The UN Human Rights Council has initiated inspection upon a complaint filed by two Bulgarian Roma organisations claiming that Roma living in Plovdiv’s Stolipinovo borough and the Bourgas borough of Meden Rudnik have been discriminated against, Dnevnik daily reported.

The complaint says that the municipal administration has banned 15 Roma families from accessing their homes, which the municipalities consider to be illegal constructions.

Power and water supplies to the homes were cut off on May 23, after expiration of the warning period that families were given to present building permits. Plovdiv municipality said that they did not ban people from entering their houses, but rather tried to safeguard constructions sites following regulations in state development legislation. The legal violations by owners include building two or three additional stories without submitting the required paperwork.

The Roma organisations, however, claim that the Roma community is forced to live in illegal buildings because of the “steadfast racial discrimination practised in the country”.
Plovdiv municipality fired back, saying that the complaints were nothing but manipulation, which if passed, would allow other citizens to think that whoever refused to abide by the laws and had a different ethnic origin could go on and sue the state.

Open Society Institute (OSI) recently published a report entitled The Roma in Bulgaria, which aims to provide better information about the Roma ethnic groups living in the country. The survey consists of data gathered from interviews conducted with 1800 Roma households throughout Bulgaria.

The report points out that the Roma in Bulgaria do not form a homogeneous community. There are at least five groups that differentiate themselves based on language, religion, time of settlement on Bulgarian territory and lifestyle. Close to 49 per cent profess the Christian faith, and 32 per cent practise Islam, the survey reads.

The question whether Roma are people who identify themselves as such, or who others identify as Roma, remains open. According to a joint survey by OSI and the National Police Service, between 650 000 and 700 000 people live in the Roma settlements.

Alexei Pamporov, an OSI researcher, argues that the ever-feared demographic boom in Roma communities is nothing but a myth. Statistics show that while in 2001 one woman bore 3.5 children, in 2007 the number dropped to 2.7. In relation to the total population, the Roma community has increased by only one per cent for the 2001/2007 time period.

Pamporov also states that contrary to wide-spread perception, Roma do not live entirely off the state. According to the survey, 52 per cent of them receive a monthly salary, while only six per cent live off social security. Close to 24 per cent, however, work without labour contracts or national insurance, the survey indicates, as opposed to four per cent of Bulgarians.

Most Roma find jobs in construction, agriculture, selling goods off the street and public services.

By and large, Roma remain poor and illiterate, the survey says. More than 50 per cent do not complete secondary education. While Roma first graders make up 20 per cent of total Bulgarian pupils, by the time that they reach 10th grade, the percentage drops to 1.7.

According to the survey, close to 74 per cent of the interviewees say that a lack of food has been chronic, and more than 37 per cent have never had medical insurance.

The report concludes that there is not a consistent and successful policy regarding the Roma communities. Negative public preconceptions define the lack of any integration progress, and it is not a matter of malice but rather ignorance that prevent such.