<http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/faisal_al_yafai/2007/03/our_children_to o_1.html> Close to home
Faisal al Yafai March 11, 2007 12:00 PM <http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/faisal_al_yafai/2007/03/our_children_to o_1.html> http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/faisal_al_yafai/2007/03/our_children_too _1.html Unicef's report on the plight of Roma children in Romania and Bulgaria should be a concern for the whole of Europe. Look around Bucharest, Romania's capital, and it is not hard to spot the <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roma_people> Roma children. They are the ones begging by the roadside or huddled in groups near the markets on the outskirts of the city. Romanians tend to overlook the Roma and sometimes wish outsiders would too, if only because it is a blot on Romania's rapidly improving image. The truth is, though, that it is a blot on all Europe. This week's <http://www.unicef.org/ceecis/070305-Subregional_Study_Roma_Children.pdf> report by <http://www.unicef.org/index.php> Unicef on the parlous state of Roma children in the south-east of Europe has been passed over in silence by much of the British media, but Romania and Bulgaria are part of the EU now and just as their successes are our successes, their problems are our problems. In any case, the issue of Roma exclusion is not confined to just the latest EU members. Hungary is very much a centre of the Roma community - the <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%ADvia_J%C3%A1r%C3%B3ka> only <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vikt%C3%B3ria_Moh%C3%A1csi> two Roma MEPs are Hungarian citizens - and, as the report points out, there are an estimated 50,000 Roma children living as refugees in Germany. To most people in Britain, the Roma are very much the minority's minority. The British Roma community is relatively small (there are no statistics, but there are around 200-300,000 Gypsies and Travellers in the UK) and the "gipsies" the tabloids are occasionally <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4337281.stm> exercised about are more often white <http://www.cre.gov.uk/gdpract/g_and_t_facts.html> Irish Travellers. So while the number of eastern Europeans entering the country is a constant source of tabloid concern, the intricacies of the minorities in those countries scarcely merit a mention. They ought to though, if only because the Roma are hardly a minor issue. They are the largest minority in the European Union, almost certainly numbering more than the 7-8m figure generally given. The <http://euobserver.com/9/23629?rss_rk=1> call (subscription only) by the UN for the European Union to act on behalf of the one million Roma children who "remain invisible" in south-east Europe is vital therefore. The report warns that many of these children are absent from official statistics and face exclusion from basic healthcare and education services. They live in informal groupings and often face extreme poverty. Perhaps the most shocking statistic in the report is the number of Roma who went hungry in the previous month: 53%, a clear majority of people unable to get enough to eat, when the average for the non-Roma population is 9%. "Childhood is an opportunity that does not come back," says the report and this loss of innocence is not something confined to a far away country; it is the reality of today's European Union. Guardian Unlimited C Guardian News and Media Limited 2007 ---------------------------- Vali "Noble blood is an accident of fortune; noble actions are the chief mark of greatness." (Carlo Goldoni) "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace." (Jimi Hendrix)
