Roma National Congress

THE ROMA NATIONAL CONGRESS

 

1.      What is the Roma National Congress?

 

The Roma National Congress (RNC) is an umbrella organisation of Romani Civil Rights Movement Organisations. Currently, the RNC encompasses over forty such member, and affiliated organisations form twenty two countries. Through its member organisations, the Roma National Congress represents the majority of Roma living in Europe.

 

Its base principles are simple:

 

·         Democracy: The RNC structure comprises both a general assembly and a board. The RNC’s board is elected by the assembly. New organisations can join at anytime and, after a one year trial period, can be co-opted by the general assembly. It is the RNC foremost aim to promote democracy, within itself and within the countries where it is active.

 

·         Openness: The RNC is open to all democratic Romani Rights Associations.

 

·         Mutual Co-operation: Its base principle in its activities is that problems of one single organisation are the overall RNC’s problem. All organisations will take part in actions proposed by one organisation and accepted by the RNC’s board. National governments have thus now to count with an international reaction and dimension to their moves and legislation.

 

This simple structure has proved highly effective in furthering and helping the Roma all over Europe.

 

2.      General Principles

 

The Roma National Congress’ activities are based on the following principles:

 

·         The Roma are a European nation; their emancipation process needs to draw on common roots and common perspectives beyond national considerations, citizenship, group affiliation or country of residence.

 

·         As a stateless, non-territorial European Nation, the Roma occupy a unique position both historically and politically. This situation is comparable with that of the European Jews, except that Roma have neither the option nor the will to claim sovereignty over a land and declare an independent state. Efforts to improve their situation in Europe must acknowledge this special position.

 

·         The main problems confronting Roma are racism, poverty, lack of education and access to it, unemployment and cultural deprivation. These are a result of the society’s hostility towards Roma and as such are only symptoms and not the source of the problem.

 

·         As it is illusory to expect that society will revoke its latent racism against Roma voluntarily, the Roma need to struggle for both their emancipation and political rights.

 

·         Improvement of the situation of Roma on a national basis provides only limited opportunities as every country fears that a liberal Roma policy will attract further Roma immigration. In fact, national policies are contrary to the improvement of the Roma situation since their foremost aim is to get rid of its Roma minority.

 

·         In Spite of a number of breakthroughs on the international level, experience has shown that international law and declarations are not implemented at the national level. The rights of Roma can therefore solely be guaranteed by a binding European Charta on Romani Rights which would provide the legal framework by which individuals can claim and establish their rights vis a vis national administrations.

 

3.      Why – The Background

 

Why such an organisation? The reasons are multiple and stem form many years of Roma activism in several European countries. Especially since the fall of the Iron Curtain and the following painful re-structuration of the economies of Eastern European Countries, nationalism is once again on the rise. Paradoxically, while on the one hand, countries are trying to establish a united Europe, everywhere, one sees attempts to achieve ethnically and culturally “pure” nations. This is not limited to the most blatant example such as Former Yugoslavia but also can be seen in Western countries such as France and Germany where immigrants are by now unwelcome.

 

Roma are thus once again on the run. They have no place to go and are left as the scapegoats of populist, racist and nationalist movements. This, as well as the effectively difficult situation of Roma in most countries has been the motor of the creation of the RNC.

 

While Romani organisations have by now become active virtually everywhere in Europe, including some on the international level, none of these organisations and existing bodies has taken the responsibility to defend and promote the Roma cause in all countries at a grass-root level. None has either taken responsibility for the refugees who have been pouring out of many countries to try to save themselves from racism, persecution or outright annihilation. It is this vacuum that the RNC is now filling.

 

4.      Its Goals

 

The goals of the Roma National Congress are the following:

 

·         An International Chart of Romani Rights, a binding chart for all States encompassing the basic civil and human rights of Roma.

·         The participation in all Institution and State bodies which  take decisions about Roma and their future.

·         To fight anti-Gypsy movements and thoughts as well as racism

·         To promote the freedom of travel and thoughts and to defend refugees.

·         To stop the increasing segregation and the increase and creation of ghettos.

·         To stop the paternalistic approach and the manipulations the Roma have been subjected to by governments.

·         To protect and promote Roma interests everywhere.

·         To lobby and work towards a settlement of the Holocaust reparations for Roma.

·         To build up and maintain an information network and a legal assistance network.

 

 

 

5.      Its Structure

 

a.       Members, Associated Members and Affiliated Organisations: The RNC is an umbrella organisation, and hence it is entirely based on its underlying member organisations. New organisations who want to become member have to be accepted by a majority vote of the general assembly. These have to conform to the general principles and aims of the RNC as presented above as well as to the usual standards of transparency and accountability. Only Roma Non Governmental organisations are allowed to apply.

