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The Situation of the Ethnic Hungarian Minority in the Slovak Republic

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The Situation of the Ethnic Hungarian Minority in the Slovak Republic UNFULFILLED OBLIGATIONS: THE SITUATION OF THE ETHNIC HUNGARIAN MINORITY IN THE SLOVAK REPUBLIC Geri L. Haight* I. INTRODUCTION .......................................................... 28 II. THE HUNGARIAN MINORITY IN THE SLOVAK REPUBLIC ................................................................ 30 A. The History of Hungarians in the Slovak Republic ........................................................ 31 B. Recent Developments Concerning the Situation of Ethnic Hungarians in Slovakia .............. 33 1. Relations Between Ethnic Slovaks and Hungarians in Slovakia ......................... 33 2. The Relationship Between the Slovak Republic and the Republic of Hungary .................................................. 42 III. SYSTEM OF MINORITY PROTECTION .................................. 47 A. Slovakia's Obligations Under the InternationalSystem of Human Rights Protection ...................................................... 47 B. Slovakia's ConstitutionalFramework for the Protection of NationalMinorities ..................... 53 C. Slovak Municipal Law Under International Human Rights and Slovak Constitutional A nalysis........................................................ .55 1. The State Language Law ................................. 55 2. Minority Language Education ....................... 70 3. Territorial Divisions .................................. 83 4. The Law on Names .................................... 91 * United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, Office of the Staff Attorney; J.D., 1997, Northeastern University School of Law. I would like to thank Professor Nathaniel Berman, John Young, Julia Domsitz, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the Marai Sandor Foundation for their assistance and relentless support of this project. This research was made possible due to a Professional Development Fellowship from the Institute of International Education, financed through the United States Department of State. 28 ILSA Journal of Int'l & ComparativeLaw [Vol. 4:27 5. Bilingual Road Signs .................................. 93 6. M ass M edia ............................................. 95 7. M inority Culture ......................................... 103 8. The Law on Foundations ............................... 106 9. Draft Legislation ........................................ 108 D. Slovakia's Prospectsfor EU and NATO A ccession ......................................................... 110 IV . C ONCLUSION ............................................................ 115 I. INTRODUCTION The Slovak Republic is a microcosm of the political and economic transformations occurring in Central and Eastern Europe following the 1989 collapse of the Soviet Union.' Although the change of political systems in the region occurred quite rapidly, it is clear that democratic states are not born overnight. Slovakia's tribulations underscore the stark choices that confront states of the former Soviet Block: whether to head down the difficult route of building a capitalist democracy or return to Soviet-style principles of a command economy and central political control. As the former communist countries evolve socially, politically, economically and legally, these challenges are coupled with international scrutiny of each state's domestic affairs. The prospect of accession into the European Union (EU) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has forced former Soviet states to forego sovereign prerogatives and make way for increasing international influences and directives. Torn between adopting western norms and adhering to familiar comforts of the past, the Slovak government has been much more reluctant than its Czech counterpart to adopt a system of pragmatic capitalism and to decentralize state administration.' The ruling coalition government, headed by Prime Minister Vladimir Meciar, has sent conflicting signals to Western officials regarding the state's aspirations to intergrate into the EU and NATO. The government's general commitment to democratic values has also been questioned. The presence of a substantial Hungarian minority in Slovakia serves as a present day reminder of historical territorial disputes between 1. The names Slovak Republic and Slovakia are used interchangeably throughout this document and refer to the same entity. 2. References to the Slovak government are to the ruling governmental coalition, not the president. The government is comprised of the Movement for a Democratic Slovakia, a populist party headed by Prime Minister Meciar, the Slovak National Party, a nationalist party, and the Association for Slovak Workers, a party largely representing communist adherents. The Slovak President is Mr. Michal Kovac. See also SLOVAK. CONST., ch. 2, pt. VI, art. 108. 