On the Margins: Roma and Public Services in Slovakia

On the Margins SLOVAKIA Roma and Public Services in Slovakia A Call to Action to Improve Romani Access to Social Protection, Health Care, and Housing By Ina Zoon Edited by Mark Norman Templeton On the Margins SLOVAKIA Roma and Public Services in Slovakia On the Margins SLOVAKIA Roma and Public Services in Slovakia A Call to Action to Improve Romani Access to Social Protection, Health Care, and Housing By Ina Zoon Edited by Mark Norman Templeton A report to the OPEN SOCIETY INSTITUTE ©2001 by the Open Society Institute. All rights reserved. ISBN 1891385240 Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data A CIP catalog record for this book is available upon request. Published by the Open Society Institute 400 West 59th Street, New York, NY 10019 USA On the Margins–Slovakia is the second OSI report on Roma and public services, following On the Margins, which covered Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, and the Czech Republic. The Open Society Institute funded the preparation and publication of both reports. OSI is at the center of a worldwide network of founda- tions and programs committed to promoting the development and maintenance of open society by operat- ing and supporting an array of initiatives in educational, social, and legal reform. The report was researched and written by Ina Zoon, a Romanian human rights activist who has worked on Romani issues for much of the past decade. She currently lives in Madrid and works as a consultant to OSI and others. She is a member of the board of directors of the European Roma Rights Center. The report was edited by Mark Norman Templeton, a 1999 graduate of the Yale Law School, a senior edi- tor of the Yale Law Journal, and student director of the Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic. A 1999–2000 Robert L. Bernstein Fellow in International Human Rights, he worked on human rights issues in South and Southeast Asia, based in Bangkok, Thailand. For More Information, Contact: Ina Zoon Tel: + 34 91 715 24 50 Fax: + 34 91 351 18 54 E-mail: [email protected] Deborah A. Harding Vice President Open Society Institute Tel: (212) 548-0132 E-mail: [email protected] On the Margins online: www.soros.org/romaandpublicservices Designed by Jeanne Criscola/Criscola Design Printed in the United States of America by Herlin Press, Inc. Cover photo: ©Rolf Bauerdick Contents Foreword ix Acknowledgments xiii Map xiv Executive Summary 1 Legal Standards 7 1. International Standards 8 2. European Standards 12 2.1. European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms 13 2.2. Council of the European Union Directive 2000/43/EC of 29 June 2000 14 2.3. Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities 16 2.4. Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe: Statements and Standards 16 2.5. The European Social Charter and Revised European Social Charter 17 3. National Standards 18 v Barriers to Social Protection 21 1. Poverty and Unemployment in Slovakia 22 2. Social Assistance Regulations and Discrimination in the Labor Market 23 2.1. Official categories of poverty 23 2.2. Discrimination in hiring and Romani poverty 25 3. Social Assistance Programs 27 3.1. Social benefits 27 3.2. Benefits for children and parents 28 3.3. Benefits for furnishings and utilities 28 4. Impact on the Roma of Eligibility Requirements and Recipient Responsibilities 29 4.1. Objective and subjective reasons for material hardship 29 4.1.1. Indirect discrimination 29 4.1.2. Direct discrimination 34 4.2. Means test 35 4.3. Residence requirements 36 5. Other Barriers to Social Protection 38 5.1. Illegal retrospective application of Social Assistance Act requirements 38 5.2. Imposition of additional extralegal requirements for social loans 39 5.3. Denial of social benefits for Romani returnees 39 5.4. Lack of knowledge about programs 42 5.5. Poor relations between social workers and Roma 42 6. Inadequate Remedies for Racial Discrimination 43 7. Roma as “Unworthy” Beneficiaries of the Social Welfare System 45 Lack of Adequate Health Care 49 1. General Status of Romani Health in Slovakia 49 2. Health Care Rights and Access to Health Care Insurance 51 2.1. Health care rights 51 2.2. Access to health care insurance 51 3. Direct Discrimination 52 3.1. Attitudes of medical personnel 52 3.2. Doctors’ refusal to care for Romani victims of skinhead attacks or police brutality 53 3.2.1. Poor medical treatment for victims of racist attacks 53 3.2.2. Doctors’ refusal to document injuries from racial attacks 55 3.3. Limited access to gynecological care 57 3.4. Segregation in health care facilities 59 4. Sterilization 62 4.1. Sterilization campaigns before 1989 62 4.2. Calls to curb growth of Romani population in the 1990s 66 4.3. Alleged recent sterilizations 67 5. Legal Provisions That Have a Disparate