CONVENTION OF COOPERATION OF ROMANI ASSOCIATIONS OF ROMANA ROMA PARTY. ROMANI CRISS -The Rom Center for Social Intervention and Studies.ASTRA-THE ASSOCIATION OS STUDENTS AND YOUTH AGAINST RACISM PoBox 22-68, Bucuresti, Romania Tel/Fax : O1/ 40/659 .7813 ________________________________________________________________ Statement for the OSCE Implementation Meeting on Human Dimension, Warsaw, October-November, 1998. (First draft, english not yet improved ; a second text , corrected, will be send next days) Prevention of Criminality or Criminalization of Roma? The Romanian Police practice of discriminatory recording and publishing of supposedely Roma/ "Tigani" criminal offenders, is fuelling the hate speech in Romanian public life. Over the last years , the Roma associations have repeatedely protested the practice of the Romanian Police to keep records of the Roma population of the country and to publish statistics on criminality, in which the supposed "Roma ot "Tigan"/ Gypsy ethnic affiliation is imputed to some offenders . In such statistics is not indicated the ethnic / national background of any other offenders, except in case of foreign citizens residents in Romania. Such statistics , plus similar information gave by Police officers to the press in specific cases of criminal offences, are feeding the hate and the anti-Roma/ Gypsy hostility which dominate the public discourse on Roma in Romania. Such a recent Police statement was published by the Romanian press on August 7, 1998. Presumed offences were imputed to persons identifed as "Roma/ Tigani", without any specification of the proceedings to establish someone's ethnic background; comments are made on the " incresead criminal activity" of the Roma ethnic population ,as a whole. This Police statement was soon followed by an inflamatory declaration of Mr. Corneliu Vadim Tudor ,the leader of the extrem-nationalistic party "The Great Romania", on August 16. In a ten-points "program to runn the country" in case of gaining the elections, Mr. Tudor annouced, among others, the intention to "...isolate the Roma criminals in special colonies.." in order to ".. stop the transformation of Romania in a Gypsy camp.. ". Mr Tudor also warned the Western countries on the iinterational dimension of the "Gypsy problem " . He announced that the Great Romania Party ".. will open the borders of Romania and will expell the Roma criminals precisely in those countries which pretend to care about their fate" . (our translation) We remind that the Great Romania Party is represented in the Romanian Parliament and that Mr. Tudor, its leader, is a member of the Senate, the upper chamber of the Parliament of Romania. Mr. Tudor has been repeatedely charged by offences of calomny and defamation by many political and civic personalities and organisations in Romania. Actually, he is involved in ten such file cases, but he benefits from the immunity granted by the Romanian Parliament. The practice of Police disclosing prejuduced records on criminality, which overtly discriminate against Roma population of Romania and the hate speech of Mr. Tudor remained till now ( August 25th) not condemned by the Romanian State's authorities. The statement of the Romani Associations presents the pro and con arguments presented by Police in answering the criticism of Roma associations , including the Romanian Police refferences to similar practice of law-enforcement agencies in the Western countries. Senior Romanian Police officers were part, over tha last years, of many training seminars and stages provided by Western countries and by the Council of Europe. The Romania Police justify the practice of surveillance of Roma population, including its distinct recording in the Police files, by the concept of "prevention of criminality" and "the social integration of Roma population " ( see letter of the General Police Inspectorate , Press service, answering Romani associations' protest, 391/14:08/ 1998) An Institute on Prevention of Criminality was recently established within the General Police Inspectorate of the Minister of Internal Affairs; among other measures special police officers at district levels are assigned as "contact points" with Roma communities. There is no other such "contact points" in the relation of Police offices with other minority communities. The concept of " police surveillance" and "prevention of criminality" are used to justify disproportinate use of the Police force in some of their actions in Roma communities . In the early morning of 28-29 July, Police forces of Calarasi district(South-Est Romania) had rounded up the Roma settlement of Sarulesti in one of its regular "razzias" in this community. After illegal break(?) of the Police in its house, Mr. Mihai Gabriel, 28 years old was shot and severly wounded, being "confused" with a presumed criminal offender. IGeneral Nicolae Berechet, The General Inspector of Police,has answered the protest of Roma associations against this abuse of the Police orces,( letter nr. 38.724 / 13/O8/1998). He claims that the Police shooting of Mihai Gabriel was in answer of his refuse to obey the warrning and that its case is under the investigation of the military Prosecutor. Mr. Berechet comments the incident in Sarulesti saying that : "(...) The activities undertook by Police look for the prevention and combat of criminality .... without any manifestation of racism, xenophobia and intolerance". The Roma associations of Romania consider that this controversial practice of the Romanian Police is in contradiction with internatioanl standards which reglement the recording, storing and public use of personal data, especially of those concerning the ethnic identity of persons belonging to minorities with a past of stigmatization and persecution, which is the case of Roma/ Gypsies in Romania and elsewhere. The Romanian Police or other official bodies, do not "(...) collect and publish on a regular base, data about crimes that are based on prejudice as to race, ethnic identity or religion, including the guidelines used for the collection of such data." ( tReport of the CSCE Meeting of Experts on National Minorities, Geneva, 1991; chapt VI.) Also, the practice of the Romanian Police contradict the reccommendations formulated by the European Commission for Combat of Racism and Intolerance(ECRI) of the Council of Europe. In March 1998,ECRI has adopted the General Policy Reccommendation N. 3: "Combating Racism and Intolerance against Roma/ Gypsies" and the General Policy Reccommendation N 4: "National Surveys on the Experience and Perception of Discrimination and Racism from the Point of View of Potential Victims". The Roma associations ask the advise of the national and internatinal expert bodies and intersted NGOs on this particular problem.They are in solidarity with the German Central Council of Sinti and Roma which have recently sued the Bavaria authorities for theunlawful and discriminatory recording of persons of " Sinti/ Roma appeareance". We are equally inviting the UNCHR to analyse the situation of Roma in Romania ,similar to the opinion provided by the UNCHR Guidelines Relating to the Eligibility of Slovak Roma Asylum Seekers An analysis of the conditions in the country of origin, and the Appliction of UNCHR criteria for granting refugee status.,UNHCR Regional Office Vienna,10 February 1998 ; Idem, for the situation of the Czech Roma. We are kindly ask the Office for Democratic Instituions and Himan Rights of the OSCE to circulate this statement to the Delegations to the OSCE Implementation Meeting on Human Dimension, to be held in Warsaw,October-November, 1998. They ask for comment, advise and exchange of information on positive experience in connection to the implementation of such OSCE committements as, for example, those concerning the States' willigness to "control the activities of the internal security and intelligence service and the police"(Document of the Moscow Meeting of the Conferenc of the Human Dimension of the CSCE, October 1991,par. 21). Drafted by Nicolae Gheorghe, CRISS, Convention of Roma Association, Romania.