Roma youth launch public awareness campaign “Thank You!”

The Union of Roma Youth of Moldova “Tarna Rom” and “OpreOCeacimos” have launched a public awareness campaign titled “Thank You!”. “We want to raise the awareness of both society and government, who should assume responsibilities to solve the problems of the Roma”, said Marin Alla, the chairman of the NGO “Tarna Rom”, at a press conference on Friday. Similar campaigns will be conducted in 5 other countries, with each of them having specific messages for the respective governments. In Moldova, the campaign will include information efforts destined for the Roma community, roundtables across the country organized together with the local authorities. “We want the people in government to stop being afraid of the word “Roma” and stop refusing strategies and social policies focused on the needs of the Roma. The slogan of the campaign is 'The Future of the Roma depends on Political Will'. Posters with this slogan will be put up in the buildings of relevant ministries, mayor's offices and district councils, because these are the key actors that should solve the problems of the Roma”, said Marin Alla. “We the Roma people of Moldova request that our problems be solved together with the problems of other nationalities. However we should stress that funds for the Roma should be directed at local level, because the problems of the Roma are in communities, and the local authorities cannot solve them without money”, said Marin Alla. The Union of Roma Youth of Moldova “Tarna Rom” is a member of the international network “Ergo”, an organization which promotes Roma interests in 8 countries: Romania, Albania, Moldova, Turkey, Serbia, Holland, and Bulgaria. According to official statistics, Moldova is home to over 12,000 Roma people. Unofficial statistics presented by NGOs show a figure of 250,000 people.