Gregoriou, Reframing the discourse on Roma integration Moving from welfare dependency and ethnic targeting to social inclusion and integration in the labour market

8/7/2019 Gregoriou, Reframing the discourse on Roma integration Moving from welfare dependency and ethnic targeting to

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Mutual Learning Programme 2010

Autumn Peer Reviews

MUTUAL LEARNING PROGRAMME:

PEER COUNTRY COMMENTS PAPER - CYPRUS

Reframing the discourse on Roma integration: Moving from welfare

dependency and ethnic targeting to social inclusion and integration

in the labour market

Peer Review on Supporting the Labour Market Integration of the Roma Community

in the Czech Republic

Czech Republic, 25 26 November 2010

A paper submitted by Zelia Gregoriou

in consortium with GHK Consulting Ltd and CERGE-EI

Date: 30/11/2010


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This publication is supported for under the European Community Programme for Employment and

Social Solidarity (2007-2013). This programme is managed by the Directorate-General for

Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities of the European Commission. It was established

to financially support the implementation of the objectives of the European Union in the employment

and social affairs area, as set out in the Social Agenda, and thereby contribute to the achievement ofthe Lisbon Strategy goals in these fields.

The seven-year Programme targets all stakeholders who can help shape the development of

appropriate and effective employment and social legislation and policies, across the EU-27, EFTA-

EEA and EU candidate and pre-candidate countries.

PROGRESS mission is to strengthen the EU contribution in support of Member States' commitments

and efforts to create more and better jobs and to build a more cohesive society. To that effect,

PROGRESS will be instrumental in:

providing analysis and policy advice on PROGRESS policy areas;

monitoring and reporting on the implementation of EU legislation and policies in PROGRESS

policy areas;

promoting policy transfer, learning and support among Member States on EU objectives and

priorities; and

relaying the views of the stakeholders and society at large

For more information see:

http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=327&langId=en

The information contained in this publication does not necessarily reflect the position or opinion of the

European Commission.
http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=327&langId=enhttp://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=327&langId=enhttp://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=327&langId=en


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CONTENTS

1 LABOUR MARKET SITUATION IN THE PEER COUNTRY ........................................................ 42 ASSESSMENT OF THE POLICY MEASURE .............................................................................. 53 ASSESSMENT OF THE SUCCESS FACTORS AND TRANSFERABILITY................................. 74 QUESTIONS ............................................................................................................................... 9ANNEX 1: SUMMARY TABLE ........................................................................................................ 10ANNEX 2: UNEMPLOYMENT IN CYPRUS ..................................................................................... 11ENDNOTES .................................................................................................................................... 13


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1 LABOUR MARKET SITUATION IN THE PEER COUNTRY1

This paper has been prepared for a Peer Review within the framework of the Mutual

Learning Programme. It provides informationon Cypruss comments on the policy example

of the Host Country for the Peer Review. For information on the policy example, please

refer to the Host Country Discussion Paper.

According to the Law Commissioner of Cyprus, Cypriot Gypsies are afforded by the State

welfare benefits to which they are entitled to as Cypriot citizens, such as, basic housing,

health care, schooling for children and a monthly allowance to care for their basic needs

until employed.2

Although this is a correct description of Roma3

eligibility for welfare

allowances, it is a false framing of Roma social inclusion and integration in labour market

policy. The quote above reflects the overall government approach to the Roma issue, that

is, a case of social protection withoutsocial integration. Benefits/allowances are provided

systematically within the framework of implementing an anti-discrimination policy (that is,

awarding to Roma all social benefits and welfare allowances to which they are eligible as

disadvantaged Cypriot citizens), butnot in the context of a comprehensive policy for socialinclusion and inclusion in the labour market. Roma employment as such has not been

actively targeted; it is assumed that it will, perhaps, come in the future, as a follow-up to

Roma social inclusion and the combating of negative attitudes towards them. The

conflation of anti-discrimination policy with welfare support, and the structural (for all welfare

dependents and not just the Roma) and cultural (specifically for the Roma) separation of

welfare support from support for integration in the labour market, have established Roma

welfare dependency as an unavoidable evil that must be endured in the context of building

a non-racist society, preserving the welfare state and fashioning a European profile.

