• World
    • Africa
    • Asia Pacific
    • Central & South Asia
    • Europe
    • Latin America & Caribbean
    • Middle East & North Africa
    • North America
  • Coronavirus
  • Politics
    • US Election
    • US politics
    • Joe Biden
    • Brexit
    • European Union
    • India
    • Arab world
  • Economics
    • Finance
    • Eurozone
    • International Trade
  • Business
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Startups
    • Technology
  • Culture
    • Entertainment
    • Music
    • Film
    • Books
    • Travel
  • Environment
    • Climate change
    • Smart cities
    • Green Economy
  • Global Change
    • Education
    • Refugee Crisis
    • International Aid
    • Human Rights
  • International Security
    • ISIS
    • War on Terror
    • North Korea
    • Nuclear Weapons
  • Science
    • Health
  • 360 °
  • The Interview
  • In-Depth
  • Insight
  • Quick Read
  • Video
  • Podcasts
  • Interactive
  • My Voice
  • About
  • FO Store
Sections
  • World
  • Coronavirus
  • Politics
  • Economics
  • Business
  • Culture
  • Sign Up
  • Login
  • Publish

Make Sense of the world

Unique insight from 2,000+ contributors in 80+ Countries

Close

Roma: Europe’s Dispossessed

By Anna Pivovarchuk • Jun 23, 2013

The Roma community exist in a legal limbo between illegal migration, asylum seeking, and internal displacement.

There is a wonderfully romantic idea of the Roma peoples: a historical image of the free-roaming nomads, independent, proud travellers, whose music is passionate and whose women are beautiful and can tell the future.

But this is only one side of a highly mismatched coin. Roma were banned from Milan as early as 1493, and Spain introduced vagrancy laws in 1499 to deal with the influx of Roma travellers who started coming to Europe in the 15th century. Henry VIII was the first to expel the Roma from England, while Elizabeth I signed a law making Roma “illegal”, forcing them to settle in permanent communities and assimilate or face death. France, Spain, Switzerland, Portugal and the Holy Roman Empire, all had similar provisions. There are sources which document that Roma were hunted for game as late as mid-19th century Germany. Roma were enslaved in Romania until the abolition of slavery in 1864, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire had a policy of forced adoption of Roma children to assimilate them — also introduced in Switzerland in 1926 and continuing into the 1970s. World War II saw the Baro Porrajmos (The Great Devouring) when, according the Council of Sinti and Roma estimate, over half a million perished in the German camps.

Having been hunted as thieves, witches and godless vagabonds throughout the centuries, the last few decades have seen little improvement with the Roma’s image being associated with extreme poverty, vagrancy and crime.

Generational Poverty

After the need to address the Roma situation was recognised at the 1990 Conference on the Human Dimension of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), innumerable EU-wide integration platforms have been launched, resolutions passed and condemnations issued. In 2005, the Decade of Roma Inclusion was launched, aimed at fighting discrimination, providing a strategy for integration, improving the social situation by giving Roma equal access to education, housing, healthcare and the EU labour market; over €26 billion have been made available from EU funds to Member States for Roma programmes.

With so much attention, one would think that the days when over 80% of the Roma lived below the poverty line, with 15% struggling from starvation on a regular basis; when child mortality among the Roma was three to four times higher than the general population, reaching a staggering 80% in Romania; and when only one in a hundred Roma children had access to higher education, was a distant memory by now. In reality, it scarcely improved.

The 2012 United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) report, funded by the European Commission, surveyed 11 EU Member States’ conditions among the 10-12 million European Roma that the EC declared “not acceptable in the European Union…at the beginning of the 21st century”.

While half of Roma children start kindergarten, and nine out of ten are in school between the ages of 7-15, only 15% complete a secondary education. One third between the ages of 35-54 report health problems that interfere with their daily lives, while 45% live in households that lack an indoor toilet, indoor kitchen, bath/shower facilities or electricity. (In Romania, approximately 85% lack at least one of the above amenities, versus 55% of the nearby non-Roma population, while in Bulgaria this figure is 75% versus 30%). Some 90% live in households with an equalised income below the national poverty level, and are unable to afford meat, fish or a protein, utility bills and rent, heating, a TV, a telephone or a washing machine; 40% live in households where someone has to go to bed hungry at least once a month. While child labour is virtually inexistent for non-Roma, more than one in ten children work on the farms, street vending, or running errands. Life expectancy is ten years less than the European norm, one in three consider themselves unemployed, and half have experienced discrimination in the past year.

