To The Human Rights Organizations December 7, 1997
Recently we learned of serious violations of the human rights of the Romanian Greek-Catholic nuns of Odorhei (County of Harghita, Romania), perpetrated by the Hungarian minority of that town.
Mr. Cyrill Burgel, President of the Swiss humanitarian association Basel Hilft, reported over six months ago those human rights violations to the Romanian government.
The association Basel Hilft has donated to the County of Harghita, a county with preponderant Hungarian population, over 18 million Swiss francs. For that Mr. Cyrill Burgel has been awarded the title of Honorary Citizen of the Town of Gheorgheni, County of Harghita. Basel Hilft further donated over 6 million Swiss francs for the construction of an orphanage for abandoned and handicapped children. A local Hungarian Catholic association did not wish to become involved in the building of that orphanage; a Romanian Greek-Catholic organization, The Congregation of the Immaculate Heart, accepted the donation and the task it involved.
However, the Mayor and the City Council of Odorhei opposed that humanitarian initiative, claiming that its purpose was to diminish the preponderance of the Hungarian ethnic element in the town. Moreover, the Mayor of Odorhei incited the population to vehement protests against the humanitarian action of operating the orphanage, demonstrating callous indifference to the fate of those unfortunate children and creating an atmosphere of hatred of the Romanians, of the nuns, and of Mr. Cyrill Burgel, the president of Basel Hilft. Mr. Cyrill Burgel and the nuns were assaulted and run out of town by a mob of over a hundred people, many of them students rounded up and led by the Mayor and other officials of the town of Odorhei. The mob surrounded the orphanage, still under construction, and broke down the doors in their violent aggression of the nuns.
This deplorable violation of human rights perpetrated by the Hungarian officials and the mob they led in Odorhei has been publicized in the Romanian press and has been the subject of a Parliamentary investigation. Even Mr.Marko Bela, President of the Democratic Union of the Hungarians of Romania (Uniunea Democrata a Maghiarilor din Romania, UDMR) denounced the latest violation of human rights perpetrated by the extreme Hungarian nationalists of Odorhei.
In view of the above facts we submit this case to the Human Rights Organization and demand that appropriate steps be taken. An investigation must be conducted into this matter and these facts, when confirmed, must not be allowed to be disregarded.
We request that the Human Rights Organization devote special attention to Romania and monitor closely the violations of human rights perpetrated by the Hungarian population of the counties of Harghita, Covasna and Mures. Unless human rights are ensured for all inhabitants of Romania, the Helsinki Final Act of August 1, 1975 will remain a worthless piece of paper.
Should you desire further information about this case of human rights violation, please do not hesitate to contact Mr. Cyrill Burgel, President of the Swiss association Basel Hilft, or us.
Sincerely yours
George Duma, Ph.D. Traian Golea
President President
Romanian American National Congress Romanian Association of South Florida
1730 3rd Ave., Apt. 1202 901 NE 14th Ave., Apt. # 601
San Diego, CA 92101 Hallandale, FL 33009
Attachments:
1) Material written by Mr. Cyrill Burgel entitled What is Basel Hilft (attachment 1).
2) Papers registering the donation by S.C. Aris Industry, S.A. of Bucharest, of an unfinished building located in the town of Odorhei, to the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart (attachment 2).
3) Letter of Mr. Cyrill Burgel, on Basel Hilft stationery, of April 15, 1997 (attachment 3).
4) Second letter of Mr. Cyrill Burgel on Basel Hilft stationery, of July 25, 1997, concerning the case of the orphanage of Odorhei (attachment 4).
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