Serbia and Census - rroma.org

Serbia will be conducting a census from October 1^st to 31^st. Many Roma do not choose to declare themselves as such in the census. Some however do. Joca Nikolić is from Sombor, he is a musician and he is 61 years old. As long as he can remember, he declares himself as Rom. His family roots are like that, he says, that’s how he feels. And he does not condemn those Roma who will not declare themselves in the upcoming census: “It is a personal matter, you can freely declare yourself as a Hungarian,” says Nikolić.

There are various reasons why some people do not want to declare themselves as Roma, the president of the Roma National Council, Dalibor Nakić, told DW. “Some of them are afraid that they will be exposed to discrimination, and some of them have reached full social integration over time, so they think that they will be more appreciated, respected and successful in society if they do not declare themselves as Roma. Mimicry reaction is for some people, according to their logic, a way to achieve a better position in society,” says Nakić.