By Vesna Peric Zimonjic
BELGRADE, Feb 26 2003 (IPS)

Angry protesters blocked the highway between Belgrade and the second largest Serbian city Novi Sad repeatedly in recent weeks to protest against a new housing project for Roma people.

Residents from Zemun stopped traffic demanding cancellation of plans to build a housing project for about 50,000 Roma in their neighbourhood.

"We don’t want Zemun to become a ghetto for gypsies," said Dragan Radusinovic, head of a committee of local residents. "We don’t want our children to feel unsafe because of the new neighbours."

The daily protest by several thousand people has led to a fresh debate on the position of Roma in Serbia.

Recent studies show that Roma live on the margin of Serbian society. Their situation remains "unfavourable", according to a study by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) published last month.

The UNDP report ‘The Situation of Roma in Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) compared to Roma in Central and Eastern Europe’ says there are no exact statistics on how many Roma live in a country of 7.5 million. Officials estimates place the Roma population between 400,000 and 450,000, but some of their own groups say their number is closer to 800,000.

"People fear segregation and they do not declare themselves as Roma in the census," says young Serbian writer Zoran Jovanovic, a Roma himself. "Our images of ourselves and the images others have of us remain stereotypes."

Roma organisations say Roma have been degraded, segregated and marginalised, particularly in the decade of rule of former leader Slobodan Milosevic. Milosevic ruled Serbia in the nineties and fell from power in October 2000.

The first Roma, about 300 of them, are believed to have come from India to settle in Serbia in the 16th century. Their number has risen steadily since then. Many of them came to work as blacksmiths, and repaired ships in Belgrade’s shipyards.

Under Turkish rule which lasted from 1389 to 1868, they were exempt from paying tax. Roma were not persecuted before or immediately after the second world war, their leaders say.

Roma suffered some of their worst persecution during the Second World War. Thousands were killed along with Jews by occupying Nazi forces. After some improvement since then, their condition worsened in the nineties.

"Milosevic’s decade was the worst period for the Roma after the German occupation," president of the Roma Congress Party Dragoljub Ackovic told IPS. "Economically, culturally and politically we became a people without rights."

Roma organisations say 80 per cent of the Roma are illiterate. Only four per cent managed to finish high school, and no more than a couple of hundred have a university degree.

"Many Roma children were pushed into schools for the disabled because they did not know Serbian," Ackovic said. "Some 80 per cent of pupils in those schools were perfectly normal and healthy Roma children. They ended up leaving school."

The UNDP report says 80 per cent of Roma living in Belgrade have no permanent employment. They survive on seasonal jobs, collecting waste for recycling, or on small trade in flea markets.

Belgrade Mayor Radmila Hrustanovic says the Zemun project will continue. "It is just the beginning," she told journalists at a press conference. "By the end of 2004, we plan to complete another eight housing projects for 70,000 Roma in Belgrade. There will be no slums around this city. People have the right to decent living."

The Belgrade Centre for Minority Rights, a prominent non-governmental organisation, has proposed a media campaign to educate people. Surveys indicate strong prejudice against Roma in Serbia. A recent poll by the agency Argument showed that 79.5 per cent of Serbs would not marry a Roma, 68 per cent thought Roma were lazy and irresponsible, while 57 per cent said Roma could not be trusted.

"Serbs have a battle ahead against racial prejudice and negative stereotypes of Roma," Ackovic said. "It will take a long time."

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