Roma crisis in Slovakia
London, 26. 2. 2004,
17:21 (Ustiben)
Withdrawal of riot police from Roma
districts and release of those arrested are among calming measures
requested today (26 Feb) in a petition to the Slovak Ambassador in London
from the Trans-European Roma Federation. A demonstration is to be held
outside the Embassy at 12 noon on Tuesday (2 March) in support of Roma
protests throughout eastern Slovakia in the past week. There have been 70
arrests and many injuries, including that of a Romani girl hospitalized in
Trebisov.
Thousands of police and troops have been
drafted in to quell food riots and mass rallies in at least half a dozen
towns. Slovak President Rudolf Schuster says benefit cuts were badly timed
and could lead to wider disturbances.
Members of TERF are holding an emergency meeting on Saturday to discuss
the situation. Chairman Ladislav Balaz says he believes the present
government has got its policies wrong.
"High unemployment and a big cut in
welfare benefits are at the root of the trouble," Ladislav comments.
"Roma are now desperate because with price rises they can't buy
enough food."
Protest action in Slovakia was initiated
by the recently-formed Roma Parliament. Ladislav Fizik, its president, has
called for an investigation into the use of EU and other funds made
available to alleviate poverty among the country's 500,000 Roma.
For l3 years aid programmes have
apparently failed to bring more than marginal benefit to those for whom
they were designed. Unemployment has increased and educational and housing
needs remain unmet. Ironically, Slovakia has reduced welfare payments to
meet EU requirments prior to joining on 1 May. On Monday, UK Home
Secretary David Blunkett announced new rules to prevent newly-arriving
Slovak Roma from receiving benefits in Britain. "Roma are caught in a
poverty trap", commented Balaz. "We have to find a way out."
Rudko Kawczynski, head of the Roma
National Congress, has appealed to Romano Prodi to take steps to ensure
fairer treatment of Roma. He has told the president of the European
Commission that Slovakia has for years ignored discrimination against Roma,
who represent 10% of the Slovak population. Before leaving on a fact-finding
mission to Slovakia today, Kawczynski said he expected a large exodus of
Roma as soon as the country joined the European Union.
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