164 years since abolition of slavery in Romania

1. DARK HISTORY TALES - 500 years of slavery of Roma in Romania
20th February 2020: we mark 164 years from the abolition of slavery of Roma in Romania (1856).
Another dark and more recent period in the history of Roma in Romania is the Roma Holocaust
/Genocide – the Deportation in Transnistria, during WWII, of over 25.000 Roma (1942-1944),
ordered by the marshal Ion Antonescu, as part of his policy of ethnic purification, which resulted
in ca. 11.000 deaths, by executions, due to hunger, exposure to elements, work extenuation, and
diseases; many of the victims were women and children. Formal recognition by Romanian
government acknowledging Roma as being victims of the Holocaust and Deportation came more
than 60 years later.
The 2011 census in Romania indicates 621.600 self-declared Roma individuals, representing 3,3%
of the total population, being the second largest ethnic minority, after the Hungarian ethnic
population. Other estimates (socio-demographic, anthropological, or declarations of Roma
leaders) are placing the Roma population between 1,5-2 million individuals. Most of the
European institutions consider rather the latter estimates.

2. • In 1992, 136 years from abolition of slavery, and 50 years from the deportation to
Transnistria - the Romanian government initiated the affirmative action measure for Roma to
access higher education. It started with 10 places at the Faculty of Sociology and Social Work,
Bucharest, and expanded the year after to Universities in Cluj, Iaşi and Timişoara.
• Throughout the years, the allocation of places for Roma to universities increased steadily,
reaching lately to over 400 places a year. In the past decade, the Government started
allocation of places for Roma to high-school, nowadays the number reaching up to 2,500 per
year.
• Romanian Government’s National Strategy for Improving the Situation of Roma (2001, HG
430). One of the most serious problems hindering the implementation of this strategy lies
with its insignificant financial backing up from State’s budget. The strategy implementation
relies mostly on EU-funding, which is also insufficient and comes with a range of caveats.

3. - The path of Roma inclusion is a very hard one!
- The real inclusion of Roma cannot be achieved simply by statements, or empty
pledges, issued under international pressure or political constraints;
- Government policies cannot and should not be an exercise of mimicry of fulfilment of
international requirements, for the sake of being eligible to ‘access EU, or become
part of the Schengen space’;
- For Roma to genuinely see progress and enjoyment of rights on equal footing, as real
citizens of their country, there’s need of authentic political will, translated into
adequate financial allocation for policies designed and implemented with Roma and
for Roma, while vigorously combatting racism and discrimination against them.