Citizenship Opens New World for Macedonia’s Roma
After decades, many Roma are now able to claim their basic rights through citizenship by taking advantage of a temporary legal window of opportunity.
After 50 years Ali Mira finally has a place she can call home. She hasn’t moved from the Roma settlement called Klanitza on the banks of the Vardar River in Skopje, Macedonia. But because of a temporary amendment to the Law on Citizenship and the assistance of USAID she and her family are now official citizens.
Citizenship opens a whole new world to Ali and her seven children.
“There is hope for our family to have a better life,” says Ali.
It hasn’t been easy. Ali, who is 54, moved to Macedonia from Serbia when she was only 3. She grew up, married and gave birth to her children in Macedonia.
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| Ali Mira’s sister Kamber and her citizenship documentation |
The family’s daily struggle to survive means the children must spend their days collecting scrap metal and cardboard, begging and searching for food rather than attending school. But poverty alone has not kept them from the classroom. Unregistered and considered “stateless”, the family was deprived access to education, social welfare, employment benefits, the right to vote and the right to public health care.
Ali is finally receiving the medical care she needs to treat her ruptured kidney. And some of her children will now go to school.
“One of my daughters enjoys reading, and she is only 9 years old,“ says Ali. “I don’t know how she learned, but I am happy she wants to go to school.”
Ali Mira’s family belongs to one of the largest Roma communities in Europe. This community, like many others throughout Macedonia and Eastern Europe, is held back by poverty, illiteracy, illness and statelessness.
When the Macedonian government adopted a temporary amendment to the Law on Citizenship in 2002, reducing the naturalization requirements for long-term stateless residents, USAID recognized the need to move quickly. The provision is temporary and expires in March of 2006. Over 15 trainings and information sessions were organized across the country to reach as many potential applicants as possible. Financial assistance was provided to those who could not afford to obtain the necessary documents and pay the application fees.
In addition, USAID supported work with the Macedonian Ministry of the Interior in order to streamline procedures and identify best practices. Finally, funding was provided to strengthen the capability of NGOs working on behalf of Roma communities. The American Bar Association’s Central European and Eurasian Law Initiative (ABA-CEELI) has been the primary implementer of the project.
There’s another Roma neighborhood on the other side of Skopje called Zlakuchani. The homes here are sturdier than the impromptu shacks on the banks of the Vardar in Klanitza. Three families live in a series of small houses built very close to one another, creating a maze of rooms constructed of concrete, brick, and cardboard. The roofs are a mosaic of clay shingles, plastic sheets and tarps.
Ekrem and Nafia Salihi, who were married in 1982, and their seven children are one of the families. Since gaining their citizenship and legalizing their residence, two of their sons, ages 8 and 9, are now enrolled in school. Their 16-year-old daughter just gave birth to a baby boy, the first child in the family to be born in a hospital.
As a citizen, Ekrem, who is 40, is now eligible for employment benefits and legal employment. He is trained as a carpenter but hopes to find any kind of work. As hopeful new citizens of the Republic of Macedonia, both Ekrem and Nafia will vote in the next election.
Citizenship is only the first step in the integration of the Roma people into Macedonian society but it is a critical first step. Citizenship ensures access to certain basic human rights and will bring a new degree of human dignity to members of this severely marginalized minority. As many new citizens emerge from Macedonia’s Roma communities, there is a renewed hope for a brighter future for the Roma people and their children.
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