Government’s agency for social inclusion issues grim report on the
situation of the Roma minority
The government’s agency for social inclusion on Wednesday presented the
Rusnok cabinet with a grim report on the situation of the Romany minority,
in which it claims that the problems in housing have deteriorated in an
alarming way and little progress has been made in other areas.
Coincidentally, on the same day, the Senate rejected a proposal by the EC
on how to address these issues successfully. I asked the head of the
government’s agency for social inclusion Martin Šimácek to outline the
main areas of concern.
“The biggest problem is in the housing situation. There are some 60
thousand people now living in lodging houses, which we see as a huge
problem. These facilities are really segregated and not offer the
possibility of integration. That is the first key problem, another big
problem is with employment. This particularly concerns young people who are
unable to find work and there is also the problem of education – a third
of the Roma children are not able to study in mainstream schools with other
children of their age.”
They are in special schools?
“In special schools – also called practical schools (schools for
children with light mental disabilities).”
So to sum it up –the situation in the sphere of education has not
improved, neither has the employment situation improved and the housing
situation has actually deteriorated –is that right?
“That’s right. We can see that especially in the northern regions of
the country there are more socially excluded localities, more lodging
houses. There are now 20 -25 percent more excluded localities than we had
in 2006.”
More slums with a majority population of Romany inhabitants...why is that?
The government keeps saying it is addressing the issue – so what is
happening?
“The crucial point is the economic situation and also migration to the
poorer regions, to places near the border where unemployment is higher and
the possibility to find employment is much lower. Those are the main
reasons for the increase in slums.”
The Senate on Wednesday rejected a European Commission proposal for
special measures to be taken to improve the situation of the Roma –to
ensure equal access to employment, education and so on. Has that come as a
disappointment to you?
“We are disappointed, yes, because the EC recommendations are targeted
towards those three problem areas –education, employment and housing. And
I have to say that in my view the European Commission supports Czech
efforts in these areas very much and the recommendations are –let us say
–supportive of our policies. So I would much prefer if our senators were
able to see things in this light, but they rejected the recommendations and
we have to accept that.”
Why do you think they rejected them? Was it just because of the proposed
quotas?
“I think that some of them have their own personal opinions and are not
comfortable with such documents and recommendations. So personal opinions
are an important factor here, and the debate in the Senate was about their
personal opinions on the situation with the Roma minority, not about the
recommendations made. I am not sure if some of them were really able to
think about the content of those recommendations in the context of the
situation in the Czech Republic.”
Could it also be because they just don’t want to take directives from
the European Commission on how to resolve things in this country?
“That can be one of the reasons, but I am not able to say.”
So now you expect the government to take measures to resolve the
situation?
“I think so. We have strategic documents which are very close to the
recommendations of the EC and lots of government measures are targeting
very similar things to those in the recommendations, so it is a bit of a
paradox that we are targeting those problems but the senators were not able
to accept the recommendations of the EC. “
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