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Commora Aula in English : Observations on the Beneą Decrees in the Slovak Republic

Observations on the Beneą Decrees in the Slovak Republic

CA  2007.10.07. 19:03

Submitted by: The Commora Aula Team Date: 04/01/2007 London



The following report has been prepared to examine the different effects and aspects of the Beneą Decrees on the Hungarian Minority Living in today’s Slovakia.
We must note that during the preparation of the following report we often experienced a severe lack of more recent and relevant material.
As a result, our viewpoint and knowledge base has limitations on the above subject.

In order to depict a truly lifelike situation we examine the extension of the validity and effects of the discriminatory decrees and laws.

Firstly, it is necessary to point out that before the accession into the EU both countries the Czech and Slovak Republic took certain steps to examine the effects and validity of the decrees. We found however that meanwhile in the case of Czech Republic there was an international team carrying out the report by Frowein et al. (2002), in Slovakia there was a team of Slovak External Consulting Experts only. ©tefanovič et al. (2002). Therefore, the objectivity of the Slovak report might be questioned or limited and it should be re-evaluated by a similar board of experts as it had been in the case of the Czech Republic. The Slovak official opinion takes a differentiated approach and in general is that the Presidential decrees of the 1940-1945 period are still in effect, they have become obsolete or they may be formally in effect. ©tefanovič et al. (2002). Although according to the finding of the examination of the Czech legislation could be also applied mutatis mutandis to the Slovak legal system because of the similarity of the cases, the mandate of the report did not allow the examination of the Slovak law. The omission of Slovakia from the reports is likely due to political causes. CLA (2002). We will later discuss in more depth the non-direct effects of the so called ‘formally in effect’ laws on everyday life. Two German legal experts however worked out a report that is contrary to the Frowein-report. The report by German legal experts Rudolf Dolzer and Martin Nettesheim, according to which the Beneą Decrees are contrary to the legal order of the European Union, has not been so far published in full extent.

