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Sat, May 26 2012
The Roma-go-round – 2
Ana Maria Putzi, a Roma child, rests next to her family luggage after arriving with her family on a voluntary repatriation scheme from France in Bucharest on August 19.
Photo: Reuters
It was a brisk trade: France sent Roma back to Romania, and Romania hurled criticism at France.
Romanian president Traian Basescu, while saying that Romania "understands the position of the French government" in deciding to repatriate foreign-born residents who could not support themselves or were a security threat, emphasised that Romania also supports "unconditionally the right of every Romanian citizen to travel without restrictions within the European Union" as his country is an EU member state.
France is among the majority of EU states in limiting labour market access to citizens of Romania and Bulgaria; in any case, EU law allows the repatriation of citizens from other EU states if they become a burden on their host country.
Romanian media reports quoted the country’s foreign minister Teodor Baconschi as saying that he was concerned about "populist provocation and xenophobic reactions" at a time of economic crisis. International organisations feared that the Roma were being made scapegoats to appease right-wing voters ahead of the country's upcoming presidential campaign, reports said.
Romanian news website HotNews quoted the speaker of the chamber of deputies, Roberta Anastase, as having said in an interview with RFI Romania that the repatriation of the Roma could be a temporary solution but left the problem unresolved. The way that France had seen to resolve the problem was not correct, an opinion that the European Commission shared, she said.
The Roma issue was neither a Romanian nor a French issue but a European one, Anastase said.
Romanian state secretary Valentin Mocanu said that the repatriation programme was "contrary to the French tradition of complying with human rights". He told Le Parisien newspaper that he had the impression that, in this way, an entire group was being stigmatised. According to HotNews.ro, Mocanu was quoted as saying that he would not dare imagine the French government wanted to create such an image intentionally.
Romania’s record
"The only point on which we agree with the French authorities is that the authorities here in Romania have dealt very poorly, very irresponsibly with the integration of the Roma," David Mark, of the Civic Alliance of Roma in Bucharest, was quoted as saying by the BBC.
"We asked for two things - for the Romanian government to provide legal assistance to Roma living in France who do not want to leave and above all, for the government to finally draw up and implement a strategy for the integration of Roma," Mark said.
A similar programme, announced in 2001, was not taken seriously by previous governments, he said.
As positive examples, he highlighted two government-sponsored initiatives which were more effective than most - appointing local health and school mediators.
Both programmes were, however, now under threat as a result of the government's decentralisation strategy, which leaves local mayors with the financial burden.
"They don't prioritise Roma integration, so they don't find the funds for the mediators," he said, as quoted by the BBC.
Complaints
According to the US state department human rights report for 2009, in Romania discrimination against Roma continued to be a "major concern".
Romani groups complained that police brutality, including beatings and harassment, was routine and that societal discrimination was pervasive, according to the report.
There had been instances including a newspaper running a (failed) campaign to require the use of the word "Gypsy" instead of "Roma", of anti-Roma slogans and anti-Roma banners during a football match, and violent clashes with members of the ethnic Hungarian community, the report said.
Roma faced persistent poverty and had poor access to government services, few employment opportunities, high rates of school attrition, inadequate health care, and pervasive discrimination.
According to the 2007 Roma Inclusion Barometer, 23 per cent of Roma were illiterate and 95 per cent did not complete high school. NGOs and the media reported that discrimination by teachers and other students against Romani students served as an additional disincentive for Romani children to complete their studies.
As in prior years, there were reports of Romani children being placed in the back of classrooms, of teachers ignoring Romani students, and of unimpeded bullying of Romani students by other schoolchildren. In some communities, authorities placed Romani students in separate classrooms from other students or in separate schools.
According to a 2007 Open Society Institute report, ethnic Roma were five times as likely as members of the majority population to live below the poverty line.
Romani communities, according to the state department report, were largely excluded from the administrative and legal system. Roma were also disproportionately unemployed or underemployed, the report said.
Romanian president Traian Basescu, while saying that Romania "understands the position of the French government" in deciding to repatriate foreign-born residents who could not support themselves or were a security threat, emphasised that Romania also supports "unconditionally the right of every Romanian citizen to travel without restrictions within the European Union" as his country is an EU member state.
France is among the majority of EU states in limiting labour market access to citizens of Romania and Bulgaria; in any case, EU law allows the repatriation of citizens from other EU states if they become a burden on their host country.
Romanian media reports quoted the country’s foreign minister Teodor Baconschi as saying that he was concerned about "populist provocation and xenophobic reactions" at a time of economic crisis. International organisations feared that the Roma were being made scapegoats to appease right-wing voters ahead of the country's upcoming presidential campaign, reports said.