Unemployment in Cyprus has increased over the last two years from 3.6% in 2008 to 7.2%

in 2010, with the highest unemployment rates found in the sectors of construction and the

tourism industry (see Annex 2). Unlike in the Czech Republic where unemployment hasaffected low skilled workers, sectors where the small number of Cypriot Roma are usually

employed (often as short term and almost always as uninsured labour) such as scrap-metal

collecting, metal moulding/welding and related trades, have not been affected.4

The district

of Limassol where most Roma reside presents the lowest increase in unemployment (after

the capital of Nicosia). In the district of Paphos, where most Roma have been settled in the

rural mountainous areas, harvesting carob is a profitable activity.5

That there are jobs

available does not mean there are no specific barriers to Roma employment. Unlike in the

Czech Republic, barriers are not limited to low educational attainment and skills but include,

language barriers, spatial inaccessibility to the workplace,6

outdated labour market skills

among the Roma population, a lack of targeted and flexible labour counselling and a lack

active social inclusion schemes. The Cypriot Roma speak a Turkish dialect with elements

of Romani and, as with Turkish-Cypriots, only older Roma can speak an old version of theGreek Cypriot dialect. Middle age Roma who grew up after 1974 do not speak Greek (or

English, since they did not study it in school) and most have attended only elementary

school (in the north). The younger, who have attended school in the south since 2001-2,

are competent in Greek and attend both primary and secondary education. Learning Greek

is considered by Roma themselves as an essential skill,7

but it is hard to learn Greek if

courses are not specifically targeted at them and in localities accessible to them. Most (all

the men, some of the women) drive, but only some individuals own cars, and with public

transportation in Cyprus being limited (in some areas infrequent, in others non-existent and

in others, such as the Roma Settlement of Pano Polemidia, unthinkable), any distance from

the workplace beyond the range of walking distance becomes prohibitive. I want job,

worker, in my neighbourhood, uttered in bad (not just broken) Greek, was the example

cited/parodied by the Public Employment Service (hereafter PES) contact in order to show

the job-seekers low cultural and educational level, her/his na ve understanding of the job


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market, his/her inflexibility and lack of motivation in searching for a job and the impossibility

of finding in the PES Online System a job entry that meets the profile of such a job-seeker

(typical of a Kurdish/Turk refugee, or possibly of Turkish Cypriot Roma).

2 ASSESSMENT OF THE POLICY MEASURE

Unlike the case of the Czech Republic or Balkan states, Roma in Cyprus constitute an

invisible and numerically very small marginal social group.8

For the old generation of Greek

Cypriots, Roma constitute a flying, folklore memory of wondering gypsies from the distant

past and, for middle aged and young people another socially problematic (rather than

vulnerable) group and another new group of welfare dependents.9

The latter kind of

contact has developed gradually since 1999 when families of Roma started moving from

the north/Turkish occupied side (where they had been living since the ethnic division that

followed the Turkish invasion of 1974)10

to the Government controlled areas of the Republic

(south) in search of betterliving conditions. Their absence, until recently, from the territory

effectively controlled by the Republic, their relatively small number (between 650 and 700)

and their inconspicuous ethnic and national identity (other times treated as Turkish Cypriotsand other times as other) renders their ethnic recognition a complicated task.11

Issues of

discrimination and Roma ethnic/minority recognition were raised during the second

monitoring cycle of CoE Convention on the Protection of National Minorities, mostly by

NGOs and independent scholars, in meetings with the CoE Advisory Committee.12

This led

to the inclusion of references to the Roma in Cypruss Second Report on National Minorities

(2006). In the Report it is argued that, legally, the Roma are not covered by the Framework

Convention and it is also established that Roma are enjoying social protection as citizens

(the Government is highly commended for this by the Advisory Committee):13

An ethnic approach/minoritization of the Roma issue is supported mostly by Human Rights

and Anti-racism activists and academic scholars and not so much by NGOs. So far, NGO

field social work has focused on Third Country National migrants, refugees and asylum

seekers because, first, these groups are numerically large, legally and economically

precarious, highly vulnerable to labour exploitation and violations of human rights and,

second, because of the availability of EU funding (Solidarity Funds) for projects targeting

these specific groups (Integration Fund for Migrant Integration and European Refugee Fund

for Asylum Seekers and Refugee). NGO and activist interest in Roma issues has been

stirred up particularly with reference to the monitoring of the implementation of Anti-

discrimination and Human Rights Laws and Conventions and, more recently, with regards

to issues of multicultural education and tolerance. This interest remains focused on issues

of combating stereotypical negative attitudes against the Roma and promoting educational

opportunities for Roma children and does not address issues of field social work and labour

counselling for the Roma. Thus the main question raised by the Czech paper, i.e., Should

field social work and labour counselling be separated from ethnically defined Romaissues?, is not applicable to the case of Cyprus because approaches to the Roma issue as

an ethnically defined issue address only issues of discrimination, poverty and cultural

misrecognition and do not include issues of social work and labour counselling. However,

the question is still valuable for helping us expose the ways in which the interest in Roma

issues by both the Government/MLSI (framed as an issue of welfare provision) and

NGOs/activists, not only has overstepped issues of labour counselling but has also

rendered the issue of Roma employment insignificant if not meaningless.

