Kosovo and Montenegro are asking Germany to recognise them as being “safe countries”. They want to show that no one in their countries is persecuted or discriminated against. In Kosovo especially, this can only be laughed at. 80% of the Rroma population was ethnically cleansed away from the region.
Serbia has been taken to the European court of Human Rights over its evictions of Rroma who fled the Kosovo War in 1999.
Asylum seekers from so-called safe countries are systematically denied asylum in Germany. This, in spite of the fact that in many of these “safe” countries, the situation is far from stable or peaceful, as the example of Macedonia shows. Kosovo is now under discussion, unfortunately.
An article about a Rroma family from Kosovo which are due to be deported back to Kosovo.
According to the UNHCR, 21 thousands internally displaced (IDPs) Rroma live in utter poverty and a third of them live in buildings not intended for housing. These Rroma were mostly displaced during the Wars between Serbia and Croatia as well as during the Bosnian conflict and the Kosovo war.
László Trócsányi, Hungarian Minister of Justice lashed out at the EU proposed quota system for taking refugees, added that they had already many from the Balkan, notably from Kosovo, and anyhow, cannot take more, as they have already to integrate 800’000 Rroma in Hungary.
While we greet the “official” recognition of the 800 thousands Rroma in Hungary (officially, there are much less than that – the 800 thousand is an estimate from NGOs), the statements are simply not acceptable from a minister in an EU country. First, not all Rroma are a problem, as is indeed suggested here, and second, one cannot use a minority as an excuse against refugees.
Following the sharp increase of people fleeing Kosovo to escape poverty and, in the case of Rroma, discrimination and outright racism, there are calls in Germany to be more stringent on theses asylum applications. Various measures have been suggested by politicians (Tagesspeigel) going to extraditing refugees also in the winter, as asked by politicians from the CDU (LNOnline). Some even deny that there is an issue in the country.
Politicians should be maybe remember, especially in Germany, that they recognised the country but also implicitly if not explicitly recognised the ethnic cleansing of minorities from the Kosovo. Ethnic states have no place in the 21st century!
– Simantke, Elisa; Monath, Hans. Streit um schnellere Abschiebung. In Der Tagesspeigel. 13.02.2015. http://www.tagesspiegel.de/…/fluechtlinge-aus…/11360670.html
– Streit um Asylbewerber aus dem Kosovo: Nord-CDU macht Druck. In: LNOnline. 13.02.2015. http://www.ln-online.de/…/Streit-um-Asylbewerber-aus-dem-Ko…
– Kosov ist kein Krisenland. Beate Merk im Gespräch mit Thielko Grieß. In: Deutschlandrundfunk. 14.02.2015.
Ricardo Sahiti, born in 1961 in Kosovo dreamt of founding and directing a Rroma philharmonic orchestra. Arte just showed a movie about him and about the orchestra he managed to create and direct.
Visionär macht seinen Traum wahr. In Op.Online.de, 24.01.2015. http://www.op-online.de/lokales/nachrichten/rodgau/riccardo-sahiti-leitet-weltweit-einzige-roma-sinti-philharmonie-4667487.html
Ricardo Sahiti, born in 1961 in Kosovo dreamt of founding and directing a Rroma philharmonic orchestra. Arte just showed a movie about him and about the orchestra he managed to create and direct.
