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Since February 24, 2022, underground hiding places have been part of the daily life of many Ukrainians. War is raging, but it is not experienced in the same way by everyone. How does it affect the country's most vulnerable population: the Roma? These Ukrainians who are forgotten tell us. It is Friday. It is midnight in Ukraine.
Day 2 of the war. Julian Kondur left his home in Kyiv to hide in a small village not far from the city, where bombings are less frequent, but still present. He takes a few minutes to talk to us, he wants the world to know what is going on there. “I can talk to you, but if something happens, I will have to let go of the phone and go back to my hiding place,” he says right away. “On this day, the reality of Roma is no different from that of Ukrainians, reports the coordinator of the Ukrainian Roma organization Chirikli. We all want to stay with our families and defend our homes.”
Saturday afternoon, day 3. Sasha (fictional name) had a long night. A few days before the invasion of Ukraine, he was in England, where he was visiting his sister. Instead of returning home, the journalist took refuge in Slovakia with his mother-in-law. On Friday evening, his wife and daughter came to join him from Ukraine, under the sound of bombs. They managed to cross the Slovakian border. Sasha insists that Roma in Ukraine are helping the Ukrainian resistance and that this help is visible in the country. He is sending us photos of Ukrainian Roma soldiers. Despite the racism and discrimination the community faces, Sasha hopes that the war will inspire a sense of patriotism and unity across the country. He is not afraid that the community will be a double victim of the war, as was the case during the war in Kosovo, where they were persecuted by both sides. “The Roma are also soldiers, we belong in Ukraine, we do not want to go to another country, we want to stay in Ukraine, where we were raised and raised our children.”
Day 4.
Nataliia Tomenko no longer has a sense of time. It's hard for her to tell us what day of the week it is. She only knows that it is the fourth of the war. Nataliia and her family are in the central part of Ukraine. With her loved ones, she is relatively safe, she tells us. But she spends her nights in a cellar, woken up by the sound of warning sirens that announce the bombs. Her distress is obvious. “Yesterday, I could not explain to my niece of one and a half years old why we had to quickly barricade ourselves in this cold and dark cellar and sit there for hours because the alarm for the bombs started going off. I tried to turn it into a game of hide-and-seek, but she could sense fear, a fear that I can also see in the eyes of every member of my family,” she told the camera, her eyes filled with tears. To be able to sleep, the young woman takes sleeping pills. “I started to appreciate the simple words like hello and good night. That special feeling when you go to sleep and want a serene and quiet night, and you hope to wake up alive and be able to say hello to your family in the morning. I hope that we will be able to survive,” she said. On the streets, Ukrainian Roma and non-Roma are defending their country together against Russian forces. Nataliia Tomenko calls for unity: “The Roma are also Ukrainians. People need to stay united now because it's time to help each other out. On the streets, Roma and non-Roma Ukrainians are fighting side by side for their country.” But despite the patriotism and bravery of this visible minority, it is still a victim of discrimination. Nataliia describes how classmates said to her 12-year-old sister: “Shut up, you, the Gypsi* ”, while she shared her fears in a discussion group set up online by her school to support students during the war. “Even in these moments, Roma children are exposed to hate. I answered the children by saying, “Now is the time to unite, we have to stay together,” she reports. “We are afraid, for each member of my family, for each person in Ukraine, for each member of the Roma community, for each member of the Roma community — all of us, help us! implored the artist and researcher, her voice bound by emotion.
The situation of Roma in Ukraine
There are estimated to be 250,000 to 400,000 Ukrainian Roma living in Ukraine. Close to 40,000 of them have no identity papers. Many live in isolated Roma neighborhoods, in extreme poverty. They are the most vulnerable minority in Ukraine, where a long history of anti-Roma violence persists. Even today, anti-Roma racism is widespread and accepted by the Ukrainian population and politicians.
In recent years, a wave of pogroms has swept the community. Roma are driven from their homes and murdered in front of local police officers who sometimes participate in these crimes. Last fall, nearly 50 members of the extreme right targeted the community during a demonstration in the city of Irpin. The neo-Nazis of the C14 group chanted hateful slogans, calling for violence against Roma in the city. The group also painted hate speech on the fence of a Roma family's house.