Human rights activists, academic researchers, NGOsand other organizations (e.g., the

Commissioners Office / Authority for the Combating of Racism and Discrimination) interest

in the Roma issue has been triggered by overwhelming racist attitudes against the Roma

but also by organized mobilization of residents against the settlement of Roma in their

neighbourhoods.14 The Roma originally settled in empty houses in the old Turkish sectors

of Limassol and Paphos and some of them were later relocated by the Government in


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settlements of prefabricated houses built in two quite distant areas, Pano Polemidia and

Makounta, with some families also settled in Government refurbished old Turkish houses in

the, also very distant, village of Stavrokonou. The relocation of Roma into such settlements

served two needs, primarily the need to satisfy the publics quest to keep the Roma away

from them and secondarily the need to provide housing (since no more empty houses were

available in the old Turkish quarters). The fact that Roma settlement/re-distribution in such

distant, desolate and isolated areas separated de factothe Roma from the Cypriot society

and cut them off from urban areas with viable employment options, did not trouble the

Government as a contradiction for two reasons. First, Roma integration was (and continues

to be) addressed in terms of covering their basic needs (with welfare allowances) and

preserving social harmony in the urban areas where the Roma would prefer to settle (by

relocating them). Second, integrating the Roma in the labour market was excluded from

consideration both because of the stereotypical perception that the Roma do not work but

also because welfare support is assumed to promote welfare dependency which in turn is

considered to stifle motivation for regular employment.

When the Roma started moving to the south in 1999 and re-appeared for first time, since

1974, in the Republics social mapping of the socially vulnerable and the publics images

of the dangerous other, initial racist attitudes towards Roma were grounded on culturalevaluations: dirty, troublesome, loud, violent, delinquent and primarily non-Cypriot.

15Their

ongoing presence during the last decade, their participation as voters in elections since

2004, and the emerging interest in them by NGOs and academic researchers, framed in the

multicultural discourse of tolerance and recognition of difference, have contributed to a

discursive shift from issues of housing and addressing basic needs to issues of tolerance,

recognition of cultural difference and promoting social inclusion.16

This discursive shift,

however, has coincided with the recent economic recession, the pressure to cut-down on

public expenditures (including welfare allowances) and the pressure to re-examine the

governments generous giving to those who exploit the welfare system and live

parasitically on tax-payers money.17

Thus, the problematization of the double/conflated

targeting of the Roma as an ethnic group and as a group in need of social integration by the

Czech Paper is very relevant to the Cyprus context and helps us raise critical questions

which so far have not been raised. In particular, it shows that the ethnicization of the

Roma issue (the Roma themselves have never expressed any claims for ethnic

recognition), particularly the framing of the Roma as an ethnic group with distinct customs

and norms has reinforced the very stereotypical cultural claims used by racists and,

furthermore, has provided a cultural mentality understanding for Roma unemployment

which is now used even by officers in the Public Employment Service in explaining why

they did not have any Roma candidates.

The absence of policies and measures for Roma employment has been accentuated by

three, false, unsubstantiated and culturally biased claims, which are largely overlapping and

mutually reinforcing: (a) that the Roma do not like to work (as a cultural trait), (b) that the

Roma do not work (as a labour force fact),18 and (c) that the Roma do not want to workbecause they can exploit the welfare system instead. Informal interviews with several MLSI

civil officers show that Roma employment is perceived, at worst, as a cultural impossibility

or, at best, as a possible consequence of a more tight control of welfare awards and

checking more strictly on applicants eligibility, e.g., monitoring their residence status

(permanent residence in the free territories i.e., Greek south, is a requirement for eligibility

which several Roma violate as they often keep moving between north and south);

checking whether Roma women applying for single parent family allowance have really

been abandoned by their husbands/partners; checking whether they are still registered as

unemployed (the latter typically has to be renewed on a monthly basis). When asked about

the kinds of sectors where Roma are employed or where they would probably prefer to be

employed, most government officials (MLSI, municipal and village level) state that Roma

do not work; they just go from place to place collecting all that junk iron or, they do not

work; they just collect carob.The contradiction in these remarks is that collecting junk


