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Viewing cable 06BUCHAREST1235, ROMANIA'S ROMA AT EUROPE'S DOOR

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
06BUCHAREST1235 2006-08-04 14:18 2011-08-25 00:00 UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Embassy Bucharest
VZCZCXRO0763
PP RUEHAST
DE RUEHBM #1235/01 2161418
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 041418Z AUG 06
FM AMEMBASSY BUCHAREST
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4916
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 BUCHAREST 001235 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE DEPT FOR EUR/NCE - SCOTT BRANDON 
 
E.O. 12958, AS AMENDED: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL SOCI RO
SUBJECT:  ROMANIA'S ROMA AT EUROPE'S DOOR 
 
REF: 05 BUCHAREST 1761, BUCHAREST 0841 
 
BUCHAREST 00001235  001.2 OF 004 
 
 
1. (SBU) Summary.  Persistent poverty among Romania's ethnic Roma 
population, numbering at roughly two million by some estimates, 
remains one of Romania's most prominent social problems, which will 
impact other parts of Europe more directly after Romania enters the 
EU in 2007.  Highly transient, groups of poor Romanian Roma have 
become a presence in many European capitals, a phenomenon that many 
Romanians believe has contributed to negative views of their country 
abroad.  At home, Romania's Roma face the greatest hardship of any 
minority, with poor access to government services, few employment 
opportunities, high rates of school attrition, inadequate health 
care, and pervasive discrimination.  Average Romanians typically 
blame the Roma themselves for their poor conditions, while the 
Government takes an often half-hearted approach towards trying to 
solve the problems confronting Roma.  Human Rights NGOs characterize 
the persistent cyclical poverty confronting Romania's Roma as an 
issue that has "barely been addressed" since the fall of communism. 
Although some initiatives have shown some positive results, an 
emerging group of Roma activists view many programs implemented thus 
far as replacing Roma culture with a deepening culture of 
dependence.  End Summary. 
 
 
2. (U) Romania is home to Europe's largest population of ethnic 
Roma, commonly called gypsies.  Although a 2005 official estimate 
put the Roma population at 730,000, reliable nongovernmental studies 
place the actual number at between 1.8 to 2.5 million, or 8 to 11 
percent of Romania's total population.  NGO analysts point out that 
government figures are inordinately low because many Roma will not 
reveal their ethnicity to census-takers or other authorities.  In 
addition, many Roma lack official identity cards or other forms of 
identification that would allow them to be tracked.  According to 
Roma NGOs, some local authorities also markedly underreport the 
number of Roma in their cities or counties in order to project a 
"cleaner image" for their communities. 
 
3. (U) According to Roma scholars, Romania's Roma population is also 
extremely diverse and can be divided into over two hundred clans 
associated with specific vocations or crafts and over 1,000 
family-based clans. These subunits range from highly traditional 
groups that earn middle and even high incomes from traditional 
vocations such as trading, metal processing, and recycling; to the 
Roma at the very bottom of the socioeconomic ladder who live on the 
margins, often from refuse found in garbage dumps or begging.  Many 
middle class Roma -- particularly in urban areas -- have fully 
integrated into broader society, sometimes at the sacrifice of their 
Roma identity. Uniting factors include informal use of dialects of 
the Romany language; strong family and clan traditions; the practice 
of traditional vocations; common physical traits and clothing 
choices; a concept of child rearing characterized as relaxed by 
outsiders; and a self-imposed separation from the rest of society 
that is reinforced by widespread discrimination. 
 
