ROMAS IN KOSOVO

By Zoran CULAFIC

Hello and welcome – from the studios from the UN Radio in Kosovo…

Five years after the conflict in Kosovo ended – much of the social and political discussion has centred on relations between the two major communities – Albanians and Serbs. In that light, various other minority communities have suffered, not receiving the full political and social attention they deserve – namely Romas, Ashkalis and Egyptian communities – or RAE as they are called.

A recently established non-governmental organization, “Hope for the future,” met to discuss ideas of inter-ethnic-reconciliation focusing their discussions on the RAE community in Kosovo at a public debate at the hotel Palas in the southern part of Mitrovica in mid-December.

Atmosphere – Roma music

Branislav Krstic is journalist and coordinator with Hope the future NGO. He reminded the audience, of some 200 people, that living conditions for Romas are a problem throughout the region.

Romas and Ashkalis are not at the moment dead, said Krstic, but, he adds – because they are cast on the societal margins - no one understands how they suffer.

Krstic

“It is a fact that Serb community had become a victim after international community came in Kosovo. However, Serbian community has some support from Belgrade, sometimes that support is more efficient, sometimes less, but at least Serbs could count in some way on Belgrade.”

Krstic says - Romas and Ashkalis often receive social commitments from the political institutions of Kosovo, but very rarely is something concretely done to improve their living conditions and to protect their human rights.

Krstic

“Unfortunately, everything often results only in promises, and that was stressed also by one of the most prominent human rights activists in Kosovo Adem Demaci, as well as a Roma and Ashkali leader in Kosovo Zulfi Hadzi Merdza, a member of the Kosovo Presidency of Kosovo Assembly.”

Roma representative Zuljfi Hadzi Merdza was also at the Hope for Future debate in mid-December. Agreeing that Romas and Ashkalis are living in extremely poor conditions in Kosovo, Merdza says - he sees no Kosovo politicians or institutions considering Roma issues seriously.

ACUTUALITY 3 ZHM 1 – We are living in all these towns and we are not employed. But I can say that officially we are not under pressure, we do have the rights like all the others. The problem is that we are highly marginalized and there is no interest for our problems. Some are saying, we do this or that for you, but this is just rhetoric for them to keep sitting in their chairs.

Prominent Kosovo Albanian human rights activist Adem Demaci pointed out during the debate that the future of Kosovo depends fully on the process of returns for all internally displaced peoples. But Demaci said he is aware the returns process faces many problems, namely huge unemployment rates.

Demaci

“Having in mind that there are no job opportunities for the majority of Albanians - how can we expect to have job opportunities for the Roma. Their qualifications are very poor, and we do have thousands of qualified Albanians who do cannot find a job.”

Indeed, a fragile economy and poor living conditions for all Kosovans makes it hard for Romas and other vulnerable groups to get significantly better attention – this according to Demaci.

Demaci

“There are some 100.000 Romas who flew away and the majority of them are not willing to return; those who resettled in Germany or so … They found their place there, the standard of living is higher and they can live better. But they are aware that authorities are going to return them back. There are also many Albanians there who do not want to return and they declare themselves as Romas or Ashkalis, just to prolong their stay there, they do everything to achieve that, because here there are no jobs for them.”

Both debate organizer, Branislav Krstic and Adem Demaci agree that Kosovo’s provisional institutions could do much more to support minority communities, particularly Romas and Ashkalis. Krstic says that Pristina sees Romas and Ashaklis only during pre-election campaigns, when they count on their votes.

Krstic

“Definitely, the conclusion of the public debate was that Milosevic regime did not consider seriously problems of Romas and Ashaklis, but after international community came and after establishing provisional institutions in Kosovo, the position of Romas and Ashklais became very difficult.”

Protectoing human rights and improving living conditions for Romas and Ashkalis, as well as for all other communities, is a long and painful process says Zuljfi Hadzi Merdz. But integrating all elements of society into more inclusive roles is a Standard that must be fulfilled, if not for status discussion in mid-2005, then at least by those who value even the weakest parts of society.

This concludes this edition of UN Radio in Kosovo- thanks for listening and stay tuned.