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and harvesting carob constitute types of labour but these are not perceived as work by

the officials. White collar MLSI clerks, most of them young middle class young women who

have no knowledge of traditional rural Cyprus (where carob was once one of the most

important export products and one of the highest sources of agricultural income), have a

very dismissive view of dirty irregular work. Two government officials who expressed very

different (and very insightful) views about Roma employment were two public servants

working in government offices outside the Labour Department. The first one was the social

worker in the Limassol District Welfare Office who has an (informal) coordination role for

Roma beneficiaries. He pointed out that most of them (male Roma) work. Many work as

collectors (collecting all kinds of waste, de-assembling them and selling the metal parts to

metal junk yards), in constructions and in metal welding and metal cutting but often their

work is short-term and uninsured (without social insurances). The other official to comment

positively and intuitively on Roma labour was an official working in the Limassol office of the

Guardian of Turkish Cypriot Property Authority (which falls under the jurisdiction of the

Ministry of Interior) who commented on Romas anxious quest for jobs and gave the

example of some who had been working as unskilled seasonal workers for the Limassol

Municipal Authority.

3 ASSESSMENT OF THE SUCCESS FACTORS AND

TRANSFERABILITY

In the Czech paper it is argued that the start-up of the (governmental) Agency for Social

Inclusion in Roma Localities (2008) could be seen as a viable outcome from the limited

success of field work and labour counselling. The Cypriot institution that is most

comparable to the Czech Agency for Social Inclusion in Roma Localities is the Dimosia

Ypiresia Apascholisis (Public Employment Service) which operates under the Department

of Labour of the MLSI. With Cypruss EU accession and within the context of the

harmonization of national social inclusion and employment policies with the Lisbon strategy,the government Grafeia Exevresis Ergasias (Labour Seeking Offices), which up to that

point just registered the unemployed and forwarded a number of those, mostly unskilled

workers, to employers, were upgraded to a comprehensive chain of Public Employment

Offices. The modernization of the PES included, among other things, the development of

several new offices besides the central ones already operating in four districts, the

development of an online registry for employers, jobs and job-seeking candidates and the

introduction of the new service of Simvoulos Apascholisis (Employment Counsellor) who

provides individualized assistance for special/complicated cases.

Based on the interview held with a PES officer (designated by the Czech coordinators) and

a thorough study of surveys and reports of the Labour Office, it appears that the Cypriot

PES does not and could not respond to the policy described in the Czech paper for anumber of reasons, outlined below:

a) PES focus on the job search (registering job-seekers in the online system and finding

correspondences between candidates and available job positions) but not on field

social work. This replicates the structural separation between the two different offices

of MLSI, that is, the Welfare Office and the Labour Office, and with reference to the

specificity of Roma social marginality, fails to bridge social work with labour

counselling and to incorporate labour counselling with social inclusion (it is quite a

paradox that the person who appeared to be most familiar with employment

opportunities for the Roma and to offer insightful recommendation for Roma labour

counselling is working for the Welfare Office and not for the PES);

b) PES are not familiar with Roma issues and so far, as far as they can tell, did not haveany Roma job candidates (there were seventeen Turkish Cypriots registered in the


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online system, but they could not tell whether any of them found a job and they also

considered it quite unlikeable that any of those were Roma);

c) the demographic categories used to classify job candidates on the online system

correspond more to the job seekers citizenship and residency legal status and not to

any ethnic or other characteristics that would make possible the targeting of groups in

need of social inclusion, with the exception of ethnic Greek Pontians (the categoriesare: Greek Cypriot; Turkish Cypriot; EU national; Alien/Third Country national

(provided s/he is married to a Cypriot or EU National); Greek Pontian with Greek

Passport; Greek Pontian with Repatriate ID);

d) the profile of the job-seeker assumes pre-requisites and skills which are not

considered (by the officer interviewed at least) to be adequately met by a Roma

candidate, such as, being competent in Greek, some work experience, being able to

specify with technical accuracy categories of labour for which they consider

themselves suitable candidates, and being able to commute to industrial sites of

labour, and

e) based on interviews with other authorities who have contact with Roma as well on

informal conversations with Roma themselves, the Roma do not have any knowledgeof PES offices but even if they had they would not apply there because they feel like

outsiders to such a process and unrelated to such authorities (they only authorities

they know and they feel quite comfortable with are the people who work at the

Limassol Office of the Guardian of Turkish Cypriot Property Authority (their first

contact when they moved to the south, the ones responsible for housing issues but

also the ones who seemed to have responded with care and informed interest to

various issues, including information on seasonal jobs offered by the Municipal

Authority) and the Welfare Office (social workers from the welfare office perform

home visits and are more familiar with Roma needs but also more appreciative of

Roma labour skills and more positive on Roma candidacy for various labour sectors).

