The Eighth Tribe, 1980 (7. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1980-07-01 / 7. szám
WORLD FEDERATION OF FREE HUNGARIAN JURISTS May 14, 1980 The Honorable Frank Church United States Senator Chairman of the Committee of the Foreign Relations 4229 Dirksen Senate Office Building WASHINGTON, D.C. 20510 Dear Senator Church: In accordance with Sections 116/d and 502B/b of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 as Amended, the Department of State submitted to your Committee a Report on Human Rights practices in Romania for 1979. The report, generally, is rather an acquittal of the government of Romania than an indictment, which is what it should be. The biased attitude of the Department of State— especially—is clear when it deals with the treatment of the Romanian Government towards the Hungarian minority, which partly is far from the truth, misleading, even a cover-up, since it conceals the brutal violation of the Human Rights by the government of Romania. The first surprising factor is that the said Report does not mention the number of Hungarians who live in Romania, to wit: 2.5 million. The Report mentions only a “group” or “large numbers,” which cannot be incidental since the Report emphasizes that it was done with “great care.” 2.5 million Hungarians is not a “group”, not even “large numbers,” but a significant part of the population of Romania, who are living there for more than a thousand years. Forty-six country members of the United Nations do not have a 2.5 million population. The said Report quotes from the Constitution of the government of Romania, which “forbids any discrimination,” as a serious statement. Anybody who deals with the dictatorship of the communist government of Romania knows that the Constitution is nothing else but an empty-paper, because the citizens of Romania cannot exercise the rights that the Constitution supposedly guarantees. The value of the Constitution is not the text but the rights of the citizens to go to Court when the government violates their guaranteed rights. I do not know' any case in Romania when the citizens dare request legal help from the Court to exercise their rights. The Constitution of the government of Romania is nothing else but an effective propaganda means to mislead the West. As we can see, not without results. The said Report also says that the minorities problems are discussed by the Department of State “as a part of its human rights dialogue with he government of Romania.” This dialogue, in my opinion, is necessary, but to know the truth is not enough. It is imperative to listen to the other side and after all the facts are examined, then judge. It would be naive from a prosecutor to base his indictment solely on the statement of the defendant, which would lead to the acquittal. This is the case in the said Report of the Department of State, which — accordingly — accepted the statement of the interested party, the government of Romania because it says: “Amnesty International and the International Human Rights Law Group believe that the Romanian Government discriminates actively against minorities in Romania, particularly the Hungarian minority. The Department has not conclusive evidence of such policy.” It is a surprising summary, partly because it doesn’t concentrate in the year 1979 that the report— seemingly—covers, but defends—generally—the minorities “policy” of the government of Romania, and mainly because the truth is just the opposite to what the Report says. It is difficult, if not impossible, to understand the concept of the Department of State, when without presenting any evidence, seemingly accepts the argument of the government of Romania, the interested party, and rejects the facts, presented by two—disinterested—well-known and world reputed—international organizations. Besides that, the said Report does not mention that the brutal minority policy of he government of Romania, especially against the Hungarians, was evidenced by well-known persons who still live behind the Iron Curtain and sacrifice their freedom, life and career for the truth. Mr. Karoly Király, a former high-ranking official, of Hungarian origin, in the Romanian Communist Party, sent in 1977 letters to two Politburo members complaining strongly of Romanian’s oppressive minorities policy. One of these letters was published by the New York Times. Mr. Király, of course, was ousted from the communist party, lost his job THE TRANSYLVANIAN QUARTERLY IV
