Old and new for Roma in the Republic of Moldova
This article was produced in the framework of the "Unprejudiced" project with the support of the Eastern Partnership Programme and the German Federal Foreign Office in autumn 2022.
Author: Irina Radu
The Republic of Moldova is a multi-ethnic state. The Roma are one of the most disadvantaged minority groups in the country. The majority of Roma families live in poverty and lack access to basic services. However, non-governmental organisations and community mediators are helping to improve the way of life of the Roma.
According to a statement of the International Labour Organization, Roma are twice as likely to live in poverty as other ethnic groups. The report concluded that Roma in the Republic of Moldova experience high unemployment. Silviana Feraru, secretary general of the coalition „Vocea Romilor“ (Voice of Roma), says that the majority of Roma in rural areas register with the territorial structure only to obtain unemployment status and benefit from free health insurance and entitlement to social assistance. The coalition „Vocea Romilor“ is a national platform of 35 public Roma associations from the Republic of Moldova, which promotes the improvement of the lives of Roma through the implementation of public policies.
Few Roma mediators, but visible progress
„The official employees are the community mediators, namely Roma, who work in the local public administration – there are 48 such employees today. Many of the Roma who work officially do not recognise their ethnic identity because they think they can be discriminated against or dismissed“, says Feraru, herself a community mediator at Cărpineni Town Hall, Hîncești District. However, according to the updated report from 2021 on mapping densely populated Roma sites in the Republic of Moldova, there should be 82 active mediators in 63 localities.
According to the 2014 census, Roma make up 0.3 percent of the population of the Republic of Moldova and were estimated at 9.300 people. In 2021, over 27.000 Roma were registered, according to data from the updated report.
„Of 90 percent of Roma registered as unemployed, 90 percent had no qualifications“, a Labour Ministry official told Teleradio-Moldova in August 2022. Many Roma work unofficially as tinsmiths, blacksmiths, craftsmen, day labourers on construction sites and in trade.
Life in precariousness
According to a 2011 report on Roma rights by the National Roma Centre (Centrul Național al Romilor), Roma live in compact settlements on the outskirts of villages, often in non-standard conditions, or are scattered in villages and towns. The most numerous Roma populations were recorded in the cities of Otaci, Soroca, Edineț, Rîșcani and the village of Vulcănești. „In the compact Roma settlements there is greater poverty, while the scattered Roma are associated with the majority of citizens“, says Silviana Feraru.
„The Roma are concerned about survival. They do not have living conditions adapted to their needs. For example, in Roma households there is no area for preparing children's homework, no water or toilet. Roma women have no opportunities for personal or professional development, and most of them stay at home and take care of the household“, says the secretary general of the coalition „Vocea Romilor“.
Feraru believes that the economic situation in the Republic of Moldova is enormously affecting the improvement of the lives of the Roma. The energy crisis is leaving its mark on the lives of the majority of citizens, especially the poor Roma.
Increased migration trends
Many Roma leave the Republic of Moldova due to general poverty. This could also be triggered by the feeling of „non-belonging“ that has arisen among the Roma as a result of discriminatory discourse and practices. But NGOs and community mediators have a key role to play in creating a new „togetherness“.
Feraru believes that Roma migrate because they do not have a stable income in the Republic of Moldova. In 2021, 2.124 Roma migrants were registered. „Most of them go to Germany and seek political asylum. They stay for a while and come back in the country. Others earn their livelihoods as unskilled workers on construction sites, return, invest in their own property, and then emigrate again. The economic stability of the Roma would be lacking both abroad and in the Republic of Moldova, because they do not know how to deal with the accumulated income“, she explains. There is no training to develop entrepreneurship among Roma to curb migration, and the bigger problem seems to be illiteracy among adults.
Dialogue with the authorities, stereotypes and the concealment of ethnic identity
„If the mediator of the Roma community is more active and eager to change the situation, and the authorities are more open to the Roma community, the two groups work together“, says Silviana Feraru. Unfortunately, community mediators are not employed in all places where Roma live.
The coalition „Vocea Romilor“ is well connected and also cooperates with the authorities in Transnistria. The inequalities faced by Roma in the region, such as lack of access to education, jobs, housing and documents, characterize their situation. In order to improve the livelihood and visibility of the Roma there, measures have been taken to empower people to work as community mediators.
