Brussels, 09/04/2014 (Agence Europe) - During the international day for Roma on Tuesday 8 April, several non-governmental organisations criticised the situation of the Roma minority in Europe (10-12 million people), who remain extremely exposed to poverty and to “maliciousness and violence”. The Socialists and Democrats (S&D) Group at the European Parliament has proposed creating a specific post of European commissioner for minorities.
The Amnesty International NGO led the strongest awareness-raising campaign, publishing a report - We ask for justice: Europe's failure to protect Roma from racist violence - in which it criticises the situation of Roma in three member states in particular - “violent anti-Roma marches in the Czech Republic”, “violent attacks, police raids and impunity in Greece” and “police harassment, violence and impunity in France”. In Amnesty International's view, these different forms of violence continue to grow, with a certain amount of complacency from “national authorities [which] don't really recognise the breadth of the phenomenon and show no willingness to fight it”, and from “law enforcement agencies” which “are failing to prevent attacks and ensure that the hate motives are properly investigated” and among whom “racist attitudes remain entrenched”.
The European institutions are also criticised. Amnesty International criticises the EU for having been “reluctant to challenge member states on the systematic discrimination of Roma”. The European Commission is therefore asked to take two types of measure to - “use all its powers, including the possibility to launch infringement proceedings, to ensure that states do not target Roma with forced evictions and discriminate against them in access to education, housing and other services, including those provided by the police” and to “review the framework decision 2008/913/JHA and ensure that any revised instrument prohibits all crimes perpetrated with any discriminatory motive. Such revised instrument should require states to investigate any alleged discriminatory motive associated with a crime.”
The European Network Against Racism (ENAR) made a similar report - “Roma across Europe continue to be the victims of racist attacks, widespread discrimination and hate speech”¸ be it in their own country or their country of residence. It is this “generalisation of anti-Roma discourses” which is very worrying, according to ENAR, because it is the starting point for violence. The situation is reportedly particularly sensitive in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Greece, Slovakia and Italy.
The Eurodiaconia NGO calls for the problem of poverty to be tackled - a problem that affects 90% of Roma, according to Eurodiaconia's data. This challenge should be met by way of local-level policy. “We absolutely agree that local level policy and practice is key in Roma inclusion, but it has to come from the grass roots level, which means involving Roma themselves and civil society organisations”, said Eurodaconia's secretary general, Heather Roy.
On behalf of the S&D Group, its leader Hannes Swoboda (Austria) called for the creation of the post of a European commissioner for minorities because, while “local and national efforts are vital in the fight for inclusion and integration”, it is also important to integrate these “efforts at the European level”. “I have sent a letter to Martin Schulz and Jean-Claude Juncker (…) to ask them to create this new post if they are elected as president of the Commission”, Swoboda said in a press release. (JK)