In 2018 in Lviv, C14 paramilitaries attacked Roma women and young children with cayenne pepper in a camp after burning their houses. A 24-year-old man, David Pap, died and several people were seriously injured. The perpetrators of this attack have still not been convicted. In 2017, a community leader was shot dead by members of far-right groups in Kharkiv. To date, no one has been charged with this murder. According to a Human Rights Watch report, official investigations rarely yield results.
According to A 2019 Minority Rights Group report on the situation of Roma in Ukraine, their marginalization in the country is considered to be a secondary problem by local and national Ukrainian authorities, compared to the security and governance issues that Ukraine faces in the context of Russian aggression, economic difficulties and radical reforms. Several Roma organizations in Ukraine are working to raise awareness among their governments and institutions. But since the invasion, they fear that their suffering will be instrumentalized by Russian forces, who officially want to “denazify Ukraine.”
Racism that is getting worse
With anti-Roma racism that is widespread in Europe, Roma organizations fear that the minority will not receive the same help as other Ukrainian citizens. Natalia Tomenko says she fears that anti-Gypsyism in Ukraine will worsen with the war. “As we know, in several countries, when wars start, Roma communities are among the most vulnerable and can be attacked and targeted from several sides. I am very afraid for the members of our community,” says the activist.
Day 5.
The testimonies are starting to come in. Ukrainian Roma are victims of border discrimination in Eastern Europe. In some cases, they are denied basic services, report Roma activists with whom we speak and who are on the ground in Europe. In Chisinau, Moldavia, I join Nicolae Radita. At the request of the city, he guides refugees arriving from Ukraine and provides assistance to them. “At first, people did not pay attention to social class differences and economic differences. But now that the number of refugees is increasing, places are becoming scarcer. The Moldovan state has therefore started to be more selective,” says the Roma lawyer, who works at the Council of Europe on projects related to hate crimes.
At MoldExpo, an exhibition center that has been transformed into a reception center for refugees, goods such as food, clothing, diapers and donations are sorted. “Sometimes there are cases of abuse. Some people say openly:”Gypsies*, shut up!” ” According to Ms. Radita, many Roma are afraid to ask for help. “The Roma, who are also refugees, went to ask for food and diapers for their children. But the staff started to refuse, they only refused their help to the Roma,” explains Me Radita, who also remarked to local officials. They told him that Roma had to provide proof of refugee status to obtain goods. But according to the lawyer, only the Roma are asked for this proof. The speaker believes that the Moldovan authorities are using random methods to make supporting Roma refugees from Ukraine much more difficult. As an example, he cites the case of Roma from Moldavia who have lived in Ukraine for several years and who have still not obtained Ukrainian citizenship.
Arriving in Chisinau, fleeing the war, some find themselves facing people who refuse to take care of them under the pretext that the aid would be reserved for Ukrainian citizens. “It is against the law, the Moldovan state said that any individual who arrives from Ukraine has the right to be taken care of”, reports the lawyer. According to a report by the European Roma Rights Center, Ukrainian Roma refugees are segregated in refuge centers in Moldavia. Those who do not have identity papers are often stuck in these centers, unable to go find their families or friends in other countries or to return to Ukraine. Faced with this situation, many people are seeking to leave refugee centers, thinking that they will find better conditions elsewhere. But they are up against racism from the local population.
Nicolae Radita tells us about the journey of a group of Roma refugees in Chisinau. “They saw that the authorities were beginning to prioritize certain people and that the conditions were not very good. So they started looking for shelters themselves. I told them about offers that were being circulated among the population. They called the people who offered shelters. On the phone, they were told that there was space,” he reports. The experience was quite different there. “When the owners of the shelter saw that the group consisted of Roma, they told them that there was no more room.” The scenario was repeated elsewhere. After several attempts, a student residence agreed to welcome the group. Another incident occurred the day we called. “Today, people from a family came. They were offered shelter over the phone. But when the owner saw them, he told them: “I don't want Roma, Roma people are bad, they don't know how to organize, I don't want to welcome them here.””” Black, Indian, Arab and Asian foreign students have been living in similar situations of exclusion since the start of the war, as reported by several media and students on social networks.
