CoE criticizes Albania for Roma people
27/02/2012 20:30
The Washington Agreement Must Be Reactivated! 06/01 19:04
The Roma people face full racism in today’s Europe. According to the
report published by the Council of Europe, the biggest and weakest community in Europe is more backward in education,
employment and the right for a decent residence and health care.
The average life expectancy for this population is lowered, while infant mortality rates have increased. The Human Rights Commissioner, Thomas Hammerberg, has studied their situation in 47 the Council of Europe member countries, and Albania is mentioned several times.
“In Albania, for example, the Roma people are rejected in schools for not being vaccinated, an issue that the authorities say that they have not completely resolved”, the report says.
“In Albania, almost 1/3rd of the Roma females do not receive education at all, compared to 19% of the males”, the report continues.
The document also notes that the Roma have been evicted by force from their shelters since 2008 in Albania, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungaria, Italy, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Macedonia and Turkey.
“Many Roma in Albania live with limited health services, without administrative existence . This problem damages thousands of people, especially in Albania, Bulgaria, Romania and the former Soviet Union countries”.
“OSCE reports that the Roma in Albania are often not registered as citizens, because they fail to apply to the Civil Registrar. According to the reports, the Roma community in Albania has been disproportionately deprived of their right to vote in 2009, due to the financial obstacles in identity card application and the voters’ registration measures ”, the document underlined.
The report emphasizes that the Council of Europe Ministers’ Committee recommended the Albanian government to undertake urgent measures for correcting the Roma civil registration, such as a simpler registration procedure, and for raising awareness about the importance of this registration.
The report sets a series of concrete steps that could be followed by governments, such as police training for preventing bad behavior, removing racism from schools and improving the education quality for the Roma.
Hammamberg has also recommended the creation of an European Commission for the historical facts about the massacres against the Roma people.
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