BULGARIAN ROMA: LOST IN (NON)INTEGRATION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 SOFIA 000183

SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KPAO AINT BU SIPDIS
SUBJECT: BULGARIAN ROMA: LOST IN (NON)INTEGRATION


1. (SBU) SUMMARY: As Roma communities across Bulgaria commemorated
International Roma Day, the government sluggishly moved to update
the 1999 Framework Program for Roma Integration. Ten years after
the adoption of the government's first policy document on Roma
integration, results are meager. Roma continue to live largely in
isolated communities, receive low quality education in de facto
segregated schools and suffer disproportionately high unemployment.
According to government officials, the new draft Framework Program
emphasizes social and economic issues, which are now viewed as
primary obstacles to Roma integration. Whatever the merits of the
government's new initiative, Roma are not impressed. Some Roma
groups charge their recommendations to policymakers were ignored.
They suspect the government is readying what they term another empty
document, with typically uncertain prospects for implementation, in
a sensitive and politically charged time ahead of national
elections. END SUMMARY.

PIONEERING, BUT SLOW-MOVING 1999 FRAMEWORK ON ROMA
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2. (SBU) Adopted in 1999, the Framework Program for Equal
Integration of Roma is the first strategic document in which
Bulgaria's post-Communist government outlined its major policies and
principles to integrate Roma over a period of ten years. It
included measures to prevent discrimination, encourage employment,
desegregate Roma schools, improve housing and healthcare, ensure
Roma access to media, as well as to preserve and promote Roma
culture and ethnicity. Developed with broad Roma participation, the
document formed the basis for numerous government action plans.
Bu, the government did not allocate specific budget o implement
goals, instead relying heavily on funding from international donors,
such as the WorldBank, the Soros Foundation, the European Bank for
Reconstruction and Development and others.


3. (SBU) By far the government's most serious accomplshment from
the list of measures in the Framework Program is the 2003 adoption
of anti-discriminaton legslation. Roma NGOs were among the first
nd most active applicants in court under the new lw. They are
also among the most frequent petitiners to the Anti-Discrimination
Commission, estabished in 2005 to enforce the law. Citing figures
that only 65,000 Roma were officially registered o receive
unemployment assistance in 2008, goverment officials insist that
unemployment among Roa has dropped significantly Officials
attribute this progress to a number of programs implemented by the
Ministry of Labor and Social Policy aimed at improving Roma
qualification and increasing their competitiveness on the labor
market. Officials also talk up the government's recently-enacted
policy to limit timelines for social welfare, which they claim broke
the cycle of dependency and encouraged Roma initiative. These
conclusions drastically conflict with the views of NGOs, which the
government accuses of purposefully inflating statistics to attract
donor funding. In the area of housing, the NGOs criticized the
government for delaying the development of architectural plans and
the building of infrastructure in Roma neighborhoods.


THE GRITTY REALITY TEN YEARS LATER
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4. (SBU) Despite ongoing integration efforts, around half of
Bulgarian Roma, roughly estimated at 800,000 or slightly over 10
percent of the country's population, live in segregated ghettos.
These neighborhoods are populated by shanty-style illegal homes,
which are below basic sanitary standards, with makeshift electric
wiring and no running water. Roads in these neighborhoods are often
unpaved and ad-hoc. Recent immigration from smaller towns to larger
cities, particularly Sofia and Plovdiv, has only increased the
strain on Roma neighborhoods. Almost 70 percent of Roma attend de
facto segregated schools. Roma children are also disproportionally
represented in state run institutions for children, which have faced
stinging criticism recently for poor care and conditions. In part
due to the low educational attainment and discrimination, Roma
continue to face significant challenges in the labor market.
According to NGO reports, unemployment amongst Roma in some areas is
as high as eighty percent. (The vast disparity in NGO and government
statistics has much to do with political agenda-setting, but also
the methodological quirks and anomalies of how unemployed are
registered and counted.) Interestingly, Roma in rural areas are
moving into homes in towns and villages virtually abandoned by the
ethnic Bulgarian population - part of the consequence of the huge
demographic changes underway here as part of the countryside
essential de-populates.


THE ROCKY ROAD AHEAD
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5. (SBU) In July 2008, the Government started to update the
Framework Program, due to expire in 2009, with broad involvement of
Roma NGOs, who were initially encouraged by the government's
invitation to participate in the working group. Early optimism soon
gave way to disappointment when Deputy Prime Minister Emel Etem, who
chairs the government's council coordinating ethnic and demographic
issues, restructured the working group to reduce Roma representation

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from 16 to 4 NGOs. Most Roma boycotted the working group leaving
only one person as the representative. The community grew even more
frustrated with the government's drafting process when the deadline
for completion was postponed by five months to April 2009. Some
Roma activists worried that Roma issues would be exploited for
political purposes in the upcoming election campaign without any
tangible benefits for the community.


6. (SBU) Government officials expect cabinet ministers to approve
the new Framework Program ahead of the election campaign due to
start in mid-May. Arguing that Roma remain marginalized from
mainstream Bulgarian society because of poverty and poor educational
skills, officials stress in the new draft the need to develop social
and economic policies for poor families regardless of their
ethnicity. The new strategy includes provisions for pre-school
education for bilingual children to complement the recent
decentralization of school budgets and management. To address
housing, officials strive to encourage local municipalities to make
funds available for lower-income families, including Roma. Like the
1999 Program, the current draft is not backed up with a specific
financial commitment and relies on each Ministry and municipality
providing resources amid competing priorities. Some Roma activists
criticize the government's draft as lacking specificity and vision
to address future economic challenges. They also charge the
document does not recognize Roma as a separate ethnic group, nor
takes into account the role of discrimination against them. Some go
as far as charging that the draft is itself discriminatory.
Meanwhile, Bulgaria's small but vocal nationalist/populist parties
perpetuate stereotypes against Roma, and claim the government is
doing too much for Roma.

COMMENT
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7. (SBU) COMMENT: Despite continued friction over the substance of
the new Framework, government officials joined with Roma to
commemorate International Roma Day in various events around the
country. Ambassador McEldowney issued a public statement calling
for reaffirmed commitment and concerted effort on the part of the
government, civil society and business to advance tolerance and
equal opportunities. The latest drafting effort clearly illustrates
the difficulty of developing a much needed consensus policy to
integrate Roma. Even once a document is hammered out, its
implementation will be an even greater challenge. End comment.

Karagiannis