 

The joining organizations have to agree and to sign the RNC tasks and principle, and have to cooperate together with the RNC’s organizations and co-ordination offices and person’s. These organisations are then given the status of associated members for a one year period. Like any full member, RNC associated organisation will have:

 

-          International support for your work from all RNC members.

-          be part of the RNC informations network.

-          will be invited to the RNC General Assembly.

 

At the end of the one-year period, an independent report of their activities and  organisation is presented to the general assembly and their full membership is put to the majority vote of the Assembly. The General Assembly then decides whether

 

-          the associated organization will become a full member

-          has to wait one more year,

-          or will be excluded from the Roma National Congress.

 

Besides these associated members, there are also affiliated organisations or associations who are closely working towards the same goals as the RNC but who do not wish to become members or who cannot – as is the case with some foundations[1].

 

b.      The General Assembly: The core structure of the RNC is its general assembly, meeting every year. Each member association is represented and has one vote. The general assembly votes on:

 

-       Accepting new members, eventually on dismissing some[2].

-       the board’s elections and members (elected for 4 years). The board or board members can be dismissed by the general assembly by a two third majority. In this case, all members, the board members and the ombudsman have the right to vote.

-       On the general policies and priorities of the RNC.

-       On specific actions.

 

c.       The Board: It is elected for a 4 year period by the general assembly and its 5 members are responsible for the day to day planning and implementation of actions and policies established and accepted by the general assembly. In that sense, it constitutes the executive branch of the RNC. The board must present a bi-yearly report about its activities to the member organisations.

 

d.      The Ombudsman: He is the equivalent within the RNC to the judiciary branch of any governments. His tasks are investigation and mediation between the different members organisations as well as keeping control on both the board and the co-ordinations offices’ work. He is responsible for finding solutions and compromises for every conflict arising within the RNC and its member organisations.

 

e.       The Co-ordination Office: There are currently two co-ordination offices for the RNC. One in Rockycany (Czech Republic) and in Hamburg (Germany). The office in Rockycany is responsible for co-ordinating the work and actions between the member organisations while the Hamburg office is co-ordinating the actions on the international level as well as answering queries about the RNC.

 

f.       Roma National Congress Representatives: In countries where there is currently no effective Rroma Civil Rights organisation, the Roma National Congress has and will establish representatives who act in the interests of Roma civil rights.

 

g.      The News Service: Besides these organisational structures, the RNC also comprise a news service on Roma issues, Romnews. This internet based service is a neutral and independent arm of the RNC whose sole aim is to provide the press and media with news about Roma. It has been functioning for the last 5 years (April 1994), Another news-service solely for internal informational purposes within the RNC – RNC news is also an integral part of the news service.

 

h.      RNC Youth Section: This branch of the RNC co-ordinates the activities of young Roma activists and is strongly involved in their further education and training. Its aim is to develop contacts between young Roma from different countries and serve as a pool for the creation of new organisations.

 

6.      The Board

 

The board, the RNC executive, is elected directly by tthe General Assembly for a 4 year mandate.  The Board have to meet twice yearly to coordinate the RNC’s activities and has to publish a bi-yealy report on its activities. The Board has the right to exclude Board members with a 4/5 majority. In such a case, the Board has to call  to a new extraordinary General Assembly in the following six months to  organise new Board elections.

 

Each Board member has to name a representative (subject to aproval by the General Assembly) as a representative in case of his or her impossibility to attend the meetings or fulfil his duties.

 

Currently, the board of the RNC is constituted of:

 

-          Josev Cerverniak - Slovak Rep.

-          Ondrej Gina - Czech Rep.

-          Asmet Elesovski - Former. Rep. of Yugoslavia Macedonia.

-       Rudko Kawczynski - Germany

-          Katy Stojka - Hungary

 

7.      Financing

 

Currently the Roma National Congress is financed in all its activities by its member organisations as well as by external sources such as NGOs and international organisations. The Roma National Congress is currently setting up an office which will actively search for financing for both projects from its members as well as for more general actions encompassing all such as the ones described below. It will be involved in active fund-raising as well as in the design and implementation of such campaigns. The Roma National Congress's most important goal is to retain its independence and to guarantee the means for its existence and its continuing action.

