Brussels, 02/11/2010 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 28 October, experts of the UN Human Rights Committee strongly criticised Hungary with regard to the situation of the Roma minority there, a minority that is victim to “ill treatment” and “discrimination”. After the European Commission's call to order concerning the treatment of Roma in France, it is now Hungary's turn to have its fingers rapped on this subject by international bodies. The Roma suffer constant ill-treatment and racial profiling on the part of the police, the experts write in their conclusions of their periodical report on Hungary, examining measures taken by this country to comply with the international pact on civilian and political rights. The Roma minority is targeted, the experts say, and virulent and generalised comments are aimed at them by public figures, the media and members of the Magyar Garda, the former Hungarian Guard. The Roma form a very large minority in Hungary and suffer from widespread prejudice and discrimination, one of the members of the UN Committee, Michael O'Flaherty, explained, as reported by AFP. The report comes at a bad time for Hungary, where some 700,000 Roma live, as the country is to take on the rotating presidency of the European Union Council as of 1 January 2011. Prime Minister Viktor Orban announced in mid-October that integration of the Roma would be one of the three subjects on which the Hungarian Presidency wished to place emphasis, the other two being energy and Croatia's membership of the EU. At the end of September 2010, the Council of Europe had also condemned Hungary for discrimination against the Roma minority. (B.C./transl.jl)