ČAČIPEN PAL O ROMA a Global Report on Roma in Slovakia Edition

Edition SLOVAKIA IN MOTION ČAČIPEN PAL O ROMA A Global report on Roma in Slovakia INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC AFFAIRS This publication appears thanks to the generous support of: Office of the Public Affairs of The United States Embassy in Bratislava Grant No. SLO 10002GR083 Open Society Institute Log−In ID: 40003951; Project Code: B9008 Log−In ID: 40004699; Project Code: B9008 ČAČIPEN PAL O ROMA A Global Report on Roma in Slovakia Michal Vašečka, Martina Jurásková, and Tom Nicholson Editors Katarína Bezáková Eva Končoková Iveta Radičová Ján Cangár Alena Kotvanová Ingrid Repová Stanislav Cina Milan Kováč Silvia Rigová Ivana Černáková Elena Kriglerová Eleónora Sándor Roman Džambazovič Zuzana Kumanová Boris Strečanský Marek Harakaľ Natália Kušnieriková Attila Szép Eva Haviarová Jarmila Lajčáková Peter Šaško Daniela Hivešová−Šilanová Adriana Lamačková Michal Šebesta Ivan Hriczko Tibor Loran Ľudmila Šimčáková Balázs Jarábik Mária Maczejková Anna Tkáčová Martina Jurásková Kristína Magdolénová Adrián Tokár Milan Jurík Jozef Majchrák Zdeněk Uherek Anna Jurová Alexander Mušinka Boris Vaňo Zuzana Kollárová Karel A. Novák Imrich Vašečka Stanislava Kompaníková Peter Puliš Michal Vašečka From the Departure From the Homeland to the First Assimilation Measures • The Roma from the Reign of Empress Mária Terézia until the First Czechoslovak Republic • The Roma During the First Czechoslovak Republic, the Second Czechoslovak Republic, and the First Slovak State • The Roma from 1945 until November 1989 • The Roma on the Verge of Transformation • The Ethnic Identity of the Roma • The Roma Language and its Standardization • The Religious Life of the Roma and the Activities of the Church in Relation to the Roma • The Cultural Activities of the Roma • Roma Media • The Legal and Institutional Framework of the “Roma Issue” • International Documents Concerning the Roma • Perspectives of Affirmative Action in Slovakia • The Roma Issue in Local Social Policy • The Roma as a Topic of Debate for Political Parties • The Roma Political Scene • The Roma and the Third Sector • Approach to the Roma Issue by Local and Foreign Donors • Relationship of the Majority Population to the Roma • Relationship of the Roma to the Majority Population • Depiction of the Roma in the Media • Forms and Scope of Roma Discrimination in Slovakia • The Roma as the Target of Political Extremism • Roma Population Demographic Trends • The Roma Family: On the Border Between Tradition and Modernity • Social exclusion of Roma in Slovakia • The Roma and the Labor Market • Roma Living Strategies • Roma Housing • Roma Health • The Roma in the Education System and the Alternative Education Projects • Educational Attitudes and Aspirations of the Roma • Roma Migration from Slovakia • Multiculturalism and Inclusion as Solutions to the Roma Issue Institute for Public Affairs Bratislava 2003 ČAČIPEN PAL O ROMA A Global Report on Roma in Slovakia Michal Vašečka, Martina Jurásková, and Tom Nicholson Editors 4 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The Global Report on the Roma in Slovakia Zuzana Pobočíková, as well as the United is the product of the concentrated efforts of States Information Service, who provided many people. The authors answered the edi− funds to publish this book. Our thanks go tors’ vision with high−quality content, while also to Gabriela Farnbauerová from Kal− the assistants ensured that the data and inter− ligram Computing for the excellent graphic pretations were relevant. Yet the book would design, and to Andrea Labudová from the never have been possible without the care− Max & Friends Creative Studio for the book’s ful translation work of Katarína Kollárová cover design. and Marcel Hlbočan, who translated all the chapters, and Ben Novak, who carefully We should also thank Miroslav Kollár, who proofread the final version. provided valuable technical assistance to the editors, Zuzana Roy for handling the finan− We would also like to thank the Foundation cial agenda, and the entire staff of the Insti− for the Support of Civic Activities and tute for Public Affairs for their moral support. Michal Vašečka Martina Jurásková Tom Nicholson editors 5 6 PREFACE This book is the result of the concentrated ef− deep knowledge of the past failures that forts of dozens of experts in minority issues followed flawed solutions. Positive and in Slovakia. It is published at a time when the successful solutions require clear and com− European Commission, after successfully plete data, expert opinions, and the results wrapping up the integration process, is ask− of research. ing Slovakia to increase its efforts to find positive solutions for the problems of the The aim of the Global Report on the Roma Roma, as well as for the corruption that ex− in Slovakia is to make information on the ists in all walks of life. This pressure from the Slovak Roma minority and the state’s Roma international community to solve the “Roma policy available to the