Segregation and Discrimination of Kelderary
Roma in
The tragedy of my people and of myself is
that we cannot share our talent with humanity,
but only with our children.
(Rom Mowgli,
from the Kelderary
Roma tribe Kombuyoni,
The ghetto was not only a place of refuge for a persecuted minority
but a great experiment in peace,
in self-discipline and in humanism.
(Isaac Bashevis
Singer)
Stephania Kulaeva
IPF Draft policy paper
2006
Preface
Recent researches on Russian Roma[1]
have been approaching Roma as a homogeneous group without paying attention to
particular groups among the Roma, such as the Kelderary
Roma. Kelderary Roma communities usually consist of
several hundreds or even thousands of people living all together in
(self-built) houses in compact settlements. Kelderary
Roma are the most noticeable of Russian Roma, with their traditional way of
living in large communities, their traditional professions based upon the
principle of craftsmanship and their rich and colorful cultural life.
Unfortunately, Kelderary Roma are also the most hated
and segregated, sometimes even discriminated by other (more integrated)
“Russian Roma”. While “Russian Roma” most often face discrimination inside the
justice system and in the economy, Kelderary Roma
always face discrimination on a social level: they are frequently refused
housing, education, health care and even access to public baths.
It is important to see Kelderary, Kotlyari as they are called in Russian or Kelderash in Romanian, as a particular minority, first
because they insist on that themselves and some of them even do not register as
ethnic “Tsigan” (Roma) but choose for the
non-existing national identity “Besarabian” ( Besarabia - part of modern Moldavia and Romania), which for
them indicates that they are Roma from Besarabian
origination and differ from other groups. Secondly, these Kelderary
Roma live in rather isolated settlements in very big families or clans (or even tribes), that no other group
of Roma does anymore on the territory of the
Their name relates to their
traditional lifestyle and occupation, pot mending, the trade by which the Kelderash earned their living for centuries (the Romanian
word “caldar” means “a pot”). In former times Kelderary went from estate to estate, calling out, “Who
needs tin plating or soldering?..”. People brought damaged pots, samovars, and
cauldrons out to them, and the Kotljari repaired them
masterfully. These days tin-plating and soldering craftsmen are still able to
deal with metal things. Many know how to weld pipes; others repair the moving
parts in stoves. Now it is difficult to find this kind of job: on one hand, the
system of kolkhozes collapsed (in Soviet times kolkhozes were the main clients
of Kelderary), on the other hand, new businessmen
prefer to deal with serious firms, which can give a proper guarantee unlike
free craftsmen.
The traditional craftsmanship
profited from a nomadic way of life. However in 1956 Soviet government issued a
new decree forbidding nomadism and declaring it a
crime[2].
All traveling Roma had to settle down and get registration (propiska)
in certain villages or towns. An old Rom from dukoni
tribe in
Since this moment the only
possibility to remind themselves for the ex-nomadic people was the choice for
self-isolation in their settlements. It was a logical result of an attempt to
save their identity in an standardizing environment. However the sad consequence
of this choice became the segregation and even exclusion that Rom Mowgly called “the tragedy of my people” (see epigraph).
Last fifty years Roma in
Another reason for spontaneous
leaving an old place might be connected to some fears like bad ecology,
radiation (for example Kelderary inhabitants of Chudovo had to fled from Chernobil
disaster or the former owners of houses near
The group has also preserved
traditional building practices: homes, even quickly built temporary homes, are
always tall and spacious.
Kelderary value their traditions and culture
highly. They wear traditional clothing, practice their traditional trade,
create settlements in their own way, and have their own standards of behavior.
They have their own system of ethics with harsh punishments for those who
violate the rules. They marry early but do not allow any relations before
marriage. Violators of this rule are excluded from the community. The
prohibition against sin and crime — drug dealing especially — is even greater.
Theft, especially from “their own people” (and this includes neighbors and
everyone that they have contact with at work, in school, and in town) is also
considered unforgivable.
Most of prejudices against Roma that
cost a lot of suffering and exclusion of Kelderary
from the life of Russian society have in fact nothing to do with real ways and
traditions of this special ethnic and cultural group.
Therefore, analyzing the specific
problems of discrimination and segregation of this group has to be given
particular attention. It is clear however that many general recommendations are
of the same value for this group as for other Roma in
The question of respect to
stateless autonomy is an important question for modern civilization that is
present not only in the relations between Russia and the Roma or more general
Europe and the Roma, but also in many other countries where modern civilization
destroys traditional ways of life and oppresses non-assimilating minorities.
