Legal, Social and Economic Challenges Facing the Roma of Central and Eastern Europe

This paper argues that, quite unlike any other national or ethnic minority in the region, the Roma of Central and Eastern Europe are facing a formidable range of economic, social, cultural and political problems in the transition from Communism. In some respects, difficulties of economic adjustment, experienced by the Roma, reflect serious errors in the Communist regimes' approach to solving the gypsy 'problem'. However, they also stem from blatant discrimination and culturally uninformed treatment by educational systems and public services, in the post-Communist era, as well as the lingering effects of certain aspects of traditional Romani culture(s). The paper critically examines some of the legal and administrative measures that have been introduced by post-Communist states to address the wide-ranging difficulties experienced by the Roma. Finally, the paper puts forward a number of suggestions for achieving further, long-term improvements in the overall situation of the Roma in Central and Eastern Europe.