Romania: Are Romani people's lives improving?

Agence France-Presse reports that expert analyses on the situation of Romani people in Romania say their lot is improving step by step thanks to projects run by NGOs and Romani elites. It will take a long time, however, for the vicious circle of poverty to be broken in the community.

According to official data, 620 000 Romani people live in Romania, which is one of the poorest European Union countries. NGOs, however, estimate their numbers at two million.

“Almost 500 years of slavery have significantly left their mark on the fact that there is no equal opportunity here. Romani people were not emancipated until 1856,” says Magda Matache, a politically engaged representative of the Romani community. Matache, who previously directed the Romani Criss organization, the main NGO protecting Romani people’s rights in Romania, recently won a stipend to study at Harvard University.

Alina Serban is a Romani actress from Romania who is completing her Master’s studies at the Royal Academy of Drama in London. She complains that common expressions in her home country include “Don’t act like a gypsy” (a pejorative term in Romanian) or “If you misbehave I’ll give you to the gypsies.”

However, changes are already starting to make themselves felt, according to the director of the Active Watch NGO, Mircea Toma. Research from 2011 shows that 43 % of Romanians surveyed expressed a willingness to accept a Romani person marrying into their family. In 2002, that number was just 23 %.

“Anti-discrimination campaigns and trainings for journalists are starting to bear fruit,” Toma said. However, there is still a long way to go.

The situation of Romani people depends on whether they are living in towns or in the countryside. However, Romani people living at all levels of society are afflicted by poverty and unemployment rates of almost 50 %.

Some of these people, like hundreds of thousands of non-Romani citizens, emigrate from Romania for economic reasons, mainly to Italy and Spain. Romani emigration to France is far behind those countries.

The key problem in the fight against the vicious circle of poverty is education. The Romanian state has now set aside 1 000 places for Romani students at universities. The number of Romani children enrolled into primary school in Romania doubled between 1990 and 2008, primarily thanks to the efforts of as many as 852 Romani school mediators countrywide. Such initiatives should inspire politicians working in the areas of education, housing and labor, believes Lacramioara Tautu of Romani Criss.

“Romania is a poor country, its state budget is limited,” says Daniela Tarnovschi, coordinator of an extensive research project focused on Romani integration for George Soros’s foundation. “Politicians have almost no interest in investing into Romani people because it is easier for them to manipulate them during electoral campaigns when they are left like this.”

“What is needed is political agreement and programs involving volunteers that will run for at least 10 years,” Toma of Active Watch said. Money, mainly, is also needed.