ERRC Press Statement on Balkan Roma Conference on Peace and Security

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Subject: ERRC Press Statement on Balkan Roma Conference on Peace and Security

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ERRC Press Statement on Balkan Roma Conference on Peace and Security



European Roma Rights Center, Budapest
Human Rights Project, Sofia

Press Statement - 23 June 1999

On June 18-19, 1999, a Balkan Roma Conference on Peace and Security
was held in Sofia, Bulgaria. It was co-organized by the European Roma
Rights Center (Budapest) and the Human Rights Project (Sofia). Its
purpose was to provide Roma from Kosovo and the Balkans with a forum
at which they could voice their protest against the treatment of Roma
during the current Kosovo crisis and plan for more effective action in
the future. Testimonies from Kosovo Roma were heard. A Declaration was
adopted and a Balkan Roma working group was established to initiate
and co-ordinate joint action.

The forum convened representatives of the Romani community from
Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia, Greece, Macedonia, Romania, and Slovenia. They discussed
the situation of Roma during the Kosovo crisis; the prospects for the
safe return of the Roma refugees to Kosovo; and measures to be
undertaken for ensuring protection of Roma against current
discrimination and violence in the Balkan countries. Ms Josephine
Verspaget, Chair of the Group of Specialists at the Council of Europe
and Mr. Nicolae Gheorghe, Advisor on Roma and Sinti Issues to the
Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights at the OSCE also
participated.

The conference in Sofia was the first public occasion at which Roma
from the Balkans voiced their position on the Kosovo conflict and
testified to gross violations of human rights, mass suffering and
humiliation experienced by the Roma people during the war. The
international media covering the war turned a blind eye to the
thousands of Roma who had been forced to flee their homes in Kosovo.
It was noted by the participants that, at this instance as throughout
history, the international community has been oblivious of the fate of
the Roma.

Participants pointed to the fact that due to their unique situation of
a non-territorial minority, Roma people from Yugoslavia have been
victimised and discriminated against by both sides of the Kosovo
conflict on the ground: ethnic Albanians and Serbs. Roma from Kosovo
have been used as forced labour by Serbian authorities to support the
Serbian army, a fact which triggered anti-Roma feelings among Albanian
Kosovars. The presence of Kosovar Roma has in many instances not been
officially acknowledged in refugee camps in Albania and Macedonia. On
the way to the camps many Roma refugees experienced discriminatory and
prejudicial treatment. As a result they feared both the camp
authorities and their fellow inmates, and as a rule have chosen to
hide their identity. The conference expressed concerns about the
existing tensions between ethnic Albanians and Roma, resulting in
mounting violence against Roma refugees in the camps in Macedonia and
Albania. Participants in the conference were convinced that there is a
high probability of reprisals on the part of the Albanians against
Roma should the Kosovar Roma return to Kosovo. Subsequent instances of
violence by ethnic Albanians against Roma in Kosovo have unfortunately
confirmed these fears.

The Conference agreed that the policy of prevention of further ethnic
conflicts in the highly precarious ethnic situation in the Balkans can
not be effective without addressing the major problems affecting the
Balkan Roma. Major problems include: lack of opportunities for Roma to
have a say in formulating national policies pertaining to Roma
themselves and to participate in the public life of the Balkan states;
discriminatory treatment of Roma at all levels of the state
administration and the judiciary; racist violence; and high levels of
prejudice and exclusion from the macrosociety.

In their discussion of the recommendations to the international
organisations, the participants recalled the Balkan wars that led to
the break-up of the former Yugoslavia, and highlighted the inadequate
consideration of the plight of Roma by the international community in
the post-war reconstruction period. In its final declaration, the
Conference insisted that: there should be strong guarantees for the
safe return of Romani refugees to Kosovo; on the other hand, Roma who
have well-founded fear of persecution in their homeland should be
given the opportunity to seek asylum outside the FRY. Roma should be
included without discrimination in the action plans for the
reconstruction of the democratic institutions and the infrastructure
in Yugoslavia. Roma should be recognised as a nationality within the
FRY; there should be reconciliation programs to promote ethnic
tolerance in FRY; Romani organisations in Kosovo, Serbia and the rest
of the Balkan region should be actively involved in the preparation
and implementation by the states of policies and programs affecting
the Romani communities; the Balkan states should provide adequate
mechanisms for effective participation of the Roma in the political
and social processes in their respective countries and should pursue
by all appropriate means policies of prevention of discrimination and
racism against Roma and encourage interethnic accord on the Balkans.

The work of the Conference will be taken up by an elected group of six
activists of the Roma movement from different Balkan countries, who
will continue the work initiated at the Conference.

Follows the Declaration adopted by the Conference.

To:
The Secretary General of the United Nations, New York
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Geneva
The Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Strasbourg
The Chair of the European Commission, Brussels
The Chairman in Office of the OSCE, Vienna
The Secretary General of NATO, Brussels

Declaration of the Participants in the Balkan Roma Conference for
Peace and Security, Sofia, 18-19 June, 1999. 

