NATMINET: Discrimination against the Roma in Romania

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Subject: NATMINET: Discrimination against the Roma in Romania

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NATMINET: Discrimination against the Roma in Romania


Discrimination against the Roma ethnic group in Romania

The Romani CRISS Association has initiated a dialogue on the issue of
racial discrimination to which Roma people from Romania are subjected.
This dialogue has emerged as a necessary attempt to clarify the issue,
starting from the different types of racist attitudes in public life.
The last instance of this type of attitude was noticed at an
institution of the Romanian state, the Office for Workforce in Sector
3, Bucharest. Romani CRISS organized a press conference after the
incident, subsequent to which the mass-media had different reactions.
One of them came from the editor-in-chief of the daily newspaper
"Libertatea" ("Freedom") (see below). The editor-in-chief  was very
critical towards the position taken by the association in what
concerns the issue of the Roma ethnic group, though none of the
"Libertatea" attended the above-mentioned press conference. Romani
CRISS submitted an article to the "Libertatea" answering the serious
accusations that the editor-in-chief brought to the association. 

We invite you to read the following and give us your opinion on the
issue at
[email protected]
 
1. The daily newspaper "Libertatea" (the Romanian word for "Freedom")
published an editorial in its August 4th 2000 issue, no.3045, signed
by Adrian Halpert, editor-in-chief, entitled "About Disrimination".
The article expresses the author's surprise at finding that the Romani
Criss Association intends to sue the Romanian Ministry of Labour and
the Romanian State for the fact that on the notice board of the Office
for the Workforce of Sector 3, Bucharest, a private firm called S.C.
Guard stuck a notice advertising the position of watchman, and
mentioning that Roma applicants would not be considered. The author of
the article argues that the Romanian State and the Romanian Ministry
of Labour and Social Protection (MMPS) have nothing to do with the
advertisements stuck on the notice boards of the offices for the
workforce, and that the government offices could not censure these
advertisements. Further on, the article explains that any private firm
has the right to choose their staff as they wish.

An example of a different kind of discrimination is brought, i.e. the
fact that the Romanian Ministry of Education granted places for the
Roma students in secondary schools, thus allegedly disadvantaging
Romanian students. The author of the article invites the Romani Criss
to reflect upon the reason why such advertisements are so frequent in
the Romanian press and suggests that the associations, foundations and
other organizations that pretend to represent the Roma should be more
concerned with raising the cultural and social living standard of
their kinsmen instead of being busy working out ways to use up
substantial funds from the "European Union and the Americans". He also
reminds his readers of the fact that the relationships between the
Romanians and the Roma are rather tensioned at present and that
violent confrontations such as the one at Hadareni such be avoided. 


2. The right to answer
About demagogy and superficiality 

The right to answer which, we hope - in the virtue of minimal
professional deontology - will be printed in the "Libertatea" is a
reply to the article "About discrimination" signed by Adrian Halpert.
The editorial signed by the editor-in-chief (he himself a member of an
often victimized minority) is a hatred-fuelled response to a
communiqu�-invitation issued by the Romani CRISS Association,  a
response which we would have considered well-founded had at least one
of the journalists from "Libertatea" attended the press conference
organized on Wednesday, August 2nd. 

As the prestigious daily newspaper of the "Ringier" Trust had not even
bothered to discuss with any of the representatives of the "gypsies"
raging with proletariat-like fury, and they had not even inquired
closely into the situation pointed out by our organization, we believe
that the text written by Mr Halpert is of a gratuitousness only
surpassed by its evilness. Let us consider one by one each of the
accusations brought by Mr Halpert. 

The advertisement incriminated by Romani CRISS and held very proper by
Mr Halpert refers to an open discrimination of the Roma as concerns
employment, discrimination that is approved by an institution of the
Romanian state. It is true that the Romanian press is packed with
announcements that are discriminatory as regards the Roma, but this is
not a reason why the state itself should advocate this way of dealing
with the Roma. Especially as this discrimination is counter not only
to the beliefs of our organization (which is a fact that can be
neglected) but also to the Constitution, the Penal Law and the
international norms adopted by Romania. 

