Friday, November 20, 2009

Romania: Open Letter of Protest in Relation with Mr. Ludovic Orban's Statements Regarding the Roma Community

11/11/2009 - ... The signatory organisations are expressing their disapproval and concern in relation with Mr. Ludovic Orban’s statements regarding the Roma community. Mr. Orban who is also the vice-president of the National Liberal Party, made racist and discriminatory comments on November 8th, 2009, during a press briefing session, in the framework of the presidential pre-election debates.

Mr. Orban’s referral to the Romanian citizens of Roma origin was based exclusively on the pejorative connotation of the term „tigan” (gypsy) largely used in the Romanian society, but not only: „I would briefly enumerate Basescu’s voters: alcohol addicts, gypsies, [...] female prostitutes probably, even though I doubt they would vote for Basescu, taking into account the way he looks like”.

As regards to his statement, the signatory organizations are emphasizing its racist and discriminatory nature, which is breaching the current legal provisions (Romanian Constitution, the Governmental Ordinance no. 137/2000 on the prevention and punishing all forms of discrimination), as well as a series of international commitments of Romania to respect the dignity and human rights of all.

Read more on http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Romano_Liloro/message/2464

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