‘You are not a refugee.’ Roma refugees fleeing war in Ukraine say they are suffering discrimination and prejudice

“Roma refugees are robotically positioned into non-standard lodging,” says Patrik Priesol, head of the Ukraine program at Romodrom, a Czech NGO centered on Roma rights and advocacy. “It is rather saddening and I’m not afraid to say it quantities to institutional racism and segregation.”

In an announcement emailed to CNN, the nation’s police headquarters mentioned ethnicity doesn’t play a job within the utility course of.

“We aren’t contemplating ethnicity of the candidates, solely their citizenship,” a spokesperson for the Czech Police headquarters advised CNN in an announcement.

CNN visited shelters and spoke to quite a lot of refugees, social staff and activists within the Czech Republic, Romania and Moldova. In all three international locations, the issues Roma refugees face are uncannily related.

Roma refugees from Ukraine are routinely accused of not being Ukrainian; they’re segregated in low high quality lodging. In response to a number of NGOs, many are given deceptive details about their rights; and points which might be simply solved when confronted by others who’ve fled Ukraine — equivalent to lacking passport stamps — are sometimes used as a cause for them to be turned away.

Romanian Roma rights campaigner Nicu Dumitru advised CNN the refugee disaster had shone a lightweight on the sort of hostility Roma individuals nonetheless face in Europe.

“Being discriminatory towards Black individuals or homosexual individuals is changing into much less acceptable in Europe, or at the very least individuals restrain themselves from doing this in public. That is not the case with Roma, which might be the final group of individuals that’s nonetheless effective to discriminate towards in Europe,” he advised CNN.

Roma communities have confronted persecution and discrimination in Europe ever since they first got here to the continent from India tons of of years in the past, and have been persecuted in the course of the Holocaust.

Roughly 90% dwell under the poverty line, in response to the European Union Company for Elementary Human Rights.

Dumitru works for Aresel, a Bucharest-based Roma civic schooling initiative that turned its focus to refugees fleeing Ukraine earlier this yr after receiving a number of experiences of discrimination.

He mentioned one watershed second for the group got here in April when a big group of Roma refugees complained about being denied humanitarian meals at a assist level in Bucharest. “They have been kicked out as a result of they have been ‘too many’ and ‘too loud’ and other people would say, ‘You are not Ukrainian, you are Roma, go away,’” Dumitru mentioned.

ADRA, the group distributing the meals, advised CNN the incident, which was caught on digicam, had been “taken out of context and led to the concept of discrimination and intolerance towards Roma individuals.” It mentioned the Roma group had been turned away as a result of it was made up largely of males however was in an space reserved for moms and youngsters, and added it has zero tolerance for discrimination of any variety. “The group left the room on the announcement of one other particular person, unaffiliated with ADRA,” the ADRA response mentioned, including that different Roma teams from Ukraine have been within the heart.

The Bucharest Municipal Emergency Coordination Heart advised CNN it’s offering humanitarian assist “with out discrimination” and added it “has not acquired any experiences of discrimination within the provision of assist.”

Throughout the border in Moldova, Roma mediator and journalist Elena Sirbu mentioned she, too, was horrified when she noticed what was taking place in one of many refugee facilities within the Moldovan capital, Chisinau.

Sirbu mentioned she was initially requested by the authorities to assist “deal with” the scenario however as an alternative turned an advocate for Roma refugees after witnessing the discrimination first-hand.

“After I noticed the ignorance and the angle … these individuals ran away from the battle, they arrive right here, it was chilly exterior, a few of the youngsters had no winter footwear, and so they requested for a cup of tea or [diapers], and the Moldovan authorities advised them to go away, accusing them of not being refugees, and saying ‘we would like regular individuals,’” she advised CNN. “And this was taking place in entrance of me. How do you assume I ought to act?”

The Moldovan authorities’s Disaster Administration Heart (CUGC), which is chargeable for the shelters, mentioned the shelters are required to “adjust to the precept of non-discrimination in all phases of service provision and promote and respect human rights, no matter race, pores and skin shade, nationality, ethnicity.”

