Historical Overview of Discrimination Against the Roma People

1. Discrimination of the Roma People

2. Discrimination of the Roma People • Arrival in Europe (1300’s on) curiosity soon followed by hostility • Ethnic cleansing, • Abduction of children • Forced labour • Hangings & expulsions • Branding & shaving of heads • Severing of ears of women

3. Forced Assimilation • Habsburg under Maria Theresia (1740-1780) - series of decrees to try and force Roma to settle permanently • 1754 - removed right to own horse & wagon

4. Forced Assimilation • 1761 - renamed Roma “New Citizens” & forced boys without a trade into military • 1767 forced to register with local authorities • 1773  prohibited marriage between Roma people • Josef II (successor) prohibited wearing of traditional Romani clothing & use of Roma language (punished by flogging)

5. Forced Assimilation • Spain 1619 Roma forced to settle permanently • Use of Roma language prohibited • Women & men sent to different work houses & children to orphanages • 1783 similar prohibitions (nomadic lifestyle, Calo language, clothing, trade in horses and other itinerant trades, use of word gitano forbibben • Measures failed  rest of pop. Rejected integration of Roma

6. Forced Assimilation • Norway 1896 law passed permitting the state to remove children from parents and place them in state institutions • 1,500 Romani children being taken from parents in 1900’s • France 2010 – France evicts Roma • Eviction

7. Slavery • Enslaved for 5 centuries in Wallachia and Moldavia until 1856 (abolished)

8. Slavery • Roma people arrived in Wallachia and Moldavia (now Romania)2nd half of 14th century • “Gypsies shall be born slaves; anyone born of a slave mother shall also become a slave…” – code of of Wallachia at the beginning of the 19th century

9. Slavery • Owned by the Prince (as “slaves of the state” – tigania domneasca, monasteries & private individuals • Owners had unlimited rights over slaves (sell, buy and give away whole families)

10. Slavery • 1646  Romanian book of education  a bought slave required to help his master • A slave who was guilty of anything had to undergo “reasonable” punishment administered with the “cane or the whip: • Slave owners could do whatever they like (except for killing them)

11. Slavery • Slaves could marry  only if master(s) agreed • Early 19th century – Moldavian Civil Code designed to guarantee master’s rights over slaves • No legitimate relationship between free men and slaves • Slave’s master decided on “most suitable” time and person for slaves (married young = many children ⇧wealth of master

12. Slavery • Cold of Wallachia - gypsies born only slaves (born of slave mother also a slave) • Master has no rights over slave’s life (only selling or giving away) • Gypsies without a master shall be slaves of the prince • Marriage is recognized • Separation declared when a marriage takes place between a free man and slave without master’s knowledge

13. Slavery • Middle 18th century – abolitionist movement began • After slavery abolished  integration into social and economic life in Romania difficult

14. WWII • Porajmos - German systematic genocide attempt of Romani • Marked for extermination & sentenced to forced labour • Killed on sight • Subject of experiments of Dr. Mengele • Estimated that 500,000 Roma people killed • WWII

15. Post WWII • Many assimilation schemes and restrictions to culture followed after war • Bulgaria language & music banned from public performances • Czechoslovakia labeled as socially degraded group & women were sterilized (state policy to Roma population)

16. 21st Century • Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia & Kosovo

17. 21st Century • Russia • Confined to low-class ghettos incapable of paying rent • Bulga ria ghetto • Refused jobs lack of education and bad working moral • Romani children placed into special schools for developmentally delays (higher proportion) • Czech Republic • High crime rate

18. 21st Century • High unemployment Low education, frequent job switching, low moral, low personal responsibility • Unemployed work illegally or crime & other forms of illegal activity • Czechoslovakia 1973 policy of sterilization of Romani women started • Slovakia

19. 21st Century • 2008 Italy declared Roma people represented a national security risk & that swift action was required to address “emergenza nomadi (gypsy emergency) • ~ 150,000 Roma declared target not only of special police measures, but also of increasingly brazen public hostility • Ro ma - changes

20. 21st Century • Policemen in uniform descended on Roma settlements to supervise a census in which fingerprints were taken • Census • In Naples three gypsy camps in the suburb of Ponticelli were burnt to the ground after an angry crowd had forced their frightened inhabitants to flee (escorted by the police) • Italy

21. 21st Century • February 2009 Rome declared new rules regulating life in the region's seven officially designated camps • camps are to be gated, under police supervision • residence is to be temporary, as a prelude to further "integration” (no information on where those who do not qualify are to go • Milan's mayor has announced similar rules, including camp gates to be locked at 10pm