 

8.      Its Actions

 

The actions of the RNC have proved to be highly effective. It is unfortunately impossible is such a short presentation paper to actually list them all and we are therefore only presenting a short overview of a few selected ones. s

 

Swiss Fund For Needy Victims of The Holocaust:  RNC organisations of Poland uncovered irregularities in the distribution of funds from the Swiss Fund for Needy Victims of the Holocaust – Shoah in Poland. Over 100 Holocaust victims were cheated of more than half the money they were entitled to. To pressure the Swiss Fund to acknowledge and correct this, the RNC organised press conferences and co-ordinated press reports as well as undertook legal action in Switzerland and Poland on behalf of the victims. It further created hotlines to uncover further irregularities in the functioning of the Swiss Fund – in countries such as former Yugoslavia, Bielorussia and the Czech Republic. This action is still continuing as both legal actions are underway.

 

Lety: In this Czech village, an infamous concentration camp for Roma was the central location in the annihilation of Roma of the region. This camp was partly run by Czech themselves. After the war, the communist authorities established a pig farm on the site of this concentration camp, and this farm was subsequently privatised after the fall of communism. The RNC is currently co-ordinating a campaign to organise the removal of the farm from this site. To that end, several actions have been taken, in the press but also in the form of a boycott of Czech produces.

 

Czech Roma Refugees in England: The situation of Roma in the Czech Republic is currently almost unbearable. Lack of official documents, unemployment, harassment by the police and racist movements, beatings and even murder not to mention the rampant racism. This prompted many Roma to immigrate. The first wave – encouraged by Czech local authorities – asked for asylum in Canada. The second wave – by now over several hundreds – went to England. That country is now threatening to impose visa restrictions on Czech citizen. The RNC is helping both the refugees to defend their rights as well as negotiating and putting pressure on the Czech authorities to improve their dismal record concerning Roma.

 

Roma National Congress' Report on the Czech Republic: Already in 1995 in conjunction with the Soros Rroma Foundation, the Roma National Congress made a report foreseeing the arising problems in the Czech Republic and the following wave of refugees from that country. This report can be found on the Roma National Congress home page. Other country reports are in preparation or have been done.

 

 

9.      The History

 

The Roma National Congress was created over several years. One can place the beginning of its action in the middle of the 1980's with two main actions. The first one in 1982 led to the creation of the Hamburg Haertefond paying a pension to Roma Holocaust survivors while the second  was a struggle against German deportation orders against Roma refugees mainly from Poland and for the former Republic of Yugoslavia. In order to achieve its goal, namely that refugees would be granted a permanent residence in Germany, several organisations and activists founded the Roma National Congress. The actions for this purpose encompassed both marches, occupations of churches[3] and former concentration camps, hunger strikes, border blockades and so on[4].

 

These actions proved to be the birth of the Roma civil rights movements and the first time in history where Roma from different countries and groups acted together and for one another. The action was successful as all together over six thousand Roma refugees were allowed to remain in Germany.

 

During 1993, the Roma National Congress' organised an action in Strassburg (France) which lasted over three months of a de-facto occupation of the city by Roma activists and which led the European Commission to create a commission of experts on Roma issues.

 

The next important Roma National Congress's campaign was made on behalf of Czech Roma who suddenly found themselves stateless due to the break-up of Czechoslovakia[5]. A similar action was started during the break-up of Yugoslavia[6]. Both these actions are still continuing as progress is slow on these issues.

 

These actions started a co-operation with the OSCE - ODIHR in Warsaw where a contact point for Roma and Sinti issues was established, information about this centre can be found on the Roma National Congress' homepage. The Roma National Congress thus started its involvement in international organisations as well as participating in and initiating both conferences and forums on Roma issues.

 

The pressing needs of Roma refugees led the Roma National Congress to yet another action. With buses of Roma, the Roma National Congress intended to go to Basel (Switzerland) to submit application for the stateless status for Roma refugees to the High Commissioner for Refugees of the United Nations. Being denied access to Switzerland, the Roma National Congress blockaded the Swiss border in Basel until the High Commissioner accepted to discuss with the Roma National Congress' delegation.

 

All these actions led and showed that only a thorough co-operation and co-ordination of activities of Roma civil rights movements had an impact and could start influencing the destiny of Roma in Europe. This naturally led to the present form of the Roma National Congress as an umbrella organisation of Roma Rights organisations.

 

 

10.  Member Organisations

 

The following organisations and people are currently in the Roma National Congress. As more and more organisations are joining, an actual list can always be found on the Roma National Congress' homepage.

 

a.       Member Organisations

b.      Associated Organisations

c.       Affiliated Organisations

d.      Co-ordinators

e.       Ombudsman

f.       Representatives