Kujtim Paçaku

Unfortunately Romas in Kosovo and elsewhere have been facing for a long time the same problems, which are negatively reflected in terms of their integration into a healthy and civil society. No political, social or cultural institution, had dealt seriously with their problems. In fact there were some attempts, but without any significant result. Romas continue to be marginalized in the society. First of all they lack education, because they had no economic conditions for that. In addition to Roma community itself, the majority is to be blamed as well, because there have been created some stereotypes about Roma population in general.

However it should also be emphasized the positive side here. Thanks to the work of local and international institutions, a great progress has been achieved in Kosovo in terms of security and freedom of movement. Prizren is the best example, where the security, freedom of movement, multiethnicity, the freedom of speech even in Roma language is in good level and the people from different communities socialize with each other. This example should be followed in other municipalities, as well.

One of the problem that Roma community is facing with is the issue of their return to their properties. When speaking about it, we cannot bypass the collective shelters in Plemetin village, Obilic municipality, and those in Zitkoc and Qeshmin Llug in Northern Kosovo, as well as those in central and southeastern Serbia, where Romas live under in extremely difficult conditions, far from normal life.

Currently 122 families with 500 members live in the collective shelter only in Plemetin. During a visit to this shelter, one of the residents angrily told us: “Why you do not gather us all and put in a trailer and dump us wherever?! We cannot live like this any longer. There can be no worse thing, when I see my six-years-old daughter sick and I cannot help her!”

Even worse is the state of Romas displaced in Mitrovica north. E.B one of the resident there says: “Many people here are sick from high concentration of lead in the blood. Three children have died. Some international doctors have concluded that the residents there are at high risk from the infectious disease.”

Romas have a long tradition in many areas of arts and culture. They recognize Kosovo’s reality. But Kosovo on the other hand should also accept them as its part. The majority in Kosovo should ensure a positive discrimination for them, so as they be able to attend the primary, secondary, and high education, what will be an asset for their integration into municipal and central institutions.

Employment is one of the preconditions for further existence of Romas, because the current difficult economic situation that Kosovo is facing with, is affecting Romas most, as most of them do not own any private business and can hardly survive.

Now majority of Romas, same as the members of other communities, do not enjoy the right of social aid. In the recent years, the number of Romas receiving social assistance is declining significantly. An answer for this should be sought within the International Administration, because it has approved a Regulation, which outlines: “The right on social assistance shall enjoy all unemployed Kosovars. But one of the set criteria to gain this right (to receive 40 to 50 euros a month) is to have at least one of the family members younger than 5 years encourages birthrate, which affects Romas the most, most of whom do not enjoy social assistance, because they rarely have children younger than 5 years.

We should think in designing a genuine plan, which would put the problems of Romas on the right track. Establishing a central Kosova institution, which would deal with Roma’s issues, and would take many initiatives, as well as would oversee all achievements and identify the stagnation of Roma community, in particular in the area of culture and education. To this end, the contacts and cooperation with experts from Inalco University, France, should continue. Romas should be ensured preschool education, secondary schools, as well as higher and superior education, and should be provided scholarships for their education and schoolbooks, what would be a great push for the capacity-building of Romas in the area of education.

Media should play its role as well in promoting Romas identity, but currently there is no any newspaper in Roma language, not even a weekly one. We also need magazines dedicated to women, children, and so on. However, there are some TW shows in Roma language, broadcasted mainly in some local televisions. Among these TV shows are some that last one hour, while the one broadcasted in the public broadcaster the Radio Television of Kosovo (RTK), lasts 20 minutes.

The establishment of an institution that will deal with the problems of Roma would also be in charge of organizing different seminars and lectures on the human rights, children rights, small economy, journalism, health, women rights, risks from drugs, tobacco, and from alcohol.

It will also deal with publication of textbooks, books, poetry, folk songs, and with protection of the cultural heritage, organization of cultural festivals etc.

Romas should also be included in various commissions of Kosovo’s Ministries, when the Roma-related issues are discussed, not only because of the democratization, but also because of the rooting out of prejudices as well.

