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Why Roma Matter?
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.  | By James D. Wolfensohn and George Soros |
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. Too often in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, Roma teens and children spend their days at the garbage dump. Unable to afford school, they scavenge for paper and other scraps for recycling, earning just enough to eat. Too often Roma families live in tiny cramped wood or tin shacks with no power or running water and dim prospects for the future. A similar picture, though on a smaller scale, exists in many EU member countries that are home to Roma minorities.
A wide socioeconomic disparity exists between Europe's majority population and Roma, or "Gypsies", many of whom live in extreme poverty. Europe's development will be held back unless this gap is closed. Left unchanged, this persistent poverty amongst the Roma populations threatens to become a permanent drag on European prosperity, which would be a tragedy for Roma and non-Roma alike.
The situation of the 7 to 9 million Roma living on the continent deserves the urgent attention of government leaders as they shape the policies of an enlarged European Union. Roma are the continent's fastest growing and most vulnerable minority. Boosting their prospects will be crucial to sustained prosperity on the continent. Key to this will be inclusive policies to ensure that Roma enjoy the benefits of the post-transition, open and free- market economies.
Roma have been among the biggest losers in the transition from communism since 1989. They were often the first to lose their jobs in the early 1990s, and have been persistently blocked from reentering the labor force due to their often inadequate skills and pervasive discrimination.
While accession countries such as Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia have made impressive progress in economic and political transformation during the 1990s since the collapse of communism in 1989, dealing with the plight of the Roma remains one of the most critical issues on their path to EU membership next year and over the next decade.
Even in the more prosperous countries of Central and Eastern Europe, Roma poverty is strikingly high – sometimes more than ten times that of non-Roma. In 2000 nearly 80 percent of Roma in Bulgaria and Romania were living on less than $4.30 per day, in comparison with 37 percent of the total population of Bulgaria and 30 percent in of Romania. In better-off Hungary, 40 percent of Roma were living below this line, compared with 7 percent among the non-Roma population.
Poverty, combined with higher birth rates, means that the magnitude of Roma hardship will grow in coming years. Between 25 and 30 percent of Roma are under 15 years of age in contrast with 10 percent of the majority population.
High unemployment, in particular among young people, locks Roma in a vicious cycle of impoverishment and exclusion, further driving down living standards and leaving many in marginalized settlements without access to electricity, clean water, or other basic utilities.
Lack of education keeps Roma out of work and limits their future opportunities. An estimated 600,000 Roma children of primary school age living in the EU accession countries are not attending schools at all. Of those that go, most do not complete primary school, and less than 1 percent across Central and Eastern Europe go on to higher education. Many students who are in class are stuck in inferior segregated schools. Others are wrongly placed in schools for the mentally and physically disabled, merely because they had no access to preschool, or because they do not speak the majority language.
Nonetheless, there is reason for optimism. Over the past decade a range of initiatives have been launched to keep Roma children in school, expand access to jobs, and overcome discrimination. While such interventions by governments, non-government groups and international agencies have helped, the time has now come to scale up the effort.
Most importantly, a small but growing core of experienced and dedicated young Roma leaders is emerging who can work both within their communities and with governments to overcome poverty and discrimination.
At the end of this month, many of these young people will join us in Budapest, along with Prime Ministers and other senior officials from Central and Eastern European countries and EU member states. For the first time, government and Roma leaders will tackle the Roma issue as a core social and economic concern. Such an integrated policy approach is needed to ensure that the basic rights of Roma are truly realized in an expanded Europe. We cannot afford to leave the Roma behind.
James D. Wolfensohn is President of the World Bank Group andGeorge Soros is Chairman of the Open Society Institute. The World Bank, OSI and the European Commission are co-sponsoring a conference, Roma in an Expanding Europe: Challenges for the Future, from June 30-July 1 in Budapest, with the Government of Hungary as host. |  | | |
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