Small Courtyard, Long Whip

Romanophobia – defined by the Finnish government as anti-Gypsyism and equated to Islamophobia or anti-Seimitism — has been gaining momentum across Europe, in stride with the anti-immigration sentiments augmented by the global financial crisis. Politicians, and not always right-wing ones, can be heard referring to Roma as “animals”, “criminals” and “parasites”. Robert Fico, Slovakia’s prime minister, openly declared in a recent speech that Slovakia was “established for Slovaks, not for minorities”. Manuel Valls, French interior minister, echoed this sentiment in 2012, when he declared that “France cannot accommodate all the misery in Europe”. Ján Slota, leader of the Slovak National Party that was part of the coalition government between 2006-2010, proposed a Roma policy of a “small courtyard and a long whip” – an approach that has become a sad reality for many Roma Europe-wide.

In July 2010, dozens of Roma attacked a police station in retaliation for the murder of a Roma man by a French gendarme. Former President Nicolas Sarkozy called an emergency meeting deciding on the closure of some 300 illegal Roma settlements, to be eradicated as a source of crime, prostitution and health risks. The decision came on the verge of violating the Charter of Fundamental Human Rights for targeting of an ethnic group, but EU Commissioner for Justice Vivian Reding withdrew the infringement procedure against the French government after its claims that any illegal settlement would be targeted, whoever inhabits it. (France is home to an estimated 500,000 Travellers, who form a different ethnic group to the Roma and are mostly French citizens, known as gens du voyage, and some 15,000 Roma.)

According to Amnesty International, several thousand are evicted yearly across France, and various NGOs estimate that at least 158 camps housing over 16,800 people have been forcefully dismantled between 2011-2012. As a signatory to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, France is legally obliged to fulfill rights to adequate housing. However, Amnesty documents severe violations in that Roma settlements are oftentimes burned down or bulldozed over, and those who resettle nearby are evicted again, rendered homeless. The Parliamentary Assembly report on Roma asylum seekers drew attention to a case of a French town, where the mayor staged a burning of abandoned Roma caravans, cheered on by the locals.

In Italy, the Nomad Emergency was introduced in 2008 with the aim to close over 100 illegal camps and relocate some 6,000 Roma to 13 formal settlements. In 2009, Casilino 900, the largest nomad camp, was bulldozed, leaving over 1,000 people homeless. In 2012, the mayor of Rome closed the Tor de’ Cenci camp that housed Roma from Bosnia and Macedonia since 1996, for health reasons. Alternative housing was provided by La Barbuta and Castel Romano camps – segregated settlements “sandwiched between railway tracks, Rome’s orbital road and the runway of Ciampino airport”. According to the European Roman Rights Centre (ERRC), €62 million and four years later, only eight legal camps have been created while informal settlements have risen to over 500, despite an equal number of forced evictions. In May this year, the Italian Supreme Court upheld the 2011 ruling against the state of emergency by the Council of State, and the Italian government presented the National Strategy for Roma Inclusion to the EU in February 2012. Yet, hundreds of Romani people in Rome and Milan have been forcibly evicted and left homeless in the last year, disqualified from social housing by having a “stable” place of residence.

The case that remains perhaps most persistently shocking involves the Roma camps in Mitrovica, Kosovo. Following the end of the conflict in 1999, over 100,000 Roma fled Kosovo fearing persecution by the local population as Serb collaborators, having traditionally sent their children to Serbian schools, served in the Serbian Army and worked in local corporations.

As a result of ethnic violence and discrimination in access to employment and welfare, 70-75% have left Kosovo again after their initial attempt to return. After the settlement in Mitrovica, home to 8,000 Roma, was burned to the ground, the United Nations resettled the remaining families in temporary camps near the contaminated Trepca mine, housed in hangars behind barbed wire. According to a camp nurse, food consisted mostly of bread and tea, inhabitants had no access to clean water or treatment of lead poisoning; children exhibited stunted growth, bleeding gums, epilepsy, convulsions, vomiting and “hysteria”. According to a 2006 report by the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP), some blood samples taken from children measured levels of toxicity 1,200 times the safety level. In 2006, the UN closed two of its most contaminated camps and relocated their inhabitants. The new camp, Osterode, a former military base, is still located on contaminated ground; the UN Commissioner for Human Rights claimed it was the only territory the local municipality was willing to provide. While most families have been resettled in the reconstructed mahala in Mitrovica, a Human Rights Watch report of January 2013, documents five families still living at Osterode.

