Promote rights of citizens belonging to national minorities (RO0073)

Which public issue will be addressed by this obligation? Inadequate and insufficient application of the linguistic rights of citizens belonging to national minorities. The legal framework regarding the right of citizens belonging to a national minority to use their mother tongue in public administration was modified by the adoption of Government Emergency Ordinance no. 57/2019 on the Administrative Code, with subsequent amendments and completions.

Description of the commitment What is the obligation? Components: - Initiating a campaign to disseminate the recognized rights to citizens belonging to national minorities in Romania, a campaign that will be posted on the website and social media page of DIR, based on the need to be aware of the existence and exercise of these rights by those who are recognized. At the same time, the campaign is addressed to citizens belonging to the majority, knowledge of these rights being essential for achieving an effective dialogue between national minorities and the majority. - Continuing the data collection process initiated by DIR in 2017 regarding the application of legal provisions on the right of citizens belonging to a national minority to use their mother tongue in local public administration, in localities where the threshold of citizens belonging to a national minority exceeds 20% of the population. The 28 DRI will ask the local public administration authorities, the public institutions subordinated to them, as well as the decentralized public services a series of questions. The questions contained in the questionnaire submitted to these entities will be formulated based on the provisions of the Government Emergency Ordinance no. 57/2019 on the Administrative Code, with subsequent amendments and completions. Background: this commitment is an integral part of the DRI initiative to disseminate the rights recognized to citizens of national minorities 2020 – 2021

How will the fulfilment of the obligation contribute to the solving of the public problem? - building awareness among the citizens of national minorities of the importance of the existence and application of the rights recognized to them; increasing confidence in local and central authorities who have an obligation to enforce these rights and raising awareness of the role that these entities play in the system of protection of national minorities; - ensuring a single point of access to information on the centralized collection and publication of data on the application of the provisions governing the right of citizens belonging to national minorities to use their mother tongue in local public administration, contained in the Administrative Code in order to improve / increase fair application and exercise of these rights.

What is the main objective? Implementation by the authorities of the legal framework governing the linguistic rights recognized to citizens belonging to national minorities

Goals/activities Responsible (institution / partner) Start date End date Development of information materials - citizens' organizations belonging to national minorities members of the Council of National Minorities will be informed about the amendments and completions to the normative acts in force in the field, the evolution of the legislative system on the rights of national minorities; it will be done through the specialized commissions of the CMN and within the plenum of the CMN. The information activity will be carried out permanently, whenever necessary, depending on the legislative changes and the appearance of new normative acts in the DIR permanent permanent 29 field. Creating messages / texts / images on "rights categories". For example, language rights - the right to learn in the mother tongue, the right to express in the mother tongue before the courts, the right to be given medical information in the mother tongue, to use the mother tongue in relations with local public administration authorities, to transmit or receive information in the mother tongue. DIR 2021 August 2020 Applying questionnaires to local public administration authorities and decentralized public services and collecting data transmitted by them in response to the questionnaire. (questionnaire / meeting / consultations with public institutions) DIR 2021 April 2021 Collection and analysis based on data provided by local government institutions and decentralized public services, in response to the questionnaire submitted DIR 2021 December 2021 Publication of data and analysis on monitoring the application of the provisions governing the right of citizens belonging to national minorities to use their mother tongue in local public administration, contained in the Administrative Code. DIR 2021 April 2022 Developing a platform and a web and mobile application that facilitates the dissemination of information about national minority communities and their rights. The app will contain a section dedicated to official forms in the languages of national minorities (with the possibility of completing and digital signature), respectively a function for DIR 2021 December 2022 30 notifying the violation of the rights of national minorities. Promoting, by publishing on the DIR website, cases of good practice in the field DIR permanent June 2022

Action Plan Review

Commitment 8: Access to information on linguistic rights of national minorities