The examples can vary from the phenomenon of self-isolation of North-American
Indians and the problems connected to their reservations to the justifications
of the Apartheid ideology in
Dealing with a phenomenon of segregation and discrimination we can not
ignore the importance of the problem of traditions and rights. In some ways
traditional Kelderary-Roma still do not understand
the modern approach to Human Rights especially as far as women and children
rights are concerned. The most difficult to tackle with from human rights
perspective are the following usages: their traditional practices of early
marriages, the parties chosen by parents, many children families, the
importance of the older people and – especially - the dominating role of the
men in the communities.
However, these practices existed for thousand
of years and a change in the mentality can not happen at once. The best way to
improve the situation with Roma children and women rights is definitely the enlightment and human rights education based on cultural
integration and development. It is clear however, that some ideas of some
Roma-parents can be opposed immediately and clearly rejected like the
preference shown by them sometimes to see their children separated in schools
from other children (the argument is usually -it is safer!) This choice for segregation in schools is not a
part of any tradition or culture, as the school education is a modern and
multi-cultural phenomenon. It must be said, that a lot of Roma-families do
prefer integration approach in schools and only some of them agree on
segregation as mutually accepted solution.
On the other hand most of Roma – regardless of
age and gender – consider their traditions in craftsmanship and futre-telling, in special culture of living all together,
in family relations model - as very important cultural heritage and respect
them.
The possibility to leave their community and to
choose for more modern way of life is usually there, but absolute majority of
Roma do choose tradition. The same counts by the way for adopted children taken
by Roma families from orphanages (we’ve met dozens of them in each community),
most of them prefer to follow the ways of their adopted parents.
The only effective way to influent Roma in a
way of choosing for more individual rights respect seems to be the education
based on respect to traditions and minority rights. People have to believe in
good intentions and feel save as a minority within the environment to be able
to open themselves to any new idea or modern concept.
The first step therefore has to be overcoming discrimination and
oppression, establishing mutual trust and interaction. That is what mostly
missed in modern Russian reality.
There is no official data on this
minority, as well as on many other Roma traditional groups. The Kelderary Roma were almost never recorded during the last
census because there communities were regarded unsafe and dangerous places and
as such not visited by the interviewers and Nikolay Mihaj told that the last time he had been interviewed was
in communist times, so that the last census was missed out as a result of what
he commented as “In these days we’re just not considered as people.” [4]
This research is based on specially collected information during the
field-trips to all parts of Russian Federation, where these Roma live –
thousands of kilometers from East to
West (Krasnoyarsk – Kaliningrad) and from North to South (Archangelsk-Rostov-na-Donu) were covered A number of missions was organized to such regions as North-West Russia, the
Volga-area, the Urals, West Siberia, Central Russia and Southern Russia. This
permitted for the first time ever to map the settlements of Kelderary-Roma,
to discover the approximate number of each group, the name of it’s tribe, the
social-economic situation, legal status, the omnipresent violations of basic
human rights. During these missions 56 Kelderary
settlements were visited; hundreds of interviews were collected and
recorded. Some information was also
obtained from the local authorities’ representatives, school directors and
other officials. However, their knowledge of the situation was usually very
limited and insufficient.
Researching the discrimination of Kelderary
Roma, we first of all notice a factual segregation. The Kelderary
Roma are isolated in their settlements, which makes them vulnerable for all
forms of discrimination – in housing, access to resources, access to education
and health, access to employment. A choice to oppose all forms of
discrimination and to demand equal rights for Roma in all the above mentioned fields,
should not mean the choice for assimilation and the refusal from their right to
live in their own way and to follow their traditions. To make a full and honest
analysis of this phenomenon, we have to consider it in all its complexity.
Discrimination, segregation
and poverty have pushed Kelderary Roma into a
position of marginals and outsiders. The compact
settlements in which they live are usually situated at the outskirts of big
cities and towns. From the moment, that they have been forced to settle in
1956, the Kelderary Roma have developed their own
style of creating settlements, renting useless marshy lands, making those fit
for the construction of houses, building first temporary houses, then permanent
houses and finally constructing infrastructure (e.g. water, gas, electricity,
school etc). As the population of Kelderary Roma
settlements is usually rapidly growing, construction works are carried out
permanently. In most of the cases, Kelderary Roma
settlements have been constructed without prior consultation with or permission
of the local authorities and therefore none of them has all its houses
registered.
