The World in Words
The Plight of the Roma
George Soros
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NEW YORK – The Roma have been persecuted across Europe for centuries. Now they face a form of discrimination unseen in Europe since World War II: group evictions and expulsions from several European democracies of men, women, and children on the grounds that they pose a threat to public order.
Last week, France began to carry out plans to expel all non-French Roma, implicating them as a group in criminal activity, without any legal process to determine whether individuals have committed any crime or pose a threat to public order. These French actions follow Italy’s “security package” of 2008, which described so-called “nomads” as a threat to national security and imposed emergency legislation leading to expulsions of non-Italian Roma.
Stopping criminal activity is a legitimate government concern. But the expulsion of EU citizens on the basis of ethnicity as a proxy for criminal activity is a violation of EU directives on racial discrimination and the right to move freely from one EU member-state to another.
Indeed, it is a firmly established legal principle that crime should be addressed by a determination of individual guilt before a court of law. Moreover, convicted criminals are not routinely deported if they are citizens of another EU member state. Instead, European law requires an individual determination that deportation is necessary and proportionate to the crime committed, as well as consideration of other circumstances (such as the strength of the individual’s ties to the community).
Of course, European societies should not tolerate criminality and anti-social behavior. But no ethnic group monopolizes such pathologies, and all people should be equal before the law. Since WWII, Europeans have found it unacceptable to subject any group to collective punishment or mass expulsion on the basis of ethnicity, so, in casting aside fundamental rights in the name of security, rounding up Roma sets a worrying precedent.
By contrast, the French government is right to call for measures to improve employment and development opportunities for Roma in their countries of origin (primarily Bulgaria and Romania in this case), which would reduce the incentives and pressure for them to move to other countries. In response to France’s position, the Swedish government also called for concerted EU action to foster Roma inclusion.
Roma want to and can integrate if they are given the opportunity, as my foundation’s programs have shown. Most Roma share the aspirations of the majority populations: a home with adequate services, a decent education for their children, jobs that enable them to provide for their families, and to interact with the majority in their society. It is because they face appalling discrimination and deprivation at home that they continue to migrate across Europe. The EU must recognize that the pan-European nature of this problem demands a comprehensive and effective strategy for Roma inclusion.
Primary responsibility for safeguarding the rights and well-being of all citizens lies with EU member states. Policies and programs to promote inclusion in employment, education, health care, and housing must be implemented at the local and national levels. But the EU has a vital role to motivate, coordinate, financially assist, and monitor such efforts through an EU-level plan.
In 2009, the EU endorsed the principle of “explicit but not exclusive targeting” for Roma, and the European Commission allowed structural funds to be used to cover housing interventions in favour of marginalized communities, with a particular focus on Roma. This is a welcome step and “explicit but not exclusive targeting” should be extended to education, health care, and employment. Most importantly, the rules guiding how structural funds are spent should be changed to allow their use for health and education from early childhood, rather than only for job training.
Structural poverty in Roma communities is intimately linked to poor education and unemployment. The Commission’s Europe 2020 initiative sets specific targets for raising school completion rates and employment levels for all EU citizens. In both of these areas, Roma fall so far behind their fellow citizens that targeted measures to close the gap should be an integral part of the Europe 2020 plan.
The greatest divide between the Roma and majority populations is not one of culture or lifestyle – as is so often portrayed by the media – but poverty and inequality. The divide is physical, not just mental. Segregated schooling is a barrier to integration and produces prejudice and failure. Segregated housing has led to huge shantytowns and settlements lacking sanitation and other basic conditions essential to a life with dignity. The plight of so many millions of Roma in the twenty-first century makes a mockery of European values and stains Europe’s conscience.
The plight of the Roma is not just a short-term security problem that can be addressed by draconian measures to move people forcibly from one member state to another. Not only does this undermine European values and legal principles, but it fails to address the root causes of the problem.