Visionär macht seinen Traum wahr. In Op.Online.de, 24.01.2015. http://www.op-online.de/lokales/nachrichten/rodgau/riccardo-sahiti-leitet-weltweit-einzige-roma-sinti-philharmonie-4667487.html
Guggisberg (2014) reports on criminal Rroma clans that allegedly force children into crime. Parents surrender their children to an omnipotent clan chief – to whom they are indebted – for begging and theft and some even end up in prostitution. Guggisberg uncritically reproduces the perspective of the “Wiener Drehscheibe”, a social service for begging and stealing children who have been arrested by the police. Guggisberg does not question that the social educator Norbert Ceipek – the head of the institution – who identifies each begging or stealing child as a victim of human trafficking, could himself be subject to prejudices and be providing misinformation on Rroma: “Ceipek opens another photo file. It shows a Roma village in Romania, which he recently visited. He tells of houses, cobbled together from planks and plastic sheeting, and dirt roads full of garbage. In the middle is a magnificent villa. “It belongs to the clan chief. He rules the villages as a state within a state”, says Ceipek […]. Many of the children dealt with in Vienna belong to the Roma. […] “The phenomenon of Eastern European gangs of beggars is not new. But since a couple of months, it taken new proportions”, says Ceipek. Very active are the Bosnian gangs, he states. Every few weeks, they would bring the children to different European cities, according to a rotating system. The social worker explains that his aim was to provide a perspective to the children, a little education. They might get on better path.”” Alexander Ott, head of the Foreign Police Bern, who has already been quoted repeatedly in articles about criminal Rroma gangs and trafficking of children, has his say. He reproduces the usual prejudices about hierarchical Rroma clans with a clan chief who leads children into crime: “The network of child traffickers reaches from Eastern Europe to Switzerland. “The victims are recruited in Romania, Bulgaria, Bosnia, Serbia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Czech Republic and Slovakia. Often they come from large Roma families, are purchased or borrowed”, says Ott. One sends the boys to steal, urges them into prostitution, or forces them to beg. The instigators know well that the Swiss justice system cannot prosecute the perpetrators because of their young age. Adolescent burglars are booming in the autumn and winter months. Ott emphasises that they have to deal with highly professional, specialised and hierarchically-run clans, who practice their craft since generations.” Rroma are not more criminal than other ethnic groups. They are not hierarchically organised, as is often claimed, but structured largely egalitarian. So-called “Rroma kings” are self-elected and have purely representative character. Guggisberg and experts’ claim that behind begging children there is inevitably trafficking and organized crime, is wrong.
The characteristics of transnational operating trafficker networks, as presented here, are questioned by social science research. Their existence itself is not denied, something that cannot be in the interest of combating injustice. But their manifestation, their number, their omnipotence and the motivations attributed to them have to be questioned. These are often tainted by ideological fallacies, brought into connection or even equated with ethnic groups such as Rroma. Furthermore, the equation of child migration and trafficking has to be set into context. The stereotype of Rroma as child traffickers dates back to their arrival in Western Europe, and is in part based on the racist notion that Rroma did actively recruit children for criminal gangs. Regarding the topic of child migration, social science studies convey a more complex notion on the subject and point out that crimes such as incitement to beg and steal or alleged child trafficking are often permeated by various morals in the analysis and assessment by authorities, who don’t appropriately consider the perspective and motivations of migrating children and their relatives, and instead force on them their own ideas and definitions on organised begging, criminal networks or child trafficking. Structural differences of the societies involved and resulting reasons for a migration are given too little consideration. In reality, behind begging children there are often simply impoverished families, in which the children contribute to the family income and who therefore do not correspond to bourgeois notions of a normal family and childhood. De facto child trafficking is rare according to the sociological studies. Furthermore, the incomes from begging are very modest, which makes them unattractive for organised crime. Guggisberg, who states that 200’000 children are recruited annually by the trafficking mafia, contradicts this.
At the end of the article, Guggisberg quotes another expert opinion by Norbert Ceipek, the director of the “Wiener Drehschreibe”: At 15, many of them would get married and have children themselves, so that the cycle of crime continues. Likewise, Guggisberg reproduces this racist prejudice uncritically. The majority of Rroma, who live integrated, go to work and send their children to school, remain unmentioned (compare Cree/Clapton/Smith 2012, O’Connell Davidson 2011, Oude Breuil 2008, Tabin et al 2012).
