People Of Romanistan – People Of Romanistan

Serbia is the country with the largest Roma community in the former Yugoslavia, but what does it really mean to be a Roma in this country? According to the latest census, in Serbia there are about 150 thousand Roma, but the numbers are actually much higher: publicly declaring to be a Roma in fact, has social consequences. Many prefer to identify themselves as Serbs, sometimes because of their attachment to what has been their country for generations, more often to avoid being subjected to discrimination that has ancient roots: the Roma have been living in this region since the time of Emperor Dusan (1300) but until the mid-1800’s the members of the Roma community were sold and exploited as slaves and their tongues would be cut off if they were to speak Romani. Even today, the path to integration is still uphill: in Serbia only 9% of the Roma population has a steady job, only 30% finish elementary school, about 9% attend middle school and only 0.01 % go on to pursue a university education. Discriminations starts since adolescence, at school, both from classmates and by educational institutions. The consequence is that families lose confidence in the institutions and in the school itself, not finding it useful. This has inevitable repercussions in the subsequent search for a job, which becomes even more difficult without a qualification. Although there is a law against discriminatory behavior by employers at the time of recruitment, this prohibition is actually not respected, and it is rare for employers to hire a Roma. According to a study by the World Bank, every year the social exclusion and isolation of the Roma community costs Serbia about 50 million euros. Yet, if this money were invested to improve access to education and the world of work, it would quickly return to the state in the form of taxes.