Legal Status

The continuing situation of many Roma to date, places them in a nebulous legal field. Are they economic migrants, war refugees, asylum seekers fleeing ethnic violence and discrimination, a marginalized group, an ethnic or a national minority?

The problem is that all of the above definitions are true to a certain degree. The confusion begins at definitions: the OSCE refers to Roma and Sinti, the Council of Europe to Roma and Travellers, and the EU to Roma, to designate terms associated with the now derogative generic, “Gypsy”. While many Roma (a generalisation in itself, for the simplification of this piece) are EU citizens, many lack documentation altogether – some lost documents in flight from the Balkan conflicts, others never bothered to register in the first place.

For many Roma, self-identification brings back memories of ethnic profiling under the Holocaust and other ethnic crimes that followed, like the state policy of forced sterilization in the former Czechoslovakia, with documented cases persisting well into the past decade. Across Europe, Roma persistently become victims of ethnic violence and police brutality – crimes that often remain unpunished. Yet, leaving behind this type of persecution proves particularly difficult inside the EU.

According to the 1999 Aznar Protocol, one is protected within a state’s boundaries as its citizen. The Dublin Regulation, furthermore, prevents EU citizens from claiming asylum in other Member States, providing that it is acceptable to return asylum seekers to Member States as “safe countries of origin”. This leaves Roma in a state of legal limbo. According to EU legislation, an EU citizen is allowed to stay in any Member State for longer than three months if he/she has proof of employment and financial means to support dependables. With the Roma often fleeing severe deprivation, and their access to employment limited through racial prejudice and legal regulations, many become irregular migrants and victims of further prosecution, with no means to escape.

All EU Member States are signatories to the convention that obliges them to protect human rights and adopt anti-discrimination laws. Some countries recognise the Roma as a national or ethnic minority – a recognition that grants them equality before the law as a community; it is an important step forward in establishing a framework of legal protection. Yet, in the words of the executive director of the ERRC, Dezideriu Gergely, in reality legislation is seldom respected.

So far, there have been many indications of strong commitment and formal recognition of the severity of the situation and the expectation that this will translate into policy on local level, yet the authorities repeatedly fail to implement changes. For instance, the European Commission found that in 2009, Member States used only 31% of the €26.5 billion allocated for technical assistance – the problem being that the local governments need to provide 20% of the funding for inclusion programmes, and that money often falls in the hands of the people who want the Roma out of the country in the first place.

What is needed, according to Gergely, is a change at the local level – from the general population to put pressure on governments, from the Roma community to relate its needs so that money can be better allocated, and for a strong political will to overcome the anti-Roma sentiments and create a real policy of inclusion. Member States are obliged to provide Roma with equal access to fundamental human rights – individual and communal – as well as education, employment, housing and healthcare, a lack of which perpetrates the vicious cycle of destitution and crime. Yet, conditions in Roma settlements often rival those of humanitarian assistance camps one finds in war zones, pushed behind barbed wire fences, on the outskirts of society.

Václav Havel once said that the fate of the Roma is a litmus test not of democracy, but of civil society. To this day, both Old and New Europe are failing this appraisal in humanity.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Fair Observer’s editorial policy.

Image: Copyright © Shutterstock. All Rights Reserved.

Share Story
Categories360° Analysis, Europe, Global Change, Politics TagsEuropean Roma Rights Centre, Mitrovica, Nomad Emergency, Roma and Sinti rights, Travellers
Join our network of more than 2,000 contributors to publish your perspective, share your story and shape the global conversation. Become a Fair Observer and help us make sense of the world.

