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No child left behind in the European Union?: the position of Romani children
Abstract
This paper analyses how different EU documents (communications, recommendations, reports and surveys, etc.) focusing on Roma frame the position of Romani children. Many studies have shown that because of their intersectional positioning, Romani children often face multiple discrimination and triple exclusion: on the basis of their ethnicity, their age and their socio-economic status. The paper comments on selected findings on Roma in the Second European Union Minorities and Discrimination Survey published by the Fundamental Rights Agency in late 2016. One of the main findings of this Survey was that 80% of Roma live below the country-specific risk of poverty line in all EU Member States in which the Survey has been conducted. By specifically examining the implication this finding has for the position of Romani children, I argue that their position is, in fact, produced and reproduced with systemic, but also everyday racism. When it comes to Roma, but specifically Romani children, not even the European Union (EU), based on principles of fundamental human rights, is immune to such phenomena.
... There is considerable research evidence that Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children are overrepresented in child welfare services (CWS) in Europe when compared with the general population (Mayall, 1995;McVeigh, 1997;Okely, 1997;Power, 2004;Powell, 2011). Whilst this research adds to a general concern about disproportional levels of deprivation, structural discrimination and institutional racism (Sardeli c, 2017), limited data quality and the conflation of ethnicity and nationality in official CWS datasets means that the statistical evidence needed to substantiate these claims is not always accessible (European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, 2020). ...
... As child welfare inequalities across Europe are increasing (Bennett et al., 2020), Gypsy, Roma and Traveller households are also at higher risk of deprivation (Burchardt et al., 2018), raising concerns about socially just outcomes. If they are overrepresented in CWS because of structural factors, over which most families have little or no control, it is important that action is taken to dismantle the barriers that make the lives of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller families harder (Sardeli c, 2017). ...
Over the last five decades, there has been a growing concern that Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children are overrepresented in child welfare services (CWS) in Europe. However, statistical data used to substantiate this concern often conflates ethnicity and nationality limiting our full understanding of the reported concern. This article provides a more comprehensive illustration of overrepresentation, advancing the quantitative study of this topic in England. Using a per capita division by population method, data obtained from the Department of Education were tested for disparity ratios across four key indicators. The analyses found that the recorded number of ‘Gypsy/Roma’ and ‘Travellers of Irish Heritage’ in CWS in England has been growing at a disproportionate rate since 2011–2012 to now demonstrate overrepresentation. The findings go beyond the concerns that have been raised to highlight a more specific need for remedial and restorative action. Implications are discussed for strategic responses to drive up data quality and further explore the details of the disparities that are found.
... The majority of the Roma are poor, highly marginalised and frequently live in extreme conditions at the edges of urban areas (Kostouli & Mitakidou, 2009). Sardelić (2017) cites recent data coming from the Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) in 2016, according to which 80% of Roma live below the country specific poverty line (Greece is included in the nine EU Member States in which the survey was conducted together with Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Spain, Croatia, Hungary, Portugal, Romania and Slovakia). The Roma in Greece are often treated in a pejorative way by non-Roma in their daily lives (Chatzisavvidis, 2007). ...
... The schools where the aforementioned ZEP operate for the school year 2017-2018 are named by the Ministry of Education, Research and Religious Affairs (Ministerial Decision 118066/Δ1/2017-ΦΕΚ 2639/2017/Β/ 28.07.2017. 15 Additional support is also provided to students who need extra academic help. ...