Baeck (2014) reports on the German return assistance project URA-2 in the Kosovo. The controversial aid program is supposed to help deported families or voluntarily returnees from Germany with their reintegration. According to Baeck however, the aid project doesn’t not fulfil this task. The program is more a political representation project, than that real integration assistance is being provided, Baeck criticizes: ““Ura” – means “bridge” in Albanian and is a project for “returnees” in the Kosovo, which Lower Saxony finances since 2009 with six other provinces and the federal government. Just recently, Lower Saxony decided to extend it until 2015. […] During a visit in February, the door to the URA-2-building is closed. […] People should actually queue here: anywhere in Prishtina, one encounters deportees, who wear rags and live in the worst conditions, in shacks or demolished houses. This morning, there is no one to be seen of all these people in the URA-2 building. […] URA 2 seems to be more effective in Germany. By default, during asylum procedures in Lower Saxony, the authorities refer to the assistances that are listed on leaflets. The project serves as a mean to overturn in advance possible reasons that could hinder a deportation – for example health reasons.” Baeck sees the return assistance project as an excuse to have arguments for the deportation of immigrants back to the Kosovo. The Rroma constitute the largest group of those affected. All the promises that are made in the information brochure of URA-2, are not adhered to, Baeck criticizes: “In the brochures of URA 2, one can read of “support with administrative procedures” and “psychological support”, of grants for rent, medicine, school supplies, or the initial furnishing of an apartment. To promote the integration into the labour market, one time training costs can be paid, up to 170 Euros, when starting a business even several thousand Euros. Who is returning from Germany “voluntarily”, receives more than “repatriated persons.”” Rroma are not politically persecuted in Kosovo. However, that does not mean that they are not there affected by severe poverty and a wide variety discriminations. This is given too little consideration when deporting people back. – Before the war, 100’000 to 300’000 well integrated Rroma lived in the Kosovo. Today, according to estimates of the Rroma Foundation, there are around 40’000.
Ivanji (2014) reports on visible Rroma in Serbia. In a Belgrade suburb, next to a refugee centre, where even two decades after the war, refugees from Croatia, Bosnia, and Kosovo are living together with other asylum seekers, there is a Rroma camp. Kameraj Sajin lives there with his family. He is one of those who is directly affected by the new status of Serbia of “safe country of origin”. Although the Sajins are not persecuted, they are affected by severe poverty and exclusion: “Eight months the family spent in Steinfurt, this year “three months and eleven days.” A few weeks ago, they were deported to Serbia. The stay was “really nice” tells Sajin. After the family had moved between several asylum homes, they received an apartment and around 1,200 Euros a month. At Caritas they could buy clothing and food for two Euros. The daughter went to school, the two sons to the playschool. “Not like here”, says Sajin […]. Here, in Krnjaca, his daughter has to go to evening school because, she lost her place in the regular primary school and he has no confirmation that she attended a German school. For the boys, there is no kindergarten, and from the state he gets only 10,000 dinars (around 85 Euros) of child benefit.” This article addresses the important question of whether one should not recognise poverty and exclusion as legitimate reasons for asylum, and not only political persecution. It must also be added that Rroma in South Eastern Europe, even though many are affected by severe poverty, are not living exclusively in slums. Rroma, especially in the former states of Yugoslavia, belong to all social classes, but are usually only perceived as Rroma if they conform to the stereotypes of the minority. But there are also Rroma doctors, policemen, teachers, etc., which are fully integrated, and have been so for generations.
The German historian and researcher on prejudices Wolfgang Benz has published a new book in which he thoroughly investigates the mechanisms of prejudices towards Rroma. Benz tries to comprehend the reasons for the emergence and adherence of the negative stereotypes, which are consciously instrumentalised politically by various protagonists. In his article for the Tagesspiegel, he conveys the most important theses of his book. Part of these are self-appointed experts, who blame Rroma living in misery for their own fate, by playing off liberal self-reliance against societal injustices: „Sinti and Roma are rejected and despised, because they are poor, are regarded as placeless and without culture. Cherished through fears of foreign domination, enemy stereotypes are being reactivated. Self-appointed experts argue that they have to blame themselves for their misery in Slovakia, in Hungary, in the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, and Rumania or Serbia and the Kosovo. The situation of the Roma in Southeast Europe has become a tourist attraction, topic of hypocritical sensitive reports, which are being created with the point of view of master men – and confirm the majority in their rejection of the minority. Roma-foes call the object of their interest unashamed once more “Zigeuner”, even though (or because) it is hurtful. By the use of generalisations, fears are fuelled, and dubious knowledge about Sinti and Roma is spread, fears are evoked, which allegedly threaten us. The unpleasant characteristics, which are projected sweepingly on all Roma from Southeast Europe, are welcomed reasons for discrimination. Immigrants from Bulgaria and Romania are seen as the incarnation of a threat, which is usually equated with Sinti and Roma. The traditional stereotypes of the “gypsy” have sowed the seeds for generations, the new images of the slums from which they come, and the poverty in which they live, are seamlessly compatible. […] Xenophobia, racism, petty-bourgeois fears for their property and identity weaknesses condense into an enemy image of poverty migrants, whose feared attack on social funds, bourgeois order and the German way of life must be resisted. Right-wing populists and -extremists benefit from it, and operate their enemy image with success – in the middle of society.” The perpetuation of prejudices has become a vicious circle which is difficult to break. A possible way out is a public, media-catchy discussion of the integrated Rroma, the “invisible Rroma”. However, many of these integrated Rroma keep their identity a secret, for fear of discrimination among friends and colleagues, at work or in the housing market. Here again, there exists a vicious circle of legitimate fears that cannot be so easily overcome (compare Benz 2014).
