prijava
SARAJEVO, April 8 (FENA) - President of the Roma Information Center ‘Kali Sara’ Dervo Sejdić said in a conversation with FENA, on the occasion of April 8 - International Roma Day, that today marks the 51st anniversary of the First World Roma Congress, one of the most important date in the Roma calendar.
International Roma Day has been celebrated since 1971, when the First World Roma Congress was held in London from 8 to 12 April. At that Congress, decisions were made on the Roma flag, the official anthem, the proclamation of the official Romani language (romani chiba) and the official acceptance of the name "Rom" for members of this people.
“Unfortunately, the Roma population in BiH is almost halved, if not two thirds of Roma have left Bosnia and Herzegovina due to their poor socioeconomic status, because most of them are unemployed, because in BiH for the last year we have political rhetoric that strikes at the Constitution of the state of BiH, we have a policy that seeks to further increase the ethnic division in BiH,” said Sejdić.
According to him, this creates huge insecurity for Roma people in BiH and that is one of the reasons why Roma people decide to leave BiH and go to Western European countries.
Speaking about how many Roma people live in BiH, he said that all data and statistics on Roma are, unfortunately, a calculation with figures. According to him, no one in BiH knows an exact number, not even approximately.
He expressed gratitude to the institutions of BiH and the international community, which together with the Roma non-governmental sector are trying to regulate systemic solutions in BiH.
“But, unfortunately, blockades of the BiH Parliament, blockades of the BiH Council of Ministers, non-adoption of the state budget at the BiH level, leaves the Roma population without the opportunity to draw grant funds from the state budget to work on implementing sectoral public policies for Roma people in BiH,” said Sejdić.
That is why, he added, the Action Plan 2021-2025 has been in the drawer for more than a year.
He says that BiH is the only country in the region that has not adopted the Strategy, in accordance with the strategic framework of the European Union 2020-2030 and "we are not fulfilling our obligations under the Poznan Declaration."
(FENA) A. B.
