It is necessary to contemplate which it is the situation that, after centuries of exodus, the romany population lives, in the last years, in the european continent. Then, this will be the key to understand the current social and linguistic state of the languages that these people speak: number, valuation, speaking, varieties, growth or extinction...

Therefore, it is presented in this section the general diagnosis in Europe, being developed in a specific way and in the corresponding places, the sociolinguistic situation of the romany language and The concrete situation of the same one in each european country.

The situation of the European Rom is seemed in many aspects, but particularities that they have marked a differentiating aspect depending on the countries where they inhabit exist. Even so, a general tendency exists to the social exclusion of these in all those countries. Among other, they highlight: the violation of the human rights, the negation of the asylum right, very extended situations of racism and persecution, access difficulty to the education, juridical inequalities, limitation of the free circulation, etc.

Violation of the human rights. Actually, many gipsies suffer situations in wich their rights are violated and the exercise of their public freedoms is restricted. Many are stateless, refugees, political refugees and repatriated as consequence of the recent Balkan wars and of the events happened after the fall of the regime of the Est of Europe. As example of this, all the international negotiations that they were carried out to solve the situation caused in Yugoslavia were made without having the presence of the romany minority ethnic that it inhabited these territories. The Council of Europe could verify on the land that the humanitarian performances not assisted equally the needy gipsies and the rest of the population.

After the arrival of the Romaníes to Europe, these have been persecution victims on the part of the rest of the society, as well as of abuse and discrimination: we can remember the Nazi time, in which the regime selected the gipsies to they was castrated or sterilized with injections, and it ordered, in January of 1940, the use of 250 gipsy children for scientific experiments in the field of concentration of Buchenwald. Besides, on 1 of August of 1944, the Nazi regime took charge that 4.000 gipsies were gased and incinerated in Auschwitz-Birkenau, in one night that it is remembered as The night of The Gipsies. Ian Hancock calculates that at the end of the II World War, between 70% and 80% of the gipsy population was annihilated by the Nazi. It is also necessary to highlight the ethnic cleaning that the gipsies suffered in the war of Yugoslavia , althought nobody spoke about it.

Even so, today in day the gipsies continue being one of the minority ethnic groups more pursued in Europe (although they don not suffer the genocides like the Nazi holocaust, this persecution is carried out in exclusion form and social, economic and political isolation). Because they are nomad, the economic load that they supposedly cause to the countries and their ethnic difference, it has caused that during many years the dominant sedentary cultures have promoted exclusion behaviors and assimilation. These have been seen as a threat. These same racist prejudices gave place to stereotyped opinions that they related to the gipsies with the witchcraft, the delinquency, the kidnapping of children and the social parasitism, and, without a doubt, they have remained in an inherent way during many generations, being still very patent at the present time. Nowadays, this racism and this social persecution highlights in the countries of the central and oriental Europe, where the cruellest facts are described (at all the levels: political, economic, social...).

However, this does not mean that exclusion forms are only given in such regions, but rather there it is where more radical they are. In all the European countries, most of the gipsy population inhabits infra-human conditions (caravans, marginal and unhealthy towns...) and, far from waking up this the alarm of the governments where the gipsies live (promoting a lodging politics and establishment of this community under normal conditions). The general reaction is usually the establishment of the label of " illegality " to inhabit lands not own. In other occasions, they decides to carry out a politics re-lodging that it generate guetos and marginal quarters, because the general racism of the dominant society does not accept the coexistence with these romany groups. Then, the gipsies are confined in extra-radio areas totally isolated of the rest of the population. It highlights, for example, a case denounced in January of 2001 by the European Court of human rights. These made public the situation of a gipsy community, in the United Kingdom that, having been declared illegal their homes and caravans located in some public lands without authorization to be, they decided to buy this lands to continue settled down there. The one restored of the British authorities it was the negative for the concession of this permission, maintaining the posture of the illegality. Then, it is necessary to have present that the illegality of these people only had place for the first violation of the law of these authorities, not allowing them to live in appropriate places. We see this way a representative example of the situation of the Rom in Europe.

Even so, a lot of people has always put on as reference point, to denounce the violation of the human rights, the situation of the Rom in the Central and Est Europe. This, although in certain measure it is true, many times it has been used by the countries of the West to attack their neighbors and to save this way their image (because in the Europe of the West the situation is not better). The certain thing is that, in October of 1997, the romany groups of the Czech Republic and Slovakia tried to enter in United Kingdom requesting political asylum and protection because the persecution and the racism suffered in their origin places.