This article highlights the research potential of the European Union Minorities and Discrimination Survey (EU-MIDIS), which the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights had conducted twice across Europe by 2021. It begins with an overview of the EU-MIDIS project before concentrating on the second survey (EU-MIDIS II) conducted in 2015 and 2016 (N=25,500), the database of which is available in open access. The paper focuses on the main findings of the EU-MIDIS II in Spain, where the sample was composed of migrants from North Africa and people of Roma ethnicity (N=1,563). The main findings of the survey provide helpful insights into a form of victimisation that is usually absent in official criminal statistics, yet the Spanish EU-MIDIS II database is a mine of information waiting to be exploited. This article proposes a series of analyses that could be performed, including logistic and ordinal regression, as well as mediation modelling, which could identify the variables that influence minorities’ discrimination and victimisation. Finally, the strengths and weaknesses of the EU-MIDIS project are discussed.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to identify the successful strategies, through literature review, to be used in Kosovo to help integrate the Roma community and to reduce the community’s overall social exclusion. This paper further examines the gaps between strategies and implementation results in reducing the social exclusion of the Roma through experiences of other European countries with similar political and socio-economic history as Kosovo.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper uses a literature review and further examines the experiences of other European countries, with similar political and socio-economic history as Kosovo and their strategies in eliminating the social exclusion for Roma communities. A holistic socio-ecological approach is used as a recommended model to be used for the development of a strategy to reduce social exclusion among Roma Communities in Kosovo.
Findings
The social and economic implications are extremely negative for countries with large Roma minorities, such as Western Balkan countries and the European Union (EU) as a whole. Roma inclusion policies both in the EU and Western Balkans contain considerable flaws and tend to ignore the variables of discrimination and antigypsyism. There is an obvious need to act more urgently to prevent the exclusion of Roma and to create strategies for better inclusion. Overall, gaps seem to remain between the strategies and implementation results.
Practical implications
This paper aims to add to the existing literature about the ongoing efforts of the international development assistance community and communities in the developing world. This paper also aims to show the gaps in ongoing efforts and provide generic recommendations that may be applicable in many diverse situations with the aim of leading communities toward a self-sufficient sustainable future.
Originality/value
The Kosovo anti-discrimination law protects all individuals from discrimination; however, in practice, studies show that the Roma exclusion is very high in Kosovo. This paper stands among the first to analyze comparative literature and policy reviews.
The association between body height and educational outcome, as measured by years of completed schooling, was investigated among Roma women in Serbia in 2014–2018. Height, demographic data, level of schooling and reproductive histories were collected from 691 Roma women aged between 16 and 80 years living in rural settlements in central and western Serbia. Multinomial logistic regression analysis showed that short stature was associated with an increased risk of low education, possibly as a result of poor growth and developmental disadvantage in early life. Roma cultural practices were also shown to influence the school achievement of these Roma girls: in addition to height, education was positively associated with a higher bride price and better socioeconomic status, as acquired through marriage. For Roma women, height might influence not only their level of education but also their lifetime prospects.
This is a combined file of the Recent Publications column from the Newsletter of the Gypsy Lore Society (May 2017, August 2017, November 2017, February 2018). It is covering the current publications in the field of Romani studies from the year 2017. The publications list contains: 15 special issues of journals, 19 books, 57 chapters from volumes, and 244 journal articles. Bibliographical details and links to the online sources are included.
This paper discusses the position of Romani minorities in the light of the state dissolution and further citizenship regime transformations after the disintegration of the former Socialist Yugoslavia. While observing closely the repositioning of the Romani minorities in the post-Yugoslav space, it explicates that in the case of state dissolution, the unevenness of citizenship does not only manifest in the rights dimension, but also in uneven access to citizenship with regard to new polities.
Since the accession of the A8 post-communist countries to the European Union, various EU institutions have regularly expressed deep concern about the precarious political, social and economic position of the Roma. This article examines the recent political reinterpretations that accompany the EU's framing of the Roma as a group in need of special attention. It argues that EU institutions will have to find ways to deal with the ambivalence inherent in their ‘European’ appeals for tackling the problems at hand. These calls may indeed—as, for example, the European Commission insists—enhance cooperation between different levels of government and persuade member-states to adopt new policies that will benefit Romani citizens. But, somewhat paradoxically, they also provide new discursive material for nationalist politicians with an anti-Romani agenda who try to minimise or evade their countries’ domestic responsibility by highlighting the role and responsibility of the EU. They also latch onto the alleged ‘Europeanness’ of the Roma in order to exclude them symbolically from their own national space and frame them not only as ‘Europeans’ but also as ‘outsiders’ and ‘cultural deviants’.
