Who Are the Roma? Europe’s Last Nomads Struggle to Find Home
The recent discovery of a pale, blonde little girl hiding under a blanket in a Roma encampment in Greece has spotlighted to group thought by many Americans to mainly exist in myth and fairytale as gypsies. But for Europeans, the question of the Romani people-their identity and how they fit into today's society-is very real and extremely controversial.
Related: Greece Trying to Identify Girl Found in Roma Camp
The girl, called the "blonde angel," by the Greek media, was found when police raided a settlement, near the city of Larissa, about 170 miles north of Athens looking for drugs, weapons, and other contraband. She was the only fair, blue-eyed child in a family of 13 kids, and her parents offered conflicting stories about how she ended up in their care. On Monday, they were charged with abducting a minor. While there are countless unanswered questions surrounding the case-for one, the births of 10 of the other children were all registered during one 12 month period-the couple's lawyer is saying the girl, who is about 5, was unofficially adopted from an impoverished young Bulgarian woman. A local leader calls it a case of discrimination. "They accuse the Roma of everything-of stealing, of snatching kids," Babis Dimitriou, the head of the Roma community in Larissa told Reuters, "Do these things only happen among our race? This is a huge insult for us."
Related: Mystery Girl in Roma Camp Abandoned By Mother: Lawyers
The Roma, a broad ethnic designation that encompasses a diverse group of people including Manush, Travellers, Ashkali, Sinti and others, trace their origins back to India and DNA testing has confirmed they are from the Punjab region. Its speculated that they migrated to Europe starting about 1,500 years ago. They are unrelated to Romanians although about 500,00 live in that country. When they first began to trickle into Europe, it was believed they had come from Egypt, hence the common name "Gypsy," which is considered derogatory by some.
According to the European Commission, there are about 10-12 million Roma living in Europe -which makes them the largest ethnic minority on the continent-and 90 percent live below the poverty line. Amnesty International says they face broad discrimination including being forcibly evicted from settlements and school segregation. In 2004, a commission found that some Romani women had been subjected to coerced sterilization in a number of countries including the Czech Republic, Germany, and Switzerland. Their marginalization and persecution goes back centuries. For hundreds of years in the Balkans, they were prohibited from marrying outside of their ethnic group and many were sold into slavery. It's estimated that 25-75% were wiped out during Hitler's mass exterminations in World War II.
While the European Union has outlined policies intended to tackle poverty and discrimination, individual countries are struggling with how to deal with their Roma populations. The recent case of Leonarda Dibrani, a schoolgirl who was hauled off of a bus in front of her classmates and deported to her former home in Kosovo along with her family after losing a legal battle for asylum, touched a raw nerve in France and ignited student protests. Within days after arriving back, the girl's parents were attacked in the street. In 2012, France increased its deportation of Roma by over 12 percent. According to the Independent, Northern European governments have geared up campaigns to prevent Roma immigration as hostility against them in their traditional base in Central and Eastern Europe has increased during the economic downturn.
Some Roma have resorted to criminal behavior-any visitor to Rome or Madrid will be familiar with the risk of being pick pocketed by rag tag groups of children dispatched to target tourists. In France, a gang of 27 Roma is currently being tried for selling child brides and organizing a widespread syndicate of thieves. Livia Jaroka, an anthropologist and the only Romani member of the European parliament, told the New York Times that years of years of intolerance and bigotry have led to crushing, poverty, substance abuse, and epidemic unemployment. "The cultural explanation for Roma criminality is nonsense," she said. "It is about economics." While the Roma may be Europe's last nomads, their transience is perhaps less due to traditional ways of life than decades-if not centuries-of hostility toward them putting down roots.
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