Mobilisation: Roma protesting racist policies in Italy, 1997.photo: Piero Collacicchi

Situation in the education of the Rom. Like in the rest of social factors, the education is not applied of equal it forms to the small gipsies in connection with the rest of the population in each one of the countries where they inhabit. The schools do not offer, in most of the cases, curricular adaptations to adapt the contents (in all the levels: conceptual, procedural and actitudinal) to the socio-cultural characteristics of this " minority ". Besides, the reining mentality in the educational centers is the integration or assimilation, and not the difference / diversity. This generates a constant pressure on gipsy people, and they have to make the effort of adapting to what the dominant culture imposes (without proposing, then, an effort that involves to all the parts and that it bears the respect for the difference and the coexistence of the two cultures). In this way, the customs and the mentality of this community does not have a place already in the first levels of the school, being also without contemplating, evidently, the language characteristic of them, that is the element more interesting in this focus. This cause the loss of this language in the following generations, because, this generation of gipsy children with nationality in a european country that they only listen the language of the parents at home will suffer what is denominated a "bilingualism of loss" that it is a bilingualism in which the languages are not in the same plane of power and one has bigger status that the other one: the language of the residence country appears in the education, in the media, in the institutions..., and the maternal one only in the family environment. The following unavoidable step will be the decline of the mother tongue for use lack, and it finish losing in the following generation, who will already speak only in the official language of the country where they live.

In many european schools, also, we can find authentic cases of discrimination and injustice: in countries like Hungary , Romania , Bulgaria and Slovakia, many gipsy students' cases have been denounced that had been correspondents to centers of special education to be considered faulty mental. The question was that the children gave low punctuations in the test for the lack of cultural knowledge, what caused that they was separated from the ordinary classrooms. This generates situations in wich, already from very early age, these children do not have the same educational opportunities that the rest, and this situation of social disadvantage is perpetuated for the future. In the Czech Republic, the 75% of the gipsy students goes to special schools (Data offered by Anna Cervenakova, lawyer and presenter in the debate Institutionalised Racism/Castism of the World Conference against Racism August 29 2000).

Institutional racial discriminación. to see a concrete and tangible example of this discrimination type, we will see which it is the proportion of funds that the European Union has spent in initiatives dedicated to the Rome inside the total budget assigned to the development of the populations from the Central and Estern Europe in the same period of time:

The first vehicle of financing of the European Union, in the countries where Rome are a significant minority, it has been the program of " Phare ". Among 1990-1994 the program of Phare assigned about 4.2 trillion Euros to the sector of the programs of main current" (mainstream sector programs). Among 1994-1999, this budget increased to 6.693 trillion Euros. Consequently, during the last decade, the EU has assigned about 10.893 trillion Euros to the sector of the programs of main current in central and oriental Europe.

However, this sector of the programs of main current, due to the economic and social exclusion of most of the population of the gipsies, does not have any direct economic impact on them. In fact, such programs do not consider the Rom like beneficiaries in most of the cases, but rather they go only directed to the majority population, to which is considered as direct beneficiary in these countries. For everything it, most of these funds do not have a reflection in the gipsy population in terms of their economic and social development.

We can see now the expense that the UE has dedicated to matters related with the people romany. During the same period, from 1990 up to 1999, the European Union dedicated around 20 million Euros to this population's specific initiatives. Then, the contribution of the UE to this minority (very significant, on the other hand, in many countries) it has been of 0.1836% of the total payments, what bears that the UE is consolidating an important deficit in the initiatives dedicated to the gipsies, because these suppose, in many of these countries, between the five and the population's ten percent (an average of 7.5%).

Consequently, a fairrer assignment of the funds of the UE to the programs of economic development of the people romany, including to the countries in those that these are an insignificant minority, it should be around the 3,5 - 4% of the total assignments (440 million Euros).

This treatment inequality regarding the gipsies, on the part of the consolidated European Commission, is remarkable. Why, after one decade from the consolidation of the activities of economic development of the European Union in central and oriental Europe this specific problem is not contemplated? Why not does EU dedicate a more even help toward the gipsy community?

