Europaworld 31/5/2002 Discrimination and Human Rights Abuses Force the Roma Minority to Flee Kosovo

Limited access to gainful employment, a severe housing shortage, and fear for their own safety are conditions pushing the Roma ("gypsy") minority out of Kosovo, according to American writer/activist Paul Polansky. Polansky, who has been in Kosovo advocating Roma rights since 1999, carried out research on their situation, which he deems terrible. "They leave once they can pay a smuggler to help them out," says Polansky, who is working to stem the exodus.

The aid that could help them is available in Kosovo, holds Polansky, but just not to the Roma minority. Racism and hatred is against them. There are several aid agencies operating in Kosovo, but with the resources often in the hands of the people who hate the Roma, they are ignored.

In the summer 2002, Polansky is launching a project he hopes will help the Roma in Kosovo to strengthen their voices and thus gain greater access to existing resources. In May 2002, he travelled to Prague, Czech Republic, to collect a group of five English teachers, which he is bringing to Kosovo to teach the Roma English.

The Roma have lived in Kosovo for approximately 700 years, and like throughout the rest of Europe, have always faced discrimination. Originally from the north-west region of India, it was the Croats who brought the Roma to Kosovo, where they were forced to work in coal mines. Over the years some have assimilated. Two-thirds of the Roma in Kosovo today are called Ashkaljie and no longer speak the Romany language. The remaining one-third are Roma, and continue to speak the language that still bears strong similarities to Hindi and Punjabi. The Roma also maintain a caste system of Hindu origination, but converted to Islam following the invasion of the Turks in the 1300's.

Prior to the armed conflict in the late 1990's, the Roma were living in relative peace, in predominantly Serb communities. However, when the fighting began between the Kosovar Albanians and Serbs, the Roma were collected and placed in Serb concentration camps. Primarily they were singled out for being Muslim and because most have Albanian surnames. According to Polansky, of the 150,000 Roma who lived in Kosovo prior to the war only 30,000 remained after.

The end of the war has not meant an end to grave violence against the Roma. Extremist Albanians, who claim that because the Roma had been loyal to the Serbs during the war, continue the ethnic cleansing. As a result, the Roma face a very real fear when leaving their small, segregated communities that they could be beaten or even murdered. In addition to Polansky's research, other fact finding missions (including the 1999 investigation made by the European Roma Rights Centre) to Kosovo have uncovered violations such as rape, torture, illegal detention and destruction of property on a large scale.

The destruction and looting of homes began during the war, but has continued even after the fighting settled. In 2001, Polansky surveyed communities where Roma had lived prior to 1999 and found that in one-third there was no longer a Roma presence. Most of the Roma houses, he says, were destroyed; of the19,500 Roma houses that stood before 1999, only 5,000 remained. Even with NATO Kosovo Peace Keeping Forces (KFOR) looking on, Albanians continued to destroy Roma houses. Pillaging the houses, extremist Albanians first took everything of value, and "after they had removed the roof tiles and the door frames, then they burned the houses down," says Polansky.

Less than 1% of the homes have been rebuilt, according to Polansky's research. Unable to return to their communities, many Roma have gone to live with relatives. The housing shortage, however, has pushed them into cramped living conditions, sharing homes with as many as 15-20 others. Polansky explains that international agencies are purposefully ignoring Roma demands to rebuild their homes, as well as considering their property claims.

Discrimination by ethnic Albanians has gone further than direct violence, but has seeped into the work of international aid agencies. Barred from any chance at direct communication with the organisations, the Roma have been cut of from access to basic aid. Polansky tells of several cases in the region where Albanian control of organisations has meant severe restrictions for the Roma. For example, he reported that in 2001 the Albanian director of the Mother Teresa Society, stationed in Lipjan, began to refuse any food aid to the Romany communities.

Even organisations without Albanian leadership have restricted the Roma's rights to benefit from their presence in the region. In addition to the aid they provide, the international organisations in Kosovo provide local people with an opportunity for employment, primarily as interpreters. Yet although there is legislation citing that organisations must employ minorities, few have done so. The UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) has one interpreter for every policeman, but employs no Roma. Polansky says that he confronted them with this problem, officials have simply told him that the Albanians would discriminate against minority employees.

Polansky deems the Swiss Cooperation Office in Pristina to be pioneers, by becoming the first international agency to turn its eyes to Kosovo's minorities. The Office has set aside approximately $5 million to fund projects intended specifically for minorities. Primarily aiming to improve the Roma's living conditions and keep them from migrating west, the Swiss are also interested in potentially repatriating the large community of minority Kosovars that has settled in Switzerland. The agency, however, realises that this would not be possible under the current conditions.

Under the banner of 'Voice of Roma,' - a US based organisation that has sponsored his recent work and research in Kosovo - Polansky has received SCO funding for his English teaching project. He will bring five teachers to live in five separate villages and teach approximately forty pre-selected students. They will live with families that Polansky, through good connections to the communities, has selected. The teachers' placement in the village is key according to Polansky, not only to increase contact to the language through daily, casual interaction but also to eliminate any fear the Roma might have of leaving their communities.

Polansky hopes that three months of intense learning will elevate the students' English skills to either gain employment directly with the aid agencies or strengthen their voices to communicate with the organisations. In 1999 Polansky himself taught English to two Roma, who then found jobs translating for USA KFOR and gained a wage to help support their families. All of this, he advocates, will help to improve the Roma's living conditions and help them stay in Kosovo.

Polansky is currently working to find funding to help the Roma reconstruct their homes and begin to rebuild their communities in Kosovo.

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Further information about Polansky's work and the Roma in Kosovo can be obtained through the following web links

www.scn.org/roma - Voice of Roma, the organisation that is currently sponsoring Paul Polansky's work in Kosovo. The organisation, in turn, is partially funded by the sale of Polansky's books of poetry. Voice of Roma is led by a Kosovo Roma who cannot return because of the conditions in Kosovo.
www.paulpolansky.nstemp.com - A link to Paul Polansky's poems and research.
teachkosovo.tripod.com - The official project recruiting web site, which tells more about the project and served potential candidates greater insight into the job of teaching English in Kosovo.
http://194.230.65.134/dezaweb2/home.asp - The Swiss Co-operation Office, which has provided the funding for the project.