Vijesti ROMI.HR

Svake godine Ujedinjeni narodi obilježavaju Dan nulte toleracije diskriminacije 1. ožujka. 27. veljače u 2014. godine, izvršni direktor UNAIDS-a, Michel Sidibé je tim povodom prvi put organizirao veliku manifestaciju u Pekingu.

U veljači 2017. godine, UNAIDS je motivirao ljude da javno govore protiv diskriminacije prema osobama koje žive s HIV-om/AIDS-om. UN aktivno promovira Dan nulte toleracije diskriminacije kako bi pokazao da svatko ima pravo na dostojanstven život, bez obzira na dob, spol, nacionalnost, etnički pripadnost, seksualnost, boju kože, vjeru itd. Puno zemalja ima zakon protiv diskriminacije, ali to je i dalje problem u velikom broju društava širom svijeta.

Dan nulte toleracije diskriminacije ima svoju simboliku. Glavni simbol ovog dana je leptir. Ljudi ga koriste kada dijele s drugima svoje priče, kako bi zaustavili diskriminaciju i nastavili raditi na pozitivnoj promjeni.

Željela bih govoriti o diskriminaciji nacionalnih manjina u Ukrajini, posebno Roma. Ukrajina je moja domovina, tako da sam dosta upoznata s tamošnjom situacijom.

Procjenjuje se da trenutno u Ukrajini živi oko 500.000 Roma. Većina Roma živi u Odesi i Potkarpatskoj Ukrajini. Prema Ministarstvu unutarnjih poslova Ukrajine, u zemlji postoji oko 3.100 romskih naselja.

Većina Ukrajinaca, koji još uvijek u velikom broju imaju predrasude prema Romima, misle kako su Romi dileri droga, prosjaci i lopovi. Među Romima ima puno glazbenika, umjetnika i političara u lokalnim vlastima. Iako u lokalnim samoupravama širom svijeta ima puno uspješnih romskih umjetnika, političara i glazbenika koji dokazuju suprotno od takvih predrasuda i primitivnih obrazaca, Romi su i dalje diskriminirani u Ukrajini.

Na primjer, postoji određeni broj škola u koje idu samo romska djeca. U tom školama su uvjeti puno lošiji. Obično u Ukrajini roditelji plaćaju održavanje škola i komunalne usluge. To djeci još više otežava školovanje u normalnim uvjetima, jer u većini slučajeva romski roditelji nemaju dovoljno novca za to. Takve se škole obično nalaze nedaleko od romskih naselja, a djeca drugih nacionalnosti tamo ne idu. Oni Romski roditelji koji imaju dovoljno novca upisuju djecu u škole u kojima uče djeca različitih etničkih grupa.

Drugi je problem što postoje škole koje ne žele prihvatiti romsku djecu. Branitelj ljudskih prava i predstavnik romske zajednice u Odesi, Sergey Ermoškin, rekao je: "Oni (škole) ne odbijaju izravno, ali kažu da su im svi razredi puni i da romska djeca moraju 'čekati u red’. Ili kažu da djeca trebaju raditi puno liječničkih pretraga, koji su zapravo nepotrebni."

Što se tiče poslova, Romi su obično zaposleni na slabo plaćenim poslovima niskog standarda, kao što su domari, sakupljači metala i boca, nosači itd. Nekoliko okolnosti dovodi do toga. Prvi razlog trenutnih loših životnih standarda Roma je taj što imaju nedostatak obrazovanja, što može biti praćeno nedostatkom pravnog statusa. Prema riječima čelnika Koalicije romskih nevladinih organizacija, Volodimira Kondura, 45 tisuća Roma živi u Ukrajini bez rodnih listova ili drugih potrebnih dokumenata. Činjenica da većina Roma nije registrirana u Ukrajini predstavlja veću prepreku na putu pravilnog obrazovanja, pronalaženja dobrog posla i dobrih uvjeta u životu.

Među najstrašnijim oblicima diskriminacije prema Romima u Ukrajini su nasilni napadi na privremene kampove u kojima Romi žive. Jedan takav napad se dogodio 20. travnja 2018., dan na koji pripadnici ekstremne desnice obilježavaju Hitlerov rođendan. Neonacistička skupina koja sebe naziva “C14“ napala je romski kamp u Kijevu, koristili su raspršivače plina i spalili cijeli kamp. U naselju su u tom trenutku bili romske žena i djeca. Nitko nije ubijen, ali romske obitelji su morali pobjeći i na kraju su postali beskućnici. Nakon napada neonacistički radikali nisu dobili nikakvu kaznu, a zatim su napali još jedno romsko naselje u Kijevu. Novi i posebno tragični slučaj se dogodio na okolici Lavova kada je, Davida Poppa, 24-godišnjeg Roma, noževim ubila grupa mladića.

OHCHR je objavio Izvještaj o situaciji s ljudskim pravima u Ukrajini u kojem se navodi da je bilo napada na romske zajednice tijekom kojih je "policija bila fizički agresivna, kako je tukući ljude, oštećujući i uništavajući privatno vlasništvo, i ponižavajući Rome".