During the last decade, the economic and social situation of the romany population does not spread to the improvement, and in many countries it has entered in a situation of deep crisis. Many of these communities support a rate of unemployment of 60-70% in economies that they boast of enjoying a rate of 7.5 unemployment% for the general population". In spite of the economic crisis of this community, the European Commission, after more than a decade of activity, does not concentrate their efforts, in a direct way, to solve the fundamental problems, but rather it channels their measures toward dispersed initiatives directed to the youth, the democratization, the education (very deficitly in this aspect), the culture, etc., leaving aside the aspects that refer from a direct way to the current situation of poverty and the European gipsies' unemployment, as well as the measures that they revert directly about the reduction of the exclusion and the racism that the gipsies should support. The expense explained before, in relation to the total funds, gives a guessed right idea of the road that the institutional organisms follow in this aspect.

The European Commission, in definitive, did not question the genuineness of the consolidated programs, formulated these without the participation of the Rome during the last decade. It was not contemplated, then, the inclusion of this community in the range of beneficiaries of the programs. The problem of the same rights for the gipsies, then, is something that the Commission of the European Union still has to improve: this lack of direct participation of the Rome, in the European collective decisions, it is producing a clear disadvantage in the question of the financial resources assigned to the programs national central and oriental Europeans.

As consequence of all exposed, official institutions in charge of fighting for the improvement of the conditions and the political interests of the gipsies have been created in Europe . Among them, the ECRE highlights (European committee on romany emancipation). This committee maintains a representation, non sole right and neuter, of interested european citizens that want to improve the conditions of the gipsies inside the European Union, as well as in countries that prepare the inclusion in her. Among the main functions of this committee:

• Eliminate the social exclusion, as well as the poverty of the Rome.
• Reach a state of the Rom like same taxpayers and beneficiaries of the one european economic growth.
• Promote actions for the investment in education and the employment creation.

Mr Emil Scuka, at the International Romani Union congress, Prague, July 2000, where he was elected president of the organisation.photo: ERRC.

Another aspect that refers to the political discrimination of the countries in those that the romany communities resides the accounting of the gipsies who live in each one of them (the census): it has always arisen polemic when determining the number of gipsies, and especially in the already mentioned central and estern Europe, because many and contrary interests exist in this aspect (it is what has been denominated many times like "the game of the numbers"). A fundamental fact in this is that the gipsies do not have an own state, what favors that the different countries count its populations in a different way and responding to different interests. A solution that often it has thought about, in numerous international meetings from 1971, it is the configuration of a romanestán state transnational, but, obviously, this has never surpassed the theoretical limits. "The collection of statistical racial or ethnic it is not a neuter exercise that involves the simple collection of objective facts. Rather, this fact involves decisions of a political nature on what to reflect, in what terms and of what way, coming from a position ideological matter ". (Gordon, 1996:28). According to one of the most influential studies, the romany population in Europe oscillates between the seven and the eight million and half people (Liegeois, 1994:34), of which five millions are in the central and oriental part of Europe (Barany, 1998:308). Even so, there is a lot of disparity of figures, but like it has already been mentioned, this is owed, on one hand, to the own lack of a State that sustains to this ethnic unit, and, on another hand, to economic, social and political interests peculiar of each one of the countries (if this " minority " it does not exists, you do not had to dedicate economic funds for scholarships, services or special necessities, etc.). As example of this, you can observe the data that the following chart shows. Variations of up to a million people are registered, in oneself country, as it is the source that it has carried out the study:

 

Table 1: Population Figures for Roma in Selected Central and Eastern European countries

Sources: Barany, 1995, 1998 ; Brearley, 1996 ; Bugajski, J, 1994 ; Druker, 1997 ; Havas et al, 1995 ; Helsinki Watch Reports, 1991a, 1991b, 1992, 1993, 1996 ; Liegeois, 1994 ; Liegeois and Gheorghe, 1995 ; OECD, 1993, White, Batt and Lewis, 1993.

COUNTRY FIGURES SOURCES Bulgaria: 576,927 (Interior Ministry, 1989, in HWR, 1991) 500,000 - 800,000 (Druker, 1997) 700,000 - 800,000 (Liegeois and Gheorghe, 1995) 800,000 - 1,000,000 (Democratic Union of Roma, in Brearly, 1996) Czech Republic: 145,738 (Local Authority Statistics, 1989, in HWR, 1992) 150,000 - 300,000 (Druker, 1997) 250,000 - 300,000 (Liegeois and Gheorghe, 1995) Hungary 400,000 (National 1990 census, in HWR, 1996) 550,000 - 600,000 (Liegeois and Gheorghe, 1995) 550,000 - 800,000 (Druker, 1997) Poland: 15,000 - 50,000 (Druker, 1997) 30,000 (Braham, 1993) 50,000 - 60,000 (Liegeois and Gheorghe, 1995) Romania: 430,000 (official government statistics, 1989, in HWR, 1991) 1,410,000 - 2,500,000 (Druker, 1997) 1,800,000 - 2,500,000 (Liegeois and Gheorghe, 1995) Slovakia: 253,943 (Local Authority Statistics, 1989, in Brearley, 1996) 458,000 - 520,000 (Druker, 1997) 480,000 - 520,000 (Liegeois and Gheorghe, 1995)