The growing commercial
interests of the local authorities, that handle the privatization of land, have
resulted in serious restrictions on the formation, growth and well-being of Kelderary Roma settlements. In the village Solontsy, which is situated in the Emelyanovsky
district of Krasnoyarsk, a wall has even been erected between a newly built
settlement of cottages and the local Kelderary Roma
settlement, barring the Kelderary Roma from the
regular road and therewith from unlimited access of public services like
ambulances or fire brigade.[5]
The fact that most Kelderary Roma have neither the
financial nor the political means to sustain the natural growth of their
communities, poses a structural problem. Moreover, Kelderary
Roma clearly feel the threat of being evicted from their houses and
settlements, if they are not able to come to a workable agreement with the
local authorities.
The undemocratic political
developments in modern
Given the grave violations
of their basic rights and the abominable living conditions most of them live
in, it’s obvious that a change in approach towards Kelderary
Roma and their settlements is needed. This change of approach should be
implemented on a local level, where private interests not only continuously
interfere with local politics, but in many cases directly threaten the position
of local Kelderary Roma communities. This often
results in violations of the law and is as such opposed to national politics
and justice. Therefore it’s important both to fight for justice in the courts
and to confront the policy makers with a true analysis of the actual problems
and possible solutions, also given the fact that in
The
main aspects of segregation, exclusion and discrimination
of Kelderary Roma in
Registration and
relations with local authorities
The relations with local authorities
are regarded a crucial matter by Kelderary Roma
communities, who often take the initiative in negotiating agreements, that
regulate mutual relations. The approach of local authorities towards Kelderary Roma communities differ to a great extent and
often policies depend on (changes in) the political line. Registration, in
In
Both in
In Novaya Bykovka (
The disadvantages resulting from not
being registered are twofold. Firstly, it means an ongoing problem with law
enforcement bodies, who repress those without registration, and secondly it
leads to exclusion from social benefits. As many Kelderary
Roma happen to be registered in some other municipalities, than where they
actually live, they are unable to apply for social benefits out of practical
reasons. It is not unusual, that all inhabitants of a compact settlement are
registered in one or two houses of the settlement, that are legally fit for
that, which gives authorities the right to restrict certain social benefits.
In Sviyazhsk
(Tatarstan), where all people are registered in one
house and their they are not allowed to register their children. The local authorities
explain their refusal to register more people in the same house by there is a
lack of square meters pro person. As a result of absence of registration - propiska –those families receive neither children money nor
social money (for handicapped, elderly people etc).[9]
The segregation in land and housing
Land and housing are a crucial part
of modern Kelderary Roma traditions. After they had
been forced to settle down in 1956 the Kelderary Roma
soon developed their own way of finding places for their communities to live
and making these places suitable for life and work. Communities are sometimes
migrating in search of a better and happier life, but generally tend to remain
and develop on the spot. Usually, the community concluded a user agreement with
the local government for a certain parcel of territory or a certain amount of
houses.
In Soviet times, the Kelderary Roma were often directed to the outskirts of
towns, to places with hardly any facilities. Nowadays however, these suburbs
have become popular with the “nouveaux riches” and, for the resulting financial
and practical reasons, the location and expansion of Kelderary
Roma communities has become a problematic issue. Though the land is for sale,
it can be only obtained through buying it on a public auction, where it is sold
to the highest bidder. The impact of this is clearly felt even by the Kelderary Roma communities, that are richer than others
like the ones in Yekaterinenburg[10]
and Chudovo (
On the outskirts of the city of Ivanovo Roma built 37 houses on a piece of land that they rented
and which is situated near the local airport, that had been defunct for many
years. According to the inhabitants of the houses, Mr. Luzhkov,
mayor of
In the town of
These cities are not the only
places, where Kelderary Roma have been facing
eviction during the last years. In some places, like
In
the village Vlasikha near the city of
In
Yekaterinenburg, about 50 well constructed and
maintained houses are illegal. The community has been living there since 1956.
As the city is expanding these streets became part of the centre and the land
is expensive. Community leaders were warned by the local adminstration,
that their homes are to be relocated, but the Roma would prefer to legalize
their houses and are ready to pay for that. The local authorities refuse
even to discuss such an option, both with Roma as well as with Memorial[20].