U Ukrajini, još uvijek postoji ogroman broj Roma koji žive u siromaštvu. To je posebno vidljivo u Potkarpatskoj Ukrajini, koja se nalazi 800 km jugozapadno od glavnog grada, gdje stanovnici većine romskih naselja govore mađarski. Dakle, Romi u tom dijelu Ukrajine suočavaju se s dvostrukom diskriminacijom - zbog etničke pripadnosti i nisu u mogućnosti komunicirati na ukrajinskom.

„Ako odete u romsku zajednicu i pitate: ‘Suočavate li se s diskriminacijom u svom svakodnevnom životu?’, neće moći ni odgovoriti, jer to više ne vide. Toliko su navikli na to." - Zola Kondur, Koalicija romskih nevladinih organizacija

Netolerancija je nametnuta društvu na dubokoj razini. Nema puno ljudi koji o tome govore i pokreću ovu temu. Diskriminacija se nikada ne smije prihvatiti ni u jednom društvu. Ukrajinska vlada mora provesti pažljivo pripremljene strategije kako bi postigla uključivanje i održivi razvoj Roma u društvu.

Zero Discrimination Day is one of the ways to underline that no matter who we are and where we are from, everyone is equal and everyone has a right to live life with content without facing discriminating factors. This day promotes inclusion, peace, and a movement for change.

Zero Discrimination Day is annually celebrated by the UN on March 1. It was celebrated in 2014 for the first time and launched by UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé on 27 February with a major event in Beijing.

In February 2017, UNAIDS motivated people to speak up against discrimination towards people living with HIV/AIDS. The UN actively promotes Zero Discrimination Day in order to show that everyone is entitled to live with dignity regardless of age, gender, nationality, ethnicity, sexuality, skin color, beliefs, etc. There are many countries that have laws against discrimination, but it is still a problem in society in most places of the world.

Zero Discrimination Day has its own symbolism. The main symbol of this day is a butterfly. People use it when they share their stories in order to end discrimination and continue working on positive transformation.

I would like to speak about the discrimination of national minorities in Ukraine, Roma people in particular. Ukraine is my home country, so I am quite familiar with the situation there.

It is estimated that nowadays around 500,000 Roma live in Ukraine. The majority live in Odesa and Transcarpathian regions. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, there are about 3,100 settlements of Roma in the country.

There are many Ukrainians who still apply common stereotypes towards Roma, saying that Roma are drug dealers, beggars, and thieves. Although there are many successful artists, politicians, and musicians in local governments around the world who have Roma origins that prove the opposite of such prejudices and primitive patterns, Roma are still being discriminated against in Ukraine.

For example, there are a number of schools which only Roma children go to. The conditions there are much worse. Because usually in Ukraine parents pay for the school repair works and utilities. This makes it even more difficult for children to study in normal conditions as in most cases Roma parents do not have enough money for that. Such schools are usually located not far from Roma settlements and children of other ethnicities do not go there. Those Roma parents who have enough money take their children to schools where children of different ethnicities study.

Another problem comes when schools do not want to accept Roma children. „They (schools) do not refuse Roma directly, rather they say that all the classes are full and Roma children have to line up. Or they say that children need to do a lot of medical checks, which are actually unnecessary“ -  said Sergey Ermoshkin, human rights defender and representative of the Odessa Roma community.

Talking about the jobs, Roma people usually occupy low-paid low-standard jobs such as janitor, collector of metal and bottles, loader, etc. There are few reasons leading to that. The first reason for Roma people’s current bad life standards is that they have a lack of education, which can be followed by their lack of legal status. According to the head of the Coalition of Roma Non-Governmental Organizations Volodymyr Kondur, 45 thousand Roma in Ukraine live without birth certificates or other necessary documents. The fact that the majority of Roma are not registered in Ukraine poses a greater obstacle in the way of proper education, finding a good job, and having good conditions in life.

One of the most horrible acts of discrimination towards Roma in Ukraine are violent assaults on temporary Roma camps. The recent one happened on April 20, 2018, on the day on which far-right members celebrated the birthday of Hitler. The neo-Nazi group calling themselves C14 attacked the Roma camp in Kyiv, they used gas sprays and burned out the entire camp. In the settlement, there were mostly Roma children and women. No one was killed, but Roma had to run away and as a result, became homeless. After the attack, the neo-Nazi radicals did not get any punishment and they attacked another Roma camp in Kyiv. A new and very tragic case happened on the outskirts of Lviv when David Popp, 24-year-old Roma, was stabbed to death by knife-wielding youths.

OHCHR published the Report on the human rights situation in Ukraine saying that there were raids on Roma communities during which “police were physically aggressive; beating people, damaging or destroying private possessions, and treating the Roma in a humiliating manner.” (haven’t found the example)

There are many Roma people who are already integrated into society. However, In Ukraine, there is still a huge number of Roma who lives in poverty. It is especially noticeable in the Transcarpathia region, 800 km south-west of the capital, where the inhabitants of most Roma settlements speak Hungarian. Roma in that part of Ukraine faces double discrimination – based on ethnicity and on Hungarian language identity.

“If you go to Roma community and ask: ‘Do you face discrimination in your everyday life?’ they will not even be able to answer because they do not see it anymore. They are so used to it.” – Zola Kondur, Coalition of Roma NGOs

Intolerance has been imposed in the mind of society on a deep level. There are not many people who talk about it and raise this topic. Discrimination must never be accepted in any society. The Ukrainian government must implement carefully prepared strategies in order to reach inclusion and the sustainable development of Roma within the society.