The policy measure described by the Host Country would be more suitable for Cyprus if thePES offices of Cyprus could restructure their services in order to be more attractive to

Roma candidates. This would include extending PES services to places where Roma

reside or gather. This does not mean opening more PES offices but training mobile PES

officers to work with Roma, providing Turkish to Greek translation and providing appropriate

labour counselling. This includes finding ways to help Roma unemployed rethink of

themselves as job seekers and rephrasing the description of jobs in ways that these jobs

would appear relevant and appropriate from a Roma perspective. Lack of competence in

Greek and Roma interest in neighbourhood based jobs only should be reframed and

addressed as structural problems and not as Roma inadequacies. Furthermore, Roma

interest in specific activities such as junk collecting and carob collecting should not been

seen dismissively as cultural habits but addressed as kinds of work which could be

restructured into insured labour. Also, traditional Roma skilled experience and motivatedinterest in the fields of metal welding is something to built on and further develop. Although

the Human Resource Development Authority offers on a regular basis training and

apprentice programs in such fields, none of these programs were so far targeted on the

Roma. The possibility of Roma interest for employment in scrap metal recycling and waste

sorting and recycling needs to be investigated and further built on through labour

counselling and human resource development programs targeted specifically at Roma.

Currently, there seems to be a gap between PES and the Human Resource Development

authority with regards to Roma unemployment since the Roma (and other social marginal

groups) seem to be completely absent from these authorities targeted groups.


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4 QUESTIONS

In the case of Cyprus, as already indicated in a number of cases in the preceding text, the

structural separation of social field work (Welfare Department) and labour counselling (PES,

Labour Department) is very problematic. It would be very beneficiary for the purposes of

adopting the policy measures described by the Host Country, if we (Cyprus) knew moreabout the way social work and labour counselling are combined as well as whether the

Agency for Social Inclusion in Roma Localities is also cooperating with any Human

Resource Development Authority which could develop skill development programs targeted

specifically on Roma.

Two specific questions with regards to the technical specificity of labour counselling for

Roma are: (a) how labour counsellors produce Roma job seekers, in other words, how do

they move on from the candidates expressed interest in working, as an unskilled worker,

for example, to the candidates quest for a job in a specific labour sector; (b) how they

negotiate, if they do, they problem of the gap between the technical specificity that

characterizes job descriptions for workers and Roma perceptions of employment as an

unskilled worker.Another question is how is the aim of long term employment pursued if the jobs available

are seasonal or short-term. Is flexible labour a priority for the Agency and if yes, how is

flexiblelabour combined with social insurance plans?

Finally, we would like to raise some questions with regards to issues of gender

mainstreaming and gender equality. The Czech paper is written in a gender neutral

perspective but this leaves unaddressed questions such whether labour counselling is also

targeted to Roma women and if yes, what labour options are presented to Roma mothers

for whom the idea of working at sites and kinds of jobs which require separation from their

children is culturally unthinkable (in Cyprus at least) or practically impossible since

outsourcing home care and child care in not economically a viable option.


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ANNEX 1: SUMMARY TABLE

Labour market situation in the Peer Country

The overall approach to the Roma issue is social protection without social inclusion;

eligibility to social benefits/welfare allowances conflated with social inclusion; social work

reduced to examination of and response to requests for housing and welfare allowances

Unemployment in Cyprus has increased to 7.2% but sectors with low skilled workers where

Roma were employed (scrap-metal collecting, metal moulding/welding other related trades

and seasonal activities (such as carob collecting) were not affected

Barriers to Roma employment include: low educational attainment and professional skills,

language barriers, spatial inaccessibility to the workplace, absence of Roma targeted

labour inclusion policy and skill development training, absence of schemes of active social

inclusion and institutionalized misconceptions such as Roma do not work

Assessment of the policy measure

The Cyprus PEO, the closest Cypriot Agency to the Czech ASIRL:

focuses on typical job-seekers with codifiable labour skills and targeted job search

is not involved in social work, does not have close partnership with social workers working

with Roma and does not target specific social/ethnic groups or Roma localities

has a dismissive attitude towards traditional kinds of Roma labour activities, kinds of

irregular Roma labour and Roma seasonal low-skill labour, considers the Roma impossible

job-candidates and frames Roma social exclusion and long-term employment as a Roma

ethnic characteristic

Assessment of success factors and transferability

Personnel most trusted by the Roma and most competent to provide Roma targeted and Roma

customized labour counselling (similar to that provided by the Czech ASIRL) were located in the

Limassol Welfare Department and the Limassol Guardian for Turkish Cypriot Properties

(responsible for Roma housing). These individuals:

speak Turkish or consider Knowledge of Turkish an essential skill for adequate Roma

labour counselling

acknowledge Roma dependency on Welfare but also demonstrate appreciation of low-

skilled seasonal Roma labour

show respect for Roma as job candidates and have insightful recommendations as to howto develop culturally sensitive and locally based Roma labour counselling.

