Roma Organise to Raise Awareness of the Situation of Roma in the Kosovo Crisis
21 April 2000
On April 21, 2000, the Budapest-based Romani theatre company "Vareso Aver" held the premiere performance of a Romani-language version of Federico Garcia Lorca's classic "Blood Wedding" in the auditorium of the Hungarian Romani non-governmental organisation Roma Parlament. In addition to support by the Open Society Institute and the local restaurant Tutu Tango, the European Roma Rights Center provided logistic assistance.
The April 21 performance of "Blood Wedding" aimed to promote understanding of the situation of Roma in the Kosovo Crisis. Before the war, approximately 120,000-140,000 Roma lived in Kosovo. As the conflict between Serbs and Albanians in Kosovo escalated, Roma were forced to take sides in a conflict in which there was no Romani side. Roma fell victim to human rights abuses by Serb forces and NATO air attacks during the violent events of early 1999. After the end of the NATO bombing and the return of Albanian refugees to Kosovo in June 1999, ethnic Albanians began a campaign of ethnic cleansing against non-Albanians including the Roma of Kosovo. Between June and September 1999, ethnic Albanians beat, killed, kidnapped, and tortured Roma, raped Romani women, confiscated the property of Roma, and destroyed Romani houses on a mass scale. Possibly over 100,000 Roma have fled Kosovo. Others fled their homes but remain now in enclaves inside Kosovo, under physical threat and in tenuous circumstances.
Today, according to some estimates, approximately 4/5 of the houses of Roma of Kosovo are destroyed. There are 40,000-80,000 Romani refugees from Kosovo in Serbia. There are approximately 15,000 Romani refugees from Kosovo in Macedonia, 8000 Romani refugees from Kosovo in Montenegro and 10,000 Romani refugees from Kosovo in Italy. Many thousands more are scattered around Europe--- in Bosnia, Croatia, Germany, Britain, France, Belgium and other countries. The events in Kosovo are the single biggest catastrophe to befall the Roma of Europe since the Holocaust.
The Macedonian government has given Roma from Kosovo temporary protection until June 28. After June 28, the Macedonian government may try to force the 15,000 Romani refugees from Kosovo to go back to Kosovo or to go to Serbia, although the United Nations administrators of Kosovo and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees have urged against such moves. At present, all Roma in Kosovo face the real threat of physical attack. The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, devastated and already sustaining hundreds of thousands of Serbian and Romani refugees, is in no position to take more.
Speaking at the premiere performance of Blood Wedding, Hungarian Romani activist Agnes Daroczi told the assembled crowd, "When the former Yugoslavia broke up into national states, only the Roma remained as true Yugoslavs. Many Roma had to choose to fight against their own people and many had to leave their homes. As the filmmaker Tony Gatlif has said, 'the Roma deserve the Nobel Peace Prize because the have never fought their own war and they never wanted to take anyone else's country.'" Activists collected money for the organisation DROM, based in Kumanovo, Macedonia, to assist in their support of Romani refugees from Kosovo, and in particular to support the purchase of toys for refugee children and a computer for use by Romani refugees. Persons wishing to learn more about DROM's activities are urged to contact:
Roma Community Center DROM
Lokalitet Serava priz. 7a
91 300 Kumanovo
Macedonia
Tel/Fax: ++ 389 901 27 558
E-mail: drom@soros.org.mk
Internet website: http://www.romnews.com
Persons wishing to contribute to DROM may donate via bank transfer to:
Stopanska Banka a.d., Skopje, Macedonia
Account number: 40900-678-6121
All present at the premiere performance of Blood Wedding, including members of the media and the diplomatic community, were provided with European Roma Rights Center documentation of the situation of Roma in Kosovo, materials also available on the European Roma Rights Center internet website. Regular public performances of Vareso Aver's Blood Wedding will begin in May in the Roma Parlament, Tavaszmezo utca 6, in Budapest's 8th district. Proceeds from the performance will go to support DROM Kumanovo's activities for Romani refugees from Kosovo.
