Presentation of the position of Roma in Slovenia with special view to the selected

area of Bela krajina (Slovenia) Mojca Frankovič

Partner v projektu Nosilec projekta

REDUPRE CONCLUDING EXPERT WORKSHOP 27-28 May 2013, Hotel City, Maribor, Slovenia

ROMA PEOPLE IN SLOVENIA

The immigration of Roma people in Europe has also left a mark in the Slovene towns. It occurred through a longer period of time and in three directions. The predecessors of Roma people who immigrated to the region of Prekmurje came to Slovenia through Hungary. To Dolenjska, Bela krajina and Posavje the Roma people came from the ex-Yugoslavian republics. A group of Roma or Sinti, which had come from Germany and Austria, immigrated to Gorenjska. In some historical sources the Roma in Prekmurje are described as Hungarian or Carpathian, the Roma in Dolenjska as Croatioan or white, and the Roma in Gorenjska as German or Sinti.

The first presence of the Roma on the Slovene territory can be established through the preserved European historical documents, because the Slovene ones occurred later.

Immigration of Roma people to the Slovene territory

Hungarian or Carpathian Roma

Croatioan or white Roma

German Roma or Sinti

Immigration of Roma people to the Slovene territory

The nomads settled in the following Slovene provinces: Prekmurje, Dolenjska, Bela krajina, Posavje and partly in Gorenjska. Each group of Roma in the mentioned parts of Slovenia speaks their own Roma dialect; and the Roma are, due to their historical or traditional settlement in Slovenia, labelled as autochthonous Roma people.Besides autochthonous Roma there are also non-autochthonous Roma. These have in the past decades massively immigrated from the southern part of the Ex-Yugoslavia and have mostly inhabited the bigger city centres (Tancer 1994, 55).

The Roma settlements

Population of Roma in Slovenia

Source: Štrukelj 2004, 27

According to the information in the reports of the municipalities and social centres, which were gathered by the Office of the Republic of Slovenia for National Minorities, there are around 7.000 Roma; according to some unofficial information, there are 10.000 Roma people in Slovenia (Obreza 2003, 49). However, in the 2002 consensus survey only 3.246 people or 0.2 % claimed to be Roma; 3.834 people defined the Roma language as their mother tongue

The demographic data

The socio-economic status of Roma in Slovenia is generally poor. Their material, social, educational and occupational level is exceptionally low when compared to that of the majority population. They badly integrate in education and because of the frequent failure in this field, they fit the group of permanently unemployed; because of their low level of education. A large majority of the adult Roma is illiterate, dependant on occasional jobs and financial social support.

Socio-economic status

There is no special network of institutions dedicated to educating the Roma in Slovenia. Roma get education in institutions meant for the majority population. In the field of education of children they are implemented in the establishments of the school system, from kindergartens to elementary and secondary schools.

Roma children are involved in the kindergartens with educational function in three ways:• integrated in the regular sections, • Roma sections • or Roma kindergartens

Status in education

In the field of the education of adults Roma are integrated in the people's universities and other establishments, which organize the education for adults. The Roma organisations or societies also play an important role in informal education of the Roma.

Status in adult education

Legal status of Roma

The Roma community in Slovenia does not have the status of a national minority; they are an ethnical community or minority, which has specific ethnical qualities: language, culture and other ethnical features.

On the level of national legislation the Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia directly addresses the Roma community in the article 65, which states that the status and the special rights of the Roma community, which lives in Slovenia, is defined through law.

The Law about the Roma community in the Republic of Slovenia was passed in March 2007 and it determined the specific rights of the Roma community in Slovenia.

Intolerance towards Roma people in Europe and Slovenia

through history

Throughout history the European authorities tried to unify the Roma with the majority population. The leaders forbid their language and culture. The Roma marriages and the nomadic life style were not welcome. Despite the prosecution and the denial of the Roma culture, language and the absence of the written form of their language, all these elements have been preserved until today.

ROMA PEOPLE IN BELA KRAJINA

Statistical data

The Roma, which are in the Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia determined as a special community and whose status as well as special rights are defined by the law, are in larger numbers present in 20 Slovene municipalities, including all three municipalities in Bela krajina: Črnomelj, Semič and Metlika.

