Regional Office for CEE/CIS
Social and Economic Policy for Children
Discussion Paper ISSUE #7 (March 2007)
Romani Children in South East Europe
The challenge of overcoming centuries of
distrust and discrimination
Executive Summary............................................................................................................. 4
Introduction
The challenge: overcoming centuries of distrust and discrimination............................. 7
Part 1
The situation of Romani children: poverty and little access to public services............. 8
Exact size of Romani population unknown............................................................................................8
For too many, invisibility for lack of identity documents....................................................................10
Social exclusion and discrimination, leading to higher levels of poverty and deprivation.................11
Inadequate housing, often in isolated or segregated areas.................................................................15
Out-of-reach or substandard healthcare.............................................................................................15
Systematic segregation into low-quality educational programmes.....................................................17
Segregation of Romani children into lower-quality schools or classes...............................................19
Placement in remedial schools, a failure of both the education and the social protection systems....19
High drop-out rates, especially among girls.......................................................................................20
A new heightened interest in educational achievement.......................................................................21
The family: strong relations, with tensions between tradition and the desire for inclusion................22
Part 2
The Decade of Roma Inclusion – will children benefit? ................................................ 24
CRC principles: the standard for policies affecting children..............................................................24
The Decade’s objectives: combating poverty and social exclusion ....................................................25
Insufficient efforts to address the lack of personal documents............................................................26
Attention to employment: a good start, but broader approach required to reduce the levels of poverty
and deprivation ...................................................................................................................................27
Little attention to children’s needs in upgrading of Romani settlements............................................29
A positive mix of strategies to improve children’s health, but still some gaps....................................29
Desegregation and improved educational opportunities: a major thrust in all countries.................31
Part 3
Conclusions and recommendations................................................................................ 32
Improved data collection for planning and monitoring progress .......................................................35
Ending discrimination .........................................................................................................................35
Ensuring the realisation of all rights for all children .........................................................................36
References:......................................................................................................................... 37