The
most worrying situation takes place now in Chudovo
(Novgorod Velikij province)[21]
where the Kelderary community has been settled since
1986, when they fled the polluted
The eviction of Kelderary Roma from Archangelsk – case study
A very well documented case is the
legal fight and the eviction of a Kelderary Roma
settlement in Archangelsk.[22] It can be used to illustrate the fundamental
problems between the compact settlements of Roma and the local authorities, who
take an incomprehensive position towards them, are interwoven and based upon a
lack of understanding on a policy maker level. Moreover, the local authorities
have simply ruled out the possibility to have a Roma settlement, that could fit
into their city development plans. This attitude forces the Roma to choose for
making tricky deals with the responsible officials in this or that sphere,
followed by their own initiatives.
In the Northern city of
The group of Kelderary
Roma families involved in the dispute arrived from
The dispute over “allowing” the Roma
to remain in Archangelsk began when mayor Nilov’s
political opponent, Donskoy, accused the former with
charges of corruption for permitting the Roma to settle there, and accused the
Roma themselves of illegally building homes on their land parcels. The permit given to the families allowed for
them to occupy the land, but did not yet grant them permission to build houses,
although the necessary legal provisions for them to do so were already being
considered at the time. Regardless of
the contract, it was in any case indispensable for the Roma to begin
construction on proper homesteads in order to provide shelter for their large
families during the coming winter months (within their time in Archangelsk
alone a total of 9 children were born, adding to this necessity). In November 2004, however, former mayor Nilov began the legal dispute over the Roma's right to live
at all on the lands which he granted them himself, due to the accusations of
corruption he was charged with by the far-rightist Donskoy.
In his campaign speeches Donskoy charged that the only possible way the Gypsies
could have been permitted to settle in Archangelsk was through corruption in Nilov’s administration. At the same time he explicitly
promised that he would do all that was necessary in order to rid Archangelsk of
its Roma community—not because of the legality of their homes, but because
according to him, all Gypsies are “beggars, swindlers, and thieves [and] are
incapable of doing anything else”. When Donskoy won the election for mayor later that year, he kept
true to his promises and began demanding that the courts not only demolish the
Roma's homes, but expel them from their lands completely. Had his discriminatory stance towards the
Roma been unclear before, he further upheld it during a round-table meeting on
the subject, in which he openly stated in front of journalists that his
“position has not changed”, and that such criminals cannot be allowed to remain
in Archangelsk because no citizen “would want Roma for neighbors”. Thus, the suits being brought against the
Roma are clearly not matters of legality, but of straightforward and simple
discriminatory politics.
Regardless of the temporary nature
of these houses, it is not disputed that they were illegally constructed.
Nonetheless, the Russian legal system clearly stipulates that it is possible to
legalize homes with such a status in order to protect their residents. The mayor's team first insisted that Roma had
to be evicted because they were illegally constructing houses on the territory
and later these authorities proceeded to declare that the contract which
granted lands to the Roma in the first place was not valid because it did not
properly adhere to the legal procedures necessary in such an action. Furthermore, they claimed that although the
administration itself was to blame for this mistake, it was still necessary for
the Roma to abandon their land, since it was not obtained by means of a proper
contract.
The Roma principally agreed, that
they would leave, if they had a place to go to and if they would receive
financial compensation, for their work carried out to make the marshy parcels
of land that they had received fit for the construction of homesteads as well
as reimbursement of their travel expenses. Mayor Donskoy
reacted by creating a special fund and campaigned to fundraise the required sum
of money, but only managed to raise money for train tickets.
Finally, on
Lack of documents and
migration
After the
For example near the Atomic Power
Station in
In
In
There was a community in Dzerzhinsk, that was evicted in the year 2000 cruelly. They
were all loaded into trucks and brought to another place. These people however
have their registration in Dzerzhinsk not annulled,
that creates problems too – that makes it impossible for them to get any other registration. People from
the former Dzerzhinsk community like the Family of Elizaveta Khristova and her sons
Alexei, Laszlo and Stepan, they are also fathers,
their children have no birth certificates and no chance to solve that. Their
meager literacy and understanding of legal matters prevent them from solving
their problem[28].
Access to resources
Crucial factors determining the
quality of life of Kelderary Roma are the supply of
drinking water and energy (gas, electricity). Water supply is often absent,
though could be easily created in many cases, like in Solontsy,
which is situated in the Emelyanovsky district of Krasnoyarsk[29].
