A Pleasant Fiction - The Human Rights Situation of Roma in Macedonia Cover Image

A Pleasant Fiction - The Human Rights Situation of Roma in Macedonia
A Pleasant Fiction - The Human Rights Situation of Roma in Macedonia

Author(s): Author Not Specified
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences
Published by: European Roma Rights Center
Keywords: large-scale deportations of Roma from Western Europe; Germany; Roma in Macedonia; Roma rights; situation of minorities in Macedonia; human rights situation of Roma

Summary/Abstract: This report is structured as follows: following discussion of large-scale deportations of Roma from Western Europe, specifically Germany, which have taken place throughout the 1990s, the report discusses the effects on Roma of the 1992 Act on Citizenship, and the existence of high numbers of stateless persons among Roma in Macedonia. The following chapter discusses ethnic tensions and racially motivated violence against Roma. In chapter five, police and judicial abuses of Roma rights, especially police violence, court failure to remedy police violence, and a denial by Macedonian authorities of the existence of anti-Romani hate crime are discussed. Chapter six addresses the issue of forced homelessness and abuses by municipal authorities, including instances of discrimination in the allocation of social welfare payments and chapters seven and eight discuss political abuse and education respectively. Finally, service bans in restaurants, bars, clubs and discos are presented. The report concludes with ERRC recommendations to the Macedonian government. This is not a comparative report. Although reference is made to the situation of other minorities in Macedonia and the situation of Roma in other countries, no systematic comparison has been undertaken with respect to either. No statement in the report should be taken as implying a comparative approach, or a systematic evaluation of, for example, levels of police brutality with respect to other minorities or, indeed, ethnic Macedonians. The sole intention of this report is to shed light on the human rights situation of Roma in Macedonia.

  • Issue Year: 1998
  • Issue No: 7
  • Page Range: 001-054
  • Page Count: 54
  • Language: English