As Europe’s largest ethnic minority, Roma inside the EU comprise the youngest and fastest-growing demographic segment of the population. By 2020, for example, young Roma will make up one-third of the new entrants to the workforce in Hungary. Europe cannot afford another lost generation. This is a matter of human rights and basic values, and it is vital to peace and cohesion in societies across Europe.
George Soros is Chairman of Soros Fund Management.
Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2010.
www.project-syndicate.org
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Rutherford 09:03 26 Aug 10
Mr. Soros,
It is heartening to see a man of your stature stand out in front of this important issue. I believe France's policy of deportation is fundamentally flawed on so many levels and thought you did a fantastic job of covering this issue in your piece.
Over the years I've come to learn of the plight of Roma in Kosovo. In the wake of the conflict there despite international efforts to create a multi-ethinc society Roma had their properties seized and homes destroyed.
Few have anything to return to even if the conditions for their return were favorable. Many fled to western europe. Those that stayed were forced to live in camps where the conditions were appaling; one such camp was near a derelict mine complex. Roma there were slowly posioned to death by high concentrations of lead in the water and soil. While the worlds focus shifted, Kosovo and the plight of it's Roma population were forgotten.
Europe failed the Roma of Kosovo once....but, sending them back or deporting them without due process would be yet another grave injustice.
V/R,
~Rutherford
iamias 11:28 29 Aug 10
Mr. Soros,
I am Hungarian (My tribe is Ias i.e. written az Jász, just like Jászberény, etc.).
I have been teaching in a vocational training school for 25 years.
In that school about the half of the pupils are Roma now!
I must assure you, they do not want to learn, they do not want to behave as a normal pupil, a normal citizen -and above all THEY DO NOT WANT TO WORK!
They are not intended to learn, and later they are complaining about their disadvantages on the labor market. They generally do not have any kind of skills or craft.
So, what are you writing about?
These Roma inhabitants want to make children to get money from the Hungarian state and they have invented dirty tricks to get more and more.
They live in untidy hovels and do not take care of any rules.
I do not want to mention their rate in crime statistic.
You can also study what Slovakian politicians said about Roma camps and what citizens had to do against them.
Thy Roma people did not change for many centuries.
Do you think anyone is able to force them to change their behavior now?
Rgds
iamias
iamias 01:51 31 Aug 10
Mr Soros,
Your native language is Hungarian. Please read tis article:
avraamjack 03:58 31 Aug 10
"Indeed, it is a firmly established legal principle that crime should be addressed by a determination of individual guilt before a court of law."
Mr. Soros, diplomatic as ever, understates the case.
In the USA, we have now degraded to the point where stalker gangs are allowed to openly poison "undesireables". There are secret gang courts where people are paid very well to tell lies to justify the poisonings and the stalkings. Te government is now just a ridiculous figurehead. The USA has slid into fascism and nobody dares to talk of it. They do not want to get poisoned.
Do a web search on gang stalking for very incomplete and peppered with disinformation additional information.
It is truly a pleasure to read Mr. Soros's columns. His experience and wisdom produce thoughts that are worthy of the time spent reading them - unlike most else in the media.
Avraam Jack Dectis
tashrest 01:22 02 Sep 10
I have a lot of sympathy for George Soros’ arguments - but only to a point. I remember vividly the stigmatization I encountered of the low income people I represented on a Scottish municipality in the late 1960s; the physical and mental ghettoes into which they were driven by bureaucratic systems; the skills and drive which many had but which found little outlet; and how well they responded when they were treated with some respect and were able to access resources to develop services. And I know from that 20 years experience in the west of Scotland that targeted multi-million euros programmes are not in themselves enough to deal with deep-rooted discrimination. Mainstream services need to be adjusted.
