Training for Health Care Proffessionals:
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Training for Health Care Proffessionals: |
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Romania (18-19 December 2005) |
Conclusions |
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The workshops took place on December 17th to 18th, 2005. Monica Vasile from National Council for Combating Discrimination and Mihai Neacu from “Amare Romentza” moderated the workshops.
The participants at the training were family physician, representatives from Public Health Directorate.
Worshop 1: Discrimination and human rights
The first workshop focused on training physicians on issues of discrimination and human rights. Ms. Monica Vasile, member of the Director College of the National Council for Combating Discrimination ran it.
In the first part, Monica Vasile presented the criteria of identifying discrimination and its effects. Mainly, discrimination can occur due to the differences between persons (no matter whom the persons are) and lead to exclusion and restriction. Discrimination is a violation of human rights and it’s punishable under Governmental Ordinance no.137/2000. The National Council for Combating Discrimination have been established based on this law.
Discrimination is sanctioned every time it occurs in work relations, such as ads: we hire workers, Roma/ Gypsies excluded.
When we talk of women, we ascertain that Roma women suffer from double discrimination: both at level of majority community (as women) and at level of their own community. The Roma woman condition is known as problematic.
There are many situations of multiple criteria of discrimination:
Until the issuing of Ministry of Education’s Notification in 2004, discrimination in school was a cvasi-institutionalised reality. Roma students have been learning in different classrooms or even different schools.
Still, there are schools in certain neighbourhood where the percentage of Roma students is high, but this is also the result of a large Roma community living in that neighbourhood; however, there are schools where Roma students are being separated regardless of the Roma percentage in the community. Segregation is the severest form of discrimination in education.
In what regards the special classes for Roma, other aspects should be taken into consideration, aspects more difficult to prove, such as unqualified teachers, precarious conditions, etc. Other examples of discrimination hard to prove: no funds for sewerage system or electricity are allocated for the Roma communities; the situation is similar in the segregated schools: no funds for rehabilitation. All these cases constitute indirect discrimination.
The affirmative measures apply in education: they imply the facilitation of access to education for underprivileged people. These measures are not for an indefinite period of time; they apply only for a period of 15-20 years, while an elite is tried to be created.
In terms of discrimination, every person has the moral obligation to inform the NCCD when they identify such a segregated classroom. No proofs are required from them, just the complaint.
Another form of discrimination may occur in accessing goods and services. For instance, Romani CRISS lodged a complaint as to which a young man tried to purchase a mobile phone and was refused due to his Roma origin.
In terms of justice, there are studies indicating that Roma persons sanctioned to prison received a longer period of imprisonment in comparison to the others, just because the magistrates’ prejudice according to which the Roma commit more illegal acts, therefore, it’s preferable to keep them in prison for a longer period of time.
There are also cases of discrimination in accessing public health-care services.
Monica Vasile states that we can prove if the physician’s discriminatory attitude is based on stereotypes. Because there are cases of discrimination, everybody heard of them, but there are no complaints lodged to the NCCD. Nobody complaints of anything in terms of access to public health care services because of the fear of worsening the relation with the family physician. Please note that people filing complaints are protected by law.
Another debated topic was the access to housing. The participants told about many cases of evictions, even forced evictions. In many occasions, the Roma are being evicted at the margins of the cities, in polluted areas, such as near garbage dumps and water filtering stations. The case in Miercurea Ciuc is an example.
In what regards the human dignity, this is, in fact, a collective right. There are many cases when this right is violated: for instance, the image of women or Roma in the mass media. Many TV stations still use the term Gypsy instead of Roma. And, it is fair to address each individual as they wish.
Worshop 2: Ethnic identity
Mr. Mihai Neacşu with the Amare Romentza organisation led this workshop.
Mihai Neacşu starts his presentation with the etymology of the word Gypsy. This word has Greek origin, atynganoi, which means untouchable, impure. Some historical documents state that Roma were called this way because they saluted using only words, no handshakes. Although some of the participants do not regard the term as pejorative, the Romanian dictionaries attest the word’s pejorative form.
M. Vasile says that when it comes to Roma/ Gypsy, it is about politically correctness and many people claim this makes us a little more hypocrite. However, as long as terms as Gypsy are used, it’s impossible to expect a positive reaction. When people say Gypsy in a less friendly way, communication stops and a potential conflict is created.
In terms of minorities’ image in mass media, the NCCD was reported many cases. The freedom of speech has no limits as long as it doesn’t affect the person in question. And the problem is even worse when a whole ethnic group is labelled as negative.
Many times, on Roma International Day, the TV stations present high-flown parties, thrown by very rich Roma persons, and this creates a negative image. In reality, many of the Roma are very poor.
The workshop continues with a short presentation of Roma culture elements.
According to the Institute for Life Quality and Research (ICCV), there are approximately 2 million of Roma living in Romania. According to the 2002 census, 500 000 Roma people live in Romania. The difference between the numbers is high. Therefore, many people didn’t assert their Roma identity. The causes of the phenomenon go far back and today we experience the effects. Since 1297 to 1859 Roma have been slaves. An anecdote from that period says that when one of the Roma was liberated, the man asked: Did I do anything? – And this says something for the Roma situation then. When the slavery of Roma was abolished, no social reinsertion measures were enforced. Then, in the 1940’s, the Roma were deported to Transnistria and carried in trains used to transport cattle. There is even an oral history in connection to those events. The causes of discrimination today are old: the Roma coming here, their slavery for more than 500 years, the deportation, etc.
After returning from Transnistria, the Roma thanked the Russians for liberating them, thus, the majority population started to dislike them. In the Communist period, the Roma were not registered as minority group, therefore they didn’t exist as community.
Then, back to the affirmative measures, Mihai Neacsu claims he couldn’t have gone to a university, unless these measures existed.
The Roma who created the Roma movement lobbied for changing the term Gypsy into Roma and the term was accepted. Still, many Roma don’t know about this word and continue to use the term of Gypsy. |