In the case of the Kelderary Roma community in Peri (
There are often problems with the
supply of electricity connected to arrears in the payment of bills. In the case
of the suburb area Chapayevsky
belonging to the city of Perm, the local electricity company cut off the
electricity supply of the local Kelderary Roma
community when the temperatures were down as much as minus 40 degrees Celsius[32].
In Chapayevsky as well as in most other compact
settlements, non-registered houses do not have any meters to count the
electricity consumption. The electricity companies tend to count the amount of
people and the number and capacity of household appliances to measure this
consumption. The debts of individual Kelderary Roma
are treated as collective debts and therefore the electricity supply of the
whole compact settlement is switched off in case of individual arrears – a
common practice in the city of
In
Access to education
A long term
perspective for Kelderary Roma is being undermined by
the poor state of the education that Kelderary Roma children
receive. Education is regarded a major issue, both among Kelderary
Roma as well as those who show a positive attitude towards them. Despite of the
Russian law on education, access to education for Kelderary
Roma is often limited. In some cases, notably in Perm, Kelderary
Roma children are unable to attend primary school, in other places, like in Solontsy[38]
(Emelyanovsky district, Krasnoyarsk), Konakovsky Mokh [39] (Tver
province) and Osel’ki (Leningrad province) Kelderary Roma children are segregated and kept apart in
special classes. In Savvatyevo (Kalininsky
district, Tver province) Kelderari
pupils are studying in a segregated school housed in ramshackle condition
building, that was long ago abandoned by Russian pupils.[40]
In Nizhny Osel’ki, Leningrad province, the primary school for Kelderary Roma is also organized in a separate small
building which is of a much worse quality than the bigger building for Russian
pupils and since the year 2006 even those Kelderary
Roma who attend secondary school were brought back to this same separate small
building. As a result the Roma children attend school in three shifts.[41]
The school in Kalinichy
village,
In Sviyazhsk
(Tatarstan) Kelderary
children go to school number 53, where all Roma children regardless of their
age and level are segregated into one class whereas Russian children are
divided, as usual, into classes according to their age. Twelve year old Albina Milanova complained: “I go
to school for three years already and I’m in the same class as the children,
who come for the first time. The director is unjust to us”.[43]
The same situation was found in Pashino,
A peculiar example of a segregated
school is the primary school, situated in the Kelderary
Roma settlement Plekhanovka (
An example of deliberate
segregations for educational reason is
Sadly enough, non-segregated schools only account for around 10-20% of Kelderary Roma children attending school. The distance
between home and school is often a crucial factor in making decisions on
attending school or not. Kelderary Roma often lack
money for public transport or winter clothes that are indispensable for
reaching schools. The Kelderary Roma children that go
to school face the problem of adaptation, due both to the fact that Russian is
not their native language and to the circumstance that their teachers are
generally unfamiliar with their cultural and social background, thus creating a
serious barrier in communication. Many Kelderary Roma
children start attending school once they are already older and very few leave
school with a diploma. On many occasions the attitude of the teachers and
school administration is of crucial importance.
Access to health care
and social aid
The access of Kelderary
Roma to other state services like social aid and health care is much too
limited. Partly, this has to do with the system of registration. Those without registration
are automatically excluded from free medical care and social benefits, such as
pensions or allowances for children. Even when Kelderary
Roma receive social benefits, these are not improving their quality of life in
a substantial way. Life expectancy among Kelderary
Roma is lower than among Russians and they tend not to visit doctors on a
regular basis, but rather to call for an ambulance in case of emergency. Cases
of closing available medical care like in Savvatyevo
(Kalininsky district, Tver province),
where a local medical station was closed, only strengthen this tendency.
The practice of discriminatory
segregation of Roma has also come to light in many hospitals (including
children’s hospitals), birthing clinics and public bathhouses. In
Employment
Most of Kelderary
men are freelance craftsmen and in Soviet times they always looked for a
possibility to get permission for this almost forbidden way of earning a
living. A lot of Kelderary had created cooperatives
after the revolution, but in the beginning of the 1930ies all members of such
cooperatives fell victim to repressions in which most of them were shot or died
in prison.[49]
Only much later some people were
able to restore their position as freelance craftsmen. An interesting example
was given by Vladimir Afanasiev, whose family already
for decades lives in the town Bataysk in the
In modern
Kelderary communities themselves regard this
way of the only perspective they can imagine to reach prosperity. The leader of
a very poor and big community in Shakhty (Rostov province), of whom most of people have no permanent
work, Dudury Burlin
proposes to help his community by creating working places for all of the men
and women of his community in metal work by organizing a cooperative workshop
in the settlement, that he could coordinate in a just way. Unfortunately, they
have no funds nor resources to accomplish that themselves, but if they could,
they would share the work and in this way share the prosperity[52].
