{"id":1202,"date":"2014-11-19T01:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-11-19T01:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/%20rroma.org\/19-11-2014-stereotypes-criminal-rroma-clans\/"},"modified":"2022-08-21T07:33:14","modified_gmt":"2022-08-21T06:33:14","slug":"19-11-2014-stereotypes-criminal-rroma-clans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rroma.org\/fr\/19-11-2014-stereotypes-criminal-rroma-clans\/","title":{"rendered":"19.11.2014 Stereotypes: criminal Rroma clans"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\" class=\"MsoNormal\">Guggisberg (2014) \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\treports on criminal Rroma clans that allegedly force children into crime. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tParents surrender their children to an omnipotent clan chief \u2013 to whom they are \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tindebted \u2013 for begging and theft and some even end up in prostitution. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGuggisberg uncritically reproduces the perspective of the \u201cWiener Drehscheibe\u201d, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\ta social service for begging and stealing children who have been arrested by \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe police. Guggisberg does not question that the social educator Norbert \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCeipek \u2013 the head of the institution \u2013 who identifies each begging or stealing \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tchild as a victim of human trafficking, could himself be subject to prejudices \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tand be providing misinformation on Rroma: <em style=\"font-family: Arial;\">\u201cCeipek \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\topens another photo file. It shows a Roma village in Romania, which he recently \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tvisited. He tells of houses, cobbled together from planks and plastic sheeting, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tand dirt roads full of garbage.<\/em> <em style=\"font-family: Arial;\">In \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe middle is a magnificent villa.<\/em> \u201c<em style=\"font-family: Arial;\">It \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tbelongs to the clan chief. He rules the villages as a state within a state\u201d, says \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCeipek<\/em> <em style=\"font-family: Arial;\">[&#8230;]. Many of the children \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdealt with in Vienna belong to the Roma. [&#8230;] \u201cThe phenomenon of Eastern \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tEuropean gangs of beggars is not new. But since a couple of months, it taken \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tnew proportions\u201d, says Ceipek.<\/em> <em style=\"font-family: Arial;\">Very \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tactive are the Bosnian gangs, he states. Every few weeks, they would bring the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tchildren to different European cities, according to a rotating system. The \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tsocial worker explains that his aim was to provide a perspective to the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tchildren, a little education.<\/em> <em style=\"font-family: Arial;\">They \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tmight get on better path.\u201d\u201d<\/em> Alexander Ott, head of the Foreign Police Bern, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\twho has already been quoted repeatedly in articles about criminal Rroma gangs \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tand trafficking of children, has his say. He reproduces the usual prejudices \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tabout hierarchical Rroma clans with a clan chief who leads children into crime: \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<em style=\"font-family: Arial;\">\u201cThe network of child traffickers reaches \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tfrom Eastern Europe to Switzerland. \u201cThe victims are recruited in Romania, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBulgaria, Bosnia, Serbia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Czech Republic and Slovakia. Often \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthey come from large Roma families, are purchased or borrowed\u201d, says Ott.<\/em> <em style=\"font-family: Arial;\">One sends the boys to steal, urges them into \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tprostitution, or forces them to beg.<\/em> <em style=\"font-family: Arial;\">The \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tinstigators know well that the Swiss justice system cannot prosecute the perpetrators \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tbecause of their young age.<\/em> <em style=\"font-family: Arial;\">Adolescent \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tburglars are booming in the autumn and winter months.<\/em> <em style=\"font-family: Arial;\">Ott emphasises that they have to deal with highly professional, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tspecialised and hierarchically-run clans, who practice their craft since \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tgenerations.\u201d <\/em>Rroma are not more criminal than other ethnic groups. They \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tare not hierarchically organised, as is often claimed, but structured largely \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tegalitarian. So-called \u201cRroma kings\u201d are self-elected and have purely \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\trepresentative character. Guggisberg and experts\u2019 claim that behind begging \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tchildren there is inevitably trafficking and organized crime, is wrong.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\" class=\"MsoNormal\">The characteristics of transnational \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\toperating trafficker networks, as presented here, are questioned by social \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tscience research. Their existence itself is not denied, something that cannot \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tbe in the interest of combating injustice. But their manifestation, their number, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\ttheir omnipotence and the motivations attributed to them have to be questioned. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThese are often tainted by ideological fallacies, brought into connection or \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\teven equated with ethnic groups such as Rroma. Furthermore, the equation of \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tchild migration and trafficking has to be set into context. The stereotype of \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRroma as child traffickers dates back to their arrival in Western Europe, and \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tis in part based on the racist notion that Rroma did actively recruit children \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tfor criminal gangs. Regarding the topic of child migration, social science \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tstudies convey a more complex notion on the subject and point out that crimes \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tsuch as incitement to beg and steal or alleged child trafficking are often permeated \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tby various morals in the analysis and assessment by authorities, who don\u2019t appropriately \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsider the perspective and motivations of migrating children and their \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\trelatives, and instead force on them their own ideas and definitions on organised \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tbegging, criminal networks or child trafficking. Structural differences of the societies \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tinvolved and resulting reasons for a migration are given too little \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsideration. In reality, behind begging children there are often simply \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\timpoverished families, in which the children contribute to the family income and \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\twho therefore do not correspond to bourgeois notions of a normal family and \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tchildhood. De facto child trafficking is rare according to the sociological \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tstudies. Furthermore, the incomes from begging are very modest, which makes \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthem unattractive for organised crime.\u00a0 \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGuggisberg, who states that 200\u2019000 children are recruited annually by \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe trafficking mafia, contradicts this.\u00a0 \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\" class=\"MsoNormal\">At the end of the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tarticle, Guggisberg quotes another expert opinion by Norbert Ceipek, the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdirector of the \u201cWiener Drehschreibe\u201d: At 15, many of them would get married \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tand have children themselves, so that the cycle of crime continues. Likewise, Guggisberg \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\treproduces this racist prejudice uncritically. The majority of Rroma, who live \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tintegrated, go to work and send their children to school, remain unmentioned \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t(compare Cree\/Clapton\/Smith 2012, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tO&#8217;Connell Davidson 2011, Oude Breuil 2008, Tabin et al 2012). <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Cree, Viviene E.\/Clapton, Gary\/Smith, Mark (2012) The Presentation of Child \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTrafficking in the UK: An Old and New Moral Panic? In: <em style=\"font-family: Arial;\">Br J Soc Work<\/em> 44(2): 418-433.<\/li>\n<li>Guggisberg, Rahel (2014) Das Schicksal der Roma-Kinder von Wien. In: <em style=\"font-family: Arial;\">Tages-Anzeiger online<\/em> vom 14.11.2014. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tagesanzeiger.ch\/leben\/gesellschaft\/Das-Schicksal-der-RomaKinder-von-Wien\/story\/14626308\" style=\"font-family: Arial;\">http:\/\/www.tagesanzeiger.ch\/leben\/gesellschaft\/Das-Schicksal-der-RomaKinder-von-Wien\/story\/14626308<\/a><\/li>\n<li>O&#8217;Connell \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDavidson, Julia (2011) Moving children? Child trafficking, child migration, and \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tchild rights. In: <em style=\"font-family: Arial;\">Critical Social Policy<\/em> 31(3):454-477.<\/li>\n<li>Oude Breuil, Brenda Carina (2008) Precious children in a heartless world? The \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcomplexities of child trafficking in Marseille. In: <em style=\"font-family: Arial;\">Child Soc<\/em> 22(3):223-234.<\/li>\n<li>Tabin, Jean Pierre et al. (2012) Rapport sur \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tla mendicit\u00e9 \u00ab rrom \u00bb avec ou sans enfant(s). Universit\u00e9 de Lausanne.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Guggisberg (2014) reports on criminal Rroma clans that allegedly force children into crime. Parents surrender their children to an omnipotent [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[608,601,602,597,611,14,16,15,630,605,606,598],"tags":[658,92,35,63,24,640,23,649,53,133],"class_list":["post-1202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bosnia","category-bulgaria","category-czech","category-germany","category-kosovo","category-news-eastern-europe","category-news-switzerland","category-news-western-europe","category-north-macedonia","category-romania","category-serbia","category-slovakia","tag-beggars","tag-discrimination","tag-education","tag-racism","tag-roma","tag-romani-rose","tag-rroma","tag-schools","tag-sinti","tag-stereotypes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rroma.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rroma.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rroma.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rroma.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rroma.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1202"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/rroma.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1202\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10994,"href":"https:\/\/rroma.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1202\/revisions\/10994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rroma.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rroma.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rroma.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}