The CUGC “continuously consults with Roma refugees concerning their particular wants,” it advised CNN, and “imposes measures to fight discriminatory attitudes in direction of refugees, particularly the Roma group.”

No house to return to

Like many Roma refugees, Luiza Baloh and her youngsters, who vary in age from 9 months to 11 years, have fallen by way of the cracks within the system.

She advised CNN the Czech detention heart which she and her youngsters have been despatched to was so scary that she determined to depart. The household ended up tenting on the predominant practice station in Prague alongside tons of of others, largely Roma refugees. She was advised by authorities that she was now not eligible for assist, as a result of she had “rejected” the lodging she had been provided.

Priesol mentioned this was a standard situation and that poor communication was usually responsible. “A few of these individuals are functionally illiterate, they’re in a post-traumatic scenario, and they’re provided a spot in a detention facility that’s quickly became an lodging facility, and they’re advised ‘this jail right here is your property now,’” he mentioned.

“They do not perceive the intense penalties of their choice to say no the provide,” he added.

Baloh finally ended up in certainly one of two makeshift refugee camps within the suburbs of Prague which have since been merged into one.

Camp officers say it is a spot to which authorities ship individuals they are saying aren’t eligible for help. The Czech authorities mentioned individuals who don’t obtain short-term safety standing can keep for just a few days after which depart the nation.

Circumstances on the camp, which CNN was granted entry to by the authorities in cost, have been primary: Giant military-style tents encompass a plaza that’s partially shaded by gazebos. There are moveable bathrooms and cell bathe models and meals are served thrice a day. A lot of the residents are Roma and lots of come from a few of the poorest areas of Ukraine.

Nikol Hladikova, the social employee in command of the camp, is the top of the humanitarian division at Prague’s Social Companies Heart, a municipal company. She has been concerned within the refugee disaster response because the starting and corroborated Baloh’s account of circumstances within the detention amenities.

“My first go to to certainly one of them, we got here with a bus filled with refugees and I turned the bus again as a result of the scenario there was completely horrendous,” she advised CNN. “There was filth and excrement in every single place, there was no kettle to boil water and we had a one-month-old child with us.”

Hladikova mentioned circumstances on the facility had improved after she and her colleagues raised issues about them.

Segregation ‘will not be intentional’, authorities say

Lida Kalyshinko fled her house within the Odesa area, close to the Ukraine-Moldova border, together with her household after the battle broke out. She, her daughter and two granddaughters have spent the final three months in an deserted college constructing in Chisinau that has been became a refugee shelter.

The constructing homes greater than 100 refugees, virtually all of them Roma. The few that aren’t Roma are largely residents of central and western Asian post-Soviet international locations, together with Tajikistan and Azerbaijan.

A single ingesting water faucet serves your complete constructing and discarded furnishings clutters the darkish corridors the place babies roam. On the time of CNN’s go to in mid-July, a number of Covid-19 circumstances had been reported among the many residents.

Standing exterior the massive, gray constructing, Kalyshinko pointed to a cell bathe unit supplied by UNICEF. The power was of little use to her granddaughter, who makes use of a wheelchair, she mentioned. “She has solely taken a bathe 4 occasions since coming right here, as a result of it is so tough to get her there, there are such a lot of steps and the showers cannot be utilized by disabled individuals.”

The Moldovan authorities’s Disaster Administration Heart (CUGC), which is chargeable for the shelter, advised CNN it was attempting to make circumstances there higher, working to carry a sizzling water provide into the constructing. As soon as that’s completed, bathe amenities might be arrange on every flooring, it mentioned.

In a written response to questions from CNN, the CUGC denied deliberately segregating Roma refugees within the shelter, saying that they’d been positioned there to keep away from breaking apart “massive households of ethnic Roma, who couldn’t be separated in numerous placement facilities” at a time when massive numbers of refugees have been coming into the nation.

