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AHF Meets with the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission |
On December 2, 2013 the American Hungarian Federation ("AHF) sent a letter to Congressmen Frank Wolf (R-VA) and Jim McGovern (D-MA), co-chairmen of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission ("TLHRC"), formerly the Congressional Human Rights Caucus. In its letter, AHF raised the continued harassment of Bishop Laszlo Tokes by Romanian authorities, this time with the threatened revocation of the Order of the Star of Romania. The Federation included an open letter from the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation to Romanian President Traian Basescu. Bishop Tokes' transgression was speaking out for the rights of the Hungarian minority in Romania. Earlier, on November 25, 2013, AHF submitted a letter to the Co-Chairs of the US Helsinki Commission, the Honorable Benjamin L. Cardin and Honorable Christopher H. Smith. On January 30, 2014 the co-chairmen of TLHRC sent a letter to the President of Romania expressing concern about decision of the ethics committee of the Order of the Star of Romania to revoke its award to Bishop Tokes, "who had previously been recognized for his extraordinarily courageous role in toppling the Ceausescu dictatorship during the 1989 revolution." In their letter the co-chairmen noted that the "development with regard to Bishop Tokes is troubling on a number of levels, not the least of which is that seems to indicate a closing of democratic space in Romania. Mr. President, we urge you to do everything within your power to request that the ethics committee rescind its unjust action against Reverend Tokes. His courage, which helped bring about a free and just Romania, deserves due recognition." Bishop Tokes thanked both co-chairs for their leadership and their letter and press release that publicly raised this matter. The discussions focused on the need to monitor developments relating to Bishop Tokes and the situation of the Hungarian minority in Romania and TLHRC's commitment to promote democracy and human rights. "The meetings were most productive and demonstrated TLHRC's keen concern about, among other things, three indispensable elements of democracy -- tolerance, respect for human and minority rights and the rule of law," said Koszorus. "We were especially gratified that our organizations spoke with one voice on this matter and worked hand in hand to ensure that Bishop Tokes' trip was as successful as it was," he added. Other organizations also spoke against the revocation, including the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation who submitted an open letter to Romanian President Traian Basescu. Additional statements appear below: "We, Members of the European Parliament, have learned with great concern that Romanian
politicians have recently requested the withdrawal of the Order of the Star of Romania
awarded to MEP Laszlo Tokes. We believe that such a move would contradict the values of
freedom and democracy that Mr. Tokes was deservedly awarded the order for." "Romania, as a member of both the Council of Europe and the European Union, has obligations clearly stated in the Statute and the Treaties and the European Convention on Human Rights. The persecution, legal or other, of a citizen, any citizen, even a Member of the European Parliament, for exercising his/her freedom of expression and opinion, is never acceptable." - Göran Lindblad President of The Platform of European Memory and Conscience, Former MP [download] and read more. Statement by the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the revocation of the Star of Romania state decoration László Tőkés: "We acknowledge Romania’s sovereign right to decide who to award state decorations to, as well as its right to decide who to revoke it from. The revocation of the Star of Romania from László Tőkés nonetheless raises concerns. The hero of the Romanian revolution, respected European politician, and iconic figure of Transylvania’s Hungarian community is being stripped of his decoration based on a deliberate misinterpretation of his political beliefs. [download] and read more. [<< Back to News from Rumania]
| [<< Back to News from Rumania] Related Articles Amerikai képviselők tiltakoznak Tőkés László miatt: Frank Wolf és James McGovern amerikai kongresszusi képviselők, a Tom Lantos emberjogi bizottság társelnökei tiltakozó levelet küldtek Traian Basescu román elnöknek, amiért Tőkés László kitüntetését Románia visszavette. [tovább] 11/25/2013 - Romania council votes to revoke the Knight's Order of the "Star of Romania" from hero of the Romanian Revolution, Bishop László Tőkés. AHF writes to the US Helsinki Commission on this latest anti-Hungarian measure: "The Federation respectfully and strongly urges you to publicly on behalf of the Helsinki Commission raise Romania’s most recent anti-Hungarian phenomenon." [read more] The "Declaration from Arad" by Laszlo Tokes Amerikai magyarok tiltakoznak a Helsinki Bizottságnál Tőkés kitüntetése - Az amerikai Helsinki Bizottsághoz fordult az Amerikai Magyar Szövetség (Forrás: MTI | 2013. november 25) Kiáll majd a Helsinki Bizottság Tőkés mellett? Why So Many Hungarians Across the Border? One thousand years of nation building successfully delineated groups based on culture, religion, geography, and other attributes to create the countries with which we are so familiar. While some Western European nations would continue power struggles and princely battles and civil wars, Hungary, founded in 896, was a peaceful multi-ethnic state for a 1000 years and her borders were virtually unchanged. Until 1920... The Treaty of Trianon in 1920... in the aftermath of WWI, was extremely harsh on Hungary and unjustifiably one-sided. The resulting "treaty" lost Hungary an unprecedented 2/3 of her territory, and 1/2 of her total population or 1/3 of her Hungarian-speaking population. Add to this the loss of up to 90% of vast natural resources, industry, railways, and other infrastructure. The clear winner of the land grab, was Rumania, who, established only 60 years earlier, more than doubled in size overnight. Ethnic Distribution in the Kingdom of Hungary in 1910 (Hungarians shown in red)
Hungarian populations declined significantly after forced removals such as the Benes Decrees and other pograms, the effects of WWI, and Trianon in 1920. With continued pressure and discriminative policies such as the 2009 Slovak Language Law, this trend continued over the past 90 years.
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[read more on the Treaty of Trianon] Selected AHF Articles on Rumania:
[read more on the Treaty of Trianon] You will need the free Adobe Reader to open the following files. Click the image to download. Articles and Essays by AHF Members
Congressional Resolutions and Records
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