26 years ago, the UN General Assembly adopted the
\nDeclaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious
\nand Linguistic Minorities. The international document provides guarantees for
\ntheir rights in general, so several states recognized its importance by
\ndeclaring December 18th the National Minorities’ Day. Romania too
\nhas joined the international initiative, so on December 18th we
\ncelebrate all national minorities living in this country: Albanian, Armenian,
\nBulgarian, Croat, Greek, Jew, German, Italian, Hungarian, Polish, Roma, Lipovan
\n– Russian, Serb, Slovak, Check, Tartar, Turkish, Ukrainian, Macedonian and
\nRuthenian. Cultural events, symposiums, round tables and other specific actions
\nare held on this day. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
National Minorities’ Day is the expression of the
\ngeneral interest in living in a democratic society, characterized by tolerance
\nand diversity, in the good functioning of which we are all engaged, says
\nRomania’s President Klaus Iohannis, himself an ethnic German, in a message
\nconveyed on the occasion. Preservers of ancestors’ traditions, and valuable
\ncontributors to modernizing the state and shaping our European identity, the
\nnational minorities have built, together with the Romanian majority, the
\ndemocratic and pro-European road that Romania took to in December 1989 the
\nRomanian president’s message also reads. In a world of competition and global
\nchallenge, Romania must be defined by inter-ethnic dialogue, as a factor of social
\ncohesion and human development, tolerance and fight against chauvinism and
\nxenophobia, the president also says.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The Romanian Parliament too has sent a message to the
\nRomanian citizens belonging to national minorities, through the voice of
\nVarujan Pambuccian, a representative of the Armenian minority. National
\nminorities in Romania have developed and asserted their own ethnic identity,
\nnot only by means of laws, but also and more importantly, on the basis of a
\nprocess that started 100 years ago, when the Romanian people decided to form
\nthe Romanian modern nation and Greater Romania together with the other peoples
\nliving on the historical territories of Romania, with whom they shared
\nhistory, says Varujan Pambuccian. Romania is a European model with regard to
\nthe protection of national minorities’ rights, which go beyond international
\nstandards and support their participation in the decisions making process concerning
\nsociety as a whole. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
We recall that 18 of the recognized national
\nminorities in Romania are represented in the Chamber of Deputies, and the
\nDemocratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians, the political party of the largest
\nminority in Romania, has been part of many coalition governments established
\nsince 1996. <\/p>\n
(Translated by M. Ignatescu)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
National Minorities’ Day is celebrated in Romania on December 18<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":79617,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[39527,35246,29000,29296],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-80028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-ethnic-groups","tag-national-minorities-day","tag-president-klaus-iohannis","tag-un-general-assembly"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n