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 Roma are among the most vulnerable people in Europe, with a very complex overall
situation. The economical, political and social changes in Central and Eastern Europe caught them out unaware and unequipped to face the deep changes in the societies of those countries.
The systems of the former regimes have not prepared Roma for the present. The Roma today are among the most uneducated, most illiterate, most unemployed, with least living and health
standards and housing conditions, least politically represented, most marginalized, isolated, discriminated, or even feared then any other ethnic group in Europe.The long history of various approaches in integrating the Roma in the past (some of which closer to assimilation attempts), the frequent use of Roma as voters or of their miserable situation by some organizations, the examples of some Roma leaders striving to act as mediators for their own benefit and often the negative media influence, presenting discriminative opinions on Roma, and many other factors make Roma communities more self-isolated and often resistant to externally proposed strategies that tend to improve their life. Very often those strategies demand a change of their traditional way of life, or a shift from survival strategies, used by Roma communities for many years. By giving up their nomadic way of life and being settled some decades ago, most Roma lost their traditional crafts. The movement to the towns, required by the changing structure of the economy now creates a picture of large Roma communities, often illegally inhabiting the most polluted areas of town suburbs, living in dreadful conditions.  Roma could not fit in the social systems of the past, which ways to deal with them were
rather stereotyped, bound to the dominating ideology, assuring simple education, simple employment and simple living standards. Being left behind and without awareness on the coming
changes, many among Roma could not well accept the fact of a State that does not provide anymore the care known from the past.Roma communities began to disintegrate, the people started loosing their traditional values, and now often become easy victims of malicious intentions. Many Roma survive in the dark economy sector or do semi-legal or illegal activities to make a living. That keeps them out of the official social security nets. This involvement in the grey area of economy also supports the negative image that the majority already has towards Roma and deepens their social exclusion. A very small % of the majority population in the region would marry a Roma. Roma are not homogenous minority group. They differ by ethnic sub-groups, religion, craft, tradition, some even determine themselves as other ethnic or religious group, striving to avoid discrimination, rejection and sometimes prosecution by the majority. The Decade of Roma Inclusion, initiated in 2003 has brought to the governmental agenda in a number of Central European countries (Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, FYR Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, and Slovakia) several priorities in solving the issues, related to Roma exclusion. Plans of Actions were elaborated on governmental level (in some countries Roma and non-Roma representatives of the Third Sector took more or less active part in preparation) in the following priority fields: Education, Healthcare, Housing, and Employment (Bulgaria has also Protection against Discrimination and Guaranteeing of Equal Opportunities additional Priority Fields, while Romania considered Environment an important part of the Housing Priority Field. Three major cross cutting issues are to be taken into account in any inclusion efforts: income, poverty, discrimination, and gender. As there are other deep researches available, here we will not address the known issues about the difficult ways to the future of Roma, the vulnerable situation and the care (or in many cases misuse) of children, the very specific problems of those who take care of the households - the women, the problems related to lack of family planning or any long-term planning by the Roma families. We will not discuss the “special” Roma schools created years ago to solve the education issue, the efforts of organizations to attract Roma children in the schools by providing food. And the main concern-that the education often remains one of the least priorities in the Roma communities. We will not discuss the the very low level of literacy among Roma, which brings unemployment, legitimacy problems and inability to use many administrative services. We will not attempt to describe what keeps many Roma life-long clients of State social services as major means for survival. Or the wide spread long-term unemployment that cuts access of Roma to health and social services. Or the illegal status of many Roma settlements - often the main explanation why in these communities there is no water supply, sewerage, proper electricity supply, roads and other infrastructure. Roma are very different and the problems mentioned above do not concern all, but affect the most vulnerable among them. Without any intent to go into details we would also mention the term that is most used when analyzing the complexness of the problems related to the Roma, often referred to as the “vicious circle”. After years of exclusion, many Roma communities show now passiveness, mistrust and clear resistance in to any development efforts that do not bring immediate and visible result. There are though traditional values that protect them, like importance of family that keeps the social structures alive, and community spirit, where problems are dealt with in a cooperative basis. The strongest safety net in the Roma communities remains the one made up of family relationships and mutual support within. This is the basis of our work and the value that makes change possible - the strength of the living communities. From within. |
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