Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights CPRSI Newsletter August 1996 Vol.2 No. 4 A group numerically inferior to the rest of the population of the state, in a non-dominant position, whose members being nationals of the State - possess ethnic, religious or linguistic characteristics differing from those of the rest of the population and show, if only implicitly, a sense of solidarity, directed towards presenting their culture, traditions, religion or language. INSIDE THIS ISSUE: Editorial............................................................................................................................... The Travelling Communities - History, Culture and Educational Opportunities, by Arthur Ivatts ..................................................................................................................................... Roma As National Minority, by Noboru Miyawaki ............................................................... The Marginalisation of Gypsies (Exerts), by Helen O'Nions LL.M.................................... Czech Photoproject.............................................................................................................. Book reviews: Struggling for Ethnic Identity............................................................................................... The Great Gypsy Round-Up................................................................................................. Reports submitted to the CPRSI.............................................................................................. _____________________________________________________________________ CPRSI Newsletter is published quarterly by OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights Krucza 36/Wspolna 6 00-522 Warsaw, Poland e-mail: [email protected] please address comments to Ilya Belkin EDITORIAL THE TRAVELLING COMMUNITIES History, Culture and Educational The current developments in Europe show Opportunities that Roma regardless of their social status, are confronted with hostility, which by The phrase “Travelling Communities” is many is perceived as a result of social used to cover those identifiable, some of prejudices. In order to solve this problem it which have minority ethnic status, who is not enough to initiate only welfare or either are, or have been traditionally development projects. Roma must be associated with a nomadic lifestyle, and granted guarantees for the protection of include Gypsy Travellers, Fairground civil liberties. This means a change in the families (or Showpeople), Circus families, political status of the Roma toward New Travewllers, and other families living political, social and ethnic self- on boats. determination. Gypsy travellers are by far the largest In order to help Roma people in Europe to group among Travelling communities and identify their ethnic status as a minority we constitute a recognised minority ethnic have decided to dedicate this issue of the group for the purposes of the 1976 Race CPRSI Newsletter to the problems of Relations Act. Gtypsies have lived in Roma ethnic identity as viewed from the England in substantial numbers since the different angles. beginning of the sixteenth century. Other groups of Gypsy Travelleres including In that precise context of our newsletter the those of Scottish, Welsh and Irish heritage term “minority” may be taken to refer to: share in general terms a common history. However, the defenition once proposed by In addition , there is a small but growing the UN Special Rapporteur and commonly number of Gypsies from Eastern Europe shared in most of the academic sources to with refugee status who have recently identify the status of ethnic minority might settled in south east England. There is a be limited in its objective. little doubt that Gypsies originate from nomadic Indian tribes which migrated It may, in fact, be difficult to characterize westwards probably during the ninth and ‘the Roma’. Known by different names, tenth centuries AD. At the end of the even using different labels to identify eighteenth century, a connection was themselves, the Roma comprise a relatively established between the language spoken heterogenuos set of communities that by the Gypsies and major contemporary perhaps are best understood in their own north Indian languages. Most Gypsy specific circumstances. Nevertheless, there Travellers have retained the use of their are significant commonalities that bind the inherited language. Roma together: commonalities in origin, language, culture, and historical experience Note from the erditor: in Europe. This part has been taken from the report We hope that this issue of the CPRSI from the office of Her Majesty’s Chief Newsletter will contribute to the on-going Inspector of Schools prepared by Arthur process of Roma self-determination as an R. Ivatts, which we have already used in ethnic entity in the OSCE space. We wish our previous issue to introduce the efforts you pleasant reading! of his office as regards the education of Roma. Ilya Belkin This time we would like to reproduce some findings of this report which directly correspond to the problems of Roma and and Roma are included,2 suggesting that Travelleres communities ethnic identity in the concept of national minority is not the U. K. immutable. In the meantime,"ethnic minority" does not necessarily mean a ROMA AS NATIONAL MINORITY, minority in one State. It seems that "ethinic by Noboru Miyawaki minority" would have less connection with nationaliy than "national minority" would. In the framework of the OSCE The European Commission for Democracy (Organization on Security and Co- through Law's 1991 Proposed Convention operation in Europe) the Roma minorities and Recommendation 1201, in 1993, have are be ptotected against the violation of defined "national minority" a "group which their rights. I intented to consider in what is smaller in number than the rest of the dimension they can be perceived as a polulation of a State,whose members, who national in OSCE region, with reference to are nationals of that State, have several previous works on the issue. ethinical,religious or linguistic features different from those of the rest of the The term "national minority" is vague and polulation, and are guided by the will to has more than one concept. As indicated by safeguard their culture, traditions, its words, the term may consist of two religion,or language". Under this definition, concepts: nationality and minority. I will what determines the status of "minority" dwell on what defines "minority" because inthe Roma case is whether or not the the term is "imcomplete" without reference menbers of the Roma mino-rity are to a particular ethnic, religious or linguistic nationals of the nation-state within which context. they live: only the Roma and Sinti minorities who have own culture and who In what sense can "national minority" is have nationality of the state in which they distinguished from ethinic, religious, or live would be recognized as national linguistic minority? In the subjective sense minorities. In my view this requirement of of minority, the term "national" has refer- nationaliy is unreasonable, given the ence to a "nation". A group of minority irreconcilable political and ethnic problems could incorporate itself into the nation-state that cannot be separated from the concept of which it is a mainority; or it could resist of national minority. We saw the incorporation.Whichever path it chooses, experience of the difficulty of solution of the minority should not be denied the rights ethinic conflict and we need to exclude to enjoy their own national culture if the discriminations in the dimension of nation-state is to treat all nationals on equal nationality. The ethinic conflict is closely terms. In this sense, the concept of national related to nation-state system which creates minority has larger propotion of influence the term "nationality". with conciousness than ethnic, religious or linguistic minority. In this subjective sense, Note from the editor: it seems that the some Roma minorities in many European states meet the subjective Noboru Miyawaki is an Assistant requirements of national minority.1 The Professor at the Matsuyama University, Vice-Secretary General of the Council of Japan. Euorpe said that the term "national minority" has to be defined so that Sinti 1 The arguments about this theme, see, Nicolae Gheorghe 2 and Thomas Acton, "Dealing with Romani Rose,"Sinti and Roma as National Minorities in Multiculturality",ODIHR the Countries of Europe",ODIHR Bulletin,Vol.3,No.2,Spring 1995,p.35. Bulletin,Vol.3,No.2,Spring , 1995, p.43. THE MARGINALISATION OF destined to fail, as they have done in GYPSIES (Exerts) numerous other countries, because the by Helen O'Nions LL.M. foundations upon which they are laid are misconceived. Despite the recognition that Gypsies constitute a racial group for the purposes There are estimated to be around 12,600 of the Race Gypsy families in England and Wales (D/E Relations Act 1976, they have persistently 1994) who regularly find themselves suffered discrimination and prejudice from subjected to a unique amount of abuse and the rest of society. The Criminal Justice hostility from the dominant society: and Public Order Act 1994 (hereinafter CJPOA) contains provisions which will "The history of the Romani people is a reduce the number of authorised Gypsy story of relentless persecution. From the sites available in an attempt to discourage Middle Ages to the present day,