19971 Haight the republics of Slovakia and Hungary.' The Treaty of Trianon, which left a substantial number of ethnic Hungarians on the Czecho-Slovak side of the Danube River, is debated within the political arena as if it were written in 1990, not 1920. Misrepresentation of history and the impoverishment of political life have resulted in a civil society where ethnic politics are at the forefront of the national consciousness. The Slovak government has effectively defined Slovak national culture predominantly along ethnic lines. Doctrinal and policy debates have incorporated powerful nationalist interests and, as a result, such concerns are reflected in government policy. One of the three parties comprising the government coalition is manifestly nationalistic and it has had a disproportionate influence on government policy since the legislative elections in the fall of 1994. This nationalist force is a source of many measures aimed directly at reinforcing the Slovak nation in Slovakia, often to the detriment of ethnic minorities. It is premature to characterize the current legal position of the Hungarian minority as an emergency. Yet, given Slovakia's unproven economy and unstable political scene, the potential for the eruption of ethnic tensions between the Slovak majority and the Hungarian minority is clear., In the three years since the birth of the Slovak Republic, policies and practices unbecoming of a democratic and ambitious Central European state have surfaced. The legislative measures analyzed in this document have aroused strong emotions and constitute a potential cause for conflict among Slovak and Hungarian citizens, as well as between the Slovak Republic and the Republic of Hungary. Ethnic Hungarians perceive their language and culture as being under attack by the Slovak government. Surveys reveal that a significant number of Slovak citizens fear the 3. For simplicity, the terms ethnic Hungarians and Hungarian minority are used interchangeably to refer to Slovak citizens of Hungarian origin. Where the term Hungarians refers to Hungarian citizens living in Hungary, this will be made clear in the text. The issues presented in this report are of equal importance to the numerous other minorities within the Slovak Republic, as the principles involved are general and universal. The emphasis, nevertheless, is on the Hungarian minority. This focus is in accordance with the current political climate where the issue of minority rights is equivalent to the question of rights for ethnic Hungarians. All other minorities are either well off or poorly organized and geographically dispersed. An example of the first is the Ukrainian minority. An example of the second is the Roma minority. 4. Surveys used for this report are the following: RASIZMUS, XENOPHOBIA, ANTISEMITISMUS, A INTOLERENCIA VEDOMI OBYVATELOW SLOVENSKJ REPUBLIKY [RACISM, XENOPHOBIA, ANTI-SEMITISM, AND INTOLERANCE IN THE SLOVAK REPUBLIC], Statisticky urad Slovenskej Republiky, Bratislava (Mar. 1995)[hereinafter RASIZMUS, XENOPHOBIA, etc.]; AUGUSTIN MAROK ET AT., SLOVAK-MAGYAR RELATIONS (1995); Sandor Marai Foundation & the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic, Selected Issues Viewed by Slovaks and Hungarians Living in Ethnically Mixed Regions of Southern Slovakia, Bratislava (July 1994); PETER HUNCIK, ET AL., COUNTERPROOF (1994); PAVOL FRIC ET AL., THE HUNGARIAN MINORITY IN SLOVAKIA (1993). 30 ILSA Journal of Int'l & ComparativeLaw [Vol. 4:27 outbreak of violence similar to that experienced in the former Yugoslavia. Ethnic tensions have dramatically heightened since 1993, with incidents of intimidation, verbal threats, and harassment of ethnic Hungarians increasing in frequency. The purpose of this study is to assess whether the Slovak government is creating or aggravating a climate that is inimical to the Hungarian minority. This atmosphere may actually be conducive to an ethnic conflict or refugee situation. For this report, international agreements and standards are used to evaluate the situation. No lower standard than those set by the international community should be accepted in the Slovak Republic. II. THE HUNGARIAN MINORITY IN THE SLOVAK REPUBLIC The historical presence of Hungarians in what is now recognized as the Slovak sovereign state has strongly influenced present relations between the Slovak majority and the ethnic Hungarian minority. The social status of Hungarians in Slovakia's southern region has drastically shifted with the relocation of Hungary's northern border. Tracing the Hungarian presence over the years reveals that Hungarians formed part of the Hungarian Empire until 1918; constituted an ethnic minority in Czechoslovakia through the 1920s and 1930s; and comprised part of a majority group during the Hungarian occupation
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