Romanian news website HotNews quoted the speaker of the chamber of deputies, Roberta Anastase, as having said in an interview with RFI Romania that the repatriation of the Roma could be a temporary solution but left the problem unresolved. The way that France had seen to resolve the problem was not correct, an opinion that the European Commission shared, she said.
The Roma issue was neither a Romanian nor a French issue but a European one, Anastase said.
Romanian state secretary Valentin Mocanu said that the repatriation programme was "contrary to the French tradition of complying with human rights". He told Le Parisien newspaper that he had the impression that, in this way, an entire group was being stigmatised. According to HotNews.ro, Mocanu was quoted as saying that he would not dare imagine the French government wanted to create such an image intentionally.
Romania’s record
"The only point on which we agree with the French authorities is that the authorities here in Romania have dealt very poorly, very irresponsibly with the integration of the Roma," David Mark, of the Civic Alliance of Roma in Bucharest, was quoted as saying by the BBC.
"We asked for two things - for the Romanian government to provide legal assistance to Roma living in France who do not want to leave and above all, for the government to finally draw up and implement a strategy for the integration of Roma," Mark said.
A similar programme, announced in 2001, was not taken seriously by previous governments, he said.
As positive examples, he highlighted two government-sponsored initiatives which were more effective than most - appointing local health and school mediators.
Both programmes were, however, now under threat as a result of the government's decentralisation strategy, which leaves local mayors with the financial burden.
"They don't prioritise Roma integration, so they don't find the funds for the mediators," he said, as quoted by the BBC.
Complaints
According to the US state department human rights report for 2009, in Romania discrimination against Roma continued to be a "major concern".
Romani groups complained that police brutality, including beatings and harassment, was routine and that societal discrimination was pervasive, according to the report.
There had been instances including a newspaper running a (failed) campaign to require the use of the word "Gypsy" instead of "Roma", of anti-Roma slogans and anti-Roma banners during a football match, and violent clashes with members of the ethnic Hungarian community, the report said.
Roma faced persistent poverty and had poor access to government services, few employment opportunities, high rates of school attrition, inadequate health care, and pervasive discrimination.
According to the 2007 Roma Inclusion Barometer, 23 per cent of Roma were illiterate and 95 per cent did not complete high school. NGOs and the media reported that discrimination by teachers and other students against Romani students served as an additional disincentive for Romani children to complete their studies.
As in prior years, there were reports of Romani children being placed in the back of classrooms, of teachers ignoring Romani students, and of unimpeded bullying of Romani students by other schoolchildren. In some communities, authorities placed Romani students in separate classrooms from other students or in separate schools.
According to a 2007 Open Society Institute report, ethnic Roma were five times as likely as members of the majority population to live below the poverty line.
Romani communities, according to the state department report, were largely excluded from the administrative and legal system. Roma were also disproportionately unemployed or underemployed, the report said.
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Sarkozy is calling a 'summit' on Sept. 6 to discuss the French expulsion policy and the 'Roma question' in the EU. Bulgarian representatives are not invited. Below a call from Romania for protests against the French government across Europe.
*******
Appeal to all fundamental rights of Roma and supporters worldwide
September 6th... The Infamous French Summit against Roma!
Stop the ethnic cleansing policy of the French government!
Roma brothers and sisters, friends of all ethnic groups, all those committed to the principles [...]
Read the full comment of equality and discrimination in our societies, we call to join our international protest series organized simultaneously on September 6th at 11:30 a.m. (Bucharest time). The protest is initiated and supported by the Roma Civic Alliance of Romania Roma community leaders from Bihor, Botosani, Braila, Brasov, Constanta, Dolj, Hunedoara, Iasi, Ilfov, Neamt, Salaj, Timisoara counties, in response to the summit organized by the French President Nicholas Sarkozy in Paris.
This infamous summit is organized against all Roma ethnics everywhere.
This summit proposes to stigmatize the entire Roma nation!
We call to join us and protest in front of the French Embassies wherever you are.
We all will protest:
- Against the ethnic cleansing policy carried out by the French government against Romanian and Bulgarian citizens of Roma origin,
- Against collective expulsion and repressive measures and victimization of an entire ethnic group,
- Against the abolition of the presumption of innocence as regards the Roma citizens as well as against the collectively criminalization of an entire ethnic group,
- Against the illegal fingerprinting of the French authorities.
The public calls of the international human rights organizations, those of the Catholic Church, and of the NGOs remained silent in the French cabinet.
Europe-wide boycott of French products and services
We invite you all to disseminate the call for boycott of French products and services, in order to make the French rulers more aware of the fact that the fundamental rights are not subject to negotiation.
Join us!
Val
in French there is saying which goes
"il ne se rend pas compte de la poutre dans son oeil mais se rend compte de la paille dans l'oeil d'autruis."
transliterated in English it goes:
"he is not aware of the log whch stands in his eye but pays attention to straw that lies in
the eye of his neighbour"
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