Impact on Roma 70 6. Other Health Care Concerns 71 6.1. Vaccinations and vaccine preventable diseases 71 7. Access to Emergency Services 73 vi CONTENTS Lack of Adequate Housing 77 1. Romani Housing in Slovakia 78 2. Political and Popular Support for Direct Discrimination 80 3. Direct Discrimination 82 3.1. Direct discrimination in residence status determinations 82 3.2. Denial of official residence status 83 3.3. Municipal prohibition of Romani residence 84 4. Access to Municipal Services 85 4.1. Electricity 85 4.2. Transportation 86 4.3. Garbage collection 87 4.4. Water 88 5. Ghettoization of the Roma: Concentration, Eviction, and Segregation 90 5.1. Concentration 90 5.2. Eviction 92 5.3. Segregation 93 Recommendations 95 Endnotes 103 CONTENTS vii Foreword Mounds of garbage were piled along the narrow, rutted streets of Shuto Orizari, a Romani neighborhood in the capital city of Macedonia. “When is the trash collected?” I asked my Macedonian companions. “Every once in a while.” “When is the next bus?” “There is no bus line.” “Hospital?” “No hospital.” “Who lives here?” “Just the Roma.” This was Skopje. But it could have been almost any city in any of the other countries of East Central Europe. The visit to Shuto Orizari prompted me to ask Ina Zoon to begin work on these studies of the Roma and their access to public services in countries that, since the fall of communism in Eastern Europe, have been building democratic governments. On the Margins–Slovakia is a companion volume to Zoon’s first study, which examined Bulgaria, ix Macedonia, Romania, and the Czech Republic. A democracy with deep roots strives to treat its minority group members as equals. But if the treatment of the Roma is used as a measure to judge the democratic credentials of the Eastern European states, they fail. These democracies grew out of revolutions led by students, intellectuals, and dissidents who had high ideals. Their goals were freedom for themselves and their fellow citizens, without exceptions. Once in power, however, the new leaders of these newly democratic states did not stand up for the Roma. They failed to defend the constitutionally guaranteed right of the Roma to equal treatment under the law. They implemented policies that further marginalized the Roma. These elected leaders did not ﬁght societal discrimination, either direct or indirect. They did not dismantle the policies that continue to keep the Roma down. Today, however, a valuable opportunity to bring about change is at hand. The European Union is now considering increasing its membership by open- ing its doors to the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. It is scrutinizing each acces- sion candidate’s political commitment to equal protection, the rule of law, and the treatment of minorities. Slovakia is among the candidates for admission. This report makes clear the work that lies ahead for Slovakia before its laws and the implementation of its laws are brought into accordance with EU standards. Until now, scant attention has been paid to how the social policies of new East- ern European governments have affected the Roma. Human rights groups, international donors, and Western governments have largely focused on the treatment of Roma in the criminal justice system. This report, an inside portrait of the Roma and their equal access to the public services of social protection, health care, and housing, lays down a challenge to the new leaders and their counterparts in the West. It outlines recommendations that must be adopted before new democracies such as Slovakia join the ranks of the European Union members. Ina Zoon’s report is a sobering account of how the Roma are excluded from public services. The report drives home the reality of Romani lives—the widespread discrimination that the Roma face each day—whether in policies, laws, indiffference, or hostility. In the four countries reviewed in Zoon’s first volume, Roma are as much as 7 percent of the population. In Slovakia, Roma are believed to be 10 percent of the population. Most of them are semiliterate, unskilled, and unemployed. Government policies that stigmatize and exclude Roma are creating a permanent underclass that will burden the fragile economies of states in transition. Over the next decade, unless the poli- x FOREWORD cies are changed, this burden will become more onerous as these states suffer a deficit of skilled laborers in the work force. The easiest, and perhaps least costly, solution to the lack of educated, skilled workers in the Romani population could be found in desegregation of schools. Romani children should be educated along with non-Romani children. This would be less expen- sive than having parallel school systems and would also help impede the development of two separate, unequal societies.

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