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Situation of the Roma

In 2011, the European Commission called upon the Member States to outline national strategies of integrating the Roma and listed the following data: 10–20 million Roma live in Europe facing discrimination, exclusion and violation of their rights.

 

Among many experts who described the real legal status of the Roma, there is the following record: “Throughout history, Romani people have never had equal status and political rights to participation in political as well as social life in comparison to the members of major nations or other nationalities. The situation of the Roma community in relation to other national or ethnic groups is specific in terms of its legal status at the international and internal level, since the Roma are a national, ethnic, socially disadvantaged group and a cultural minority at the same time. In modern times, the legal status of Romani people is defined by the provisions in legal instruments to ensure human rights to each individual without discrimination and also guarantees the protection of ethnic or national minorities. The level of protection varies and it is based on individual and partly also on collective rights. Only now, the expert groundwork is being established to study their situation as a national/ethnic minority in a comparative-empirical way. In some countries, they have had a status of a national or ethnic minority and corresponding rights to use their language,  education, expression and cultural development as well as to establish organizations and to be involved in political participation. The importance of this fact is a symbolic acknowledgement of the minority's identity. The implementation of minority rights in practice is guaranteed only under certain conditions and on different levels because it depends on the interpretation of the minority protection concept and to a great extent on political pragmatism. Therefore, there is no unified answer or protection model to encompass all questions on their situation, identity and development perspective systematically, as this is the case with other national or ethnic minorities. The protection of the Roma community can be placed into minority protection only in modern times when minority rights have become part of international legal protection of human rights and not only the subject of political negotiations between countries.”

 

Video: Roma Rights - Europe , available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-sOZkHCKEk

 

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