Questions

Explain more how field social work and labour counselling are combined both

structurally and in practice

Elaborate more on how field social work and labour counselling avoid ethic

framing/tainting but at the same time incorporate cultural sensitivity in appraising existent

Roma labour skills and matching those to highly technical/jargon formulated job

descriptions

Explain how the Czech policy addresses issues of flexible labour and active inclusion

Incorporate a gender mainstreaming perspective.


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ANNEX 2: UNEMPLOYMENT IN CYPRUS

Table 1: Cyprus Unemployment Rates for 2000-2010

Date Source: Eurostat - Last updated October 25, 2010Table 2: Registered Unemployment by Sector in September of 2008, 2009 and 2010

September

Economic sector 2008 2009 2010

Change 2009-

2010

Change 2008-

2010

of Activity . % . % . % . % . %

1

(New/Incoming)1.051 10,2% 1.895 10,8% 2556 12% 661 34,9% 1.505 143,2%

2

(Agriculture)84 0,8% 108 0,6% 141 1% 33 30,6% 57 67,9%

3 (Mining)

13 0,1% 31 0,2% 40 0% 9 29,0% 27 207,7%

4

(Industry)1.164 11,3% 1.776 10,1% 2140 10% 364 20,5% 976 83,8%

5

(Electricity)27 0,3% 39 0,2% 30 0% -9

-

23,1%3 11,1%

6

(Construction)891 8,6% 2.913 16,5% 3285 16% 372 12,8% 2.394 268,7%

7 (Trade) 2.125 20,6% 3.323 18,9% 3984 19% 661 19,9% 1.859 87,5%

8

/

(Hotel/Restaurant)

954 9,2% 1.650 9,4% 1993 10% 343 20,8% 1.039 108,9%

9

(Tranfers)419 4,1% 592 3,4% 612 3% 20 3,4% 193 46,1%

10 (Banking) 169 1,6% 242 1,4% 289 1% 47 19,4% 120 71,0%

11

(Services)3.422 33,2% 5.049 28,7% 5601 27% 552 10,9% 2.179 63,7%

Total 10.319 100% 17.618 100% 20.671 100% 3.053 17,3% 10.352 100,3%

Source: Department of Labour, MLSI


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Table 3: Distribution of Unemployed by Sector in September of 2008, 2009 and 2010

Source: Department of Labour, MLSI


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ENDNOTES

1 In preparing this Report the author had interviews with Eleni Christodoulou and CharalambosPittokopitis at the Limassol Office of the Guardian of Turkish Cypriot Properties Authority, Neophytos

Stiggas at the Limassol Welfare Office, Maria Demetriou at the Limassol-Ypsonas Office of the Public

Employment Service and Stavros Petrou, the Koinotarchis (Village Head) of Makounta (this was a

telephone interview). The author also attended a press interview on Roma issues held at the Kato

Polemidia Municipality Office on November 3 2010 and also had informal conversations with Roma at

the prefabricated settlements of Makounta and Pano Polemidia and also with a group of Roma men at

the coffee shops in the old Turkish Sector of Limassol.

2Cyprus Second Periodic Report on the Application of the Framework Convention for the Protection

of National Minorities, Office of the Law Commissioner, 27 October 2006

3The term Roma is increasingly replacing the term gypsies/tsigganoi and becoming established in

official English language official government reports. The term most often used in public discourse

(media, Parliamentary Discussions, Government Press Releases is the term Athigganoi which is

considered more appropriate than the term gypsies/tsigganoi. A recent study conducted in the area

of Pano and Kato Polemidia Limassol were a great number of Roma currently reside shows that the

public still refers to Athigganoi with derogatory terms gyftoi (47.6%), tsigganoi (21.7%),

kkilinciroi (15.2%). Only 2% of the sample state that they use the term Roma (Kato Polemidia

Municipal Authority in cooperation with Economarket Ltd, Sensitizing the public for the integration of

Roma in the Cypriot Society, carried out during September-October 2010, funded by the Cyprus ESF

in the context of the European Year 1010 for the Combating of Poverty and Social Exclusion).

4This information was obtained with interviews with officials at the Welfare Department and the Public

Employment Authority.

