Where Are They Headed? The Situation of the Roma Minority in Hungarian and International Law
Where Are They Headed? The Situation of the Roma Minority in Hungarian and International Law

Summary/Abstract: Numerous questions concerning Roma in Europe have remained unanswered and it is still doubtful whether they will assimilate into majority society or demand special rights as a national or ethnic minority. The answer will vary country-by-country and by the attitudes and interests of different groups of Roma within one country. If a national legal system offers special minority rights and the free choice of identity, theoretically, the Roma will be granted two possibilities: assimilation or special minority rights. A state may provide special minority rights, or it may support various forms of affirmative action promoting the assimilation process. To achieve both forms of social integration, states must guarantee the equal enjoyment of human rights. In an era of universal human rights protection, however, this might seem like a minimalist objective. Documents adopted by international organizations concerning the Roma are frequently incoherent, making it difficult to deduce any common regulatory elements from them. One can claim that in general, these documents are characterized by a security policy approach and regularly recommend the prohibition of discrimination. Furthermore, while perhaps overly committed to the concept of the Roma-nation, they fail to take into consideration the possibility of alternative forms of positive distinction.

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