Moldova is among the poorest international locations in Europe and as such has restricted capability to cope with the refugee disaster. Greater than 550,000 individuals have crossed from Ukraine into the nation of two.6 million because the starting of the battle. The overwhelming majority have already left for different, wealthier European international locations, however round 88,000 stay in response to the UN refugee company, UNHCR.

Ala Valentinovna Saviena says she too want to depart Moldova. The 49-year-old advised CNN she left her hometown, Odesa, in late February hoping to affix family in Germany. However her 19-year-old son does not have a passport or different type of ID, which makes a visit to a European Union nation extraordinarily tough.

Moldova, which isn’t a part of the EU, modified its entry necessities for undocumented individuals fleeing Ukraine after the battle began, however those that wish to proceed on into the EU face extra paperwork.

It is a widespread situation confronted by Ukrainian Roma. “We’ve 5,000 Roma refugees staying in Moldova and loads of them haven’t got paperwork, possibly 30%,” Sirbu mentioned. “We tried to work with the [Ukrainian] embassy nevertheless it’s not potential to get new paperwork there,” she mentioned.

Ukrainian authorities have arrange particular assist factors close to the border the place individuals can request new paperwork, however a visit throughout the border and again is out of attain for a lot of who’ve already fled.

The added complication in Saviena’s son’s case is his age: As a person over the age of 18, he might not be allowed to depart Ukraine once more if he returns. The rule requiring most males age 18 to 60 to stay in Ukraine to defend the nation was not tightly enforced at the start of the battle however is now. Saviena mentioned her son was allowed to depart Ukraine by strolling by way of a humanitarian hall.

Activists mentioned Ukrainian Roma wanting to come back to Europe are additionally victims of intentional misinformation, together with deceptive steering in regards to the paperwork they want.

“They discuss on Fb and there is loads of disinformation — so if it says you can’t go to Romania with no biometric passport, they imagine it and so they do not come even when it isn’t true,” Lucian Gheorghiu, Dumitru’s colleague at Aresel, advised CNN.

Prolonged paperwork

However even those that do have the proper paperwork aren’t assured a heat welcome. Roma refugees throughout Europe have been subjected to prolonged background checks which might be supposed to find out whether or not they’re eligible for cover, in response to experiences from a number of activist teams.

Vit Rakusan, the Czech Inside Minister, mentioned in Might that such checks have been mandatory due to “largely Roma refugees” who held Hungarian in addition to Ukrainian citizenship and have been coming to the Czech Republic to use the advantages system.

Veronika Dvorska from Iniciativa Hlavak, a volunteer group that helps refugees arriving on the predominant practice station in Prague, mentioned the vetting course of can take so long as 10 days.

“We might ship individuals to the registration heart and they’d come again to us after being advised they wanted to be checked. In our expertise, these have been largely, if not completely, Roma refugees,” she advised CNN. “I’ve no experiences of non-minority refugees ever coming again.”

On the peak of the disaster in Might, as many as 500 individuals have been sheltering on the practice station ready for the checks, in response to Dvorska.

The Czech authorities framed the twin citizenship of Roma refugees as a serious situation, even sending a particular diplomatic letter to the Hungarian authorities, in response to an announcement by the Ministry of Inside.

However there may be little or no proof that it was ever a widespread downside. The Czech Ministry of the Inside advised CNN the police had carried out 7,100 checks and located 335 situations of individuals holding twin citizenship. It mentioned there have been 201 individuals with Hungarian citizenship and 66 with Polish citizenship. The remainder held citizenships of variety of different EU international locations.

However Hladikova and Priesol level out that lots of the Ukrainian Roma who additionally maintain Hungarian passports got Hungarian citizenship as a part of Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s controversial decade-long coverage of handing out passports to ethnic Hungarians dwelling overseas.

