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Suite 850 Washington, D.C. 20006

BOOK ORDER FORM

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4 • Hungarian American Coalition News • Summer 1996

Minnesota Hungarians

This group publishes an excellent bilingual periodical. In it their varied activities are described in detail. In addition, it contains interesting articles, poems, specific information about the Minnesota Hungarians, as well as a personal column sharing news about past md present members.

Upcoming activities of Minnesota Hungarians will be their Summer Picnic (Aug. 11), the Commemoration of October 23rd (held on October 26), their Annual Meeting (Nov. 17), and their traditional Christmas celebration (Dec. 15).

Tungsram Celebrates 100th Birthday

Tungsram, wholly owned by General Electric, will celebrate the 100th anniversary of its founding. Special activities include a historical industrial exhibit and a design competition. In addition, Tungsram has accepted the challenge of redesigning and installing special lighting for Heroes Square in Budapest in time for the celebration of Hungary’s Millecentenary.

Changing Leadership at the Committee of Transylvania

After thirty years of devoted service, Lqjos Lote will retire and hand over leadership of the Committee of Transylvania, and the publication of Székely Nép to Dr. Sándor Havadtoy.