The majority of Kelderary
Roma women are working in the streets by telling fortune, although this
traditional way of earning money is disappearing because of targeted
persecution by police in the last years.
Examples of Kelderary
Roma employed in regular jobs by state or private companies mainly show the difficulty
for Kelderary Roma to overcome discriminatory
practices. In Usad
(Vladimir province), Kelderary
Roma workers at the Lespromkhoz wood products plant
mentioned a double standard, being paid much less than their ethnic Russian
colleagues for doing the same job. Their complaints were not taken into
consideration by the company’s director Mr. Zotov.[53] It is commonly the case that the standard
income generated by Kelderary Roma is significantly
lower than by Russians.
Another aspect of discrimination in employment
is the refusal of companies and entrepreneurs to employ Kelderary
Roma. In
The widespread practice of corruption
aimed at forcing Kelderary Roma to pay for any
violation of the law or just for state protection has often replaced the
practice of paying tax. Sadly enough,
Violence and
persecution
The often complicated relationship
between Kelderary Roma communities and local authorities
could best be described as chaotic and largely depending on the good or bad
will of those responsible. The reason, why local authorities are not effective,
is the fact that they don’t have a special policy. At best, they are
indifferent and treat Kelderary Roma as any other
Russian citizens. Most often however, they discriminate against Kelderary Roma and sometimes it comes to an orchestrated
persecution of a whole Kelderary Roma community. In
the city
In August 2006 the Kelderary Roma settlement in Ust-Abakan
(Khakassia) was raided by OMON special police forces,
who arrived masked and armed. All the people were forced to leave their houses.
Their houses were searched. Children and women were threatened with dogs and
all the men were taken to police station, where their documents were checked.[57]
The responsible police officer, Mr. Takhtobin, explained
that they had been sent this settlement to search it for drugs and that the
problem of the legality of this act was not his but the public prosecutor’s
responsibility. As he commented: “We have to obey our orders, when we are sent
to check the Roma”.[58]
Some Roma settlements were violently
evicted by law enforcement forces. The most notorious case became the
destruction of Roma homes in
In 2004 in
It’s not only in organized actions,
like police raids on Kelderary Roma settlements, that
law enforcement bodies violate the rights of Kelderary
Roma. Cases of discriminatory, offensive and humiliating practices by regular
police are numerous. In Ryzan the local police was
reported to have cut the hair of arrested Kelderary
Roma women, an act which can be only compared to rape, from the point of view
of the humiliation felt by the women in question as well as the mutilating
consequences for these women in their own community life, in which hair dress
performs an indispensable symbolic function.[64]
The women in these cases had been
arrested for fortune telling, which is considered an offence in certain parts
of
The authorities often complain about their inability to rule the
situation. Some look for opportunities to improve the participation of the Kelderary Roma community, proposing to regulate the issues,
that Kelderary Roma would like to normalize. The idea (as proposed by the
Chudovo authorities[66])
to give the Kelderary Roma a legal form of
self-government over the area that they are inhabiting and thus creating an
administrative unit, that would be responsible for dealing with public works,
but meanwhile lacking a budget is an example of a policy that lacks
perspective.
An example of a policy area in which
the local authorities in
A lot of Roma suffer from the race
motivated violence of radical right-wing and neo-nazi
groups. This phenomenon is especially dangerous around big cities like
Recently, new testimonies were
gathered also in the
Conclusions
and Recommendations
The problems, that Kelderary Roma face are so similar, that one federal action
plan could be developed for the whole Russian Federation in order to provide
guidelines for regulating and improving the living conditions of the Kelderary Roma, that live in compact settlements.
Additional federal coordination of such a plan by representatives of the
national government would prevent the risk of failure on a local level caused by
corruption.
The action plan should be first of
all focused on ensuring non-discrimination and implementation and enforcement
of human rights. Apart from that, some
improvements could be recommended in the fields of housing, access to resources
and education.
I.