In Moldavia, Nicolae Radita believes that the treatment of Roma is different. “I would not say that foreign students are treated better, it is different; people understand that they will only stay for a few days. With Roma, there is the fear that they will stay.” Recalling centuries of normalized anti-Roma racism in Eastern Europe, Ms. Radita explains that while several civil society activists think that Roma refugees should report these situations on social networks, the most vulnerable simply do not have this intention. “They are not asking for justice; for them, it is not so much a matter of principle, it is a need.” At nightfall, we talk to Gregori Rota, who left Odessa, Ukraine, on February 25, with 27 members of his family. He feels that when he arrived in Chisinau, he was treated differently. “People avoid us, they don't approach us,” he says. So his family sought refuge in private accommodations. Gregori tells how they were refused seats. After three attempts, he managed to find refuge with Moldovan Roma families. His family had to separate to take shelter in four different houses.
Some of his Roma friends stayed at the MoldExpo center. Gregori is trying to help them. “They called us to tell us that they were not being given food. I went there with my wife, but the people who work there did not allow us to bring them food. They also didn't let families go out to get the food we wanted to give them. They said they were going to call the police,” reports the refugee.
Segregation on buses
Picture: Petr Salaba
JFor 6.
In Prague, Jaroslav Miko, who is half Czech, half Roma, is a bus driver. He is a volunteer for the organization Češi pomáhají (Czech aid) and goes looking for Ukrainian refugees in Slovakia. During his first visit to the Slovak-Ukrainian border, he noticed that the buses only welcomed white Ukrainians. Jaroslav decides to go back and forth to transport those who are abandoned, such as the Roma. “Yesterday, I saw a group of Roma who had no transport. Among them were pregnant women and people with disabilities. The drivers said that their buses were too new and clean, that the Roma were dirty, that they did not deserve to sit on them. They said they were afraid that they would destroy their bus,” he said.
To counter the consequences of this discrimination, the driver commutes between the Czech Republic and Slovakia every day. With the Czech organization for which he is a volunteer, he managed to get the support of the Czech government to help Roma refugees. Recently, he transported a group of 150 Roma women and children who had been looking for a driver for three days — no one wanted to take them in. So far, it has helped just over 500 Ukrainian Roma refugees leave Slovakia and go to the Czech Republic. Behind the wheel, he observes the differences. According to him, white Ukrainians are taken to various shelters in Slovakia, while Roma end up in tents at the Humenné refugee camp. A situation that other people are also talking about.
In Slovakia, Colonel Mariàn Pouchan Attacked Roma families saying that they were taking advantage of the humanitarian assistance offered by the country and that they should not be allowed to cross the border. Peter Bucka, a social worker of Roma origin who lives in Prague, laments that refugees in the community can only rely on other Roma in Europe to support them. “Roma in the Czech Republic and Slovakia have organized themselves to help our community. It is as if the countries of Eastern Europe do not want more Roma from elsewhere. There are already Roma from Slovakia living there, and they don't want more.” He reports that the situation is worse in Poland, where there are fewer Roma organizations that can mobilize to help the community. During our call, transport is suspended for a period of 24 hours. Jaroslav Miko wants to continue his work to help Roma refugees from Ukraine. His commitment does not end there, he also wants to contact the Minister of the Interior and the directors of the shelters to ensure that the Roma do not end up on the streets and are taken care of by the Czech State. “I feel indebted to the people. It is not possible, in the 21st century, for families to find themselves stuck on the streets. It's indecent, especially for kids. In a way, it's a failure of the state,” he said.
Back in Ukraine
Picture: Petr Salaba
Day 7.
Sasha is giving us some news. ” Please call me ”, he wrote. He is afraid to sign reports under his name. A week has passed since our first interview. The journalist is still in Slovakia with his family. He is in contact with several Ukrainian Roma in Eastern Europe and shares his observations with us. “Now everything has changed, there is a lot, a lot of discrimination against Roma everywhere,” he tells us right away by videoconference. “On trains in Ukraine, Roma, even when they show their passports, they are told: “Get out, go home. Gypsies*, they will help you,” he cites as an example. He adds that some Roma women return to Ukraine with their children, despite the war. “They prefer to live in fear alongside their husbands, rather than in segregation and insecurity,” explains the journalist.
