EU and Roma asylum-seekers
Reply-To: [email protected]
Sender: [email protected]
From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Date: Mon, 30 Aug 1999 09:05:39 +0300 (EET DST)
Message-Id: <[email protected]>
Subject: EU and Roma asylum-seekers
From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Original sender: RFE/RL <[email protected]>
EU and Roma asylum-seekers
RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
_____________________________________________________________
RFE/RL WATCHLIST
Vol. 1, No. 32, 26 August 1999
A Weekly Checklist Of Events Affecting Civil Societies In Eastern
Europe And The Post-Soviet States
...........................
END NOTE
EU SPURNS PLEA OF CENTRAL EUROPEAN ROMA FOR ASYLUM
By Charles Fenyvesi
The Roma have lost their battle for recognition as political refugees,
but they have gained ground in publicizing their deepening plight in
Central Europe.
In several European Union countries, governments decided that Roma who
flee Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Hungary are looking for
economic opportunity, rather than escaping political repression.
Despite the powerful argument presented to a number of world leaders
by organizations such as the European Roma Rights Center (ERRC),
suggesting that the asylum-seekers face mounting skinhead violence and
numerous forms of social and economic discrimination because of their
race, the governments approached - Finland, Britain, and Belgium -
have shut the door and are returning the refugees to their countries
of origin. The governments hope that the rebuff will discourage Roma
asylum-seekers in the future.
West Europeans "have tightened their fortress and will keep migrants
out," Claude Cahn of the Budapest-based ERRC told RFE/RL. "But the
governments in Central Europe are embarrassed, and Western pressures
on them have increased." At the same time, Cahn added, the East and
Central European press has been quiet about the few Slovak Roma who
were admitted to Britain as political refugees, winning their right to
stay on appeal.
The Roma have achieved one important objective: Western European
governments and supranational institutions have begun to criticize
publicly the former communist countries where the collapse of
communist industrialization put Roma unemployment often above 90
percent. For instance, Norwegian Foreign Minister Knut Vollebaek,
chairman of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
(OSCE), called for a study of the steps needed to help "the difficult
situation" of the Roma. In West European capitals there is growing
awareness that things are getting worse for the Roma, and the issue of
helping them is now on the agenda of various EU and OSCE forums.
Financial and programmatic assistance are under discussion.
In an OSCE meeting in Vienna in early September, Max van der Stoel,
High Commissioner on Minorities, is scheduled to submit a detailed
study of the Roma. His evaluation of official Roma policies in Central
and Eastern European countries seeking EU membership is said to be
negative. Moreover, local governments in Italy and Spain are likely to
come in for sharp criticism. The need to alleviate Roma plight may
also figure during the OSCE summit in Istanbul in November.
For the past several years, the United Kingdom was the principal
European magnet for Roma asylum-seekers. According to UK statistics,
from the Czech Republic alone 515 citizens applied in 1998, and the
number jumped to 590 in the first seven months of this year. Even
though British officials insist that each case is carefully considered
on its merits, "zero acceptance rate" is the phrase they use to
characterize their evaluation of the applications. It is assumed that
most, if not all the applicants are Roma, though the British
government says it keeps statistics only in terms of citizenship, not
ethnicity.
Across the Atlantic, Roma refugees fared better. Over the past two
years, Canada granted political asylum to hundreds of Hungarian and
Czech Roma, with many more requests pending.
However, what gained space on the front pages of newspapers across
Europe was the case of planeloads of Slovak Roma flying out of
Bratislava, Prague, and Budapest and applying for political asylum
upon landing in Helsinki (see "End Note" of 15 July 1999). A few days
later, on July 5, with the number of applicants rising over 1,000 and
more planes on the way to Helsinki, the Finnish government reimposed a
visa requirement for Slovak citizens, which promptly stopped the
exodus. By early August, Finland had rejected some 300 asylum
applications without granting a single one. Repatriation may begin
momentarily.
Nevertheless, to some observers, the exodus to Finland was a success
precisely because it attracted international attention to anti-Roma
discrimination more effectively than any previous action. A rejection
of asylum applications might have dampened the spirits of some Slovak
Roma who had fled in the hope of breathing free in Scandinavia, but
their larger community scored a rare political victory. Perhaps now
governments and supranational institutions will finally study
anti-Roma discrimination in schools, police stations, courts, and the
workplace, and devise programs that address grievances that have so
far elicited only polite expressions of official sympathy.
*************************************************
Copyright (c) 1999. RFE/RL, Inc. All rights reserved.
RFE/RL Watchlist is prepared by Charles Fenyvesi on the basis of a
variety of sources including reporting by RFE/RL Newsline and RFE/RL's
broadcast services. It is distributed every Thursday. Direct comments
to Charles Fenyvesi at [email protected].
Technical queries should be emailed to
[email protected]
For information on subscriptions or reprints, contact Paul Goble in
Washington at (202) 457-6947 or at [email protected].
Back issues are online at http://www.rferl.org/watchlist
HOW TO SUBSCRIBE
Send an email to [email protected] with the word
subscribe as the subject of the message.
HOW TO UNSUBSCRIBE
Send an email to [email protected] with the word
unsubscribe as the subject of the message
____________________________________________________________
RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
--
==============================================================
MINELRES - a forum for discussion on minorities in Central&Eastern
Europe
Submissions: [email protected]
Subscription/inquiries: [email protected]
List archive: http://www.riga.lv/minelres/archive.htm
==============================================================