CoE lauds Turkish initiative on Roma, slaps EU for discrimination

In its report, the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) said, as a result of pogroms, many Roma have been forced, in a climate of fear, to flee to other countries in order to seek asylum. Yet they found they were unwelcome by governments within the EU despite the free movement of people being much cherished as a policy and legal right.

“When fleeing from one EU member state to another, Roma asylum seekers are confronted by EU legislation, which provides that in asylum matters, all EU member states shall be considered ‘safe countries of origin’ in respect of each other. Consequently, a citizen of one EU member state may as a rule not be granted refugee protection, or complementary protection, in another EU member state, save for in certain exceptional circumstance,” the report said.

The report provided the example that Roma from Bulgaria, Hungary or Romania have for this reason been refused asylum in EU countries while Roma from the Czech Republic and Hungary have sought and been granted asylum in Canada. In 2008, 860 Roma from the Czech Republic applied for asylum in Canada and 40 percent of them were granted refugee status.

As such, the report argued, Roma who are forced to flee their home country therefore find themselves in a state of limbo with their options being to seek asylum in a country outside the EU, to become irregular migrants or to go back and face persecution.

There are an estimated 12 million Roma citizens in Europe. While the EU has started educational and structural funds to improve conditions for the Roma community, the situation of the Roma has become worse in many European countries, according to Roma representatives. An EU survey showed in April 2009 that half of the Roma respondents had faced discrimination at least once over the previous year, but that most of them did not report such incidents to the police. Some of practices criticized by human rights groups include placing Roma children in schools for the disabled in the Czech Republic despite a court ruling to end the practice. Amnesty International said in recent report that Roma children are still placed in schools designed for children with mild intellectual disabilities, or in segregated elementary schools that provide a second-rate education. In Portugal and Romania, Roma settlements are isolated from other communities by walls while the Spanish Roma community urgently needs improved housing and better access to education and employment opportunities.

Based on the fact that violence against the Roma has largely occurred in EU member states, the Council of Europe report urged the EU to take “measures to address the situation, in terms both of law and, if under its competence and mindful of the principle of subsidiarity, of fact.” While the committee slapped the EU for its discriminatory approach to Roma in EU member states, it drew “attention to an exemplary project in Turkey honoring the Roma.” Saying the Turkish project is unique in Europe, the Council of Europe report said “the aim is to radically improve the conditions for Roma in Turkey and to change the way the public relate to Roma. The project will include measures of positive action aimed at enhancing the opportunities of Roma, such as free transport to schools, special support for studies, and improving housing conditions as well as measures to eradicate discrimination against the Roma.”

The report also applauded Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who launched the project on March 14 by addressing 15,000 Roma from all around Turkey invited to İstanbul to attend a joyful gathering in a stadium. “There was much joy and mutual appreciation during the festive event,” the report said. It made reference to State Minister Faruk Çelik, who was the coordinator of the face-to-face talks with the Roma community in Turkey in order to identify problems and demands of the Roma based on genuine consultations.

The government of Prime Minister Erdoğan’s move came as a part of its democratic initiative, which is intended to expand the rights of previously disadvantaged groups and communities such as the Kurds, the Alevis and the Roma. “As the state, we have shouldered the responsibility on this [Roma] issue. From now on, your problems are my problems. Nobody in this country can be treated as ‘half’ a person,” he said to the cheering Roma community during the İstanbul gathering on March 14.

According to the workshop report prepared after consultations with representatives of the Roma community, there are 500,000 Roma living in Turkey, while other sources estimate that number to be as many as 2 million. Some 20,000 Turkish Roma are nomads. The most significant problems experienced by the Roma are insults and discrimination. They are generally referred to as “çingene,” a pejorative term meaning gypsy, but there are 20 other expressions commonly used in Turkish to refer to them.

The Turkish government has started to construct close to 3,500 new homes for the Roma across Turkey. It has also launched a project to include information about the Roma in school textbooks and the elimination of insulting expressions about the Roma from course books as well as the provision of identity cards for all Roma and social programs to keep Roma children from abusing drugs, along with the prevention of early marriages.