It
is necessary to compile realistic
statistics on Kelderary Roma communities, as NGO
and independent research shows, that there is a clear lack of trustworthy
information about these communities.
II.
A
special law on the regulation of housing and land should be designed and
adopted, like has been done recently with summer cottages (so called “Dacha
Amnesty”)[73]. These regulations
permitted the real owners of the cottages to go through the reduced and
simplified formal privatization process without spending as much time and money
as it coasted before. In this way, the houses and land belonging to the Kelderary Roma settlements could be legalized in some given
time period (for example 10 years) and treated as their property. Additionally,
these houses should be mapped and their inhabitants registered.
III.
A
guideline should provide that every person (child or adult) has to be
registered in the houses where he or she lives (whether private or rented) that
would enable the person in question to receive the social benefits, that he or
she is entitled to.
IV.
The
local police offices should be obliged to issue Russian passports of a modern
type to all the citizens living in Roma settlements and still using their old
Soviet-type passports. Those Roma who live in
V.
Measures
to support self-governing and autonomy should be adopted, in order to strengthen
intercultural relations and economic development e.g. not basing
self-government on racial exclusion and segregation but on the realization of
political participation of all neighbors in a mixed neighborhood. Participation
of Kelderary Roma in local politics (Leskolovo, Chapayevsky) has been
a rare phenomenon so far, but where it did take place, it certainly has
contributed to the involvement of Kelderary Roma in
the caretaking of their area and simultaneously it has led to a certain
commitment towards the Roma by local councilors.
VI.
A guideline should also be adopted to legalize
the use of water, electricity and gas including the installation of meters that
indicate the actual consumption. This would secure the access of these
resources for the Kelderary Roma community, just as
it would secure the companies that supply water and energy from theft and abuse
of their resources.
VII.
Measures should be taken to ensure access to
schools that offer primary and secondary education, in the vicinity of the
compact settlements. If there is no such school, the community should be
provided with free school busses to encourage parents to send their children to
school. Schools should have evening classes for those who missed some years and
special preparatory classes to prepare Kelderary Roma
children for the Russian language. Segregation should be forbidden and it
should be controlled that Roma children don’t automatically end up in
compensation classes for the mentally disabled. Additional education for teachers
on Roma culture language and history should be available to enable teachers to
understand the background of their pupils in a better way.
VIII.
Access to health-care and social benefits
should be secured and controlled. The
separation of Roma by ethnic profiling in hospitals has to be strictly
abolished. There is a clear need in improving the health control – especially
of women and children (vaccination, medical check-up for pregnant women etc).
The best solution would be organizing special mediation service in order to
strengthen contact of Roma with local hospitals.
IX.
The
problem of unemployment among Roma needs a special attention. Most of Kelderery-Roma men are capable craftsmen, but they lack
formal status and recognition and therefore get not enough clients; offering
them this status and permitting to legalize properly their cooperatives could
be well complimented with a special credit-program. This solution would benefit
to the economic autonomy of Kelderery and
simultaneously support their cultural inheritance.
X.
The
existing practice of violent evictions should be strictly forbidden. The use of
the police and military troops against Roma-settlements inhabitants must be
mineralized and limited to the most dangerous and criminal situations, there
should be no way of bringing these forces just for dealing with a problem of
illegal housing-construction, overusing
water or gas etc.
XI.
The
most strict police control and measure have to be organized on the problem of
hate-crime against Roma. Each case has to be investigated and given serious
attention.
The logical outcome of such an
action plan would be a clear benefit, both for the Kelderary
Roma communities, living in compact settlements as well as for the local
authorities, governing them, without proper financial and administrative means.
It is of utmost importance to recognize the fact that Kelderary
Roma Roma lack mediation to successfully promote
their interests. The expert work on the action plan could provide and support
this mediation.
[1] The Roma of Russia: the subject of
multiple forms of discrimination, a joint report of the FIDH and the North-West
Center for the Legal and Social protection of Roma, Paris, 2004; In Search of Happy Roma, country report on
Russia, ERRC, Budapest, 2005.
[2] The Decree of the Presidium of the
Supreme Soviet of the
[3] Interview (video recorded) made by
[4] Interview (video recorded) made by
[5] Interview made by S. Kulaeva with Anatoly Gornyak, Burikony tribe, Solontsy village,
Krasnoyarsky kray, August
2006.