The European Commission has announced in a recent press release that it awards seven distinguished organisations that are particularly involved in the integration of the Rroma in their countries. The winning organizations include: Roma Active Albania (RAA), which advocates the Rroma civil rights and draws attention to current topics of Romnja; the organization Citizens Association for the Promotion of Education of Roma Otaharin that is committed in Bosnia-Herzegonvina to better educational opportunities of the minority; in Kosovo The Ideas Partnership, which advocates for the integration of former beggars and promotes the enrolment of children; in Macedonia the organization Centre for Integration Ambrela that is committed to the promotion of Rroma in early childhood; in Serbia Hands of Friendship, which operates a parent-child education project; in Turkey the children’s art project Sulukule Roma Culture Development and Solidarity Association; and finally in Montenegro a project against child and forced marriages in Rroma communities, through the Centre for Roma Initiatives. The European Commission justifies its decision as follows: “We all – the European Commission, the governments, civil society organisations – need to send out the same message: Roma integration is an important policy. And it is not only investment for the benefit of this minority but it is also an investment to the benefit of society. Living in an environment in which each member of society contributes with their spirit and work force, will allow countries to grow strong and prosperous, from an economic, social and cultural perspective”, said Štefan Füle, Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy, at the award ceremony.” Concerning the integration programmes of the warded organizations it must be remarked that begging Rroma or child marriages in no represent the norm among the minority.
– European Union (2014) Award for Roma Integration in the Western Balkans and Turkey. In: European Union online vom 1.10.2014. http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-14-1064_en.htm
Keywords: Rroma, Europe, European Union, integration projects, organization, awards, stereotypes
Ernst (2014) reports on the legal and political investigation of the war crimes committed against Rroma, Serbs and other minorities during the Kosovo War. The accused are the leaders of the liberation movement of Kosovo (UCK), who, according to the just-concluded report of the American judge John Clint Williamson, but also according to the findings of the Swiss correspondent of the council of Europe, Dick Marty, were involved in systematic acts of violence against ethnic minorities in the Kosovo. The Kosovo ministry of foreign affairs stated that the actions of the UCK were correct and committed for the sake of the independence of the Kosovo. Williamson’s report contains no new facts or insights, it stated. Nevertheless, a trial on the responsibility of the UCK, built on the insights of Williamson’s report, will be held: “In the coming year – probably in the Netherlands – a special tribunal will be initiated. International judges will then evaluate Williamson’s allegations on the basis of Kosovar law. This court will formally report to the European rule of law mission EULEX in Kosovo. The unpublished accusations are directed against a ring of high functionaries of the UCK, which are accused of crimes against humanity. It is a matter of a “brutal attack on almost all Serbs who wished to remain in the Kosovo, the Roma and those Kosovo-Albanians who opposed certain UCK groups.” Large parts of the minority population of the Kosovo south of the Ibar river were displaced. The crimes were so numerous and so systematically committed, that they meet the statement of facts of a crime against humanity.” Ernst sees the continuity of former warlords as current policy makers in Kososvo as a decisive factor for the slow investigation of war crimes. These policy makers were not held accountable for these facts not for the intimidation or even murder of witnesses of the war crimes, and is due in part on the inadequate work of the international Kfor peacekeepers and international police and judicial authorities, which neither were able to prevent the atrocities nor did pursue them. Regarding the fate of the Rroma, their persecution and displacement is only known among very few. However, their discrimination and marginalisation continues to the present day (compare Echo der Zeit 2014, Robelli 2014, Rroma Foundation Reports 2008, Schulte von Drach 2014).