Source: Archives ZIK, 2012

Roma communities and individual houses in Bela krajina

The number of Roma in Bela krajina

• Municipality of Črnomelj:

540 Roma = 3.5 % of the entire population • Municipality of Metlika:

355 Roma = 3.9 % of the entire population• Municipality of Semič:

212 Roma = 5.5 % of the entire population

Source: Centre for social work Črnomelj, Centre for Social Work Metlika

The demographic features of Roma people

The principle demographic feature in the municipalities in Bela krajina and all around Slovenia is that the Roma are young, because the age group between 0-18 entails almost a half of the entire Roma population (Census, household and flats survey 2002). The majority of Roma adults still have not finished elementary school and are mostly unemployed.

 

According to the data of the Centre for Social Work Metlika, the Roma population in the age group 0-18 reached 48.7 % of Roma in the municipality in 2010.

The Roma in Bela krajina have their unique dialect.

SCHOOL YEAR 2011/2012

• Municipality of Črnomelj: 406 children enrolled in the kindergarten, 10 Roma children integrated, 10 Roma children in Roma section

• Municipality of Semič: 4 Roma children integrated in the kindergarten

• Municipality of Metlika: 276 children enrolled in the kindergarten, 5 Roma children integrated into the regular sections

The integration of the Roma children in the kindergartens is important, because it helps with the elimination of the lack of knowledge of the Roma children, especially of the knowledge of the mother tongue of the majority population; that way there is a greater chance of their success in the subsequent education.

The education of Roma preschool children

  Elementary school Number of students in the first triad

Number of Roma

Percentage of Roma

MUNICIPALITY OF ČRNOMELJ1 Elementary school of Miran Jarc 124 31 25

2 Elementary school Loka 156 16 103 Elementary school of Commandant

Stane Dragatuš29 / /

4 Elementary school Stari trg ob Kolpi 13 3 Do not define themselves as Roma.

5 Elementary school Vinica 50 1 26 Elementary school PP of Milka Šobar-

Nataša58 33 57

MUNICIPALITY OF SEMIČ1 Elementary school of Bela krajina

Detachment Semič91 10 11

MUNICIPALITY OF METLIKA1 Elementary school Metlika 221 26 12

2 Elementary school Podzemelj 46 12 26

TOGETHER 788 132 17

The number of children in the first triad of the nine-year school in Bela krajina in the school

year 2011/2012

Source: Archives ZIK, 2012

• The Roma children have been receiving additional group assistance and an escorted transportation to and from kindergarten or school

• Most elementary schools have a Roma assistant employed

There has been a lot of effort put into the integration of Roma in kindergartens and elementary schools in Bela krajina. But there are still many who do not participate in education. Those who do are mostly unsuccessful in the early education stages. The main issue in the early education is still a substantial drop-out rate of the Roma children. Only few manage to successfully complete elementary school or even continue the education. The majority end their school obligations with an incomplete elementary school, which means that their employment possibilities on the job market are completely closed.

The education of Roma school children

The education of Roma adults

In Bela krajina there are various educational programs for Roma adults: • people's university, • the library and • centres for social work.

Institute for Education and Culture Črnomelj (ZIK Črnomelj)

• In the last 10 years ZIK Črnomelj has vastly contributed to the improved position of the members of the Roma community in Bela krajina. Through various projects and educational programs it has strengthened the cooperation with various organisations in the area with the focus on respecting the needs and benefits of the Roma community. ZIK has in multiple ways searched for educational interests of the Roma in the field of education, offered and also carried out programs.

• The elementary school for adults: in the school year 2011/2012 there were 10 Roma enrolled in Črnomelj, Semič and Metlika.

In all municipalities in Bela krajina with the help of local centres for social work, there is organised the program Assistance to Roma in socialisation, which is meant for children and adults. As a part of the program there are various learning workshops in the Roma communities.

• In Metlika some activities for Roma are organised by the Public library Metlika. Through cooperation with the Centre for Social Work Metlika they are developing the project Roma, welcome to the library. The goal of it is to introduce the book and the library to the Roma; as well as to gain them as regular readers or users of the library. As part of the project there are also story hours, creative workshops, puppet shows and classes for computer literacy.

• Last year in Metlika there were some activities for children and adults executed in the Roma community Rosalnice (Boriha) through in 2010 established Roma incubator (Data about the measures or programs with the goal of resolving the Roma issues, 2012).

Public library Metlika and Roma incubator

Phare 2003 ─ Life-long education: Occupational informing

and counselling for the Roma

• ZIK Črnomelj was in the years 2003-2006 the coordinator of the project Phare 2003 ─ Life-long education: Occupational informing and counselling for the Roma.

