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Despite public protests like the one shown above, the Roma remain the most persecuted minority in Europe today

CHISINAU (Tiraspol Times) - On April 8, hundreds of Roma protested in downtown Chisinau, the capital of Moldova, against the country's racial discrimination.

The protest march was organized by Roma National Center in order to raise awareness of the majority of population on the social-economical problems that is faced everyday by this ethnicity. The march started at 11 a.m. at the square of the Opera and Ballet Theater - Stefan cel Mare si Sfint bd. (main street in the Capital).

In the Roma communities there is no access to qualitative drinkable water, Roma are often disconnected from the electrical energy source, are subjected to a violent treatment applied by policemen, says the Dzeno Association of the Roma (Gypsy) people.

" - Discrimination is a phenomenon which can be met in schools, medical institutions and other public places," said Nicolae Radita, Chairman of Roma National Center. "Men can not find a job, old people don’t receive any help or even pension, and children don’t attend school or abandon it."

Persecution, marginalization and social exclusion

" - These people suffer from different diseases because of the precarious living conditions and lack of material resources. They can not assure a treatment in time and often die at an early age," he added. "After 17 years of independence in Moldova, the situation of these people didn’t change to better."

During the march, the Roma National Center forwarded a protest letter to the central public authorities of Moldova, demanding the government to improve Roma’s situation and their participation at the decision-making process.

The Roma remain the most persecuted minority in Europe. Governments have attempted to forcibly settle and resettle Roma, often with little success and negative results.

According to the main organization for the Roma in Moldova, Roma people from Republic of Moldova still deal with the persecution, marginalization and social exclusion in the all spheres of public life.

Their rights continue and nowadays to be often infringed, the institutional discrimination positioned their level of development at the lowest stage being on the way of disappearance or assimilation.

Hiding their identity

After an eradication and extermination campaign in World War II, Moldova has now only 200,000 Roma people which represent almost 7% of the population of Moldova proper (excluding Transdniester, which has a different ethnic composition and different historical background than Moldova itself).

Roma community leaders say that few Romas disclose their ethnic origin for fear of discrimination.

" - Very few Gypsy (Roma) people would disclose their ethnic origin, and the main reason is that they are afraid of discrimination," says Dumitru Danu, a Moldovan Roma leader.

Dumitru Danu, chairman of the Moldovan Roma Association, says that a big part of Roma identify themselves as Moldovans/Romanians or Russians, because of prejudices and disregarding attitude towards the Roma. In reality the
number of ethnic Roma is bigger than official data show, Danu stated.

Before World War II, more than twice as many Romas lived in Moldova which was part of Romania at the time. During the war, they were deported to a Holocaust concentration camp in Romanian-occupied "Transnistria", which had been an autonomous republic and not part of Romania before the war. During the Nazi/Romanian collaboration in World War II, more than 500,000 Roma people were killed in the Roma Holocaust - known as Porajmos - where they were deliberately shipped east of the Dniester river and thus outside the normal historical and ethnic borders of Moldova/Romania.

See also:
» New movie premieres about Roma survivor from Transnistria holocaust [1]
» UN questions Moldova human rights record [2]
» Human Rights Watch slams Moldovan discrimination, Transdniester more tolerant [3]