This article explores various analytical issues involved in conceptualizing the interrelationships of gender, class, race and ethnicity and other social divisions. It compares the debate on these issues that took place in Britain in the 1980s and around the 2001 UN World Conference Against Racism. It examines issues such as the relative helpfulness of additive or mutually constitutive models of intersectional social divisions; the different analytical levels at which social divisions need to be studied, their ontological base and their relations to each other. The final section of the article attempts critically to assess a specific intersectional methodological approach for engaging in aid and human rights work in the South.
This research examines how the internal social dynamics of Roma communities at home shape their propensity to migrate. It is theoretically grounded in the literature on social capital and focuses on two core concepts: ‘migration-rich’ and ‘migration-poor’ communities. The research is based on in-depth interviews and informal discussions with Roma from six (mainly rural) communities of Transylvania (Romania) and includes qualitative data gathered from migrants as well as from people who did not migrate. The findings challenge existing conceptualizations of Roma migration as either explained by poverty alone or by cultural arguments (such as nomadism). This paper indicates that even in the context of severe poverty, social networks are actually decisive for migration. It demonstrates that the patterns of migration tend to be community-specific and shaped by a locally shared culture (ethos) on migration. The research suggests policy choices according to the community profile and its internal dynamics.
This article investigates a least likely case of non-governmental organization (NGO) influence on an intergovernmental organization (IGO). Specifically, it explores the puzzle of how the Roma (Gypsies)—a relatively poor, marginalized and unmobilized minority group—suddenly gained international attention and policy responses by the European Union. Based on field research and document analysis, this article connects the national, international and transnational to explain the role of NGOs, IGOs and the Roma themselves in bringing attention to the situation of the Roma in Central and Eastern Europe. The author finds that a small transnational advocacy network played a critical role, and provides both normative and practical explanations for the EU's response.
This paper will discuss the decision of the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights in DH and Others v. Czech Republic1 which found that the practice of sending Roma pupils to special schools in order to provide remedial education undermined the human rights to education and non-discrimination contrary to the European Convention on Human Rights.The case highlights the degree of exclusion that Roma children face in the Czech Republic, yet this entrenched inequality is not unique to the region or to the context of education. The decision also clarifies the interpretation of indirect discrimination under Article 14 of the Convention. The EU Equal Treatment Directive2 has paved the way for an enlightened approach to the question of indirect discrimination and in particular shifts the burden of proof to the respondent once a prime facie case is established. The Grand Chamber's decision supports this approach and endorses the use of verifiable statistics in order to demonstrate prime facie discrimination. It also enables a broader enquiry into the societal context behind the facts.
This book offers a timely exploration of the nature and scale of the emergent EU human rights regime by critically examining how and why EU intervention in human rights matters (with a key focus on child protection in Romania) as part of Eastern enlargement, has had feedback effects on the EU’s own institutional and policy structures. By drawing on the human rights conditionality (particularly in relation to children’s rights) as applied to Romania, this book demonstrates that the feedback effects regarding children’s rights have transformed the EU institutions’ role and scope in this policy area both in EU internal and external human rights dimensions. The process-tracing dimension illustrates why policy issues emerge on EU political agenda, which is in line with agenda-setting processes, and why they persist over time, which reflects historical institutionalist accounts. It is also shown that Eastern enlargement has raised the profile of Roma protection, international adoptions, the disabled and mental health at the EU level. The impact of these developments has been further reinforced by the constitutional and legal provisions included in the Lisbon Treaty. It is argued that Eastern enlargement along with the post-Lisbon constitutional changes have generated the emergence of a more robust and well-defined EU human rights regime in terms of its constitutional, legal and institutional clout.
This article discusses the position and agency of Romani migrants. It argues that different states often irregularize the status of Romani migrants even in cases where it should be regularized due to their de jure citizenship. This irregularization is possible because of their position as semi-citizens in their ‘states of origin’. Yet, Romani migrants are not mere passive observers of these practices, but react to their irregularized migrant statuses. In doing so, they redefine their national and European citizenships. This article centres around two case studies to analyse the position and agency of Romani migrants The first is Roma with European Union (EU) citizenship and the second is post-Yugoslav Roma without EU citizenship.