• The study was carried out as part of the project Occupational informing and counselling for Roma. The results demonstrate the occupational and educational interests of the Roma in Bela krajina.

• The survey was carried out on a sample of 774 Roma between the ages 15 and 45, which presents 49 % of the whole population in the area of the research in the selected age group. 238 Roma from Bela krajina participated in the survey.

Education of the Roma in Bela krajina

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

nisem hodil/a v šolo

OŠ ali manj

nekaj let posebne šole

nekaj let skrajšanega programa

nekaj let 3-letne poklicne šole

nekaj let 4-letne strokov ne šole

končana poklicna ali srednja šola

Source: Žagar and Klopčič 2006, 245

Vertically: the first column presents those with completed vocational or secondary school; the second one presents those with a few years of a four-year technical school; the third column displays those with a few years of three-year vocational school; the next one shows those with a few years of a shortened program; the fifth column presents the Roma with some years of a special school; the sixth one displays those with an elementary school or less; the last column shows the percentage for those who have never went to school

• the majority of the Roma in Bela krajina have elementary education or less; which is 69 % or 163 people.

• 25 % or 40 people ended elementary school• 6 % or 14 people never went to schoolSource: Žagar and Klopčič 2006

The illiteracy of the Roma is still a big obstacle in their employment.

Education of the Roma in Bela krajina

Source: Klopčič 2002, 131

A graphic display of the level of education of the Roma population in individual regions in

2012

The Roma in Bela krajina and their occupation

• 81 % of the participants are unemployed• only 10 % support themselves with their own pay checksSource: Žagar and Klopčič 2006

Most of Roma in Bela krajina dependent on the financial social security, child benefits, help of family members or additional

earnings.

67 % of people answered that they are satisfied

with their status

The level of satisfaction of the interviewees about their status should present the basis for consideration by the organisers of the social politics about the effectiveness of the system of the social help to the Roma families.

Based on the information given by the local offices of the Employment Service of the Republic of Slovenia, a large majority of the Roma, older than 15, are registered at a local employment service as seekers of work.

The reason for many registrations is probably in the Law of Changes and replenishment of the Law for Social Protection from the year 2001, which sets the conditions under which the rightful claimant receives financial social support, which enables survival, for the time of living in the Republic of Slovenia.

The condition for obtaining the financial social support, which is frequently the only income for the Roma, is registration in the records of unemployment.

Employment and activities with which the Roma people occupy

themselves

The most often form of employment for the Roma are public services, from which there were almost no transitions to regular employment in the past.

The program of public services in Črnomelj and Semič encompassed these programs:• Assistance in organising the Roma communities, which was performed by the

Utility services Črnomelj. 4 Roma participated.• Assistance to the Roma in socialisation; 3 female Roma participated in this

program: 1 at Elementary school of Bela krajina Detachment Semič, 1 at the Centre for social work Črnomelj and the last one at the Institute for education and culture Črnomelj (Employment Service Črnomelj 2012).

In 2012 there were two programs of public services for the Roma in Metlika:• Assistance to the Roma in socialisation, which was performed by the Centre for

Social Work Metlika;• Landscaping and maintaining of public surfaces, which was carried out by the

Municipality of Metlika.

There were 7 Roma participating in public services in 2012 (Employment Service Metlika 2012).

Employment and activities with which the Roma people occupy themselves

Social security

Centre for Social Work Črnomelj: in 2011 there were 550 Roma in Črnomelj and Semič (based on the evaluation of the CSD Črnomelj the combined number of the Roma in Črnomelj and Semič is 752 Roma) which were recipients of social benefits

In the report of the Centre for Social Work Črnomelj it is stated that the Roma families are bigger in numbers and because of this fact, the number of recipients of social benefits is higher when compared to other recipients.

The conclusion in Semič is that in the consumption of the means which the Roma receive, consultancy is of great importance; unfortunately, the Roma decline the help in this matter (Report of dealing with the Roma issues in Municipality of Semič 2007). Due to this reason, the received benefits are not used rationally.

Medical security

In Bela krajina the care for medical security of the Roma people is carried out by Health Centre Črnomelj and Health Centre Metlika through their medical stations

and home care. The expert workers in the field of medicine mainly stress:• irregular responses to mandatory children vaccinations• doctor visits without or with a damaged, invalid health insurance card• because of the migration of the Roma families, the mail which informs them about

vaccinations and systematic examinations of the children is regularly declined• unpaid additional insurance Besides the fact just mentioned, there are also these next issues in the medical security of the Roma:• the majority of the population in question is illiterate and has problems with the

systems of making an appointment for special examinations• because of poor hygiene the specialists do not like to make appointments• frequently there comes to disagreements with other waiting patients because the

Roma do not respect the order(Report of dealing with the Roma issues in Municipality of Semič 2007).