The participants - representatives of the Roma communities from
Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia, Greece, Macedonia, Romania and Slovenia - having discussed
extensively the impact of the Kosovo crisis on the Roma communities in
Kosovo and the Balkans, state the following.

1. Obstacles to a Roma return to Kosovo

Roma are a non-territorial minority. The fact that they live as
minorities in different countries has made them a peace-loving people.
Roma have never willfully taken up arms against anybody nor do they
wish to do so now or in the future. Roma people on the Balkans have a
centuries-long experience of living in multi-ethnic,
multi-confessional, multi-linguistic local communities. They could be
valuable promoters of peace in Kosovo and the Balkans.

However, due to their situation of a non-territorial minority, Roma
from Yugoslavia have been victimised, treated in inhuman and degrading
ways and discriminated by both sides of the Kosovo conflict on the
ground - ethnic Albanians and Serbs. In some cases Roma were subjected
to forced labor by the Serbian authorities to support the Milosevic
army, a fact which provoked anti-Roma feelings among the Kosovo
Albanian population. Tensions between ethnic Albanians and Roma are
illustrated by the high incidence of violence against Roma in refugee
camps outside of Kosovo as well as in Kosovo itself. The notorious
attempted lynching of members of an extended Roma family in the camp
of Stenkovec, Macedonia, is just one example. Roma have reasons to
feel insecure in the camps; they would feel still more insecure in
Kosovo. The probability of anti-Roma pogroms is not to be excluded. In
this situation the return of the Roma refugees to Kosovo is highly
problematic. But there are also other causes of unease:

- There has been no formal acknowledgement of the presence of Roma in
the refugee camps in Macedonia and Albania and Roma refugees have not
been registered in the camps with their ethnic background. On the one
hand, Roma have been pressured to register as Albanians apparently to
make the number of Albanian refugees look bigger. On the other hand,
conscious of the collective guilt imposed upon them, Roma themselves
have been reluctant to register as Roma.

- There are reports of discrimination against Romani refugees by
relief organisations, including international relief organisations.
 
- The situation of Roma from Yugoslavia during the Kosovo conflict has
been systematically ignored by the international media. This fact is
sadly reminiscent of the way in which the genocide of Roma during
World War II was "forgotten" by the international community. It also
shows that in the Kosovo crisis the international community once again
seems to treat Roma no better than the macro-societies of the nation
states in which they currently live. That treatment is marked by: lack
of opportunities for Roma to make themselves heard in the formulation
of national policies affecting them and to participate in the public
life of their states; discriminatory treatment of the Roma community
members at all levels of the state administration and the judiciary;
racist violence; and high levels of negative prejudice and denial on
the part of the respective macrosocieties.

2. Roma in the post-conflict situation

Recalling the experience of the war in Bosnia and the neglect of the
Roma situation in the post-war reconstruction of Bosnia and
Herzegovina, and noting that after the split of former Yugoslavia the
international community has not been able to prevent further ethnic
conflicts in this region, the Balkan Roma Conference appeals to the
international organisations:

- To guarantee the right of safe return of the Roma refugees to
Kosovo;

- To prevent forced return of Roma refugees to Kosovo and guarantee
that Roma who have well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of
their ethnicity be given the opportunity to seek asylum outside FRY;

- To ensure that the highly precarious situation of Roma refugees
returning to Kosovo be addressed in any future stabilisation agreement
for the Balkans with a view to finding a long-term solution for the
security of the Roma persons, families and communities;

- To ensure that Roma people are recognised as a nationality in the
national law of FRY;

- To ensure that Roma are treated equally in all aspects of the
post-war reconstruction of FRY provisions are adopted in Yugoslav
laws.

- To ensure the implementation of reconciliation programs that will
promote ethnic tolerance in FRY and the Balkans;

- To initiate an international debate on the situation of the Roma
refugees and the prospects of their voluntary repatriation;

- To ensure that, according to their international obligations, all
states in the region provide adequate mechanisms for effective
participation of the Roma in the political and social processes in
their respective countries;

- To ensure that the Roma organisations are represented  and actively
involved in the preparation and implementation by the states of
policies and programs affecting the Roma communities;

- To ensure that the Balkan states pursue by all appropriate means
policies of prevention of discrimination and racism against Roma and
encourage the interethnic accord on the Balkans.

The Balkan Roma Conference on Peace and Security

*********

The European Roma Rights Center is an international public interest
law organisation which monitors the rights of Roma and provides legal
defence in cases of human rights abuse. For more information about the
European Roma Rights Center, visit the ERRC on the web at
http://errc.org. 

European Roma Rights Center
H-1525 Budapest 114
PO Box 10/24
Hungary

Telephone: (36 1) 42 82 351
Fax: (36 1) 42 82 356

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