“All of us criticized Orban’s regime for this, all of us protested towards it, we knew that it put individuals right into a authorized lure and now we’re utilizing it to our benefit. It is a pinnacle of hypocrisy,” Priesol mentioned.

The Czech authorities additionally introduced in an announcement in Might that, in an effort to crack down on individuals “who usually are not operating away from the battle,” it will reject anybody who didn’t have an EU entry stamp of their passport.

Dvorska and Priesol every mentioned the rule solely gave the impression to be utilized to Roma refugees; others who haven’t got the stamp are provided different methods of exhibiting that they have been dwelling in Ukraine when the battle broke out, they mentioned.

Individually, the Czech authorities mentioned it will not settle for functions for short-term safety standing, an EU measure, from individuals who have utilized for cover in a special EU nation — even when they’ve since canceled their standing there.

The European Fee dismissed each of those statements, saying they weren’t in step with European regulation. Responding to questions from CNN, the Fee mentioned EU member states can not deny the standing to individuals who do not at the moment have safety standing in one other EU state and mentioned “the existence or non-existence of an entry stamp will not be related” within the course of.

Requested in regards to the discrepancy between the EU steering and the Czech strategy, a spokesperson for the Inside Ministry reiterated that beneath the Czech legal guidelines, individuals who have canceled their safety standing in one other EU nation weren’t eligible for it within the Czech Republic.

Priesol mentioned the seemingly arbitrary guidelines are all a part of the Czech authorities’s technique to discourage individuals from making use of for a visa. “The authorities are creating hurdles within the course of on objective and this ambiance is creating a really uncomfortable atmosphere,” he mentioned.

The Czech inside ministry mentioned the functions are dealt with by “skilled cops who’re in a position to detect irregularities throughout interviews.”

“Nevertheless it’s a mirrored image of the temper in society and the unwillingness to combine Roma individuals — anti-Roma sentiment is so excessive within the Czech Republic that there’s little or no opposition to this therapy of individuals,” Priesol added.

First time in class

Baloh advised CNN that, like a number of dozen others within the Prague camp, she want to keep within the Czech Republic long run, since she does not have a house to return to.

“I would really like my youngsters to go to high school. I might prefer to work. I had a job in Ukraine, I used to be a cleaner in a restaurant,” she advised CNN.

Hladikova mentioned her division was looking for long term lodging for these individuals who want to keep and combine into the Czech society. It is a course of that takes time and loads of endurance — many of the camp’s residents cannot learn or write and cultural variations persist.

“I’ve recognized a few of these households since April and I can see how a lot enchancment they’ve made and it is unbelievable. Particularly the youngsters, they’re like sponges, they soak up new issues so rapidly … however this isn’t one thing [outsiders] can see,” she mentioned.

“Sadly, there are lots of individuals who do not even get right here. They’re stopped on the practice station and they’re despatched again to Ukraine,” Hladikova added, saying a few of her Roma purchasers have been turned away from official registration facilities and assist factors.

Hladikova is adamant that her job is to assist individuals like Baloh who wish to keep and combine — even when different authorities need the household to depart the nation as quickly as potential.

“We’ve completely different targets and a special type. I’m right here to care for my purchasers, assist them as a lot as I can. However for the state, it is costly, they do not wish to do that, it has been happening for a very long time,” she mentioned.

Her pleasant, no-nonsense angle makes Hladikova extraordinarily standard within the camp she runs. When CNN visited, the youngsters saved coming over to offer her a hug; later, as a water battle broke out within the scorching noon warmth, she laughed and let the youngsters spray her with water.

Balokhyna’s eldest daughter, 11-year-old Hanna, advised CNN she had by no means been to high school earlier than coming to Prague. Now she goes virtually day-after-day.

Throughout an improvised math class in one of many tents that day, she was wrestling with the query of 72 + 9. Shifting eight rows of colourful beads to at least one facet, she received caught for a second, nervously gazing at one of many volunteer academics.

Then, with somewhat assist, she discovered the reply, everybody round her smiling as she whispered: “81.”