Tuesday

19th Mar 2024

Opinion

Roma statelessness in Europe is not an accident

Ahead of the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights next year, the United Nations Human Rights Office is encouraging everyone to "stand up for human rights".

In Europe, we are good at spotlighting human rights abuses outside our borders, yet as we approach this year's Human Rights Day on 10 December, we should take a hard look at what is happening inside our borders and acknowledge that for many, these rights remain little more than words on a piece of paper.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

This remains tragically true for my community, the Roma living in Europe. Discriminated against for centuries, our situation has barely improved.

While I have the chance to practice my rights, many Roma are not as fortunate and many continue to be at significant risk of statelessness. This means that they are trapped without any documentation to prove their right to a nationality and therefore often without access to basic rights such as healthcare, housing or education.

At a meeting in the European Parliament on Wednesday (29 November), we, a cross-party group of MEPs, called on our governments and the European Commission to finally focus attention on the problem of statelessness among Roma and to discuss concrete steps to solve it.

This state of affairs has no place in 21st century Europe.

Agreed in December 1948, Article 15 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights affirms that: "Everyone has the right to a nationality".

Yet living without a nationality and rights is a harsh reality for thousands of Roma in Europe.

Not only do policymakers need to take steps to address this issue in the European Union, but it should also become a priority for the commission and the parliament during EU enlargement negotiations. These can be a powerful leverage to get things moving in the right direction.

Verbal discrimination

One of the challenges when discussing statelessness is that the term itself can unwittingly evoke an image of people who are in some way 'outsiders,' even when the people in question were born and have lived their whole lives in Europe.

Indeed, statelessness is often not an accident, but a logical outcome of discrimination.

MEPs from all parties have shown their support for this view and the need for change by voting to adopt a report that sets out the undeniable link between statelessness and anti-gypsyism: Fundamental rights aspects in Roma integration in the EU: fighting anti-gypsyism.

Statelessness is also a problem many believe Europe solved a long time ago, but, for example, Roma children born in Italy to parents who fled there during the Balkan wars still face the scourge of growing up stateless, even though their families have been living there for decades.

In Romania, around 15,000 Roma are estimated to lack birth certificates, which puts them at risk of statelessness and struggling to obtain identification documents and access basic services.

Accession talks

Outside the EU in the Western Balkans, new research has revealed that complex civil registration procedures hinder access to crucial documents and are a leading cause of statelessness among Roma.

This is something that needs to be addressed before countries are given the green light to join the EU. Indeed we need to make sure that Europe as a whole is working together to end statelessness.

Left stateless, people face numerous difficulties in their daily lives: they lack access to health care, education, employment opportunities, property rights and the ability to move freely across borders.

It may be impossible for them to do many of the things that most of us take for granted - marry, open a bank account or get a driving licence.

The children of stateless parents are left trapped in the same nightmare, which puts up barriers to having a regular childhood and often leads to lower educational achievement and life-long poverty.

Almost 70 years after the UN Declaration on Human Rights was signed, it is not a moment too soon to break this vicious cycle and ensure that Roma enjoy the same rights, hopes and dreams as all other European citizens.

Soraya Post is a Roma activist, MEP, and co-chair of the European Parliament anti-racism and diversity intergroup

Disclaimer

The views expressed in this opinion piece are the author's, not those of EUobserver.

EU's Roma policy struggles to produce results

Vera Jourova, the EU commissioner for justice, is seeking more "practical" solutions to address the issue of Roma integration as she begins to rework the policy and rethink its spending.

MEPs attack Facebook over anti-gypsy hate groups

Socialist deputies in the European Parliament have condemned Facebook, the popular social networking service, for hosting anti-gypsy groups, bearing such names as "Useful work for gypsies: testers of gas chambers," on its site.

Potential legal avenues to prosecute Navalny's killers

The UN could launch an independent international investigation into Navalny's killing, akin to investigation I conducted on Jamal Khashoggi's assassination, or on Navalny's Novichok poisoning, in my role as special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, writes the secretary-general of Amnesty International.

Latest News

  1. Borrell: 'Israel provoking famine', urges more aid access
  2. Europol: Israel-Gaza galvanising Jihadist recruitment in Europe
  3. EU to agree Israeli-settler blacklist, Borrell says
  4. EU ministers keen to use Russian profits for Ukraine ammo
  5. Call to change EIB defence spending rules hits scepticism
  6. Potential legal avenues to prosecute Navalny's killers
  7. EU summit, Gaza, Ukraine, reforms in focus this WEEK
  8. The present and future dystopia of political micro-targeting ads

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  2. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries
  3. European Citizen's InitiativeThe European Commission launches the ‘ImagineEU’ competition for secondary school students in the EU.
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  5. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  6. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us