A Life on the Margins of Society

Roma are poorly accepted and barely integrated. They live on the margins of society and know practically nothing about their rights. The insufficient educational possibilities only make their condition worse.

The Origin of Roma
Roma is a generic denomination for a range of population groups, originally from India, who are ethnically related to one another. Beginning in the 14th century, several waves of migration brought them via the Middle East to North Africa and Europe as well as, in more modern times, to America and Australia. Although Roma are present as an ethno-cultural minority on all continents, the vast majority of Roma live in the countries of South-Eastern Europe. During the reign of socialism in these countries, a series of individual opportunities for personal qualification and social advancement became available for Roma.

The wars in the western Balkans led to ethnically more homogeneous states in which Roma became even more marginalized. New nationalistic movements triggered civil-warlike conflicts and repressions, thereby leading to a decisive worsening of the living conditions for Roma in South-Eastern Europe. Between five to seven million Roma live in Central and South-Eastern Europe.

The Situation of Roma today
For the above-mentioned reasons, Roma often have no access to official documents, are unable to assert their claims to house and land, and are not recognized as citizens of their respective countries. There is a lack of access to jobs, medical care, and educational opportunities. The low school-enrollment rate of Roma children makes it difficult for them to subsequently integrate the job market and generates serious long-run problems such as the transformation of entire Roma city-quarters into slums, rampant criminality, and migration.