[6] Interview made by
[7] Interview made by S. Kulaeva with Vladimir Mihaj, Demony tribe, Krokhal’ station,
[8] Interview made by
[9] Interview made by
[10] Interview (video recorded) made by
[11] Interview made by
[12] Interview made by
[13] Interview made by
[14] Ibid.
[15] Interview made by
[16] Interview made by
[17] Interview made by
[18] Interview made by
[19] Interview (audio recorded) made by
[20] Interview made by
[21] Interview made by
[22] See Human Rights’ reports on www.memorial.spb.ru
[23] Interview given by Ms. Akhramenko, Archangelsk, July 2006
[24] Interview made by
[25] Interview made by
[26] Interview (Video Recorded) made by
[27] Interview (Video Recorded) made by
[28] Interview made by S. Kulaeva with Elizaveta Khristova, Tushony tribe, Dubki village, Saratov Province,
November 2006
[29] Interview made by S. Kulaeva with Anatoly Gornyak, Burikony tribe, Solontsy village,
Krasnoyarsky kray, August
2006
[30] Interview made by
[31] Interview made by S. Kulaeva with Nikolay Mihaj, Sevuloni tribe, Novinki village, Nizhny Novgorod
province June 2006
[32] Interview made by
[33] Interview made by
[34] Interview made by
[35] Interview made by S. Kulaeva with Vyacheslav Mihaj, Mihajeshy tribe, Kosaya Gora village, Tula province, September 2006
[36] Interview made by
[37] Interview made by
[38] Interviews made by
[39] Interviews made by
[40] Interview made by S. Kulaeva with community leader Mursha
Petrovich, Saporroni tribe,
Savvatyevo village, Tver
province, September 2006
[41] Interviews made by S. Kulaeva with director Margarita Sosnovskaya
and Roma pupils in Nizhny Osel’ki
village, Leningrad province, May 2006
[42] Interview made by S. Kulaeva with School children and their parents belonging to
the Chukurony tribe,
Kalinichy village,
[43] Interview made by
[44] Interview made by S. Kulaeva with Mikhail Khristov, Moshony tribe, Pashino village,
[45] Interviews made by S. Kulaeva with teachers Yelena Kachova and Natalya Shelkuntsova and Kelderary
community leader Gregory Mihaj, Dukony
tribe, in Plekhanovka ,Tula
Province, November 2006
[46] Interviews made by
[47] Interviews made by S. Kulaeva with vice-director of school no. 2 Irina Shulgina and Roma pupils in
Traktorny village, Lipetsk
province, November 2006
[48] Field Report,
Memorial of St. Petersburg archives.
[49] See also publications of Nikolay Bessonov on the website www.zigane.pp.ru
[50] Interview made by S. Kulaeva
with Vladimir Anafasiev, Byedony
tribe, in Bataysk,
[51] Interview made by S. Kulaeva with members of the Bobokony
tribe,
[52] Interview made by S. Kulaeva with Dudury Burlin, Kolony tribe, in
[53] Interview made by S. Kulaeva with community leader Boris Ivanov,
Ioneshy tribe, Usad
station, Vladimir province, September 2006
[54] Interview made by
[55] Interviews made by
[56] Interview (video recorded) made by
[57] Interview made by S. Kulaeva with Nikolay Lyank, Burikony tribe, Ust-Abakan, Khakassia republic,
August 2006
[58] Interview made by S. Kulaeva with police officer Mr. Takhtobin,
Abakan, Khakassia republic,
August 2006
[59] Kaliningrad Roma website / Justice
Initiative
[60] Interview (video recorded) made by
[61] Interviews made by S. Kulaeva with Elizaveta Khristova, Toshoni tribe, Dubki village, Saratov Province,
November 2006 ; Tamara Mihaj, Toshoni
tribe, Novaya Bykovka
village, Vladimir province, September 2006 ; Nikolay Mihaj, Sevuloni tribe, Novinki village, Nizhny Novgorod
province June 2006.
[62] Interview made by
[63] Letter from
[64] Interview made by
[65] Interview made by
[66] Proposal by mayor Mr. Zuyev of Chudovo, published on www.memorial.spb.ru
[67] Interview made by
[68] Interview made by
[69] Interview made by S. Kulaeva with Vladimir Mihaj, Demony tribe, Krokhal station,
Novosibirsk province, August 2006
[70] Interview made by
[71] See FIDH report ibid.
[72] Interview made by
[73] Federal Law 93-FZ, 30.06.2006
“About changes to some laws of