The borders of Europe do not only operate at territorial limits. This article argues for those identified as Roma, UK immigration control has shifted from gate-keeping at the territorial border to gate-keeping access to services through child welfare. Three factors have interrelated to foreground boundary-making in home encounters: European Union expansion, development of a post-welfare state and governmentalisation of vulnerable children. First this article examines how these three processes converge to activate the border through assessments of mothering in the home. Due to mothers’ particular migrant status, they are confronted with a choice between loss of motherhood or movement from the national territory. Second it illustrates how mothers engage in strategies of self-representation to negotiate bordering processes, requiring intensive work with a variety of actors. These actors are themselves located within racialised and gendered hierarchies. This article illustrates through ethnographic vignettes how the home is recast as a site of negotiating access to state forms where judgements of ‘good motherhood’ produce bordering effects. This represents a governing logic applied both to mothers and frontline workers resulting in stratified reproduction based on hierarchies of values.
Normalität ist unter Psychologen und Soziologen ein reichlich unsicherer Begriff. Bestimmte erkennbare und erleidbare Arten der Abnormalität hat der amerikanische Soziologe Erving Goffman unter dem allgemeinen Begriff des Stigmas zusammengefasst. Er schließt Körper-, Geistes- und Charakterdefekte gleichermaßen ein. Träger eines Stigmas leben ein schweres Leben: sie werden abgelehnt, verbreiten Unbehagen, lösen Beklemmung aus bei den Gesunden, gefährden deren eigenes zerbrechliches Normal-Ich, so weit der Defekt für jeden erkennbar ist. Andere, mit geheimerem Stigma belastet, müssen verleugnen, täuschen, spielen, um weiterhin als normal zu gelten; sie leben in Angst vor Entdeckung und Isolierung. Einsam sind beide. Goffman beschreibt die Techniken des Kontakts von Stigmatisierten: sie brauchen oft komplizierte Strategien, um das nicht zu verlieren, wovon Menschen als soziale Wesen leben: von Akzeptierung, Anerkennung und Sympathie. Stigmatisierte haben zwei Identitäten: die der Normalen, mit der sie identifiziert bleiben, ohne sie zu erfüllen, und ihre reale, defekte, die hinter ihrem Ich-Ideal so schmählich zurückbleibt. Dies auszuhalten und zu ertragen, ist die Grundleistung eines jeden Gezeichneten. Und weil die Toleranz der Normalen so verschwindend gering ist, haben die Kranken, nach Goffman, die Last der Anpassung zu tragen. Sie müssen, um die Normalen zu schonen, spielerische Leichtigkeit entwickeln im Umgang mit sich selbst, damit die Normalen nicht von Depression und Mitleid verschlungen werden. Das Stigma darf nicht als Last erscheinen, es muss verborgen werden hinter Würde und Selbstachtung, damit die Akzeptierungsbereitschaft der Normalen nicht überstrapaziert wird.
This book critically examines how and why Eastern enlargement has impacted on EU human rights policy. By drawing on the EU’s intervention in human rights provision in Romania before 2007, it is demonstrated that the feedback effects of this intervention have led to the emergence of an EU child rights policy. Eastern enlargement has also raised the profile of Roma protection, international adoptions and mental health at the EU level. The impact of these developments has been further reinforced by the constitutional and legal provisions included in the Lisbon Treaty. It is argued that Eastern enlargement has led to the emergence of a more robust and well-defined EU human rights regime in terms of its scope and institutional clout. This book makes a substantial contribution to the scholarship on EU enlargement, Europeanisation and EU human rights policy by providing empirical evidence for the emergence and persistence of EU institutional and policy structures upholding human rights.
