NGOs outraged by proposed amendment to Romania's Constitution banning Roma from calling themselves Romanians

NGOs in Romania are demanding the rejection of a proposed amendment to the Constitution that would limit the rights of minorities in the country to deem themselves “Romanian” unless they can “scientifically prove” their ethnicity. The shocking proposition has outraged Roma rights groups, who say the amendment is obviously discriminatory and clearly an attack on the Roma community, potentially robbing them of the right to call themselves Romanians, in an attempt to educate foreigners that Roma are not Romanians. National Liberal Party (PNL) deputies Mircea Dolha and Grigore Crăciunescu proposed the amendment that more than 20 different NGOs have condemned. “Clearly, the ethnic minority referred to are the Roma. (...) In a democratic society, public authorities must react according to the law against such obviously discriminatory initiatives, which constitute an attack directed against the law of the land and the foundations of a democratic society,” reads a joint statement issued by the NGOs, quoted by local news agency Mediafax. “Except minorities that have scientifically provable common roots with the Romanians any other minority cannot use officially use the term Romanian as a title, derivatives thereof or similar sounds, which can cause confusion, falsely indicating Romanian origin,” reads the proposed amendment. The proposal appears also to be in flagrant disregard of international human rights accords, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, according to the NGOs. The European human rights agreements would also be breached by a constitutional denial of the right for an ethnic group from Romania to call themselves Romanian. The purpose behind the bill appears to be an attempt to distance Romania from the Roma community in the eyes of foreigners, abhorrent in itself, but also ineffective, according to the NGOs, who argue that foreign perceptions are not governed by the constitution of the country and that “the only effect of this initiative would be the definite stigmatization and violation of the fundamental rights of Roma.” The NGOs have submitted requests to the PM, President, Senate and the Constitutional Court to prevent the amendment being enacted. A commission headed by leader of the Senate and Social Liberal Union (USL) co-leader Crin Antonescu is currently reviewing Romania's Constitution. When a draft constitution has been completed, it will be ratified by parliament before later being put to the people in a referendum. editor@romania-insider.com (photo source: sxc.hu)