17th Economics & Finance Conference, Istanbul

RACIALIZATION AND DISCRIMINATION OF ROMA MINORITY, IN ROMANIA FROM THE PERIOD OF SLAVERY UNTIL TODAY

LILIANA ENE

Abstract:

This paper focuses on racialization and systemic discrimination, that Roma minority is subjected, since the first historical attestations of their presence in the Romanian territories, until today. At European level, there has been a legal reflection on the concept of Romaphobia for over a decade, recognized as a special form of racism, aimed at Roma Minority, being one of the main causes of discrimination and historical marginalization of Roma in many European countries that surpasses the legal discrimination concept. In the 30 years since the recognition of the Roma as a national minority by the Romanian state, intolerance towards them has experienced an alarming resurgence. Here, were numerous xenophobic attacks and interethnic tensions that degenerated into real bloody conflicts between Romanians and Roma, over 15 officially registered by the Romanian authorities, only in the first decade of post-December democracy. Over time, non-governmental organizations that defend Roma rights have handled over 500 cases of torture, violence and abuse, committed by representatives of the Romanian state with responsibilities in law enforcement, whose victims were Roma. In the period 2006-2015, 48 cases of police abuse against Roma in Romania were documented, out of which 7 people were killed and 187 beaten /tortured. Also, between 2008-2015, two syntheses of the National Council for Combating Discrimination Jurisprudence, based on race and ethnicity, allowed the identification of 182 complaints involving cases with Roma regarding their discrimination in areas such as health, access to the labor market, access to public spaces, discrimination by public authorities and law enforcement, as well as discrimination and school segregation. During the state of emergency, given by the pandemic of the new Covid -19, the promotion of tendentious racist images. stereotypes and the strong ethnicization of crime promoted by the media, highlighted a chronic and deeply rooted racism of Romanian society towards Roma.

Keywords: Roma Minority, discrimination, racism, Covid-19

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