public. The work also issue” is easy to understand. It is not just that outlines the prerequisites of a successful so− in failing to solve the important questions lution to the complex of problems jointly related to the Roma, Slovakia will cast doubt referred to as “the Roma issue”. Such infor− on the positive steps it has taken towards lib− mation is very scarce in Slovakia, and many eral democracy and a mature economy; nor existing analyses do not deal with the topic does the issue merely involve a utilitarian in sufficient depth. In recent years, warnings attempt by the European Union to force a de− that Slovakia lacked complex sources of in− manding solution from a future member formation on the issue that would allow a state. The most important motive remains the long−term approach in projects leading to fact that problems related to the ethnicization change were sounded mainly by interna− of poverty, social exclusion, and the tional organizations. In addition to the gen− marginalization of minorities are very famil− eral shortage of information, the information iar in most post industrial countries. Slovakia that is available is scattered, while some too cannot avoid making fundamental minor topics related to the Roma issue have changes in the approach it has hitherto taken not been dealt with at all. to the Roma issue. This book speaks of the potential that Slovakia has to launch these Thus, at the beginning of the 21st century, changes. there was a clear need for a publication that would summarize what is known about the The Roma issue is becoming one of the Roma in an academically precise form. most serious social, cultural, and civiliza− Many Roma issue experts noted that vari− tion problems of the 21st century in Slova− ous reports seeking to provide comprehen− kia. Solutions to these issues require not sive coverage of the issue had already been only political will and courage, but also a published; however, as this issue is excep− vision of a multicultural Slovakia, and tionally broad, most of these reports, which 7 did not aim to create a complex analysis, ferentiate between individual subgroups in were inadequate. the Roma population. Although the Roma are perceived as a homogenous group by the The Institute for Public Affairs (IVO), after majority population, which results in a uni− several years of experience in publishing the fied approach being taken to the Roma and Global Report on the State of Society, aspires their needs, the minority is in fact extremely to fill the gap with this book. The IVO lis− heterogeneous. The authors of the Global tened to the opinions of leading Roma issue Report recommend that the complicated in− experts, while the concept and lineup of ternal structure of the Roma population be chapters was prepared by sociologist and taken into account when preparing policy. IVO analyst Michal Vašečka, the book’s Otherwise, Slovakia is bound to repeat the eventual editor. The Global Report on the mistakes of the past, thus increasing the frus− Roma in Slovakia covers 8 broad topics, and tration of both the majority population and includes 34 chapters prepared by 45 differ− the Roma. ent experts, whose work was reviewed by 18 readers. That some Roma−related topics had All chapters in the Global Report on the been neglected in the past was very apparent Roma in Slovakia have the same framework in the lack of relevant sources of information. of values. The authors agree that: This was also the case with Roma authors – • the Roma issue represents a combination despite the editors’ desire to include as many of ethnic and social problems, which must Roma authors as possible, only five were all be taken into account when preparing ultimately represented in the book. public policy; • the Roma issue is extraordinarily difficult The Global Report on the Roma in Slovakia to grasp, but is one that can be solved; aspires to be a complex report that will serve • the approach to the Roma in Slovakia as a reader for everyone who is interested in should be based on desegregating the the Roma, and as a basis for the political and Roma; societal elites in Slovakia in the process of • the Roma population is extremely hetero− EU expansion. This is what made the editors’ geneous, and must be approached as such; work so demanding – it was extraordinarily • coordination and mutual awareness are key difficult to make the text suit both target elements in preparing any public policy; groups: academic readers, and “policy−mak− • all solutions to the Roma issue must focus ers” who do not want and do not have time on two target groups: the Roma and the to look for information elsewhere. The au− majority population; thors thus emphasized the measures (poli− • considering the growing self−conscious− cies) taken to address the Roma issue, and ness of the Roma, we must begin speaking described the present situation and its causes. of a Roma nation, not just a Roma ethnic By interconnecting the individual topics, the group.

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