In Ukraine, the war does not alleviate racial discrimination. Sasha tells us the story of her sister, who also decided to return to Ukraine, when she was at the border. “There was a young Roma boy who asked for water, and a soldier said to him, 'Open your mouth, and I'm going to pee in it, '” Sasha reports timidly. As she crossed the Ukrainian border, Sasha's sister noticed that a lot of Roma were queuing up to go to Slovakia. But Ukrainian customs officials are keeping them waiting. They will be the last to pass. Sasha's mom called him from Ukraine. She was in shock. “It's really everywhere, even in essential services, in solidarity: the priority is white Ukrainians. If you have dark skin, it's a disaster,” he says, as is often the case for the Roma community in Eastern Europe. In Uzhhorod, in eastern Ukraine, bombings are less frequent. Several Roma and non-Roma Ukrainians from Kharkiv and other regions more attacked by Russians migrate there. The Roma minority does not receive the same welcome there. “Residents say to Roma refugees: “Leave, go to the Gypsies*, they will help you.”, explains Sasha.
In the Telmana district, where there is a Roma population, there were already tensions between Ukrainians and Roma before the war. But since the start of the conflict, they have worsened. On 26 February, Roma citizens were attacked, and five people were shot and killed. Two of them are in intensive care, another is in a coma. Since this incident, local police have been patrolling the neighborhood. We go back to the conversation we had a few days before, when we were talking about Roma soldiers. Sasha said she did not fear that the Roma community in Ukraine would live the same fate as the Roma in Kosovo during the war. He changed his mind. “Everything has changed; we are really afraid of what is going to happen. Many Roma stay to protect Ukraine, but it is difficult, when you stay to protect your country, it is difficult to feel this racism.” For Sasha and so many others, the war has no color, but the obstacles are different for the most vulnerable. “This war is a war between Ukraine and Russia. It's not like the Second World War, where it was a racial war against Jews and Roma. But now we're starting to treat people differently depending on the color of their skin, their ethnicity.”
So what does the community do in the face of this injustice? “Nothing, we're starting to help each other, we don't feel protected”, replies the journalist, a week after the Russian invasion. Sasha leaves us by giving us a message for the people who are suffering from this war and those who are welcoming them: “Be careful, Haven Manusha, be human, even in the difference.”
Leaving no one behind
During the emergency meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Council, on 4 March, Julian Kondur launched a call for solidarity and action in a Open letter signed by over 400 Roma and non-Roma organizations and individuals. The collective expressed its concerns about the war in Ukraine and decided to mobilize so that no one was left behind. “Since the Second World War, and until the Balkan wars in the late 1990s, history has shown us that in times of war or conflict, the fate of the Roma community and other minorities is continuously ignored,” it reads. Here are the collective's requests:
- Authorities and humanitarian actors are called upon to ensure that Roma, minorities and marginalized people, including those without identity documents, have equal access to protection and security when seeking refuge.
- Governments, world leaders, international, regional, and European institutions and organizations are being asked to examine human rights violations and violence experienced by Roma and other vulnerable communities, and to investigate allegations of discrimination against them by Ukrainian and/or European authorities when seeking protection and asylum at the borders.
- The media are asked not to exploit the war against Ukraine to promote incendiary and racist depictions of marginalized groups, which would further stigmatize them and increase the risk of violence against them.
- The United Nations authorities are asked to set up a commission of inquiry capable of monitoring human rights violations and violence suffered by Roma and other minorities who have often been double victims of war.
*Gypsy, gypsy: In Eastern Europe, the word “Gypsy” has a pejorative connotation. It is a racial insult. The word was used during Roma slavery. It comes from the Greek word athinganos, which means “untouchable” or “unclean.” To refer to a Roma person as a Gypsy in a European context, especially in the east, it is condescending. The term” Gypsy” is also considered a racial insult. The right term to use to refer to these people is the word “Roma.”
With information from Dikko Magasin.