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Statement by the Children's Rights Alliance: Roma Crisis

Jillian van Turnhout, Chief Executive of the Childrens Rights Alliance said:

The Childrens Rights Alliance would like to commend the work of Pavee Point over the past two months in relation to the Roma families living on the M50 roundabout near Ballymun. Pavee Point has played a supportive and critical role in highlighting the appalling living conditions faced by the Roma families. They have advocated in a constructive and sensitive manner for the Irish State to provide crisis intervention to the families who are living without adequate shelter or basic services.

Pavee Point echoed the Alliances concern that State intervention was necessary to support and protect the children of the Roma families, as their living conditions were so dire. The HSE has a statutory responsibility to protect and promote the welfare of all the children in the State, regardless of a childs residency status or nationality.

The Childrens Rights Alliance wishes to commend all the voluntary and statutory bodies who are working to provide a positive outcome for the Roma families. We urge that any measures taken are sensitive to the needs and rights of the Roma children and minimise the distress caused by their current situation.

The reality for Roma children in Romania has been well documented at both UN and European level.

UNICEF

A 2007 report by UNICEF (Breaking the Cycle of Exclusion: Roma Children in South East Europe) notes that:

Roma children suffer from poverty, discrimination and a lack of prospects for their future in eight states of South East Europe: Albania, Bosnia Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Kosovo, FYR Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania and Serbia.

Roma children in these countries are among the poorest and most excluded members of society. They lack access to adequate housing, health care, education and social services. A significant number are not registered at birth. Wide-spread discrimination and physical segregation keep Roma on the margins of society and help perpetuate the cycle of poverty and exclusion from one generation to the next.

Statistics from this report:

Health: Two thirds of the Roma households have not enough to eat. Children are less frequently vaccinated and their families cannot afford medicine when they are ill. Twenty per cent of the children are not healthy compared to seven percent of children from non-Roma families.

School attendance: Roma children are seriously disadvantaged as far as school attendance is concerned. If they are enrolled at all they usually go to Roma schools only, which are ill equipped and lack qualified teachers. Roma children are very often referred to schools for children with special needs the reasons for that appear specious.

Level of education: A relatively high percentage of Roma children enter school. Unfortunately very few of them complete even primary education. The data shows that the chances of Roma going on to secondary and higher education are much reduced in comparison to non-Roma children.

UN Committee on the Rights of the Child

In 2003, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child examined Romanias progress on childrens rights. In relation to Romanias treatment of Roma children, while the Committee welcomed some positive developments, it also expressed concern at the negative attitudes and prejudices of the general public, in the political discourse and media representations as well as at incidents of police brutality and discriminatory behaviour on the part of some teachers and doctors.

Ends.

Key report:

UNICEF: Breaking the cycle of exclusion: Roma children in South East Europe. (March 2007) Benno Neeleman
www.unicef.org/ceecis/070305-Subregional_Study_Roma_Children.pdf [PDF]

Further information: