Third Migration Mirjam Karoly
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PROJECT EDUCATION OF ROMA | HISTORY ROMA CHILDREN COUNCIL CONSEIL OF EUROPE DE L´EUROPE IN EUROPE THIRD 7.0 MIGRATION Third Migration Mirjam Karoly Migration in the Course of Recruiting “Foreign Workers” | Going West – The Fall of the Iron Curtain | Looking for Political Asylum – Migration since the Mid-90s | Fleeing War in Former Yugoslavia | Being a Migrant in a Foreign Country After the first appearance of Roma in Europe and the wave of emigration after slavery was abolished in Romania (“Second Migration”, around 1850), the last migratory movement of Roma from Eastern to Western Europe took place in the second half of the 20th century. This “third migration” has to be considered in connection with external factors: war, political changes and the resulting economic crises made many people leave their country of origin; in the Roma’s case, massive racism and discrimination in all areas of everyday life have to be added. THE NETHERLANDS 1 SWEDEN REFUGEES FROM HUNGARY IN 1956 MAIN ROUTES OF THE During the Hungarian Uprising in 1956, 150.000 peo- GERMANY ple fled Hungary, among them many Roma, particularly GRAT BRITAIN RD 3 MIGRATION Lovara families, who were received mainly in Austria. Ill. 1 FOREIgn WORKERS, 2 1960s AND 1970s Yugoslavian Roma, mostly from the poorer regions of FRANCE Serbia, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Bosnia-Herzegovina emigrated to Western Europe, the AUSTRIA strongest migration taking place in Italy, Austria, Ger- SWITZERLAND many, France, and the Netherlands. USA 1 3 HUngARY ROMANIA REFUGEES FROM 3 ROMANIA, 1990-1995 ITALY ASYLUM-SEEKERS FROM 4 BOSNIA-HERCEGOVINA, 1991-1995 4,2 Ten thousand Roma fled the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina BOSNIA SERBIA from 1991 to 1995, and demanded political asylum in Aust- 2 ria, Italy, Sweden, Great Britain, Germany and Switzerland. 5 REFUGEES FROM KOSOVO*, 5 KOSOVO 1998-1999 ALBANIA 2 * All reference to Kosovo, whether to the territory, institu- FORMER YUGOSLAV REPUBLIC tions or population, in this text shall be understood in full OF MACEDONIA compliance with United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244 and without prejudice to the status of Kosovo InTRODUCTION are, like all other migrants (or refugees), count 200,000 to 280,000 Roma migra- people who left their home country in ting from East to West, settling primari- Up to this day, the picture of the “Gy- order to achieve a better standard of li- ly in the neighbouring countries of the psy” has been determined by the roman- ving in the medium or long term, or who former Eastern Block, such as Germany, tic transfigured idea of a “free”, “vaga- need immediate protection or asylum. Austria, and Italy. Compared to the ge- bond” way of life. The Roma are often [Ills. 2, 3] neral trend of the East-West migration, seen as a very “mobile”, “lightly migra- Statements about the Roma’s the Roma’s share is quite low. ting” population. But in fact, the over- numbers are based on estimations in In some Western European whelming majority of Roma today are the whole of Europe, because many do countries the Roma who immigrated sedentary. Thus, migratory movements not register themselves as Roma in the over the last decades make up a con- of Roma in the second half of the 20th censi. Moreover, it is nationality, and siderable part of the overall Roma po- century can mostly be put down to ex- not ethnic affiliation of migrants that pulation. For instance, estimations say ternal factors, such as war, political and is being registered in the target coun- that about 80% of the Swedish Roma economic instability, racism, discrimi- tries; hence the number of Roma mi- are Roma from former Yugoslavia, nation or systematic violation of human grants and refugees in Western Europe Finland, Poland, the Czech Republic, rights. In this way, the migrating Roma can only be estimated. Some estimates Slovakia, and Hungary. Migration in the Course of Recruiting “Foreign Workers” Going West – The Fall of the Iron Curtain NUMBER OF ROMA, BY COUNTRY Ill. 2 Number of Roma, by country. ment reports provided to the UN Comittee Italy, Moldova, the Netherlands, Poland, on the Elimination of Racial Discrimina- Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom). Sources: The national statistical bureaus of tion; government reports provided to the The source of the column “Estimate” are the countries included that were consulted Council of Europe’s Committee on the Fra- NGO estimates provided in Liègeois and are: CIA World Factbook (Washington, mework Convention; “N/A” indicate that Gheorghe (1995). D.C.); the European Union “Regular Re- official data is not available. Some coun- * Census 2001 ** Census 1991 ports of the Candidate Countries for Mem- tries have provided official estimates (see bership in the European Union”; govern- for example