5The carob tree constitutes one of the major indigenous trees in Cyprus. Carob trees are abundant in

hilly areas and can flourish with minimum of rain and without systematic cultivation. Carob used to

constitute a major source of income for farmers until some decades ago. Fields with carob trees have

been neglected or abandoned by owners who either moved to the cities and do not care anymore for

such a kind of low (and demanding) labour as carob collection or find that the labour required for the

collection is exceeding the income, thus no profit is made. For expanded Roma families, carob

collecting from such abandoned fields (with or without the field owners permission) does not appear

prohibitive, for many hands are available (including children and elderly collectors). For the Roma,

the income earned from collecting and selling carob is considered a net income, as opposed to

Cypriots who consider the harvesting of carob to be profitless even if it yields a considerable income

because the estimated cost of labour (and time spent for such a time consuming activity) exceeds the

estimated sales income.6

Recycling and waste management are emerging dynamic industries in Cyprus and, as noted by the

Welfare Office official who was interviewed, Roma male workers would find job opportunities at

recycling/waste sorting sites tempting particularly because they could combine regular jobs with side

activities of junk metal collecting. When this was brought up to the Public Employment Service officer

she admitted that in the PES online index there were such jobs available but they would not be

attractive to a Roma worker as distance from the work site would be prohibitive. She cited for

example, five waste sorting worker job positions at the Barracuda Waste Management site at Moni,

Limassol, which would too far away for a Roma (The company Barracuda Intertrade LTD was

founded in 1992 and deals with a wide spectrum of commercial activities, with specialization in the

collection, management and marketing of materials of recycling). For information see Barracuda

Waste Management-Recycling (online at: www.barracuda-

cy.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=54&Itemid=61&lang=en) and

MEDITERRANEAN URBAN WASTE MANAGEMENT PROJECT (MUWMP SMAP, Limassol
http://www.barracuda-cy.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=54&Itemid=61&lang=enhttp://www.barracuda-cy.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=54&Itemid=61&lang=enhttp://www.barracuda-cy.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=54&Itemid=61&lang=enhttp://www.barracuda-cy.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=54&Itemid=61&lang=en


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Subproject, Minutes of the Post-Technical Mission (March 6-7,2002) and 4th and 5th Steering

Committee Meetings (online at: http://www.medcities.org/docs/2 %20- %20Minutes %20of %20

%20Meetings %20_.pdf).

7According to the Welfare Office officer, an evening Greek Language course which was offered for

the Roma mothers of students attending the 18th

Elementary School of Limassol (located in the oldTurkish sector of the city of Limassol, where many Roma have settled since 1999) was very

successful. In a conversation with Roma women at the Roma settlement of Pano Polemidia, the

impossibility of learning Greek and conversing with Greek speaking people was cited as a

catastrophic condition for both themselves and their children. Some of the women had heard of the

language course offered to Roma mothers in Limassol and were commending on that as one of the

benefits of living in an urban locality.

8The absence of data on the exact number of Cypriot Roma testifies to but also reproduces their

invisibility and social marginality. Different figures on the number of Cypriot Roma are cited in various

official and unofficial sources, with a marked tendency in governmental reports to deliberately

downplay this number. In the Second Periodic Report on the Protection of National Minorities (2006),

the Cyprus Law Commissioner cites a figure from a 1960 census: In 1960 the number of

Athigganoi/Tsigganoi living in Cyprus was 502 the number of Athigganoi/Tsigganoi living in Cyprus

was 502. Albeit outdated and non-reliable, this figure suits the government position that Roma are not

eligible for coverage by the CoE Convention. In her first Decision on discrimination against Cypriot

Roma (Decision No. 51.378, (08.03.2000),the Commissioner avoids citing any statistical figures,

probably in an effort to keep issues of racism and discrimination separate from issues of ethnic

recognition. According to data presented by the Minister of Interior Neoclis Silikiotis to the House of

Representatives, the number of Athigganoi in the free territories is 860 (Response dated 12

November 2009 by Minister of Interior Neoclis Silikiotis to question no. 23.06.009.03.277 by the

Representative of Larnaca Tasos Mitsopoulos, House of Representatives Minutes, Session of 19

November 2009). The highest figure cited (estimate) is by Trimikliniotis and Demetriou (2009) who

estimate the number of the Roma of Cyprus to be between 1,500 and 2,500 (RAXEN Thematic

Study - Housing Conditions of Roma and Travellers - Cyprus).9

Some of the officials at the Ministry of Labour who were contacted in search of material for the

preparation of this Report, particularly those of young age, commented that they did not know that we

have Roma in Cyprus.