 
A Rich Community, But Not in Money... 
------------------------------------- 
4.  (U) As PolOffs were drafting this cable, a number of Roma and 
human rights activists with whom we spoke emphasized that we should 
not focus only on the problems confronting Roma.  They spoke of the 
rich history of Roma in the country, dating back 800 years or more. 
They noted the prominence of Roma artists and musicians.  They 
described the resilience of Roma communities that survived slavery 
in Romania through much of the 19th century; the Holocaust, during 
which some 11,000 Romanian Roma perished; and the excesses of a 
communist regime that sought to wipe out ethnic differences.  At the 
same time, many Roma activists have expressed frustration that 
conditions for many in the Roma community had not improved over the 
years, a situation that a small but growing number of activists 
blamed at least partially on Roma themselves for failing to seize 
the limited opportunities available to them or for resisting 
integration into broader society. 
 
5. (SBU) Nonetheless, virtually all Roma activists and experts agree 
that the common problem confronting Roma is pervasive poverty. 
According to the Bucharest office of the Open Society Institute 
(OSI), ethnic Roma in Romania are five times as likely as the 
majority population to live below the poverty line.  The OSI also 
estimates that approximately 60 percent of the Roma population live 
segregated from the majority population in communities with 
substandard housing without basic governmental services such as 
schools, adequate healthcare, running water, electricity, and waste 
disposal.  Bucharest OSI Executive Director Renate Weber told 
PolChief that being Roma does not automatically mean being poor. 
However, she noted that virtually all social indicators are by far 
worse for Roma than for the broader Romanian population.  This 
includes rates for infant mortality, illiteracy, malnutrition, 
alcoholism, criminality, and child abandonment.  NGOs have also 
observed a much higher prevalence of HIV in Roma communities. 
 
BUCHAREST 00001235  002.2 OF 004 
 
 
 
 
Unemployment and the Cycle of Poverty 
------------------------------------- 
6.  (SBU) Roma are also disproportionately unemployed or 
underemployed.  According to a study by the progressive 
Bucharest-based Roma NGO Impreuna ("Together"), 67 percent of 1,511 
Roma households surveyed have no employed member.  Impreuna 
Director, Gelu Duminica told Poloff nearly all of these "unemployed" 
households relied on government entitlement programs often in the 
form of subsidies for children and infants.  Duminica lamented that 
to some degree these entitlement programs have perpetuated a culture 
of dependence.  However, without them, he said many Roma families 
could be pushed even further to the margins, with potentially dire 
results.  He noted that many adults in these households continue to 
work on the gray economy, trading in markets or earning other 
unreported income.  He believed that the government had "totally 
failed" thus far to develop sufficient incentives for marginalized 
Roma adults to enter the formal economy and to gradually reduce 
their reliance on public funding. 
 
7. (SBU) One independent Roma activist asserted that a number of 
Roma had reacted to poverty in Romania not by seeking employment on 
the formal economy, but rather by illegally migrating to other parts 
of Europe where social entitlements are better or where it is easier 
to gain income on the gray economy or through other means such as 
begging. 
 
 
Roma Women: Tradition and Hardship 
---------------------------------- 
9. (U) Traditionally, the Roma family structure is strong and 
patriarchal.  Roma women also typically marry and begin producing 
children at an inordinately young age.  According to a UNDP survey, 
35 percent of Roma women marry before they reach 16 years of age. 
By the time they are 22 years old, 92 percent of Roma women are 
already married.  Child marriage is common, and the pressure to 
marry is strong.  Although norms vary by group and socioeconomic 
standing, post knows of one case where an unmarried 16 year-old Roma 
girl has gone into hiding in order to avoid being kidnapped by 
members of her clan who want to force her into an arranged marriage. 
 In 2003, the self-proclaimed King of the Gypsies near the 
Transylvania city of Sibiu invited international guests to the 
wedding of his daughter whom they subsequently learned was only 12 
years old.  Local authorities immediately separated the child 
couple.  The news of the wedding generated a new national debate 
over Roma child marriages, although the government took no new steps 
to try to end the phenomenon. 
 
