Romas’ Rights Have Been Discussed In The Council of Europe

02 April 2012

One of the main topics of the meeting of the Committee on migration, refugees and replaced persons of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, held on March 29, 2012 in Brussels, was the legal situation of Romas in the European countries. Despite for the members of PACE, representing various countries the meeting was attended by the invited leaders of organizations of Roma of Europe.

The Chairman of Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, Mustafa Jemilev spoke at the session as a member of the PACE Committee from Ukraine, telling about the tragic destiny of Crimean Romas who were subjected to destruction by the Nazis during the occupation in accordance with the racist theory on “inferior peoples”, but many of them escaped to a considerable extent due to Crimean Tatars and then were subjected again to the genocide and deportation by the Soviet regime along with the Crimean Tatar people  in 1944.

In his report Mustafa Jemilev has rejected flatly the existing in some European countries prejudices and pseudo-theories about the allegedly genetic bias of Romas towards vagrancy, begging and other similar propensities on an example of Crimean Romas who almost fully integrated into Crimean Tatar community, as well as referring to the status of Romas in Turkey were they enjoy the full citizenship rights and take the most active part in the cultural and public life of Turkey.

In conclusion of the discussion the Committee adopted the draft project of the Memorandum on the situation with Romas in Europe, composed by the MP of Germany Mrs. Anetta Gross. The Memorandum condemns the facts of discrimination and spreading of various insinuations by the Mass Media against the Roma people, as well as becoming lately more frequent the facts of deportation of Romas from a range of the European countries (France, Italy and Germany).

On the same day the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas Hammarberg made the statement in the Belgian newspaper “European Voice” saying that Europe must admit its illegal violent actions against Romas and establish the special European commission on elimination of such actions in the future.