By Sarah Savoy
Imagine being constantly under the threat of eviction, never having a true home. Never having a true home, even though your house was made with a tarp. Without a home, your children cannot enroll in school because they lack an address. But, even if they are able to enroll, the constant threat of eviction your family faces strips your child of the consistency of being in the same school district for a long stretch of time, so they do not learn much of anything. Imagine not understanding the language of the country you live in and being unable to access medical services because of it. Imagine being unable to have a career because you will never understand enough of their language or obtain enough of an education to leave the cycle of poverty. This is a country that is relentlessly trying to expunge you. This is a country that will never understand you. This is a country that you will never call home. This is the life of the Roma.
The Roma have been a nomadic people for centuries. Originating in Northern India, they have traveled all throughout Europe and the Middle East in search of a home (Simpson, 2013). Many live in “shantytowns”, in cars on the outskirts of cities, or in woodlands (de Bourmont, 2017). Once their camp or car is either evicted or confiscated by the government, however, their homes are gone. They must move on to another city, another outskirt, another attempt at a home. The BBC’s Henry Astier reported one Rom man had suffered eviction 1,000 times. While many Roma live throughout the European Union, it is “estimate[d] that there are approximately 400,000 Roma living in France (0.21% of the population)” (“Roma Integration in France”, 2017). The Roma are not only a minority group living without government support, but also among the poorest people in Europe (“Roma Health in the European Region”, 2018). The men who live in the camps make money by rifling through people’s garbage. “In a good week they make 50 euros – more than they would earn in Romania” (Astier, 2014). In order to address their lack of housing, “some French municipalities have created villages d’insertion –integration villages – for… their Roma residents”, but these villages have deepened the stereotype of the Roma slum and worsened the discrimination against the Roma (Manson, 2017). The major concerns human rights agencies have about the Roma is their health, housing, employment, and education.
The health of the Roma is restricted by the language barrier. Many Roma do not understand French because numerous are uneducated, and many French do not understand the Romani language due to the multiple dialects (Simpson, 2013). If one were to require medical attention and could not speak French, he would need someone who did speak French to go to the hospital with him or risk being turned away due to his inability to effectively communicate or, an even worse fate, risk being exported to Romania (Manson, 2017). These unfortunately are realities the Roma face every day that cause their health to suffer. France is a country of universal healthcare, but its inhabitants are not receiving basic medical treatment. Why? The Roma have always been seen as “racially inferior” and suffered persecution (Simpson, 2013). Local politicians perpetuate the idea of the Roma being racially inferior in their rhetoric about the village d’insertion, calling them “unhealthy slums”. Furthermore, the government requires a “selection process… involving [a] “screening” [of] potential residents to assess their ability to integrate” before they can move out of the villages des insertions and integrate into the city, thereby adding unnecessary stress to the lives of the Roma (Manson, 2017). The Roma are without power, especially when it applies to their own health.
The French government has a commitment to educate “all children between the ages of 6 and 16”, whether or not they are French-born. This commitment, however, is not being held. One researcher found that students who indicated their addresses as a “community centre, not… a personal address” were expunged from the school system. In addition, many parents will not send their children to school because they do not know how long they will be living in their shantytown (Bollack, 2017). The lack of education the Roma are receiving will continue to perpetuate the poverty the Roma face. Without education, future generations of Roma children will not learn how to read and write, will be unable to obtain a good job, and will not learn proper health practices. The worsening health and lack of education the Roma face breeds an endless cycle of poverty that will not change until they are no longer persecuted and discriminated against.
Some Roma children living in France are not being enrolled in school for many reasons, including schools refusing enrollment and parents fearing eviction. Video below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhAzwgYzQcI
References
Astier, Henri. “France’s Unwanted Roma.” BBC News, BBC, 13 Feb. 2014, http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-25419423.
Bollack, Eloïse. “Roma Children Denied the Right to Education in France.” Equal Times, Equal Times, 31 Oct. 2017, http://www.equaltimes.org/roma-children-denied-the-right-to#.WpIk60ylk_U.
de Bourmont, Martin. “For Roma in France, Education Is an Elusive Path to Integration.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 9 Feb. 2017, http://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/09/world/europe/for-roma-in-france-education-is-an-elusive- path-to-integration.html.
Kostyukov, Dmitry. “A Roma Family at a Camp near Noisy-Le-Grand, Outside Paris. While There Is Consensus That Public Education Could Help Integrate a Roma Population That Has Long Faced Systematic Discrimination, the Obstacles Remain Formidable.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 9 Feb. 2017, http://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/09/world/europe/for-roma-in-france-education-is-an-elusive- path-to-integration.html.
Manson, Daniel. “Securing a Right to Health: ‘Integration Villages’ and Medical Citizenship of Roma People in France.” Health and Human Rights Journal, 4 Dec. 2017, http://www.hhrjournal.org/2017/12/securing-a-right-to-health-integration-villages-and-medical- citizenship-of-roma-people-in-france/.
“Roma health in the European Region.” WHO/Europe, World Health Organization, 25 Feb. 2018, http://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics/health-determinants/roma-health/roma-health- in-the-european-region.
“Roma Integration in France.” European Commission, European Union, 14 Dec. 2017, ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/justice-and-fundamental-rights/discrimination/roma-and- eu/roma-integration-eu-country/roma-integration-france_en.
Simpson, David. “The Roma: A Thousand Years of Discrimination Continues, Advocates Say.” CNN, Cable News Network, 25 Oct. 2013, http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/21/world/europe/roma-discrimination/index.html.
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