READ MORE IN THIS 360° SERIES

Refugees: Stopping the Madness
By Harun Yahya • Sep 01, 2014
Jordan: Local Perceptions on Syrian Refugees (Part 2/2)
By Hana Asfour • Mar 19, 2014
Lebanon and the Syrian Refugee Crisis
By Lana Asfour • Mar 19, 2014
Jordan: Local Perceptions on Syrian Refugees (Part 1/2)
By Hana Asfour • Mar 16, 2014
A History of Violence: African Asylum Seekers in Israel
By Natasha Roth • Jan 29, 2014
Syrian Refugees in Yemen: Left to Their Own Fate
By Anita Kassem • Sep 29, 2013
Cutting Borders: Ethnic Tensions and Burmese Refugees
By Sophia Akram • Sep 18, 2013
(Dis)integration: Palestinian Refugees in the Syrian Civil War (Part 2/2)
By Matthew Coogan • Sep 17, 2013
(Dis)integration: Palestinian Refugees in the Syrian Civil War (Part 1/2)
By Matthew Coogan • Sep 10, 2013
Stateless in Jordan: The Life of a Refugee (Part 2/2)
By Siraj Davis • Jun 23, 2013
The Uncertain Future of Rohingya Refugees
By Kira O'Sullivan • Jun 22, 2013
Protecting Refugee Rights: The Role of Religion
By Amjad Saleem • Jun 22, 2013
Life in the Kakuma Refugee Camp
By Qaabata Boru • Jun 22, 2013
Afghan Refugees: A People Without Home
By Nishtha Chugh • Jun 21, 2013
Stateless in Jordan: The Life of a Refugee (Part 1/2)
By Siraj Davis • Jun 21, 2013
Protracted Refugee Situations: Stuck in Limbo
By Annika Schall • Jun 20, 2013
Registering Refugees: A Game of Numbers
By Anna Birawi • Jun 20, 2013
Kashmiri Pandits: The Forgotten Refugees
By Mayank Singh • Jun 20, 2013
Sri Lanka: The Uncertain Future for IDPs
By Amjad Saleem • Jun 20, 2013
Close to Combustion: Syrian Conflict Inflames Regional Refugee Crisis
By Yasmeen Sami Alamiri • Jun 19, 2013
Refugees and Borders
By David Holdridge • Jun 18, 2013
UK Asylum Seekers: At the End of the Line
By Still Human Still Here • Jun 18, 2013
Refugees in Africa's Great Lakes Region: A Perpetual State of Exile
By Lucy Hovil • Jun 16, 2013
The Struggle of Twice-Displaced Refugees
By Dina Amer • Nov 14, 2012
Iraqi Refugees: Desperately in Search of Leonor
By Siraj Davis • Nov 02, 2012
The Plight of Syrian Refugees in Turkey
By Murat Onur • Jul 30, 2012
22 Years Later and Still Waiting
By Amjad Saleem • Jun 22, 2012
A New Influx: Syrian Refugees in Turkey
By Marian Strand • Jun 18, 2012
The Plight of Refugees
By Natasha Smith • Jun 17, 2012

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Post navigation

Previous PostPrevious The Egyptian Revolutionaries’ Self-Inflicted “Coup”
Next PostNext Build, and They Will Come – New Entrepreneurship in Singapore
Subscribe
Register for $9.99 per month and become a member today.
Publish
Join our community of more than 2,500 contributors to publish your perspective, share your narrative and shape the global discourse.
Donate
We bring you perspectives from around the world. Help us to inform and educate. Your donation is tax-deductible.

Explore

  • About
  • Authors
  • FO Store
  • FAQs
  • Republish
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Contact

Regions

  • Africa
  • Asia Pacific
  • Central & South Asia
  • Europe
  • Latin America & Caribbean
  • Middle East & North Africa
  • North America

Topics

  • Politics
  • Economics
  • Business
  • Culture
  • Environment
  • Global Change
  • International Security
  • Science

Sections

  • 360°
  • The Interview
  • In-Depth
  • Insight
  • Quick Read
  • Video
  • Podcasts
  • Interactive
  • My Voice

Daily Dispatch


© Fair Observer All rights reserved
We Need Your Consent
We use cookies to give you the best possible experience. Learn more about how we use cookies or edit your cookie preferences. Privacy Policy. My Options I Accept
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Edit Cookie Preferences

The Fair Observer website uses digital cookies so it can collect statistics on how many visitors come to the site, what content is viewed and for how long, and the general location of the computer network of the visitor. These statistics are collected and processed using the Google Analytics service. Fair Observer uses these aggregate statistics from website visits to help improve the content of the website and to provide regular reports to our current and future donors and funding organizations. The type of digital cookie information collected during your visit and any derived data cannot be used or combined with other information to personally identify you. Fair Observer does not use personal data collected from its website for advertising purposes or to market to you.

As a convenience to you, Fair Observer provides buttons that link to popular social media sites, called social sharing buttons, to help you share Fair Observer content and your comments and opinions about it on these social media sites. These social sharing buttons are provided by and are part of these social media sites. They may collect and use personal data as described in their respective policies. Fair Observer does not receive personal data from your use of these social sharing buttons. It is not necessary that you use these buttons to read Fair Observer content or to share on social media.

 
Necessary
Always Enabled

These cookies essential for the website to function.

Analytics

These cookies track our website’s performance and also help us to continuously improve the experience we provide to you.

Performance
Uncategorized

This cookie consists of the word “yes” to enable us to remember your acceptance of the site cookie notification, and prevents it from displaying to you in future.

Preferences
Save & Accept