And because of the fact that in many cases the right for employment of Romas in Ministries or other institutions is not respected, whereas participation of this community in these commissions was not implemented till now. I think that the projects funded by different donors for the employment of Roma community should be reviewed, because current donors’ grants were not enough efficient.

Majority of the projects for Romas were implemented in cooperation with majority population. Failures may also be a result of misuses and personal gains. A one-hour concert or cocktail, funded by a donor cannot be called as a success.

The current position of Romas is very difficult in all aspects, including political, social, economic and cultural one. In order to achieve progress in improving Romas’ position, now it is a good opportunity for the local and international institutions in cooperation with intellectual forces of Roma community to seek the ways for signing the Roma’s Decade Document. The projects outlined in this document for improving of Romas position, are funded by Foundation SOROS and the World Bank. It is signed by the countries of Southeastern, but not by Kosovo, pending to the transitional stage it is going through.

After many post war endeavors, Kosovo is on its consolidation stage. The culture is the most needed element, especially for the Roma community, because it represents a fundamental step towards coexistence, which is a condition for a democratic and a multiethnic Kosovo. This can be done by a joint work of many communities, and by different projects, including Romas as well. Because Romas are human as well, with equal rights as all the others.

At the end I want to emphasize also that it is a great misfortune that Roma community did not have a good fate for centuries, but it is a great fortune that Kosovo can finally build its own fate, including building the fate of Romas and other communities in Kosovo. What can Romas offer to Kosovo? Of course, they do not possess any financial capital, but they can give a great assistance in intellectual, spiritual and cultural aspect. In one word Kosovo will be even richer with Romas.

 

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Luan Koka

The Roma are definitely the biggest collateral damage of the conflict in Kosovo and Metohija. Their present position and the problems they are facing are so difficult and complex that no reliable data can be found in any segment of their life and existence, which one could start from in describing the problems, even in a simple list, and in setting a strategy for solving them.

The Roma are nowadays jeopardized in political, welfare, social and economic terms, and even as an entity so, when one speaks about their political position in Kosovo and Metohija, one must explain the problem of their participation in the political life of the province even before laying it out.

Therefore, the Roma in Kosovo are presently divided into Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians. In their reports, international organizations are more frequently using the abbreviation RAE when referring to them, which could have various social, welfare and political implications on the body of the nation that is called the Roma. Thus, presently there are three communities in Kosovo which are, maybe, confronted and which exist in Kosovo's political life as nothing but political folklore. Namely, when needed, this national body is called Roma. On the other hand, when certain political interest groups in Kosovo want it to be divided, various political and national bootlickers emerge as representatives of different ethnic communities. It is clear that the Ashkali and Egyptians are subgroups of the Roma people. The people should be permitted to declare their ethnicity freely. The problem of the Romas' ethnic identity is the one that the international organizations do not want to deal with at this moment. It remains to be seen whether this would further widen the gap between these ethnic communities in Kosovo. The Ashkali do not recognize the Egyptians, the Egyptians do not recognize the Ashkali. In the final instance, the Ashkali are recognized as a subgroup of the Roma.

The problem of the Roma in southeastern Europe is such that they are identified with the majority population, and there is a division into Albanian Roma, Serb, Romanian, Hungarian, Turkish Roma, etc. The Ashkali and the Egyptians speak the Albanian, mainly non-literary language. They speak the Roma language badly or not at all, and very little Serbian. Therefore, such a group is interesting for utilization in the political life in Kosovo and Metohija. Although at least 100,000 Roma have lived in Kosovo, they now have the same number of representatives as other, much smaller ethnic communities in the province.

The temporary authorities in Kosovo are rushing to return the Roma to the position of before 1999. There are Roma TV and radio broadcasts, there are some representatives in the highest bodies, but we all know that this is not only insufficient, but also no guarantee that the Roma in Kosovo and Metohija would live freely and safely. Let alone in equality with the others. According to the internal population count in the province in 1997, 98,770 people said they were Roma. Nowadays, there are 18,727 of them in Kosovo.