NB: The figures from the 1995 Minority Rights Group Report by Liegeois and Gheorghe and also those from Druker, 1997 show lowest to highest possible estimates.

 

Negation of the asylum right. At the same time, and like consequence of all the factors exposed previously, many gipsies of the center and of the east of Europe have to escape from their countries because the growing wave of racism and of violent attacks, being forced to request political asylum or refuge in the States of the Union. In most of the cases, the border authorities of the European Union prevent these people to enter in our territory. The repatriation agreements signed between States members of the European Union and States of the Central and Oriental Europe are also condemnable. In these, the refugees are treated as goods.

Limitation of the free circulation of people for some countries. The elimination of the internal frontiers in the European Union has made that some countries adopt harder measures to brake the migratory flow. It is necessary to keep in mind that the population belonging to other ethnoses is not only formed by immigrants, more or less recent, looking for work. The immense majority of the times are european and community citizens of full right, although belonging to ethnic or cultural minorities. Their integration, in any case, has to mean the renouncement to its identity.

The disparity of the legislation. An aspect that it has hindered the fight against the racism and the xenophobia has been the disparity of juridical approaches and prisons among the different countries of the European Union. The consequence has been the imposition of relatively light condemnations to many accused of making violent acts against the minorities, what has taken place, sometimes, a certain sensation of impunity.

Parties racists' proliferation in Europe. The recurrent suffering economic crises from 1973 have contributed to create in the western societies a high unemployment index that we can already consider chronic. This causes situations of rejection toward any immigrant that he wants to consent to the labor market. This situation has favored also the appearance of political parties of clear racist tendency. The Front National in France , the Republikaner in Germany , Vlams Block and the Front National in Belgiumare some examples of the political ideologies based on the intolerance appeared in some places of Europe.

Even so, the whole political panorama is not black in the romany question, there are also features that take to make possible a better future. In the political hole created after 1989 in Central and Oriental Europe, a multitude of romany political groups was formed: in 1993, only in Hungary there were almost a thousand organizations of local and national Rom (Brearley, 1996:24). Only three years later, according to some reports, this number had fallen below the 250, and none of these groups had a representative in the Parliament (Barany, 1998:318). It Seems clear, then, that the number of such groups has decreased a point, and any degree of power has been elusive.

The variety of political groupings in Central and Oriental Europe, nevertheless, is cheering up: in Bulgaria the main organization is the Democratic Union of the Rom; in Hungary there is a variety of different organizations that they cover the ideological spectrum, the Hungarian Gipsy Party and the Democratic Alliance of Hungarian Gipsies; in Romania the Democratic Union of Rumanian Rome, Romani Criss and the Ethnic Federation of Rome are three of the biggest. In the Czech Republic that follows "the velvet revolution" of 1989, several organizations of Rom have been formed, as the Foundation for the Hope and the Understanding and the Democratic Romani Congress.

From an optimistic perspective, the political future seems a little more luminous for the gipsies in Europe (although there are authors that defend the opposite). The intellectuals and romani activist are beginning to work to create a net of groups and organization to can make, in an effort to improve the social, economic situation and the gipsies' politics in Europe, a hole in the corridors of power of the European Union. In the last years numerous organizations and international official associations have been created, as the mentioned ECRE. They fight for the romani interests in all the levels. The progress, then, although very slowly, is taking place: now, at least, it is already recognized the gipsies as an ethnic minority in countries like Bulgaria , Hungary and Slovakia (Brearley, 1996). In fact, most pessimistic people in this aspect, even recognize the political success of the Rom in Hungary , and they point to the way in that the State in both countries has encouraged to the mobilization of the romani efforts. However, it is not necessary to stop to admit that the base of the political power of the gipsies in many central and oriental European countries is still located in way broken into fragments under the domain of the national level (Barany, 1995, 1998). The situation in this aspect should improve, mainly if all the nations of central Europe and of the East pass to be part, in a next future, of the European Union.