Finland, Germany, Greece, (from Roma Rights 1/2004, p. 9f) “Gastarbeiter” (immigrant workers, rated to Western Europe, the strongest MIGRATION IN THE COURSE OF literally “guest workers”) in German migration taking place in Italy, Aust- RECRUITING usage since 1968, had been recruited ria, Germany, France, and the Nether- “FOREIGN WORKERS” mainly from Spain, Greece, Turkey lands. Many of them were employed and Yugoslavia. A considerable part in factories or in the building trade, At the beginning of the 1960s, some of them were Roma. Most of them others worked as seasonal workers. Western European countries star- came from former Yugoslavia, which, The vast majority already had a per- ted to cover their need for – mainly unlike the rest of the Communist manent employment on their arrival, manual – workers by recruiting fo- Block, offered a liberal travelling po- others tried their luck. Commuting to reign workers. For example, Austria licy. From 1965 onwards, the Yugos- the country of origin was common, opened an official recruitment of- lavian authorities officially permitted and many Roma used the money they fice in Istanbul in 1964. As a conse- and controlled work migration, a few had earned for houses in their home quence, about one hundred thousand years later it was already possible to country. Even though at first this mig- people willing to work, mainly as travel to Western Europe with a simple ration was intended for a limited time unskilled workers, were brought to tourist visa. Yugoslavian Roma, most- only, the link to the host country be- Western Europe. [Ill. 4] ly from the poorer regions of Serbia, came stronger over the years, and fi- These so-called “foreign wor- Former Yugoslav Republic of Mace- nally the centre of life was moved to kers”, who have generally been called donia and Bosnia-Herzegovina emig- the new home country. [Ill. 5] 2 3 COUNCIL OF EUROPE ROMA | HISTORY PROJECT EDUCATION OF ROMA CHILDREN IN EUROPE THIRD 7.0 MIGRATION THE ABRACADABRA OF ROMANI STATISTICS It is widely accepted that reliable demographic and social statistics on the Roma are nonexistent. [...] The reason for this can be traced to the Roma and government authorities, both of whom have found it undesirable to collect Roma- related statistics. Roma have little reason to trust “Gadže” (non-Roma) with notebooks and questionnaires visiting their ghettos. Authorities and the media have been ambi- valent at best [...] At present, Roma-related statistics are trapped in a set of legal and policy problems, including data protection laws, constitutional rights to choose freely one’s ethnic identity, and the needs for ethnically coded dis- aggregated data for anti-discrimination agendas. It should be noted that Roma in some countries are reluctant to reveal their identity. Of the countries with large Romani populati- ons, Bulgaria is an example of a country in which the gap between census data and estimates is relatively small: esti- mates are only about double census data. [...] In contrast, the Czech Roma present a real statistical puzzle. While both government and independent sources estimate that approxi- mately a quarter of a million Roma live in the country, the most recent (2001) census gave the number as 11,716 [...]. Ill. 4 Ill. 3 (from Roma Rights 1/2004, p. 8ff.) Arrival of immigrant workers in Vienna, April 1964. (from Gürses et al. 2004, p. 92) Dragan, who was taught the traditional kettle making by his time, but the opportunity for earning money was so tempting father, never thought of staying in Vienna: “In 1970 when that Dragan and Mirza are still (…) living in Austria (…). the first child was born, Dragan and Mirza went to Austria In the meantime, they had built a house in Serbia, which is to earn more money, their daughter stayed with her grand- not used anymore. Dragan’s father died, and his mother and parents in Serbia. The second child, born in 1971, did not children moved to Vienna. Both children are married and have enough space in the small worker home in Vienna, eit- have children of their own.” her. The couple wanted to stay in Austria only for a short Ill. 5 (translated from Heinschink / Hemetek 1994, p. 181f.) nomic changes which had left, particu- the “Gypsies” were easy targets. For in- GOING WEST – THE FALL OF larly, the workers in the unprofitable stance, the Czech newspaper “Express” THE IRON CURTAIN large state combines unemployed. The warned in an article that appeared on Roma were among the biggest losers July 2, 1990, that the “Gypsy” ’s fertili- The initial euphoria at the fall of the Iron in this transition phase. They had often ty could cause a “catastrophe”, leading Curtain in 1989 was soon gone. Contra- been employed as unskilled workers, to the result “that within a century the ry to the desired approach of East and hence with their dismissal they had also country may well have to be renamed West, disapproval grew, on the part of lost all hopes for future work.