In Bela krajina the expert offices put a lot of effort also in the prevention of criminal acts.

The security issue shows itself in the following fields:• crime (estate crimes: petty thefts, breakings-in, vandalism of someone's property,

possession of weapons, violence)• public order (loud parties, shootings,...)• safety of the traffic (driving without a license, unregistered and technically unsafe

vehicles)

Other important problems:• too long processes (the time period between the police measure and the legal

sanctions is too long)• the Roma in the institutions where they serve their sentences, do not change

positively, but rather fulfil their negative behavioural patterns

Those in charge of the prevention of the criminal acts in Bela krajina stress that the repressive measures will not bring the expected results. That is why they greatly invest in preventive activities and so search for more wholesome solution to the so called Roma issues.

Prevention of criminal acts

• Due to disagreements with the work of ZRS, 3 Roma societies in 2007, from which 2 were from Bela krajina, exited the association and formed the Association for the Slovene Roma Communities for Dolenjska, Bela krajina and Posavje; which is seated in Črnomelj

• Besides this association there are also 5 Roma societies in Bela krajina.

In the past years the societies applied for public tenders of the Ministry of Culture and tenders of individual municipalities. Based on approved projects, they have gained means for work in the cultural and sport field. Because of the lack of expert knowledge for content and financial management of the projects, the interest of the societies for project work has decreased.

Many societies in Bela krajina display partition and the lack of connectedness not only among the municipalities but also within the societies.

Roma societies in Bela krajina

• The Roma are historically settled and have next to the general voting right, which they are entitled to as Slovene citizens, an additional voting right which enables them to elect a Roma counsellor from the special Roma election claimants.

• The Roma counsellors were elected in all three municipalities in 2011.

Political participation of Roma people in Bela krajina

• In Bela krajina the status of the Roma is managed with specific local acts or programs.

• The Law of the Roma Community in the Republic of Slovenia determines in the article 7 that in the municipality where in line with the law which manages the local self-government, there is elected a representative of the Roma community in the local council; in the local council is formed a special working body for watching over the status of the Roma community. In the lines of the mentioned law there are these special working bodies in all 3 municipalities in Bela krajina, which monitor the status of the Roma community, give opinions and cooperate in solving possible problems.

Evaluation of the realisation of the legislation, policies and strategies in Bela krajina

 

We evaluate that all municipalities in Bela krajina are actively involved in solving the Roma issues; by stressing the management of communities and their infrastructure, because these are the essential condition for improving the conditions.

Legal status of Roma people

The relationship between the Roma people and the majority population

The status of Roma people in the local mediaThe media reporting about Dolenjska and Bela krajina most frequently sum up current affairs about the Roma. These articles are mostly about the offences and conflicts.

Although some believe that the fundamental reasons for the media reports on the Roma are the problems and conflicts; after going through the articles of the local media we concluded that they also sum up the reports of events which take part on the Day of the Roma, Roma projects, social or other activities of the Roma. However, it is true that these articles are fewer; probably because of inactiveness of the Roma in the social life.

The life and work of the Roma is reported about in 2 Roma shows in the provinces of Dolenjska and Bela krajina.

CONCLUSION 

The analysis of the status of the Roma community in Slovenia and more detailed in Bela krajina has displayed that there have been passed various measures to improve the situation of the Roma on the national and local level in the past few years. Although the residential conditions in the Roma communities have been upgrading, there are no expected results in the field of higher educational level and higher employment rate in the Roma community.The results of the analysis mostly show that stimulations which would motivate the Roma to participate in education and to reach higher level of education need to be found; because this way it would be possible to improve the status of the Roma on the employment market. The current conditions in Slovenia are obviously working in the opposite manner.Higher educational level, higher employment rate and with this participation in the social life, the Roma population would be equated with the majority population in many elements. This would also surely minimise the prejudice and stereotypes.

Institute for education and culture Črnomelj (ZIK Črnomelj) Otona Župančiča Street 1

8340 Črnomelj Slovenia

Phone: **386 (0)7 30 61 390e-mail: info@zik-crnomelj.si

URL: http://www.zik-crnomelj.eu