‘Legislation Implementation and Court Decision
New decrees, laws, regulations, court decisions and protocols have been added to the enclosed list of the 1945-1948 legislation to give a pretext for the prolongation of the validity and effect of the discriminatory decrees and laws. These denounced the Hungarian and German minorities collectively as war criminals (collective guilt) who should be exterminated, and their properties left behind should be distributed free of charge among Slovaks and Czechs. The validity of the above decrees and laws was renewed and prolonged by laws 229/1991 and 330/1991. They exclude the Hungarians of Slovakia from restitution of landed property, confiscated by presidential decree 108/1945 and 104/1945 of the Slovak National Council, to their former proprietors or their legal heirs. They are not abrogated, and still effect and extend the legal continuity of the Benes decrees. Currently, state authorities obstruct claims of citizens belonging to the Hungarian minority. The Slovak National Council adopted law No. 180/1995 of the "presumed property title". By this law, Slovak colonists to whom confiscated land from Hungarians was assigned by decrees 108/1945 or 104/1945 became the proprietors of the confiscated lands. Law 229/1991 of the Czechoslovak Parliament allowed to citizens having permanent residence in Czechoslovakia under certain conditions to reclaim their landed properties confiscated by the state after the February 25, 1948 communist coup d'état. This law did not nullify the confiscations between 1945-1948 from Hungarians and Germans based on the Benes decrees. The exclusions in this law were confirmed by the following circular letter: No. 126/1999 of the Supreme Court of the Slovak Republic on March 19, 1999, after the separation from Czechoslovakia on January 1, 1993.’ See in appendices example 1.
The objective was to insure that the confiscated property would devolve to those who were considered by the government to be politically reliable.’ HRFCE (2002)
Therefore, we assume that direct effects of the Beneą Decrees are traceable and perceptible.
However, before we would make any conclusion a basic fact should be pointed at; the principle of the collective guilt. A legal norm that has not been abrogated in a way prescribed by law, i.e. is formally valid, providing a firm base to further encourage negative ethnical discrimination. It has to be stated that the system of human rights protection in the European Union and the multilateral international agreements based on it are in sharp contradiction with the principle of collective guilt. The decrees of President Beneą are contrary to the law of the European Union also from the viewpoint of ban of discrimination. PRME (1996)
The next aim of our observation is to examine the non-direct effects of the latter described above. In our opinion, it is important to understand that the decrees are very often referred to and used as guidelines in dealing with Hungarians in overall. Including a person to person or government to its minority to an extent where it causes constant strain and fear in everyday life. From schools and universities through workplaces and streets and outstandingly even if living or meeting abroad, else in the EU. Further analysis requires an in-depth case study. Also see app.2.The most obvious clues are perceptible in different levels and aspects of the society in form of nationalism and negative ethnical discrimination.
For example, the Slovak President Ivan Gaąparovič stated the following,’ There is no need for further discussion on the Benes decrees. If they were discussed, it would not be good for the Hungarian minority in Slovakia. Gaąparovič considers re-igniting these discussions to be a waste of time, adding that he thinks ordinary people are not interested in them either. The decrees played their role in the past when institutions were trying to defeat fascism, he said. Slov. Spec. (2005). We have to point out however that: 1. Ordinary Hungarians think quite the opposite. 2. the decrees included: expulsions, deportations, internment camps, people’s courts procedures: citizenship revocations, property confiscations, condemnation to forced labour camps, involuntary changes of nationality or reslovakization, and appointment of government supervisors to German and Hungarian owned businesses and farms, none that would defeat fascism and punishing a nation is against basic human rights. Nevertheless it is also a moral question for the Hungarian minority, and Slovakia still lacks a dedicated minorities-protection law.
In addition, the opening words of the preamble of the Slovak Constitution are: "We, the Slovak nation...” de facto recognising the Slovak state as a one-nation state. If one word were changed from "nation" to "citizens" a single and major cause of tension would be lessened; thus, "We, the Slovak citizens" would recognize the diversity of peoples in Slovakia.
Moreover, the official language of the Slovak Republic is Slovak, thus ignoring the presence of national minorities, among them Hungarians resulting a strong feeling of nationalism and overwhelming confidence on the Slovak side. This leads us to the language rights and issues that have become one of the major concerns of the Hungarian minority that are not adequately addressed by the government. In fact, the government appears to set against any action that would give special concessions to the Hungarian minority, which is and has acted to isolate Hungarians from the Slovak society not understanding that ‘minorities greatly contribute to the pluriformity and cultural variety’ of a state. Recom. (1990) Among the most recent issue is the so-called ‘language law’ that again reflects the linkage between the decrees and the mistreatment of minorities. The law is under process and once in effect it will make to pay everyone a penalty that does not use the official language adequately. We must note that the Hungarian nation living in that region has an original inhabitant status and as such, it will result even deeper humiliation. The new constitution recognizes Hungarian as an official language only in regions where ethnic Hungarians constitute at least 20% of the population.
Many ethnic Hungarians desire self-determination within Slovakia. They emphasize that they do not wish to secede from Slovakia but simply want autonomy within the Hungarian areas in southern Slovakia, especially with respect to language, education and cultural issues. De facto many believe that if given economic, territorial (personal where applicable) autonomy, ethnic Hungarian leaders could in fact accelerate economic growth and attract foreign investment to the region.
The Slovak Republic as a successor state of the restored Czechoslovakia remains unwilling to revoke the discriminatory edicts and laws and to restore human and property rights to the proscribed population. Nevertheless, we understand that the Koąice government program is considered a kind of Slovak Magna Charta naming Slovaks for the first time in history as a sovereign nation and as such is treated with caution. But is not the overall goal the destruction of national minorities?
We would like to have the affirmed possibility of an expert team set up by the European Parliament that would recommend the abolishment of the Beneą decrees since Slovakia is a member of the European Union or it would be also appropriate and desirable to adopt a derogative clause with a dated legal norm to limit their effects in the future.
As a conclusion and taking into account the above and the fact that these decrees are part of the legal order of the Slovak Republic we are strongly concerned that it already has and will indeed have a negative influence on the younger generation resulting in further negative ethnic discrimination in the future or undesirable assimilation of the Hungarian minority.

