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NEWS FLASH    Roma woman dies following deportation to Kosovo

We claim:   everyone stays!   alle bleiben!

We claim a right of residence! No deportations of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians to Kosovo!

In the summer of 2009 the German government started to deport back to Kosovo those refugees who have been living in Germany on an uncertain residence permit status for many years. The deportations are expected to increase, since the government signed a treaty with Kosovo about the take over of the Kosovarian citizens on 14/04/2010. It is intended to deport up to 14,000 people, amongst them are children, the old and the sick. About 10.000 of them belong to the Roma minority. Most of them have been living in Germany for more than ten years now and many of their children were born and raised in Germany. Only a few of those children, who are attending kindergarten and school are able to speak Albanian or Serbian. Now they are threatened with a deportation to an alien country, where their legal certainty is not guaranteed and the locals may well be hostile to them. Therefore, their chances to integrate, attend school and form friendships are quite low. In many cases those circumstances lead to isolation, depression and often this even results in suicide.

650 years of peaceful Roma-culture in Kosovo were destroyed by the conflicts in the 1990s that came along with pillages and expulsion. 120,000 of the 150,000 Roma left their homes in Kosovo and fled to the European countries to find protection. Thousands of them became inland refugees, mostly in Serbia and Montenegro.

This building without running water, heating and power supply is currently occupied by Roma. There are no windows. The house doesn't belong to the family itself, for that reason they don't get any support for maintaining it and might have to leave at short notice. Just one tiny and windowless room is protected provisional with canvas cover against the rain. Nobody is employed; the only source of income is the collection of rubbish. The stories the people have to tell are characterized by expulsion, rape and murder.

What can be expected by the deported Roma?

In many cases, the former family property like land and buildings have been destroyed or in the use of other people. To reclaim it is difficult due to lost documents or to the circumstance that the Roma encounter threats of violence and therefore, refrain from legal actions. Police and courts are in many cases powerless and act reluctant against the offences. Hence many Roma have to face arbitrariness, violence and harassment without any protection.

Repatriates and inland refugees in Kosovo, Serbia and Montenegro are living isolated from the majority of the population, in barrack like conditions usually without a decent water supply and no heating. Their settlements are often arranged on waste dumps or on polluted land.

The Roma are confronted with racial discrimination in Kosovo. Apart from that, they are accused of helping the Serbs with the expulsion and assassination of the Albanians. This discrimination exerts a negative influence on every single part of life. Roma rarely have the opportunity to find a regular job. Most of them have to scavenge through rubbish to survive.
Children don't attend school, because they don't have the necessary documents or the delivery of those papers is averted. In other cases, the parents don't allow them to go to school to protect them from discrimination by both classmates and teachers. Another reason is that the family needs the children to work and depend on their meagre earnings. The few children that attend school complain of daily affronts and bullying due to their minority affiliation. Many are in separate forms and treated as low ability pupils. Furthermore, their access to public health care and social benefits in case of unemployment or disease is impeded. Due to the high percentage of unemployed Roma (almost 100%) hardly anyone can afford consultations and medicine. Those illnesses, which are regarded as minor in Germany can quickly become a financial problem and life threatening when left untreated.

When all those arguments are taken into consideration it stands to reason, that the Roma are afraid of being deported and would do just about anything to stay. Some families go into hiding to avoid the deportations. It shows that they would rather live illegally and without any rights than in far worse living conditions in Kosovo.

In March a team consisting of members of Roma Center Göttingen e.V. and Amaro Drom e.V. had the chance to visit Kosovo and get an idea of the situation for Roma. The journey affirmed that the disastrous circumstances continue and relief projects rarely get to those who are most deserving.

It's not possible for Roma to live in safety and dignity in Kosovo. The "reintegration" of the thousands deported Roma seems to be illusive with this background. Independent observers like the UNHCR or the EU commissioner of human rights consistently evaluates the situation as critical and appealed to the government to stop the deportations. Serbia is also not regarded as a suitable alternative for the Kosovo-Roma.
Even representatives of the Kosovarian government point to the poor situation of the Roma, which could be aggravated in the view of the expected Roma that return under constraint.
Regarding the history of persecution and assassination of Roma during the Nazi-Regime, those conditions are unbearable. A more sensitive way of interacting with the minority should go without saying! There is a need for a right of residence, which allows the Roma to fully participate in the German society.
All-around Germany you find organizations that want to put through the right of residence for Roma and therefore co-operate nationwide under the slogan "alle bleiben!". To become more active and to present our concern at the conference of the Federal Ministry of the Interior on 18/19th November, we need support from you as an individual or your organization.


The campaign alle bleiben! is already supported by:
 Projekt Roma Center Göttingen e.V.
Amaro Drom e.V.
Romano Drom e.V.
Romane Aglonipe - Roma aus Niedersachsen e.V.
Ushten Chavalen
Sinti und Roma Forum
Alianta Civica a Romilor din Romania
Chachipe a.s.b.l.
Zentralrat Deutscher Sinti und Roma
Verband Deutscher Sinti und Roma e.V. Landesverband Rheinland-Pfalz
Roma Support Project Netzwerk Flüchtlingshilfe und Menschenrechte e.V.
PRO ASYL
Aktion Sühnezeichen Friedensdienste e.V.
Jugendliche ohne Grenzen
Dienstagsplenum Göttingen
Kinder Kinder e.V.
Flüchtlingsrat Bremen e.V.
Flüchtlingsrat Sachsen-Anhalt e.V.
Flüchtlingsrat Berlin e.V.
Antirassistische Gruppe Polypol, Bremen
kargah e.V.
AMFN e.V. Arbeitsgemeinschaft MigrantInnen und Flüchtlinge in Niedersachsen
Niedersächsischer Flüchtlingsrat e.V.
Leben in der Fremde e.V.
Göttinger Arbeitskreis zur Unterstützung von Asylsuchenden e.V.
Institut für angewandte Kulturforschung e.V.
Bürengruppe Paderborn
stopdeportation.net freedom of movement is everybody's right!
Femko
Cafe Kabale Göttingen
Aktion 302 Münster
DJO Niedersachsen
IIK e.V. - Initiative für ein Internationales Kulturzentrum
Romà Onlus - Associazione di Promozione Sociale
Zukunftswerkstatt e.V.
Projektwerkstatt Hildesheim e.V.
Paritätischer Wohlfahrtsverband Niedersachsen e.V.
MediNetzBonn e.V.
Integrationsrat Göttingen
EUROPEANS FOR PEACE
balkanbiro
cinemanda
Federació d'Associacions Gitanes de Catalunya