After Slovakia joined the European Union in 2004, some of the East Slovakian Roma were among the first migrants to choose the labour migration path to the UK. This article explores connections between the various forms of mobility of these Slovakian Roma. It focuses on their attempts to engage in existential mobility—which condition their physical movement to the place of destination—and on their hopes for upward socio-economic mobility. The paper shows how the successful returning migrants have established new hierarchies and contributed to the crystallising of an imaginary of ‘England as a great splendour’. It examines the idiom of ‘going up’, and argues for seeing the Roma's recent migration as a potential means by which to carve out a sense of a viable life and of autonomy amidst the oppressive circumstances and the asymmetrical relations they have with non-Roma dominant groups and non-related Roma. The article also explores the unequally distributed possibilities and inequalities that migrants encounter on their journeys towards realising their hopes and dreams in migration. Finally, consideration is given to the embeddedness of recent migration in the Roma's daily modes of interaction, sociability of constant movement and reciprocal relations within kin and friendship networks.
The Roma have been referred to as a ‘European Minority,’ reflecting both their nature as a truly transnational minority and their importance for the process of European integration in Eastern Europe. Research generally argues that the European accession process, which has greatly influenced the development of politics in the region, has had a very direct effect on the states' policies towards this disadvantaged minority. This paper proposes to investigate the link between European Union (EU) accession and minority policy by comparing the situation of the Roma in Hungary, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, and Romania. The paper uses survey data to compare the differences that exist between the situation of the Roma and members of the majority groups along several socio-economic indicators in these four countries. Our findings add to a body of literature that finds limited support for the role of EU accession in influencing Roma policy in Eastern Europe. The EU accession process seems to have narrowed the gap between Roma and the majority in several areas, while not achieving the expected result in a few others.
This article reflects on the politics of European Union citizenship – and the ethical possibilities and limitations of a cosmopolitan or ‘normative power’ EU – via an analysis of the situation of the Roma in France, which was widely mediatized in summer 2010. It argues in a first step that during this period the French government ‘securitized’ the Roma, ‘extra‐ordinarily’ casting them as collective threat and thereby justifying their deportation. The European Commission's outspoken response demanded that the French authorities refrain from discriminating against EU citizens on grounds of ethnicity; in so doing, the EU seemed to act as protector of minorities in accordance with its raison d'être as liberal peace project. However, in a second step, the article draws attention to the deportations perpetrated before these high‐profile events, highlighting that conditionality within the law pertaining to EU citizenship allowed for the securitization of Roma. Thus, in a third step, it is argued that the invocation of citizenship may be a useful but limited strategy of political resistance by and with excluded groups such as Europe's Roma. Rather, it is the inherently ambiguous nature of a multi‐level EU liberal or cosmopolitan government – and concomitant EU citizenship – which opens an important space for resistance.
This article examines recent patterns of Romani westward migrations, challenging the notion of a ‘tidal wave’ of Roma migrants entering western Europe. The first part distinguishes migration from nomadism, rejecting the common proposition that Roma are inherently nomadic, and goes on to distinguish the particularities of Romani migrations compared to westward migrations of other groups. The article then looks at the causes of Romani migrations before analysing the special difficulties facing Romani migrants, particularly asylum seekers, in the countries which they migrate to. The response of western governments to Romani migrants, in particular attempts at curbing Romani immigration, is examined in detail. The article further outlines the impact of Romani westward migrations on the development of Romani non‐governmental organisations in both the East and the West.
This article considers how the discourse of EU institutions on ‘Gypsies’ and ‘Roma’ has developed over time and how political space was and continues to be opened up in the process. It reveals that the evolution of that discourse contains a radical break. A dividing line separates a debate, now largely marginalised, on the situation of ‘Gypsies’ in Western Europe held in the European Community in the 1970s and 1980s from a high-profile discussion of the situation of ‘Roma’ in Eastern Europe carried out in the course of EU Enlargement. It shows how this divide allows for the inscription of ethnicity as a category relevant to ‘Eastern Europe’ while avoiding this with regard to the ‘Western’ part of the continent. In substantiating these claims, the article reveals how two different interpretative patterns have consecutively channelled the discourse of EC/EU institutions.
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