However, living as I have been for some years in Romania, I find it difficult to accept his statement that the majority of Roma share the aspirations of the majority populations. Romania has had several famous gypsy intellectuals (eg violinist and conductor Voica) and has its Roma MPs who are as reputable as the next MP! But there is no denying that they are a group which has its own norms which conflict with non-Roma and which make integration very difficult – not least since integration is not a mission many share. Upper crust William Blacker lived and worked recently with gypsies (his and their term) in a fairly integrated Romanian village, defended them successfully on several occasions in court against false accusations and bore a child with a gypsy who is now being raised as a gypsy lad. But even he admits in his book that his gypsy friends were unable to do the necessary planning to ensure they had enough food for the winter months (when they would resort to stealing). And it seems fairly clear that those who went to France did so to take advantage of the system and its riches there in an underhand manner. There is a regrettable strand of liberal thinking which seems to want everyone to suspend moral judgement for groups they have decided are sinned against.
Romania has opened up places for Roma in its educational systems (including police training) – but its people have every right to complain about the harassment they suffer from the aggressive begging which is a quasi-business. Millions of euros have been spent over the past decade by the EU in both Bulgaria and Romania on projects aimed at integrating gypsies into the labour market and society generally. Soros has also developed programmes with similar aims. Where are the results? Where are the assessments?
This is a very complex situation – and it is not enough to say the issue is simply one of poverty and inequality. Those who purport to represent Roma on NGOs have difficulties reaching out to the majority of the Roma population – and, until Roma groups show the same level of organization and commitment which other stigmatized groups have shown over past decades, there will be no real progress.
Gillard 09:52 11 Sep 10
La tartufferie de George Soros Aujourd'hui, les Roms figurent en tête du classement des groupes ethniques les plus frappés d'expulsions massives. Dénonçant cette « forme de discrimination inédite en Europe depuis la Seconde Guerre mondiale » qui conduit notamment l'Italie et la France à les expulser, George Soros fait mine de les défendre dans le texte qu'il a fait paraître le jeudi 26 août dans La Libre Belgique sous le titre : « La détresse des Roms ». http://www.lalibre.be/debats/opinions/article/604937/la-detresse-des-roms.html Le célèbre milliardaire philanthrope n'appelle cependant ni à l'arrêt ni à la suspension des expulsions de Roms non français par la France. Au contraire, à ses yeux, « le gouvernement français a (...) raison de demander que des mesures soient adoptées pour que les Roms puissent trouver des emplois et des opportunités dans leurs pays d'origine (…), ce qui limiterait les incitations à se rendre dans d'autres pays. » Pire, minimisant sa dénonciation de départ, Soros prétend tout à coup que « c'est parce qu'ils sont confrontés à une discrimination et à des privations scandaleuses chez eux [que les Roms] continuent de migrer un peu partout en Europe. » Si l'existence d'une forte émigration de personnes d'origine bulgare ou roumaine (roms ou pas) en âge de travailler correspond bien à la réalité, elle s'explique avant tout par des conditions de vie toujours très difficiles pour la majorité de la population de ces pays. En outre, la différence que ne fait pas George Soros entre des discriminations qui aboutissent à des expulsions, d'une part, et à un phénomène migratoire, de l'autre, n'échappera pas au lecteur. Enfin, si George Soros déplore à raison qu'« aucune proposition n'est faite pour répondre aux racines du problème », pourquoi n'explique-t-il pas que seule la réduction des écarts qui séparent encore en matière de protection sociale les Européens entre eux et, en particulier, ceux de l'Europe des Quinze de ceux des nouveaux États-membres pourra renforcer « la cohésion des sociétés à travers l'Europe » qu'il appelle visiblement de ses vœux ? Au fond, à quoi peut bien servir sa fondation qu'il vante, si elle ne s'attaque pas à cette réduction ? Patrick Gillard
wizardOfOz 10:06 25 Aug 10
About the creation of jobs in their home coutries that should keep the Rroma from migrating. In Romania, at least before the crisis, there was great demand for unqualified workers in constructions (among others) as many of the people that used to do this kind of job left for Western Europe. Nobody returned from abroad to take these jobs because they were earning more doing similar jobs in the west and even by being unemploied in those coutries. What I'm trying to say is that pin point sollutions like creating jobs will have limited success as long as the discrepancies in living standards between west and east remain so high.