Other figures can be added to these grim numbers. Until June 1999, 22,000 Roma lived in Pristina and now there are 2,750, in Pec 20,000 and now 2,500. In Gnjilane, the number of the Roma has dropped from 7,000 to only 850. Of 22 municipalities in Kosovo and Metohija, the Roma lived in 21. Although they were not listed in the municipality of Dragas, the Roma used to live there, too, primarily in the village of Mljike. In Kosovska Mitrovica, there was a Roma quarter - Rasadnik - which used to be one of the biggest Roma settlements in Europe. It does not exist anymore. A similar fate was that of the Moravska quarter in Pristina.

There are three camps built for the Roma around Kosovska Mitrovica - in Zitkovac, Cesmeluk and Kablar - in an area poisoned with lead. The people living there are poisoned with this metal. There are 63 children living in these settlements, in whose blood the concentration of lead of 650 micrograms per liter was found, which, according to the figures of the World Health Organization, is a unique case in the world. Physicians recommend that patients with 100 micrograms should be removed from the contaminated area. And yet, they are still living there.

Therefore, only around 10 percent of the Roma have remained or returned to their centuries-old homes. During the first couple of years of international management in the province, the so-called political representatives of the Roma have been trying to explain that the Roma enjoy all the rights in Kosovo and Metohija. Life has proven them wrong. These representatives have emerged in a situation burdened by a serious war psychosis and fear, dictated by the Albanian extremists, and they not only failed to present the problems of the Roma on the political scene, but have skillfully hidden them and deceived the international public.

In the period from 1998 to 2000, Albanian extremists and gangs have murdered and kidnapped at least 150 Roma. According to some information, this number is much higher. The problem is that nobody has managed to record and identify the victims and the missing Roma. The fate of some is not known even now.

Presently, there are around 60,000 Roma refugees and displaced from Kosovo and Metohija in Serbia, around 12,000 in Montenegro, several thousand in Macedonia, and many have sought refuge in other countries. Only in Germany, according to the figures of the relevant ministry there, there are around 50,000 Roma from Kosovo and Metohija. Germany recently signed a contract with UNMIK about the return of the refugees from Kosovo and Metohija, primarily Ashkali and Egyptians this year, and the Roma next year. The return of 10,000 refugees from Kosovo and Metohija who are presently staying in Germany is planned. While not commenting on the legal and ethical context of this contract (which divides people into nations and assumes that it is safe for one and not safe for the other), I only wish to reiterate the claim mentioned at the beginning of the text - that the Roma ethnic body is deteriorating and is being divided or united whenever there are certain social and political pressures against them. With this contract, the Ashkali and the Egyptians are now forced to return to Kosovo and Metohija. They are now claiming that they are Roma, creating great difficulties to the German authorities in their plan to return the refugees to Kosovo and Metohija.

The displaced Roma from Kosovo and Metohija are living a hard life in Serbia. More than half of them had to leave the country and are now staying in western European countries. The majority of them had to sell their property, houses and apartments in Kosovo and Metohija below the market price, and leave to third countries with this money. The Roma who remained in Serbia are living in very difficult economic, social and health conditions. A vast number of the displaced do not have even the basic identity documents, and thus cannot exercise their right to health and welfare protection as refugees. Their basic human rights are also often in jeopardy.

Therefore, any discussion about the political position of the Roma, about the missing, the return of the Roma to Kosovo and Metohija, the return of their property, about their safety, economic strengthening, employment and the damaging contracts signed, can only begin after the forming of a delegation of Roma representatives, who would conduct talks with the temporary government of Kosovo in the presence of international organizations. These representatives must be those who are living with the majority of their people as refugees, and who have represented their people in Kosovo and Metohija. Only a delegation formed in such a way would have legitimacy to talk about the political and other issues of the Roma in Kosovo and Metohija.

