Roma/Gypsies: A European Minority

Book excerpt: The Roma/Gypsy community has been persecuted in Europe throughout history, whether through banishment, Roma/Gypsy hunts or the Roma/Gypsy Holocaust of the twentieth century. Roma/Gypsies: A European Minority charts the course of these events on the Roma/Gypsy consciousness and examines current-day policies of exclusion, containment and assimilation whilst also considering the position of Roma/Gypsy communities in Eastern and Central Europe in the wake of the fall of communism. The authors Jean-Pierre Liégeois and Nicolae Gheorghe, renowned experts on this subject, discuss European and international institutions’ responses to the growing sense of shared identity that exists among Roma/Gypsy people, highlighting the achievements that have been made to date and outlining the many issues still to be resolved. To this end, Roma/Gypsies: A European Minority concludes with a set of recommendations concerning identity, non-discrimination, equality, asylum, participation, education and self-designation, arguing that a European-wide integrated approach to these issues is long overdue. Please note that the terminology in the fields of minority rights and indigenous peoples’ rights has changed over time. MRG strives to reflect these changes as well as respect the right to self-identification on the part of minorities and indigenous peoples. At the same time, after over 50 years’ work, we know that our archive is of considerable interest to activists and researchers. Therefore, we make available as much of our back catalogue as possible, while being aware that the language used may not reflect current thinking on these issues.