Appendices
1. ‘To support the legal continuity of the Benes decrees, a decision of the Supreme Court of the Slovak Republic No. c.k. 13 CO 36l/ 1994 of June 22, 1994, (Rozsudok v Mene Slovenskej Republiky/­ Decision on behalf of the Slovak Republic) states that the property registered in the Registry Office of the City of Nové Zámky under No: 89/2786 ( house), No. 809 (courtyard) and No. 2787 (garden) in the name of Margaret Kanoszay, née Pusztay, of Hungarian nationality, was confiscated according to presidential decree 108/1945 concerning the confiscation of enemy property, and it cannot be restituted. The properties of those Hungarians who were carried off to Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia to forced labour according to decree 71/1945, were confiscated immediately by the confiscation commissions. Between 1945 and 1948as much as 4538 cases occurred.’ HRFMCE (2002)
‘The Parliament of the Czech and Slovak Federative Republic modified the 229/1991 Land Act with the 93/1992 modification act. It cancelled the limit of 250 hectares of reclaim and introduced the status of "presumed proprietor" in the legal regulation. In reality, this regulation provided legal force to the claims of Slovak colonists in Hungarian inhabited Southern Slovakia and assigned them land that has never been registered in their name in the Land Registry Offices. The title for property is registered in the cadastral registry and later it causes a legal impediment for the restitution of the originally confiscated land.’ HRFMCE (2002)
‘In these procedures, the local administrative offices receive a continuous support from the central ministries. The most noticeable example from the Ministry of Agriculture is the "p r o t o c o l" drafted on June 6, 1996, on a legal position regarding land restitution, at a joint meeting of the representatives of the Slovak government's cabinet office, the District Court of Bratislava, the Bratislava Regional Cadastral Registry Office and the Ministry of Agriculture. Although the "protocol" adopted has no legal force, as it has never been published in the Official Gazette, it often appears as a reference in the procedure of some cadastral registry offices. In a democratic state, legally valid annulments belong only to the competence of a judiciary forum’. HRFMCE (2002)
2. ‘Furthermore, Pavel Koncoą, the Minister of Agriculture, having only a procedural (and non discretional) competence, issued different circular letters (e.g., the letter issued on June 14, 2001, under No. 1866/2001-100) instructing district office managers how to refuse restitution claims for confiscated properties from Hungarians. This also shows that ethnic discrimination in Slovakia is also the policy of the government. In 2002, the number of restitution claims before the courts in the Slovak Republic for confiscated properties under litigation is considerably high. The courts must take into consideration the existing and valid decrees, laws, protocols and previous court judgments.’ HRFMCE (2002)


References
- Collective Guilt – Individual Remedy?, CLA- Opinion: The Frowein Report (2002)
- Current Legislation Implementation and Court Decision, Human Rights For Minorities in Central Europe ­Vancouver Society (2002)

- Hungarians of the Slovak Republic- www.slovakia.org
- Legal Opinion on the Beneą-Decrees and the accession of the Czech Republic to the European Directorate-General for Research., Prof. Dr. Dres. h.c. Jochen A. Frowein, Heidelberg, Prof. Dr. Ulf Bernitz, Stockholm The Rt. Hon. Lord Kingsland Q.C. Union European Parliament(2002)
- Memorandum on the Benes Decrees Center for Legal Analyses- Kalligram Foundation (2002)
- Non-paper of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic
on the Presidential decrees of the Czechoslovak Republic. -JUDr. Milan ©tefanovič et al. (2002)
- Protection of Minority Rights in Europe: Policy Recommendations Based on case studies of Eastern and Central Europe and the Former Soviet Union., An Occasional Paper from, Minority Rights Group (1996)
- Recommendation 1134 (1990) On the Rights of Minorities., Parliamentary assembly, Council of Europe (1990)
- Slovak Spectator, Beneą decrees should not be discussed any more (2005)

 
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