However, there are situations when the authorities of the Republic of Moldova act in a discriminatory manner towards the Roma. According to the 2012 study „Human rights of Roma and Travellers in Europe“ by the EU Commission on Human Rights, anti-Roma statements, such as incitement to hatred, discrimination, stereotypes or generalisations about crime, were also registered in the Republic of Moldova. Many Roma therefore refuse to acknowledge their origins for fear of rejection by the majority population. „There is no garden without its seeds. Especially in our case, we cannot say that all Roma are the same. There are Roma who know their rights and can defend themselves in different situations“, says Silviana Feraru from „Vocea Romilor“.
Roma from the Republic of Moldova and Roma refugees from Ukraine
Roma from Ukraine rushed to the open border of the Republic of Moldova and entered the country even without papers, according to an article from March 2022 by the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC). The Republic of Moldova has taken in more than 420.000 refugees from Ukraine – the largest influx of refugees in terms of the per capita number of any host country – according to a report by the UN Human Rights Council in the country.
However, Ukrainian Roma refugees in the Republic of Moldova face hostile and discriminatory attitudes from other Ukrainians, Moldovan citizens and authorities. „I believe that there is negligence on the part of the Ukrainian state towards the Roma. Many Roma have no legal documents. There is also a large number of early marriages. The situation of the Roma in the Republic of Moldova is better“, says the Secretary General of the coalition „Vocea Romilor“.
Moldovan authorities sheltered most Roma refugees separately from others fleeing the war in Ukraine, as Human Rights Watch (HRW) stated. According to an article of ERRC, many of the Roma were turned back at the borders with other countries because they did not have the right documents. As a result, they were stuck in the reception centres in the Republic of Moldova, where they faced poor living conditions and lack of food.
Human Rights Watch revealed that since mid-March 2022, almost all Roma refugees have been housed in an abandoned building of the Faculty of International Relations, Political Science and Public Administration (FRISPA), as well as in the Manej sports arena.
According to the report of HRW, the city authorities refused to accept many Roma families from Ukraine at MoldExpo in Chișinău – the country's largest refugee reception centre. In some cases, refusals would have been justified with pretexts such as lack of space or missing documents.
The European Union's decision on March 4th to activate the Temporary Protection Mechanism aims to facilitate entry into the EU for all refugees from Ukraine. This mechanism allows border guards to relax controls even if there is a lack of travel documents. In March, ERRC stated that this relaxation would not have applied in the case of stateless Roma refugees from the border with the Republic of Moldova.
However, improvements have been made in assisting Ukrainian Roma refugees in the Republic of Moldova with regard to accommodation and treatment at the border with EU countries. „The NGOs of the Roma communities in the Republic of Moldova have been accompanying Roma refugees since the beginning of the war. We were involved in providing shelter, food and other necessities according to our possibilities. Without the involvement of mediators and Roma NGOs, the situation of refugees would have remained unstable. Now the Roma refugees are being supported, they are being accommodated in centres, and the entry into the EU was made easier for many of them. Everything happened through cooperation with the local and central authorities“, says Feraru.
Measures to better support Roma
The Secretariat of the „Vocea Romilor“ coalition has been involved in the drafting of the Action Plan for the Support of the Roma Population since 2016. From 2020, it worked with the central Moldovan authorities to develop the Roma Population Support Programme for the years 2022-2025. This document was approved by the Government at the beginning of August 2022. According to the portal of the Government of the Republic of Moldova, the Roma Population Support Programme for the years 2022-2025 provides for a series of measures to facilitate the access of the Roma in the field of work, including in the public sector. It also promotes the initiation of vocational training programmes and the development of entrepreneurship among the Roma population. The Programme also aims to facilitate access to education, health and other public services without discrimination and to promote the active participation of Roma in the public and social life of the country. „As knowledge of the number of Roma plays an important role in improving their situation, we have also called for action to involve community mediators in the census process. This has also been included in the new Roma Population Support Programme for the years 2022-2025“, says Feraru.
The Agency for Interethnic Relations of the Republic of Moldova stressed that the Roma Population Support Programme, along with the Programme for the Implementation of the Strategy for the Consolidation of Interethnic Relations for the period 2022-2025 are part of Chapter 9 of the Action Plan for the implementation of the measures proposed by the European Commission in its statement regarding the request for the accession of the Republic of Moldova to the European Union.