It is evident that private firms can choose their staff after their
criteria, but we believe that it is immoral and unjust for the Roma
(or "the gypsies, as we more commonly call them", as Mr Halpert refers
to them, forgetting in his haste about the Memorandum of the Ministry
for Foreign Affairs of February 29th, 200, no. D2/1094 ) to be
excluded from certain activities. The sheer colour of one's skin and
certain prejudices are not enough to define professional competence.

Furthermore, Mr Halpert mentions the Roma children who were admitted
to secondary schools. This is what we call positive discrimination, as
a result of which no Romanian child had to bear any kind of
unpleasant  consequences. This fact can be checked by any journalist
driven by a sense of honesty. 

In one respect, Mr Halpert is right. There is, indeed, a problem that
consists in the social integration of the Roma. But he denies the
capacity of some civic organizations, such as Romani CRISS, to solve
this problem, unjustifiably accusing us of embezzling substantial
funds from abroad. Romani CRISS does not eat up " huge funds from the
European Union and the Americans" without any consideration and
without any control from those who provide the finances, but rather it
uses these funds exactly for the purpose of dispelling, step by step,
the existing misperceptions of the Roma population. Actually, anyone
can read and photograph the registers of Romani CRISS (including Mr
Halpert, who is very interested in the good administration of our
funds, though maybe a closer look at his own business would be more
productive). The activity of the organization was appreciated by Bill
Clinton, Tony Blair and Jacques Santer and given the "Democracy and
Civil Society Award". As for the money squeezed on account of the
Roma, titles such as "All the Camp Out to Steal Fruit", "Crashed Cars
Looted by Gypsies" or "Romanians Don't Want Homosexual or Gypsy
Neighbours" - all from "Libertatea", point clearly to those who make
money after the Roma. And if the NGOs are not the ones to try and
solve the problem of the Roma, we seriously doubt that the
"Libertatea" could do it.

Yours respectfully,
Costel Bercus
Executive manager - Romani CRISS

[On August 7th, 2000, Ciprian Necula, coordinator of the Contact Point
of the Roma Associations with the Press, sent the following message to
NATMINET]:

Dear Sirs,

as I have informed you before, the editor-in-chief of the daily
newspaper "Libertatea" signed an editorial last week as an answer to
the press conference at which Romani CRISS called attention to an act
of discrimination done under the aegis of the Office for the
Workforce. Subsequently, considering that the information in the
article distorted reality, Romai CRISS sent an article to "Libertatea"
making use of their right to an answer. Although we hoped that on the
basis of elementary professionalism, our right to an answer would be
cited, "Libertatea" carried on its series of accusations and calumnies
aimed at Romani CRISS, ignoring deontology and the truthfulness of
those stated by our organization (though none of the "Libertatea"
participated in the above-mentioned press conference). Thus, on
Saturday, August 5th, the day after Romani CRISS sent their reply to
"Libertatea", the newspaper published an item of news entitled "While
the Leaders of the Roma Complain about Discrimination, A Gypsy Steals
on a Bus".

The writer of the article (unsigned) says that "while the
representatives of the Roma ethnic group were stating that they were
as clean as a whistle, at about 12:00, just as they were lamenting the
most, a gypsy was stealing the wallets of the passengers of bus
no.178". The author accused the leaders of Romani CRISS of trying to
cover the fact that there are criminals among the Roma, a thing that
they have never stated, least of all at the press conference mentioned
above. Actually, the one who wrote the article erroneously quotes the
executive manager of the organization, which shows his/her lack of
information. Romani CRISS hopes that this gesture of "Libertatea" is
an isolated one, not lined up in an editorial policy that aims at
defaming the activity of an organization that represents the interests
of a minority (especially as Romani CRISS is internationally known,
having been given the Democracy and Civil Society Award). Anyway,
Romani CRISS is considering taking the daily newspaper "Libertatea" to
court for libel.

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nationalism in general, multi- and intercultural education. It
includes call for papers, conference announcements, grant
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