International Romani Day (April 8, 2016)

On occasion of the International Romani Day (April 8), the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) criticizes the federal government’s policy toward Roma refugees from Kosovo who have been living in Germany for many years.” We are shocked and outraged about how the members of this ethnic group are deported – and their children, who were born and raised here, are deprived of their future,” said the STP’s Secretary General, Tilman Zülch, in Göttingen on Friday. “What have we come to? How can our politicians refuse to take responsibility for children who live here, but whose parents came from Kosovo?” The human rights advocate criticized that the current deportations are reminiscent of the inhumane treatment of German Sinti and Roma before 1979, when they often suffered unjustified police actions.

According to Zülch, a quota solution would be the only possibility to break the vicious circle in which the Roma refugees are trapped. Further, he demanded: “It must be clear that if Roma families who have been living here for nearly two decades are forced out of the country, they will inevitably have to live in misery. In Kosovo, returnees suffer from severe discrimination, making it impossible for them to build up a new life.” The Roma are thus forced to seek refuge once more, to try and return to Western Europe again. “Germany’s policy in this matter should not aim to push people into hopelessness, forcing them into illegality.”

The STP urgently called on the federal government to stop deporting Romani families that have been living in Germany for many years and to grant them a right to stay. With the help of teachers, social workers, clergy, parishes, refugee councils and human rights advocates, children and adolescents who were born or raised in Germany are now well integrated. Many people have shown commitment and worked hard for them.

During and after the war in Kosovo (1998-1999), nationalist Albanians expelled more than 100,000 members of the Roma minority before the eyes of the German Bundeswehr, which was part of the NATO security force KFOR. Back then, 70 of 75 of their villages and neighborhoods were looted and destroyed. Today, the Roma are denied access to the labor market, and only a few of their destroyed homes have been rebuilt. In case of illness, Roma people are hardly able to find medical help – and the children are teased and ostracized in schools. In Germany, there are still about 4,400 Roma refugees from Kosovo. They are threatened with deportation although they have been living here for many years. At least two thirds of them are children. According to various estimates, there are about 38,000 Roma, Ashkali and Balkan Egyptians living in Kosovo today. Up to 8,000 of them belong to the Romani. Before the war, the minority groups counted about 150,000 members. 

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