Petignat (2014) reports on the conscious promotion of a multi-ethnic police force in Kosovo and Serbia. It is supposed to consist of ethnic Serbs, Albanians, and Rroma. By this measure, it is hoped that the confidence of the population in the authority is to be strengthened. The project is supported by the OSCE and Switzerland. In Serbia, the reluctance of non-Serbian speaking population to contact the police was significantly higher up till now. The aftermath of the Yugoslav wars is not yet completely forgotten and often leads to disagreements, as lately in Presevo during the construction of a monument to the Liberation Army. The multi-ethnic police in Serbia is planned to include 270 Albanians, 130 Serbs and some Rroma who have so far been under-represented. In Kosovo, the project is less advanced: “The example of the multi-ethnic police has caught on in the Balkans. Quite contrary to the north-Kosovo, where the still divided city of Mitrovica gradually integrates members of the Serbian community into the mixed police force. These are former guards, previously paid by Serbia, that must be re-included into the Kosovar institutions in this region with a potential for secession, following an agreement signed on April 2013 between Serbia and the Kosovo. In this way, 300 “Serbian” policemen are progressively integrated into the regular police forces of the Kosovo.” Petginant’s article shows that the Rroma are also under-represented among the authorities. Only a few Rroma build part of the multi-ethnic police.
Several German newspapers reported on the pending draft bill of the federal government to declare Serbia, Macedonia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina to be safe countries of origin. The new legislation would allow to process asylum applications from these Balkan states within a week, what according to critics would clearly happen at the expense of individual cases. Many journalists believe that the vast majority of the applicants coming from the Balkans – in 2013 there were more than 20,000 – are Rroma. How they obtained this information is not discussed any further. In its statistics, according to the law, Germany only records the national but not the ethnic affiliation. Since 2009, for citizens of Serbia, Macedonia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina there is no visa requirement: “The right to asylum in Germany is awarded only to few of them – last year there was a total of three. 120’070 immigrants from the Balkans have tried to sue for the right of asylum in court. 39 Serbs, 26 Macedonians, and 17 Bosnians were then allowed to stay. In nine cases out of ten, the asylum applications of this clientele are “obliviously unfounded”, the authorities argue. Therefore, the federal government wants to declare these three Balkan countries as “safe countries of origin”” (Käfer 2014). With the new legislation, the federal government would lo longer have to justify why it rejects an application for asylum from the three countries. It assumes no profound persecution and exclusion of Rroma in Serbia, Macedonia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. A very different notion is communicated by human rights organizations and left-wing politicians: Rroma in the three countries are still heavily discriminated against, both by the authorities and regarding the access to the labour market, schools, and health care. This view is also supported by several reports, such as the last activity report of the European Commission about the national Rroma strategies (Europäische Kommission 2013). The UN refugee agency criticizes the German Federal Government for focusing too much on the topic of political persecution, and thus neglecting discrimination against minorities and human rights violations. Tom Koenigs, former UN special representative in Kosovo, also emphasizes that the classification of nations as safe countries of origin comes at the expense of individuals who are de facto victims of persecution (Armbrüster 2014). Refugee fates are fates of individuals and have to be treated as such, he states, thus securing the protection of those who are actually in need of help. The Rroma Contact Point shares this viewpoint (compare Gajevic 2014, Geuther 2014, Rüssmann 2014, Schuler 2014, Südwest Presse 2014, TAZ 2014).
Ehrich (2014) furthermore points out that the declaration of Serbia, Macedonia, and Bosnia- Herzegovina to safe country of origin gives the states wrong signals regarding their minority policy, since they are also candidates for the membership in the European Union: “Apart from the consequences for individual Roma who actually need asylum, the declaration of the countries as “safe countries of origin” harbours a threat to Europe. Serbia and Macedonia are already official candidates for EU-membership. Bosnia-Herzegovina is a potential candidate. Declaring these states “safe countries of origin” could destroy incentives to improve the situation of Roma in these countries.”
