MINELRES: RFE/RL Newsline on minority issues

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RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 8, No. 7, Part I, 13 January 2004 

CHECHEN DISPLACED PERSONS CAMPS TO CLOSE. The three remaining camps in
Ingushetia for displaced persons who fled the fighting in Chechnya over
the past four years are to be closed by 1 March, Russian media reported
on 12 January, quoting Chechen officials. The population of the three
camps is estimated at 4,600. Acting Chechen Prime Minister Eli Isaev
told ITAR-TASS that "there are no reasons for people to remain in tent
camps where living conditions are unbearable." He said there are "no
obstacles" to residents of those camps returning to Chechnya. Vakha
Baybatirov, who is chairman of the Chechen government committee on
compensation and forced migration, said camp residents will be paid
compensation for their destroyed homes. Ingushetian President Murat
Zyazikov discussed the planned refugee return with Russian Interior
Ministry officials on 10 January, ITAR-TASS reported. LF



RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 8, No. 7, Part II, 13 January 2004

SLOVAK ROMA PROTEST PLANNED 'SPECIAL POLICE FORCE.' Activist Alexander
Patkolo told CTK on 12 January that the Romany community considers the
Interior Ministry's plan to set up special police forces to deal with
members of that community to be an "undemocratic step backward." Patkolo
said that only fascist authorities during World War II and communist
authorities used to keep special police records on the Roma. He said
that instead of focusing on petty crime in Romany settlements, police
should concentrate on attacks and discrimination against the Roma and
their leaders. An Interior Ministry spokesman countered that there are
no grounds for Roma to fear possible abuse by the special forces. "We
want to improve communication between police and Roma, especially in
Romany settlements. [Under the plan,] a police expert would deal with
minor disputes and offenses in such settlements and prevent illegal acts
among members of the community," the spokesman said. The special police
forces are to start working in 2007, and Romany nongovernmental
organizations are expected to participate in the implementation of the
plans for combating petty crime. MS

ETHNIC HUNGARIAN LEADER INSISTS ON AUTONOMY AHEAD OF ROMANIA'S EU
ACCESSION. Jozsef Csapo, chairman of the ethnic Hungarian Szekler
National Council (SZNT in Hungarian, CNS in Romanian), announced in
Budapest on 12 January that the SZNT considers the granting by Romania
of autonomy to Szeklers to be a precondition of Romania's EU accession,
"Magyar Nemzet" and "Nepszabadsag" reported. The SZNT was set up in
October (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 29 October 2003). Csapo met with Zsolt
Nemeth, the FIDESZ chairman of the Hungarian parliament's Foreign
Affairs Committee. Csapo later told journalists that although the SZNT
has asked all Hungarian political parties to support its demands, only
FIDESZ has done so. Nemeth said autonomy can guarantee the survival of
ethnic Hungarians abroad, adding that he supports the idea of inviting
Bishop Laszlo Toekes's recently established Transylvanian Hungarian
National Council to the next session of the Hungarian Standing
Conference. The ruling Social Democratic Party has resisted inviting
Toekes's group into that forum of Hungarian government and ethnic
organizations representing Hungarians abroad. MS


RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 8, No. 9, Part II, 15 January 2004 

JEWISH LEADER PROTESTS 'STATE-SPONSORED ANTI-SEMITISM' IN BELARUS.
Police detained the chairman of the World Association of Belarusian
Jewry in front of the presidential administration building in Minsk on
14 December, shortly after Yakov Goodman unfolded a placard to protest
what he calls "state-sponsored anti-Semitism" in Belarus, RFE/RL's
Belarusian Service reported. "I undertook this action because
[authorities] destroyed a synagogue on Dzimitrava Street two years ago,"
Goodman told RFE/RL. "Now excavators are concluding the demolition of
Khalodnaya Synagogue [in Minsk], which was founded in 1570. This past
summer, construction work was conducted on two Jewish cemeteries in
Mazyr. A month ago, also in Mazyr, someone destroyed the memorial sign I
placed at the site where a group of Jews, including my grandfather,
burnt themselves in 1941." The same day, a district court issued an
official warning to Goodman for staging an unauthorized demonstration.
JM

SLOVAK POLICE REPORTEDLY LAUNCH ANTI-EXTREMISM SQUAD. A special unit
within the Slovak police force has been set up to fight the spread of
neo-Nazi propaganda, CTK reported on 14 January, citing Daniel Milo,
head of the League Against Racism. (The report did not include
confirmation from official Slovak sources.) Milo said the special force
will target Internet providers of neo-Nazi propaganda and literature and
neo-Nazi musicians. "The police approach to this kind of crime has
become more sensitive," Milo said. "They have realized that this is not
just a game played by adolescents." The League Against Racism launched a
nationwide antiracism campaign on 14 January called "Take care of your
local Nazi." The league estimates that there are some 5,000 active
neo-Nazis in Slovakia who commit hundreds of attacks every year. It
claims the number of attacks is growing and they are increasingly
brutal. MS

HUNGARIAN PARTY IN ROMANIA REITERATES OPPOSITION TO SINGLE-CONSTITUENCY
SYSTEM. Hungarian Democratic Federation of Romania (UDMR) Chairman Bela
Marko said on 14 January that the introduction of a system of
single-constituency representation could eliminate the UDMR from the
Romanian parliament and thereby generate interethnic tension, Mediafax
reported. Marko told journalist that the current
proportional-representation system has secured adequate representation
in parliament of the country's Hungarian minority. He warned that the
situation in Romania might deteriorate into a situation of violent
interethnic clashes akin to those in the former Yugoslavia. Prime
Minister Adrian Nastase responded that each political party has the
right to pursue its own interests and that his Social Democratic Party
(PSD) has reached the conclusion that it would be far better represented
in parliament if a single-constituency system would be introduced for
the Senate elections. Nastase also said that public-opinion polls show
that a switch to single-constituency representation is backed by 70
percent of the population and the PSD would face criticism from the
electorate if it failed to support the change. MS




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