Calvin Synod Herald, 1979 (79. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1979-03-01 / 3-4. szám
6 CALVIN SYNOD HERALD In order to ensure the necessary work force for new construction projects for the five-year plan, Decree 25/1976 was passed “concerning the allocation of able-bodied persons to useful employment.” As a result of this Decree, intellectuals and dissidents, who were dismissed from their posts because of political beliefs, have been charged with parasitism and sentenced to one year of forced labor, which often takes the appearance of prison terms and camps. The Decree is also used as a resettlement policy to disperse members of the Hungarian minority. During the past two decades, the most frequent complaint of ethnic Hungarians has been that they are subject to especially harsh resettlement policies. Thousands have been removed from Transylvania and forced to settle in other parts of the country. The provisions of Decree 25/1976 allow the authorities to recruit or allocate manpower from one region of Romania to another, and are being used to resettle and disperse members of the Hungarian minority. In mid-1977 Károly Király, a prominent member of the Hungarian minority and a former member of the Central Committee of the Romanian Communist Party, wrote three letters alleging forcible assimilation of the Hungarian minority and sent them to the Romanian authorities. When the letter became public Mr. Király was arrested, threatened with imprisonment and eventually banished without any legal procedure to another part of Romania. He is, at present, assigned to work in a timber yard in Caransebes, reports twice daily to the police and is forbidden to contact any visitors. PSYCHIATRIC ABUSE Members of the Hungarian minority have also been subjected to psychiatric confinement for expressing their beliefs. Decree 12/1965 describes as “dangerous mentally ill persons” those who “endanger their own or other people’s lives or physical well-being or who may imminently commit grave acts stipulated under penal law which disturb the normal working conditions.” János Török, a member of the Hungarian minority, was confined to a psychiatric hospital in 1975, after he had addressed a meeting of 2,000 workers at the textile factory in Cluj/Kolozsvár, where he worked as a technician. In his speech, Török criticized the election system in Romania and suggested that members of the minorities were discriminated against. He was forced from the rostrum by members of the factory security guard, and reportedly was beaten in front of fellow workers. During internment at the Dr. Petru Groza psychiatric hospital he was reportedly injected with large quantities of drugs, including plegomazin, a strong sedative generally invoking a state of apathy and slowing down both mental and physical reactions. Török was released in early 1978 after an international campaign was launched on his behalf. He sent a letter to Amnesty International stating that he is a “convinced Marxist,” that he falsely accused the Romanian authorities and that he is convinced that “the Romanian social order is better than a capitalism system.” Evidence from previous cases suggests that prisoners are pressurized to write such letters to relatives and friends abroad upon their release. Török is at present under house arrest and ordered to report regularly to the Securitatae — a local psychiatric hospital. Allegations by Romanian dissidents suggest that the number of members of the Hungarian minority confined to psychiatric hospitals, forced labor camps or serving for commenting on the situation of the Hungarian minority runs into hundreds. At present, AI has six adopted prisoners of the Hungarian minority under investigation or adoption. DIALOGUE IN THE STATE DEPARTMENT Some 70 representatives of the Hungarian-American community, leaders of national organizations, scholars, political writers were invited by the Department of State for an informal discussion and dialogue about present-day Hungary and United States-Hungarian relations on November 17. An overview was presented to those present by State Department officials and extended question-and-answer period followed. Remarkably, the situation of Transylvania’s Hungarian population was in the center of interest as indicated by the large number of inquiries on that subject. Also, thank was expressed to President Carter and the Department of State for bringing up the plight of Transylvanian Hungarians to President Ceausescu and Rumanian foreign affair officials at their April visit in the United States, and further follow up was requested. The meeting attended by a capacity crowd of guests lasted three hours. Carpathian Observer, Dec. 1978 « e « 1979 INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF CHILD DID YOU KNOW THAT ... ... 52 million children under 15 have to work? of whom 42 million are unpaid workers in family concerns, particularly in agriculture, while the other 10 million are paid workers in small workshops factories, or in the land ? ... millions of children cannot go to school because their parents are too poor? . . . the above figures certainly only indicate part of the misery, because in many countries the economic statistics do not cover persons under 15, and because children who go to school and work at the same time are not usually included as part of the working population? CAN THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY SUPPLY THE REMEDY? On December 21, 1976, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted a resolution declaring 1979 the International Year of the Child. The same year will see the 20th Anniversary of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of the Child. This International Year of the Child was originally inspired by representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGO’s), who recognized that the children are our most precious possession in this life but that these very children are especially in need of protection because they are powerless to claim their rights if society or an individual refuses them. What are a child’s rights? According to the United Nations Declaration... to affection, love and understanding, to adequate nutrition and medical care, to free education. to full opportunity for play and recreation, to a name and nationality, to special care, if handicapped. to be among the first to receive relief in times of disaster.
