Indicator history

The US State Department 2010 Human Rights Report Romania clearly indicates three organizations as being "extremist organizations": New Right Organization, Professor George Manu Foundation and Party for the Nation. The report describes their activity as sponsoring events, including religious services, symposia, and marches, commemorating leaders of the pre-World War II era Legionnaire Movement, which "attracted small numbers of persons."

The report also states that: "During the year, the extremist press continued to publish anti-semitic articles. The New Right movement and similar organizations and associations continued to promote the ideas of the Iron Guard (an extreme nationalist, Anti-Semitic, pro-Nazi group that existed in the Country in the inter-War period) in the media and on the Internet. Organizations with extreme right-wing views also published inflamatory books from the inter-war period. " [1]

In 2006, the NGO Romani CRISS filed a petition against the website www.nouadreapta.ro for discriminatory articles against the Roma, with the National Council for Combating Discrimination (NCCD). The NCCD found discrimination and sanctioned the authors of the articles, but also the Organization New Right for posting the articles on its website. The NCCD found that through the articles in question "the persons belonging to the Roma minority are generically catalogued as violent, aggressive, illiterate, delinquents, etc., identifying the Roma community in its entirety with mafia clans, with prostitution, usurer activities, drug trafficking and other illicit and anti-social deeds, inciting to racial hatred". [2]

Romani CRISS also filed a complaint with the Prosecutor’s Office against the organization New Right and its President, also claiming breaches of the Government Emergency Ordinance No. 31/2002 on the ban of organizations with a fascist, racist or xenophobic character and the promotion of the cult of persons guilty of crimes against peace and humanity. The Prosecutor’s Office (attached to the Bucharest Tribunal) decided not to begin a criminal investigation. According to Romani CRISS, the Prosecutor motivated that: “the functioning of numerous organizations legally established, such as: The Legionary Movement, New Right, etc… and the existence of some publications which belong to these, constitutes a reality which cannot be ignored….”. Romani CRISS contested the decision and kept loosing and contesting until it exhausted all internal remedies, after which, in 2008, it brought the case before the European Court of Human Rights. Among its requests before the ECtHR, the NGO asked for “reparatory measures with a general character of a nature to lead to avoiding breaches of this type, including through a specialized compulsory training for all magistrates.” [3]

Sources:

1. US State Department, 2010 Human Rights Report Romania, Section 6, available at http://romania.usembassy.gov/2010_rhr_en.html (accessed on 14.02.2012)

2. National Council for Combating Discrimination, Report on the implementation of the race directive in Romania, p. 42, available at: http://www.cncd.org.ro/publicatii/Rapoarte-5/ (accessed on: 15.03.2012)

3. Romani CRISS, Newsletter January-April 2008, p. 4, available at: http://romanicriss.org/RCRISS%20newsletter%20ian-april08.pdf (accessed on: 15.03.2012)