Döhner (2014) reports on the European migration regulations, on the basis of a tragic individual case. Irijana Rustemi is born in the Kosovo in 1978. At the age of three the Rromni immigrates with her parents to Croatia. In 1993, they come to Germany. Because of massive family conflicts with the family of her ex-husband, who feels provoked by the new partner of Rustemi, she and her family flee to Denmark for 22 months. This exit becomes a calamity for the family: “If refugees enter Germany over a “safe third country”, they can not apply for asylum here, but only in the country over which they have entered.” Now the large family is facing deportation into the Kosovo, although all children of Rustemi are born in Germany and go to school there. Rustemi had previously received a residency permit on humanitarian grounds, but it was cancelled due to the departure to Denmark. In Denmark their asylum application was rejected.
Boullé (2014) spoke to the Lausanne photographer Yves Leresche, who has dealt with Rroma living in Switzerland for several years. Leresche deconstructs four common stereotypes about the minority. (1) The Rroma are all the same: false. Rroma belong to diverse groups such as the Sinti, the Gurbeti, the Arlii, the Lingurari, the Ursari, the Kalderasha etc., who pursued traditional occupations in earlier times, to which their group name often refers. Leresche terms the Jeniche wrongly as Rroma. From a political point of view – concerning the prejudices against the minorities – this may be useful, because they share a history of exclusion and persecution. In terms of migration history, language and traditions however, there are striking differences between the two ethnic groups. The Rroma are from India and the talk Rromanes, originating from Sanskrit. The Jeniche however derive from European folk groups that were starting to travel in the wake of social upheavals and speak the language Jeniche, influenced by Yiddish and other old European languages.
(2) Rroma are all beggars: also wrong. Leresche distinguishes four different groups of Swiss Rroma: The invisible, who have been living in Switzerland integrated and unobtrusive for decades, sometimes generations. Very few know that they are Rroma, because they keep their identity a secret. The travellers; the stereotypical notion that all Rroma are travellers refers to them. However, they represent only a small percentage of the Rroma. In Switzerland primarily the Jeniche are travellers, and also of them only a small percentage. Rroma are often equated with asylum seekers. While this is true sometimes, many have been living in Switzerland for a long time and have a definite residency status. Leresche also points to refugees from the Kosovo, which present the most recent migration movement of Rroma to Western Europe. Finally, with European Rroma, Leresche refers to migrants from the EU-countries. He makes aware of the economic immigrants among them, but far too little stresses that the predicted mass migration from Southern and Eastern Europe is a political issue.
(3) The Rroma come to us, to enrich themselves: also wrong. The Rroma seek an alternative to their often precarious living conditions in Southern and Eastern Europe. They want a normal life, a job, a good education for their children. Unfortunately, some of them lack good qualifications, what makes the integration into the labour market more difficult. Leresche doesn’t stress enough that the begging Rroma usually have nothing to with criminal begging networks, as it is often claimed by the police, but beg because of lacking alternatives.
(4) The Rroma do not stay for a short time, but forever. In this stereotype, Leresche differentiates far too little between invisible and visible Rroma. He merely indicates that Rroma who migrate seasonally only come for a few months to beg. Because after some time, political and police resistance starts to form, begging becomes unprofitable after one to two years. Here it must be added, that only a small part of the Rroma are begging. The majority of the Swiss Rroma is integrated and pursues a normal work. In addition, the idea of the lucrative nature of begging is false, as recently Jean-Pierre Tabin has shown in his study.
Bonnet (2014) reports on a documentary that Rroma refugees from the Kosovo film about their past. A group of Rroma from Beziers documents their escape, the horrors of war and reveals for the first time to a public their ethnic identity: “It is the first time that they speak. Because the memories still hurt and because, since their arrival in France, they have learned to behave discreetly. Fifteen years after the war in Kosovo and their flight, several Rroma families for the first time speak about the horrors they experienced. They also succeed in expressing what they have concealed out of fear of being rejected: to say that they are Rroma.” The reservations of the Rroma to hide their identity to the outside are very justified. As the media coverage about Rroma has shown, but also the statements of many French politicians, the reservations towards Rroma are still severe.
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