Have you heard about Romany people, in Romania? They are also known among the Romanians
as “gypsies” and they represent a special, controversial ethnicity. It is not
well-known in its essential data, and although living with the Romanians for
centuries, their acceptance is rather a difficult process. Why? Who's to blame?
Romany people, because they don’t want to change themselves or Romanians, because
they don’t facilitate their integration into society and they don’t learn how to
respect the others before judging? A very interesting fact is that Romany people
haven’t come recently in Romania, they are a historical minority, there have
been a long and strong connection for centuries between the two people, but, nevertheless,
prejudices and stereotypes still exist. Many Romanians don’t know the essential
elements of Romany people’s history: they are Indian nomads, who came to the Romanian
Countries, after having spent a long time in the
Byzantine Empire.
The portrait of one Roma person is a stereotype: they
are seen as people with a strong tendency towards crime and violence ("they prefer to steal rather than to
work"); as people with a bad hygiene; as people without education and
with a primitive spirit ("their
level of education is very low"); and as an ethnicity with an
increased birth rate ("exponential
birth") [quotes from different Romanian politicians and from most of
the population].
Ethnic prejudice implies the sign of equality between
the individual and ethnicity. But from my point of view, we observe that what
is characteristic of nationality, by statistical criteria, is not necessarily
characteristic for each individual belonging to this population. Another fact
reported by media is that physically there is a certain peculiarity that
distinguishes the Romany people from the common perception: the colour of the
skin. This distinctive sign is relative. Therefore, there is another
stereotype, according to which the colour of the skin is defining or indicating
the moral profile.
Regarding this discrimination situations, I want to
present the case of one my friends. He belongs to this minority and he is not
afraid to accept it. But during his life, he had a lot of problems in being
integrated into the society: they started from the first public institution in
which each kid is enrolling – kindergarten, then primary and secondary school,
high school and university. I met him at high school because he was my
classmate and became best friend. But not all the pupils were treating him
well: some of them didn’t want to say hello to him or even shake hands because
they considered that he was unclean; it was really a trauma and a very big psychological
stress for him. He suffered a lot from these kinds of behavioural and verbal
abuses, but I tried with all my best to encourage him every time to overpass
these and to prove that them the opposite. He finished the high school among the best pupils and then he was the third student who entered the Medical
University (after passing a very difficult exam). It was the moment when people
who mistreated him, maybe realized that they made a mistake.
This is not the only case of racial discrimination in
Romania. Many other Romany people, especially children and teenagers, have been
put to several mistreating critics. There have been more accusation in media
regarding the bad treatment that Romany pupils are receiving in some schools:
they were separated from the other children in a different building away from
the others. Furthermore, there are many difficulties in any person from these
people to get a job and to have access to public services.
The International Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Racial Discrimination which came into force in 1969 prohibits “any distinction, exclusion, restriction, or
preference based on race, colour, descent or national or ethnic origin..”. So,
starting with the public institutions and then all Romanian people should be pay
more attention to the rights of each human being.
There are also lots of cases where the Romany children were put to
beg for money by their parents in the street in inhuman conditions. In this
case, the Department for Children Protection should notify these cases and step
in. It should be considered The Convention on the Rights of the Child because
it is protecting children from economical exploitation and abuse.
In the last 6-8 years, it has started a massive
migration of these people in different countries in Europe: Italy, UK, France
which led to different political problems between the countries. We should
solve these problem with a close attention to the international conventions,
but also starting to have a more humanitarian approach.
Below a very interesting documentary with English subtitle about the lives destroyed of some children who could have been saved:
Reference:
Clapham, Andrew2015 [2007].
Human Rights. A very short Introduction.
Chapter2
Burns, H. Weston, Human
Rights: Concept and Content
History of Romany people: https://www.livescience.com/25294-origin-romani-people.html
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