10In informal conversations held at the two Roma settlements by the researcher during the

preparation of the Report, the Roma talked about before and after not in the terms of offi cial

discourse used by the Republic but in terms of before the war and after the war. They did not refer

to Turkish Cypriot Administration and Greek Cypriot Government, Turkish side and Greek side,

but rather to over there and to this side. Their references to the state and state officials were all

referenced to the Government (i.e., the Greek Cypriot Government) and in relation to the

Governments provision of housing and welfare allowances.

11 The Constitution of Cyprus establishes the existence of two national communities, Greek Cypriots

and Turkish Cypriots, and three religious (Christian) groups (Maronites, Armenians and Latins). The

Roma, based on assumptions of cultural affinity with Turkish Cypriot and Moslem religious identity,

were politically affiliated with (and included within) the Turkish Cypriot national community. Because

of this, and also because of the absence of any other constitutional reference to their, ethnic or other,

difference, the Roma are not framed (as the three religious groups are) as a minority in Cyprus

Periodic Reports submitted to the Council of Europe pursuant to Article 25, Paragraph 1 of the

Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities.

12In the CoE Advisory Committees Opinion, it is noted, under the subheading Tolerance and

intercultural dialogue, that:

The situation of the Roma living in the Government-controlled territory has received increasedattention in recent years, with measures of support taken in fields such as housing and education.


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Nevertheless, the Roma are still faced with prejudice and discrimination. The measures taken so far

to address their problems should be continued and developed further(Opinion, 2006, Paragraph 18)

and that

The Advisory Committee notes that no development has been noted regarding the formal status of

the Roma3 living in Cyprus, who since 1960 have continued to be regarded as belonging to theTurkish Cypriot Community. According to the information made available to the Advisory Committee,

no dialogue has been opened with the representatives of the Roma on this issue (Opinion, 2006,

Paragraph 36).

13The Advisory Committee notes that, in practice, supporting measures have been taken by the

authorities on behalf of Roma, in the areas of housing and education especially, andwelcomes thesecommendable initiatives (Opinion 2006, Paragraph 39).

14See, for example, the Ombudswomans 2003 Report on the Roma of Limassol,

, . .: /

839/2003.

15

Roma were seen as Turks who fled the north into the south by faking Turkish Cypriot identity inorder to secure residence and welfare allowances.

16This shift in dominant, both government and NGO, discourses is not refl ected in the publics

discourse. According to the study Sensitizing the public for the integration of Roma in the Cypriot

Society (see endnote 3), the public sees them as poor (51%) but also as dangerous to the society

(40.8%). In the same study, while only 16.6% express disagreement with the statement that they are

marginalized/neglected, 71.0 % also express disagreement with the statement that they need social

protection and support.

17This attack has been especially targeted to Turkish Cypriots educational and health benefits and

asylum seekers and Romas dependency on welfare allowances.

18 A recent study on the Social Relations and the Employment of the Gypsies who reside in the

Community of Kato Polemidia which was conducted by the NGO He raclitos (Support Center for the

Family and the Youth, affiliated with the Municipal Authority of Kato Polemidia) in cooperation with the

Frederick Institute of Technology reports that 100 % of the Roma are unemployed, of which 94,7 %

never worked, 68.4% received social welfare support allowance and 47.4% expressed no interest in

participating in some training program. These findings became titles in many newspapers and

extremist rightwing racist blogs, reinforcing the view that Romas live parasitically on the welfare

system. This research however and the results are absolutely flawed since, according to the research

itself, the sample comprised of 19 representatives (18 women, 1 man) residing in the settlement.

This is not a representative sample of the Roma residing in Kato Polemidia, the Roma residing in

Limassol, or the Roma residing in the Republic. In fact, it is not a sample of any community since

people who live in the specific settlement are Roma but not a Roma community (not even a

community). The specific settlement was created in a very remote area at the outskirts of PanoPolemidia. It has been built in a very remote area because the land was governmental but also

because it is too far from any residential areas and thus Greek Cypriots would not be bothered by the

Roma presence and thus would not complain and express racist attitudes. The area is a desolate

one, in the middle of nowhere, on the side of a barren hill, far from any kind of public service. There is

no public transportation, not a single shop for daily essentials, no street lighting. Besides the

prefabricated one-room houses, there is nothing there. All prefabricated houses sewage pipes lead

to a common septic tank which often overfills causing overfills in the house toilets, submerging the

whole settlement in a stinky smell. It is a nonsensical endeavour to examine the social relations of a

group which has been deliberately cut off from the rest of the society in order to keep the rest safe

from disturbance and from developing racist attitudes.

Documents

Gregoriou, Reframing the discourse on Roma integration Moving from welfare dependency and ethnic targeting to social inclusion and integration in the labour market