Kakav je položaj Roma u pogledu pristupa zdravstvu, a posebno u području mentalnog zdravlja?

Glavno pitanje u smislu pristupa zdravstvu za Rome je uvjet uobičajenog boravka, koji zahtijeva od vas da dokažete neku vrstu veze s Irskom. Za Rome se to pokazalo teškim, prije svega u osiguravanju dokumentacije, a drugo u smislu poznavanja jezika. Mnogi Romi isključeni su iz sustava socijalne zaštite zbog svoje nemogućnosti da ispune uvjet uobičajenog boravka, iako je većina iz zemalja EU -a i stoga imaju pravo živjeti ovdje i imati socijalnu zaštitu. Ako niste u sustavu socijalne zaštite, ne možete imati zdravstvenu iskaznicu. Govorili smo da ove uvjete treba ukloniti iz humanitarnih razloga. Potrebno je ciljano djelovanje u smislu omogućavanja Romima da ispune te uvjete, ili ako ih ne mogu ispuniti, samo ih zaobići s obzirom na humanitarne probleme.

U romskim zajednicama također nedostaju informacije o tome kako se prijaviti za dobivanje liječničke iskaznice, nepoznavanje jezika i općeniti nedostatak podrške. Ako ste Rom i idete na zavod za zapošljavanje, prema vama bi se mogli odnositi sumnjičavo. Postoji mnogo negativnih stereotipa. Smatraju vas propalicom ili prevarantom, a pokušaj kretanja kroz cijeli sustav je težak.

Sastavili smo plan nazvan Nacionalni zdravstveni akcijski plan za Putnike, koji se objavljuje. Cilj mu je stvoriti strukture u kojima Putnici mogu biti uključeni u planiranje i pružanje usluga. To se temelji na holističkom pristupu za procjenu svih faktora osim čisto medicinskih, uključujući društvene odrednice. Kao i kod smještaja, ovdje često nalazite nedostatak političke volje za napredovanje u ovim pitanjima. Ponekad se državni službenici mogu usprotiviti promjenama, čak i kad bi ministar podržao djelovanje i upotrijebio svoju moć protiv provedbe. Ponekad kultura među državnim službenicima često nije tako progresivna kao kultura političara.

 

Kakva je javna percepcija Roma i Putnika u Irskoj?

Bilo je ponašanja i stava o kojima su provedene ankete, a osjećaji protiv Putnika općenito su vrlo snažni. Istraživanje iz 2010. godine pokazalo je da 20% ispitanika smatra da Putnicima ne treba omogućiti državljanstvo, a 60-70% ne želi živjeti pored Putnika. Nedavno je na WhatsApp-u kružila rasistička poruka protiv Putnika, pa sam se ja žalio policiji, jer bi to moglo biti kršenje Zakona o poticanju mržnje, a policajac mi je rekao: ''Oh da, to smo već imali, moja kolegica je to dobila na svojoj Whatsapp nogometnoj grupi.''

 

Policajci su se ponašali kao da je to nešto sasvim normalno?

Da! Pa se pitam, ‘’Kako je moguće da nitko u grupi nije pomislio da to nije u redu ili nije razmišljao to prijaviti?“ Ubrzo je poruka bila posvuda; čak su je i ljudi na mom poslu primili u svojoj grupi WhatsApp. Budući da je bio na WhatsApp-u i bio 'šifriran', nismo mogli identificirati odakle potječe.

Čini se paradoksalnim da se često toliko govori o obrazovanju Putnika i Roma, ali rijetko o obrazovanju onih u javnim ustanovama kao što je policija da identificiraju ovakve stvari.

Da. Dakle, jedna od stvari za koje smo se zalagali je obuka o borbi protiv rasizma za državne službenike, policiju, zdravstvene službe, učitelje i sve one koji su na poziciji moći i čija djela mogu imati izravan utjecaj na živote Roma i Putnika. Nadam se da će na kraju svijest postati norma; samo će trebati vremena.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What is the situation regarding access to health, and in particular mental health, for Roma?

The main issue in terms of access to health for Roma is the habitual residence condition, which requires you to prove some kind of link with Ireland. This has proven difficult for Roma first of all in providing documentation and secondly in terms of language. Many Roma are being excluded from the social protection system because of their inability to fulfil the habitual residence condition, even though most are from EU countries and therefore have a right to live here and have social protection. If you are not in the social protection system, you cannot have a medical card. We have been saying that these requirements should be done away with on humanitarian grounds. There needs to be targeted action in terms of facilitating Roma to fulfil those conditions, or if they cannot fulfil it just bypass it given humanitarian concerns.

There is also lack of information in Roma communities on how to apply for medical cards, language issues, and generally lack of support. If you are a Roma person and go into the unemployment office, you might be treated with suspicion.  There is a lot of negative stereotyping.  You are looked upon as a scrounger or a fraud, and trying to navigate this whole system is difficult.

We have put a plan together called the National Traveller Health Action Plan, due for publication. It aims to create structures where Travellers can be involved in the design and delivery of services. This is based on a holistic approach to assess all factors besides the purely medical ones, including social determinants.  Same as with accommodation, here you often find a lack of political will to progress these issues.  Sometimes civil servants might oppose pushing changes forward, even when a Minister might be supportive of action, and use their power against implementation. Sometimes the culture among civil servants is often not as progressive as that of politicians.

How is public perception of Roma and Travellers in Ireland?

There have been behaviour and attitude surveys done, and anti-Traveller sentiments are very high in general. A 2010 survey showed that 20% of those surveyed did not think Travellers should be allowed citizenship, and 60-70% did not want to live beside Travellers. Recently there was a racist message against Travellers circulating on WhatsApp and I went down to make a complaint to the Garda  station as this could fall under the Incitement to Hatred Act, and the guard told me: ‘’Oh yes we had that already, my colleague here got it on her WhatsApp football group.’’

They were acting as if this was something completely normal…

Yes! So I wonder, ‘’how is it possible that nobody in the group thought this was not okay or considered reporting it? Soon the message was everywhere; even people in my job had received it in their WhatsApp group. Because it was on WhatsApp and it is encrypted we could not identify where it had originated.

It seems paradoxical that there is often so much talk on education for Roma and Travellers but rarely about educating those in public institutions such as police to identify things like these.

Yes, so one of the things we have been advocating for is anti-racism training for civil servants, police, health services, teachers and anybody who is in a position of power and whose actions can have a direct impact on Roma and Travellers’ lives. I hope that eventually awareness will become the norm; it is just going to take time.