STP and 45 Bosnian Roma organizations send an appeal to the Federal Council

On Tuesday, the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) and 45 Roma organizations from Bosnia and Herzegovina sent an appeal to the members of the Federal Council, demanding that Bosnian Roma should be exempted from the planned tightening of the asylum-policy. "The surviving victims of the genocide in Bosnia (1992 to 1995) must not generally be denied asylum in Germany. They are seriously discriminated against in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Many Roma families are starving and are threatened in their existence," says the appeal. "The decision that Bosnia is to be seen as a safe country of origin for Roma is an invitation for the Bosnian parliamentarians and authorities not to feel responsible for the welfare of these people. This is the wrong message!"

During the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina (1992 – 1995), the Bosnian Roma were among the first victims of the Serbian aggression. Their settlements on the outskirts of the cities were destroyed completely. More than 70 percent of the Roma were expelled. Those who stayed became victims of mass executions, mass rape and deportation. In 1995, the Dayton Agreement marked the end of the war – but substantiated the results of genocide, including the recognition of the occupied Serbian Republika Srpska.

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, divided by "ethnic cleansing" and genocide crimes, there are now about 80,000 Roma who are not officially recognized as a minority group – and other smaller minorities who are also discriminated against by legal provisions. According to the current electoral law, neither Roma nor Jews are allowed to run in the presidential elections or to join the House of People's – although such laws are against the European Human Rights Convention. Despite the promises of the Bosnian government and the "Roma Decade" (2005-2015, funded by the EU and the World Bank) to improve the situation of this minority group, the corresponding measures for improvement exist only on paper.

"We, the Bosnian Roma organizations, cannot support the emigration of members of our ethnic group", the organizations addressed the members of the "Bundesrat". "Together with the STP, we would like to appeal to the institutions of the German Federal Government to remember the persecution and extermination of Sinti and Roma under the Nazi regime – and to allow for fair asylum procedures in Germany today, to ensure that every individual case will be checked thoroughly before people are sent into distress and to an unsafe future."

In case of further questions, please contact Tilman Zülch, Secretary General of the STP, (+49 551 49906 24, politik@gfbv.de) or Bajro Beganovic in Sarajevo as a representative of the 45 Bosnian Roma organizations, (Tel.: +387 33213707).

Signatories

• Union Roma - BiH, Lukavac bei Tuzla


• Union "Better Future" – Sarajevo


• Union "Kali Sara" - Roma Information Center – Sarajevo


• Union "Bosnian Roma" – Sarajevo


• Union "Be my friend" – Sarajevo


• Ralf Fücks, Heinrich Böll Stiftung


• Center for support, information and cooperation – Kakanj


• EUR "Romalen" – Kakanj


• "Roma Youth Union - ROMAS" – Sarajevo


• "Union of the Roma women" - Zavidovici


• Union "Bahtale Roma" - Zavidovici


• Union "Independent Roma Organisation" – Kakanj


• Union "Roma Youth Initiative" – Kakanj


• Union "Roma Youth Initiative - Be my friend" – Visoko


• Union "Path of the Roma" – Vitez


• Union "Roma and Friends" – Ilijaš


• Union "Bahtale Roma" – Turbe


• Union "Welcome Roma" – Kakanj


• Union "Prosperity of the Roma" – Sarajevo


• Union "Romano Centro" – Zenica


• Center for support, information and cooperation in Tuzla


• Union "Sa e Roma" – Tuzla


• “Union of the Roma returnees" – Tuzla


• "Union of the Roma from Gracanica" – Gracanica


• "Union of the Roma women - Better future" – Tuzla


• Union "Bahtalo ilo" - Banovici


• Union "Roma's European way" – Tuzla


• Union "Happy Roma" – Tuzla


• Union "Rom" – Živinice


• Union "Romi" – Kalesija


• Union "Dželem-Dželem" – Tuzla


• Union "New Roma Hope" – Lukavac


• Union "Roma dream" – Tuzla


• Union "Euro Rom" – Tuzla


• Union "Poljice" - Poljice (Lukavac)


• Union "Roma brothers" - Skocic, Tuzla


• "Society of the Roma of Republike Srpske" – Gradiška


• "Union of the Roma from Gradiška" – Gradiška


• "Union of the Roma from the county Prnjavor" – Prnjavor


• "Union of the Roma from Republika Srpska" – Bijeljina


• Union "Roma from Modrica" - Modrica


• Union "Roma dream" - Brcko


• Union "Veseli Brijeg" - Banja Luka


• Union "Veseli Romi" – Prijedor


• Union "Neretva" – Mostar


• Union "Rom" – Bihac

Header Photo: Peretz Partensky/Wikimedia