Listing of associations and official organizations that they veil today for the equality and for the rights of the gipsies in all the countries of Europe.

 

Some aspirations of the european gipsies

The gipsies aspire to change many of the circumstances that condition their existence negatively and to promote the customs that make of them a town united in the diversity and culturally rich. These are some of the accusations, observations and aspirations of the European romà, many of them inspired by the conclusions of the celebrated Gipsy Youth's I European Congress from the 6 to November 9 1997 in Barcelona.

Legal aspects. The rights of the town romaṇ should be captured in a European Letter of the Rights of the Romà that it recognizes to this community like cultural ethnic minority no government and it facilitate an overwhelming and continuous action of the public powers to put control to the anti-gipsies criminal actions.

As much the European Union as the Council of Europe should be endowed of representative structures of the cultural minorities that, as the gipsy town, they play an excellent paper in the attainment of the unit of the communities that integrate Europe without constituting a State and living dispersed for the whole European territory. The community states should apply the recommendations, resolutions, agreements and emanated treaties of the European Union, the Council of Europe and the Organization for the Security and the Cooperation in Europe, whose end is the protection of the rights of the national minorities and, very especially, of those they make explicit mention to the romani rights.

An office of the gipsy rights. It is indispensable that the European authorities revise their asylum politicians and migration. The creation of an international office for the information, orientation and advice for the rights of the town romà would be of great help in the solution of these problems.

The youths bet for their culture. The young European romà manifests their desire to find a road that allows to get the social and cultural well-being of their town and their full incorporation to the European plural society. This implies the necessary conservation of their cultural patrimony and of their traditions.

The romanó should arrive at the schools. The romany language must be considered as one more of the languages minority Europeans of the European Letter of the Regional and Minority Languages althought this language has not own territory. The public powers and the organizations romanè should start for the teaching of the romany in the public schools. The protection of the literature of this language is imposed establishing a politics of promotion of the literary creations in the same one.

To recover cultural values. A program of multidisciplinar investigation and international should be carried out. This has to gathers the ethnographical material and culminate with the establishment of a European museum of the romany culture. The institutions public Europeans should guide a project of European school of romany music and to propitiate the conclusion of the works of the Romany Enciclopedia collaborating in their diffusion.

To incorporate the romany culture to the curricular contents. It is necessary to facilitate to the young romà the access to the education not only primary, but also secondary and university student. The responsible institutions should facilitate the realization of an official project of the faculty's formation that facilitates the later introduction of the concepts referred to the inter-cultural education in the schools. It is very important the gipsy mediator's figure as valid instrument to achieve the sensitization of the roimany families and of the school centers in general. The young romà is interested in the creation of a European Net of Juvenile Romany Associations with the purpose of to be kept in mind.

The paper of the gipsy women youths. It is indispensable the recognition of the list of the gipsy women youths as much inside their community as in the group of the society. The respect to the tradition demands that this society adapts to the times and current circumstances. This is one of the responsibilities of the young romà that in constant dialogue with their adults should go discarding, for obsolete, all those practices that harm the development of the women gipsies as people. It is important the creation of a European Net of Gipsy Women.

The housing conditions and health. A high percentage of population's romany european dissipates in infra- homes and in insane plces, what causes that many people suffer a wide group of illnesses. To foment the improvement of the conditions of health it is necessary to act in diverse fronts: adaptation of the unhealthy places, sensitization of the professionals of the health, facilitation of the access to the normalized services of health and campaigns of sanitary prevention. The institutions must start. These performances do not must only limit to the housing, but rather they must also assist to their environment and they will always have the affected advice of the own ones. It is necesary that the European, national, regional and local institutions, together with the gipsy organizations undertake actions of promotion of the formation and of the employment to make possible that the romà reaches better levels of life.

To observe how these social conditions are captured in the sociolinguistic dimension of the romany languages:

Current socilinguistic situation of the romany language in Europe

- Information and images taken of:

Peter Vermeersch: "The Roma in domestic and international politics: an emerging voice?; Morag Goodwin: "Visibility on the international stage: The ERRC delegation at the World Conference Against Racism"; Anna Cervenakova: "Institutionalised racism and Roma". Papers taken of the web page of Roma Rights

Colin Clark: "Counting Backwards: the Roma 'numbers game' in Central and Eastern Europe"

Web page of the association Unión Romaní