10. (U) The rate of domestic violence is also extremely high among 
Roma households.  A 2004 study by Partnership for Equality Centre, a 
local non-governmental organization, determined that that 
approximately one in five Romanian women suffer violence from their 
husbands or partners. Although post found no reliable statistics 
specific to Roma, nearly all the NGO and Roma representatives with 
whom we spoke believed the rate in Roma households to be much 
higher, as a result prevailing attitudes in parts of the community 
that view domestic violence as "normal" and exacerbated among the 
high rate of alcoholism within the community. 
 
11. (U) Romanian Roma culture also strongly discourages women from 
working outside of the home, especially in the formal economy. 
According to an OSI report in 2006, only 26% of Roma women 
interviewed were part of the workforce as employees, day-laborers, 
or free-lancers.  Roma women were three times as likely to be 
unemployed as their male counterparts, who already have a high 
unemployment rate.  The average monthly income of Roma women 
surveyed was 31 euros.  Roma women often lack training, marketable 
skills, or relevant work experience.  NGOs asserted that the GOR 
sometimes uses "a lack of data" as an excuse for the lack of 
policies and programs targeted at Roma women.  These groups are 
calling for more data collection and analysis that provides a 
statistical breakdown by gender and ethnicity in order for the GOR 
to develop programs specifically for Roma women. 
 
12. (U) The high birthrate within Roma communities poses additional 
challenges for Roma women.  Producing children remains important in 
Roma culture, and many Roma women expect to have large families.  At 
the same time, many lack access to family planning services or 
contraception (and to health services in general), or are unwilling 
to seek such assistance due to pressure from husbands or partners 
and norms within their community.  Because of the high number of 
young dependents to take care of, in addition to the lack of skills 
and opportunities, many of these women never enter the job market. 
 
 
Roma Children:  Poverty Starts Early 
------------------------------------ 
13. (U) Few drivers in central Bucharest can stop at an intersection 
 
BUCHAREST 00001235  003.2 OF 004 
 
 
without being approached by a Roma child or young adult begging for 
pocket change.  These children have become the most prominent face 
of Roma for urban Romanians, and in many ways encapsulate the 
broader social problems confronting Romania's Roma.  Despite a 
popularly-held notion that Roma view their children "only as 
commodities," Roma NGOs report that many Roma parents lack a 
cultural appreciation for the value education for their children and 
erroneously view moderate child labor -- including begging -- as 
acceptable if not desirable as long as the child is not placed in 
extreme danger.  That said, the social indicators for Roma children 
remain poor, and few Roma remain in school beyond the primary 
level. 
 
14. (U) NGOs and the media report that pervasive discrimination by 
teachers and other students also serves as an additional 
disincentive for Roma children to complete their education.  Post 
has heard numerous reports of Roma children being placed in the back 
of classrooms due to their ethnicity, of teachers ignoring Roma 
students, and of unimpeded bullying of Roma students by other 
children.  In some communities, authorities have placed Roma in 
separate classrooms from other students and even in separate 
schools.  The Romanian National Anti-Discrimination Council has 
taken some steps to address these problems, although some activists 
describe measures thus far as largely ad hoc and in response to only 
isolated incidents. 
 
15.  (SBU) The high birthrate within Roma families coupled with a 
lack of employment, decent housing and basic services has also 
contributed to a much greater rate of child abandonment within the 
Roma community.  One Roma activist confided to Poloff during a May 
2006 OSCE Roma conference that this is an issue that has still not 
been sufficiently discussed, much less addressed, within the Roma 
community or by leading Roma NGOs.  The activist opined that there 
remains a sense that the issue of Roma child abandonment is "yet 
another" sensitive topic where Roma "embarrass" broader society and 
thereby generate further hostility toward Roma. 
 
 
Many Initiatives, Few Results 
----------------------------- 
16. (SBU) Since the mid-1990's, the Romanian government has 
undertaken numerous initiatives with the professed goal of reducing 
or eliminating the social and economic differences between Roma and 
other Romanians.  This was the period during which the government 
set up a special National Agency for Roma.  Romanian NGOs report, 
however, that these initiatives have produced few results, as the 
situation for a large majority of Roma has remained virtually 
unchanged, due to corruption, inefficient use of funds, and 
culturally inappropriate programs that encourage continued 
dependence on state institutions or programs.  Until recently, the 
National Agency for Roma remained severely under-funded, with staff 
who earned their positions primarily though political patronage 
rather than from expertise on the many problems confronting Roma. 
 
