Arbitrary surveillance of Roma in Europe

NEVADA - A newly published study on Roma (Gypsies) of Europe has expressed concern at the “arbitrary surveillance of Romani migrants and the violation of the related right to privacy”.

Eminent Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, reacting to this Study, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, said that the world and Europe should urgently act to end the apartheid of Roma people of Europe as it was a social blight for Europe in particular and humanity in general.

Funded by Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe High Commissioner on National Minorities and Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, the study titled “Recent Migration of Roma in Europe” also states: “EU (European Union) member States have also on repeated occasions expelled Roma from other EU member States. Highly publicized expulsions of Roma have been recently carried out by France, Italy, Germany, Denmark and Sweden”.

Rajan Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, commented that Roma in Europe reportedly regularly faced social exclusion, racism, substandard education, hostility, joblessness, rampant illness, inadequate housing, lower life expectancy, unrest, living on desperate margins, language barriers, stereotypes, mistrust, rights violations, discrimination, marginalization, appalling living conditions, prejudice, human rights abuse, racist slogans on Internet, etc.

This Study further points out: “The ability of Roma to access goods and services is limited throughout Europe by factors including lack of educational qualifications among significant segments of the Romani communities, as well as by ethnic or racial discrimination, driven in particular by anti-Gypsyism-that is, a widespread, deeply rooted prejudice and intolerance directed against Roma in Europe.”

The Study adds: “Authorities in some countries have apparently developed practices stopping short of deportation from the country, but which aim at making the lives of the Roma concerned miserable, in the hope that they may leave on their own. In Italy, for example, the authorities have regularly engaged in forced eviction of Romani migrants from their homes, frequently in contravention of international law, as well as involving the destruction of property. In some cases, whole Romani settlements have been summarily destroyed, and the inhabitants simply left on the street.”

Other issues of concern expressed by this Study relating to the response of public authorities to Roma migration include: ethnic profiling by police and not ensuring basic protection of the security of persons. (ANI)