Population

A fact sheet published by the European Roma Rights Center (ECCR) in Budapest on the numbers of Roma in Europe shows that the number of Roma in Russia is 152,939, according to official sources, but may vary between 220,000 and 400,000, according to ECCR estimates.

Major groups

According to ethnic group data provided in the databases of the Centre for Russian Studies at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI), several groups of Romas have developed in Russia as a result of their contacts with the population of different geographical areas. Most Romas in Russia live in the Stavropol Kray, the Rostov Oblast, the Krasnodar Kray and the Samara Oblast, and speak many dialects of the Romani language, as well as Russian (ibid.). Russian Romas are the largest "Gypsy" group in Russia and subdivide into several local subgroups, depending on the city they live in (ibid.). Crimean Gypsies are found in Crimea, the Rostov region, the Russian province of Krasnodar, in Siberia and the Russian Far East. They also can be found in Moscow and St. Petersburg. There are also Romas from Central Asia who speak Uzbek or Tajik, and Romas from Armenia (Boshas) whose mother tongue is Armenian (ibid.).

Culture

A 1998 compendium of world ethnic groups entitled Ethnic Groups Worldwide: A Ready Reference Handbook states that:

Unlike many other Russian ethnic groups, Gypsies-because of their pariah status-have retained much of their traditional culture, including maintaining their social structure based on nations, clans, and families; marrying within the group; avoiding non-gypsies; and engaging in particular occupations such as entertaining, coppersmithing, and black-smithing. Gypsies in Russia speak Romani and are mainly Russian Orthodox (Levinson 1998, 71-72).

Status

A June 1999 report on Roma in Russia published by the Minorities at Risk Project at the Center for International Development and Conflict Management of the University of Maryland in Baltimore, states that:

Until the Collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the reaction of Russians toward the Roma was mixed. While some surveys showed a negative attitude towards the Roma by the Russian people, other surveys did not. However, after the collapse, the rise of nationalist fascism has brought a new wave of racial prejudice to Russia, including prejudice against the Roma.

[...]

There has been little evidence of overt violence against the Roma in Russia. However, the general attitude to them is distrustful based on the high level of crimes committed by the Roma. This racial prejudice, like prejudice against the Roma elsewhere, depicts them as lazy parasites who prefer to leech off of society and steal rather than earn an honest living.

This prejudice is reinforced by the fact that there are many Roma who fit this description. The Roma gangs who rob tourists and residents of Moscow, as well as the large number of Roma beggars in that city, are notorious. Also, it is estimated that during the 1990s, 70% of the drug dealers in Moscow are Roma. Thus, as is the case elsewhere, Roma actions fuel prejudice against them which, in turn, places them in a position where they are reduced to the behaviour which contributes to the prejudice in the first place.

The Roma are among the poorest in Russian society. Many are homeless with crime and begging being their only sources of income. Their illiteracy rate is higher than that of the general population and many do not speak Russian as a native language. Although there is no information on this, it is probable that they suffer from discrimination in the workplace and in both lower and higher education.

Country Reports 2000 states that:

Roma and persons from the Caucasus and Central Asia face widespread societal discrimination, which often is reflected in official attitudes and actions. Police reportedly beat, harassed, and solicited bribes from persons with dark skin, or who appeared to be from the Caucasus, Central Asia, or Africa. Discrimination against persons from the Caucasus and Central Asia also increased concurrently with new measures at both the federal and local levels to combat crime. Law enforcement authorities targeted persons with dark complexions for harassment, arrest, and deportation from urban centers, particularly after the August 1999 bombing in Moscow. In Moscow such persons are subjected to far more frequent document checks than others and frequently are detained or fined in excess of permissible penalties, often without formal documents recording the infraction being drawn up and presented by police (Section 4).

An October 1998 Nezavisimaya Gazeta report states that a Regional Association of Russian Romas was created in Samara Russia. The association regroups "almost 200,000 Romas" of European Russia and Western Siberia. Nikolai Verbenko was elected as the chairman of the new association (ibid.)

A 28 April 20000 RFE/RL analysis reports on the early April announcement by the Russian Ministry for Federation and Nationality Affairs of a "special federal-national-cultural arrangement" that would "strenghthen" the rights of "one million" Romas through the creation of a special council under Ministry's jurisdiction. This new arrangement was "legally registered" by the Ministry of Justice and is the outcome of a process that began in November 1999. However, the arrangement does not provide Romas with any territorial control. According to the analysis:

For a group like the gypsies who live dispersed in relatively small groups across the entire Russian Federation, such an arrangement is a major step forward. Up to now, the gypsies have been subject to discrimination in Russia as in many other countries. They do not have a single school or newspaper in their own language, and their past suffering has often been ignored.

A 22 April 2000 Nezavisimaya Gazeta report states that the special council would be chaired chaired by Prof. Georgy Demetr. The report also states that:

[Roma] children don't know the language, Russia does not have a single Gypsy school, there are no newspapers, and there isn't a Gypsy television or even a radio station. The police do absolutely anything they like to them, the concepts "innocent until proven guilty" and "Gypsy" have nothing to do with another, and as if that weren't enough, journalists ardently and eagerly fling mud at them...

The Gypsies sincerely hope that their troubles will be over now that they have their own cultural entity. From now on they will have every right to count on the state support that belongs by law to every ethnic minority living in Russia (22 Apr. 2000).

No additional information on the situation of Romas in Russia could be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2000. February 2001. United States Department of State. Washington, DC. http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2000/eur/index.cfm?docid=877 [Accessed 19 June 2001]

European Roma Rights Center (ERRC). n.d. "Fact Sheets-Number of Roma." http://www.errc.org/publications/factsheets/numbers.shtml [Accessed 19 June 2001]

Levinson, David. 1998. Ethnic Groups Worldwide: A Ready Reference Handbook. Phoenix, Arizona: Oryx Press.

Minorities at Risk Project, Center for International Development and Conflict Management (CIDCM), University of Maryland, College Park, MD. June 1999. Darya Pushkina. "Roma (Gypsies) Russia." (Update) http://www.bsos.umd.edu/cidcm/mar/rusroma.htm. [Accessed 14 June 2001].

Nezavisimaya Gazeta [Moscow]. 22 April 2000. Anna Krushtalyova. "Russian Gypsies Get their Own Autonomous Entity." (Current Digest of the Post-Soviet Press 31 May 2000/NEXIS)

_____. October 1998. "Samara: the Gypsy Capital of the Country." (WPS 3 Nov. 1998/NEXIS)

Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI), Centre for Russian Studies' Database. n.d. "Ethnic Group: Gypsies." http://www.nupi.no/cgi-win/Russland/etnisk_b.exe?gypsy [Accessed 19 June 2001]

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL). 28 April 2000. Paul Goble. "Russia Analysis From Washington - A New Kind of Autonomy." http://www.rferl.org/nca/features/2000/04/f.ru.00042840729.html [Accessed 18 June 2001]

Additional Sources Consulted

IRB databases

Minority Rights Group (MRG) reports

REFWORLD

Internet sources including:

Amnesty International

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 1999

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 1998

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 1997

Ethnologue

European Roma Rights Center (ERRC)

Human Rights Watch (HRW)

International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF)

Minority Electronic Resources (MILRENES)

The Patrin Web Journal: Romani Rights

World News Connection (WNC)

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