17. (U) The prospect for increased funding brought by the EU 
accession process raised hopes in some Roma communities.  However, 
some Roma NGOs have lamented that the GOR spent only 9 percent of EU 
PHARE funds in tackling unemployment for Roma minorities -- an 
insufficient amount given the scale of unemployment in Roma 
communities.  Although the GOR has increased job programs designed 
for Roma people since 2001, many programs came short of expectations 
and were not sustainable once funding ended.  Furthermore, one NGO 
underlined that many of programs' strategies "look good only on 
paper" but "none of the steps recommended would be completed."  A 
community-based income-generating brick factory initiative in Dej, 
for example, is proving difficult to sustain beyond its project 
period.  The factory will close soon if further external financing 
is not obtained to purchase the needed cement.  As expected, 
grass-root NGO efforts have achieved better results in enterprise 
development and community-based income-generating programs. 
 
 
What Works? Emerging Views for Roma Self-Sufficiency 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
19. (SBU) In the view of Gelu Duminica, and an emerging number of 
other young Roma activists, social inclusion, not employment 
programs, is the key to encouraging Roma to help themselves. 
Duminica opined that social exclusion can only be combated by 
"professional reinsertion programs" that focus on active measures 
supporting the Roma, not passive welfare measures.  Duminca lamented 
that most social support programs in Romania, however, focused 
mainly on keeping the unemployed in "a constant state of 
dependency."  Duminica also said that social support programs can be 
improved by developing measures which would "compel Roma to look for 
a job." 
 
20.  (SBU) Some Roma activists also view the increased participation 
of Roma in local and national administration as well as in political 
life as important.  Nicolae Gheorghe, OSCE Senior Advisor on Romani 
 
BUCHAREST 00001235  004.2 OF 004 
 
 
Issues, remarked during the May OSCE Roma conference that 16 years 
ago, he thought the impetus for change would come from international 
organizations.  Today, he believes that change has to be implemented 
by national governments.  He remarked, for example, that the overall 
question of Roma land ownership needs to be resolved, as many Roma 
lack titles to their property.  He said that neither individuals nor 
municipalities would be willing to invest in buildings or local 
infrastructure without a clear understanding of land ownership in 
Roma communities.  Roma Parliament member Nicolae Paun also noted 
that some 500,000 Romanian Roma still do not have national 
identification cards that would entitle them to state support.  He 
applauded the efforts by the Romanian government for Roma and its 
"ID-card caravans" that travel to various Roma communities and issue 
identification on the spot to anyone lacking one.  But he added that 
more -- much more -- must be done 
 
21. (SBU) Comment:  The pervasive and complex problems confronting 
Romania's Roma remain the subject of numerous conferences and 
countless academic and sociological studies, many which have been 
forwarded to post in thick envelopes.  Nonetheless, as many Roma 
experts and activists have pointed out -- and as we have observed -- 
the situation for a large number of Romanian Roma has not improved 
since 1989, and has even worsened for some groups.  The blame goes 
in many directions, including toward corrupt officials and a society 
that largely blames Roma themselves for their ills.  No doubt 
discrimination toward Roma is pervasive, with attitudes that some 
Roma groups have compared to those of the American South in the 
1950's and even Germany in the 1930's.  As Romania prepares to enter 
the EU in 2007, the problems confronting Romania's Roma will 
increasingly become Europe's problem. Romanian Roma have already 
crossed borders into EU countries and more will arrive, particularly 
if the Romanian government and the EU fail to improve the conditions 
for this sizeable population which has remained at the margins for 
so long.  End Comment. 
 
Taubman