Representatives of Roma nongovernmental organizations that form part of the Coalition “Voice of the Roma” said the Governments ignore the problems of their ethnic community. These developed the issue in a news conference at IPN.
Vasile Drangoi, chairman of the Coalition “Voice of the Roma”, told the news conference that nobody fulfills the obligations concerning the development of the Roma ethnic group. “When they ultimately speak about the Romanies, they either invoke the lack of money or pretend not to know anything,” he stated.
Drangoi noted that the platform wants to cooperate with the Government. “We want this cooperation to be successful and not to remain on paper only. Without cooperation with the Government and with financial institutions, we will not succeed. The Roma ethnic community is the most disfavored one. Most of the Roma people face abject poverty. Unschooled Roma children live in basements. The legal framework is very good, but we do not have implementation mechanisms,” stated the head of Coalition “Voice of the Roma”.
Coalition member Robert Cerari said they want more attention on the part of the state. “The Romanies are also citizens of the Republic of Moldova. We also pay taxes and have the same rights as the others,” stated Cerari.
The Coalition’s secretary Marin Alla said the Government of Moldova boasted at European forums that there are 48 community mediators in Moldova. In reality, their number stands at 16, with five of these working as volunteers.
Alla also said that according to a census of the Romanies in Moldova, taken with the financial support of the foundation “Elizaveta”, there are 102,000 Roma people in Moldova. Official statistics show their number is lower than 13,000.
