The situation of the Gypsy minority in Hungary.

Authors Avatar

                              The situation of the Gypsy minority in Hungary

       Name: Judith Hamburg

                                                                               ID: 0223263

                                                                                                                 Mailbox: 220

                                                                                   Date: 26-04-04

                                                                               Assignment: 2

                                                                               Version: final draft

                                                                               Tutor: Wiebe Nauta

When we try to observe the multidimensional socio-economic faultlines between Western Europe and former Communist states in Central or Eastern Europe, one of the most striking problems seems to be that of minority discrimination. The most suppressed ethnical group in Central and Eastern Europe are the gypsies.

     Poland, the Czechs Republic and Hungary are becoming EU-members in a few days, Bulgaria and Romania are candidates for probable accession in 2007. Thus all these countries should lay emphasis on the “fight against discrimination and pauperism” (Ferge, 2004) which is a key aim of the “euro-social model” (ibid.) stressed by the European Union.

     I will focus in my essay on the situation of the gypsies in Hungary, where it is an understood thing that “the gypsy population is that group of the society which lives in the worst conditions from the point of view of the social situation” (Puporka&Zádori, 1998. My translation.). Furthermore I will compare the situation in Hungary to that of Romania and Bulgaria, two countries which are far less developed than Hungary at the moment (cf. Elster&Offe&Preuß).

     I argue that the situation of the gypsies in Hungary is unbearable and not correspondent with the stage of development of Hungary in general.

The overall bad situation of the gypsies in Hungary can be shown very well by two spheres: the educational level and the health care supply of the gypsies.

Health care

The sociologist Gy. Gyukits conducted an empirical sociological measuring in 1997/1998 in Budapest and the rural region Borsod-Albaúj-Zemplén in order to find out about anomalies in health care concerning the treatment of gypsies. They asked sixty individuals, most of them people who view themselves as belonging to the gypsy ethnicity, but also doctors and (male) nurses who are in regular contact with gypsies.

     To understand the context better, it is important to emphasize that although after the communist rule “Hungary transformed its healthcare system ... to a more pluralistic , decentralized model” (Ferguson& Irvine, 2002), ‘gratitude’ payments are still very essential. They even “have increased substantially since 1990, and currently contribute 18% to health care financing” (ibid.). Thus the poorer parts of the society have severe disadvantages concerning health care and limited or no accession to certain services.

Join now!

     Since 6% of the gypsy population is very poor and 27,6% are able to consume only 50% or less of “medium-consumption” (Ladányi, 2002. My translation.) , the importance of ‘gratitude’-payments in the Hungarian health care system affects the gypsies very strongly.

     The other factor that contributes to the bad level of health care of the gypsies has to do with ethnical discrimination. A study by Erös in 1998 indicates that the gypsies are the most rejected ethnic group in Hungary: “Very strong antipathy is present towards the gypsies by major parts of the society, ... in this ...

This is a preview of the whole essay