 

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Toxic camp angers Kosovo Roma

By Matt Prodger BBC News, Mitrovica   http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4080048.stm Roma rights groups are preparing legal action against the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (Unmik) over its failure to evacuate several hundred refugees from camps contaminated with extremely high levels of poisonous lead. Rukije Mustafa says she can see the effects in her daughter Ever since their homes were destroyed during the war six years ago, more than 500 Roma (Gypsies) have been living in makeshift camps set up by the UN next to a disused - but contaminated - lead smelter in Mitrovica, northern Kosovo. The World Health Organization (WHO) describes the situation as an environmental disaster, but the refugees have yet to be moved. The worst affected is Zitkovac, one of three camps mostly containing children, which is located close to the old smelter. Wooden huts lie within a few hundred metres of a toxic slag heap. The wind whips contaminated dust through the camp. Rukije Mustafa is eight months pregnant and worried about her unborn baby; her four-year-old daughter Cassandra suffers from blackouts, lethargy and like most of the children born in this camp, her teeth are etched with the telltale grey lines of lead deposits. "When I look at my child I feel like dying," her mother says. "The dust is killing her, she can hardly walk; she's only got the strength to crawl." The United Nations created this camp and two others in 1999 to house Roma who, in the wake of the war, had been driven from their homes in neighbouring Mitrovica by ethnic Albanians who saw them as collaborators with the Serbs. It was a makeshift arrangement meant to last only weeks, but they have been here ever since. When the WHO tested the Roma's blood for lead in 2004, the readings for 90% of the children were off the scale - higher than the medical equipment was capable of measuring. 'Shameful' According to internationally-accepted benchmarks drawn up by the United States Centre for Disease Control, such children fall into the category of "acute medical emergency" and require immediate hospitalisation. There might have been - let's be very clear - there might have been a lack of co-operation on the ground Soren Jessen-Petersen Unmik Gerry McWeeney, a British epidemiologist working in the three camps - Zitkovac, Cesmin Lug and Kablar - says the situation is "critical". "It's what we would call a child environmental health disaster area," he said. "We don't have any literature or documentation anywhere that has shown this kind of situation before. They need to be moved.'' Other health experts are more critical. After visiting the camps one world authority on environmental health described them as "shameful" and "a disgrace" that "would not be tolerated anywhere else in Europe". In fact Unmik, the organisation in overall charge of the province, has known about the lead poisoning for at least five years. An Unmik report commissioned in 2000 recommended relocation of the camps because of it, but was never acted upon. A WHO report published in June 2004 said the same, describing the situation as "urgent". The Roma's houses are near a contaminated slag heap Opinions vary as to how many people the lead has killed. Most of those who have fallen ill have been treated in hospitals in Serbia, and human rights groups have had difficulty obtaining their medical records. The WHO believes at least one child has died from lead poisoning, but others put the figure higher. Paul Polansky, an American who heads the Kosovo Roma Refugee Foundation, counts 27 dead. Several kilometres from Zitkovac is the settlement where the Roma once lived. It used to be home to 9,000 - one of the biggest Romany settlements in the Balkans. It has been a ruin since ethnic Albanians destroyed it after the war. After months of prevarication there are now plans to return the refugees (or Internally Displaced Persons - IDPs) to this area. But at the moment there's nowhere for them to live. Unmik officials say the Roma have been offered temporary accommodation in less contaminated areas but turned it down. 'Difficult group' But the man in overall charge of Kosovo, Unmik head Soren Jessen-Petersen, says he thinks "we all have a share of the responsibility" - the local authorities, the international community, Unmik and all the agencies, "all those who have been involved". "There might have been - let's be very clear - there might have been a lack of co-operation on the ground. We are dealing with what we all know is a particularly difficult group. But that would not serve as an excuse for not addressing an acute health problem." The European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) in Budapest is in the process of preparing a lawsuit against the United Nations Mission in Kosovo. Claude Cahn from the ERRC said: "This is an extremely grave situation which the authorities have been aware of since 2000. We are in the process of taking legal action against both Unmik and the local authorities in the area."