Roma in Romania:

Romania recognises 18 national minorities, the Roma being the second largest one (approx. 620,000 people), according to the 2011 Census of Population and Households. The new Census performed in 2022 will bring an updated information on the status of the Roma minority in Romania. The governmental public policy in Romania has put all the Roma in a stereotyped box named “vulnerable social group” even though the diversity inside the group is very high with a diverse range of needs and characteristics – there are approximately 40 different subgroups, most of them have emerged based on the occupation they had in the past. During the last 20 years, public policy targeting Roma has addressed the social needs of the Roma community, ignoring their culture and identity and the need to increase the group’s self-esteem and improve perception by the majority population.

Key problems:

Roma in Romania are continuing to face complex, diverse, and interrelated problems in all life areas, supplemented by negative stereotypes and discrimination. A very short status of problems faced by the Roma in Romania. Roma students continue to face problems such as early school leaving, poor quality of education, racism, and ethnic segregation despite the many public policy measures implemented in recent decades. Roma people’s access to the labour market remains low. Lack of education, poor qualification, limited opportunities and discrimination in the labour market, and lower digital skills, lead to a Roma employment rate well below that of the general population. The health status of Roma is gradually deteriorating, and they continue to encounter problems when accessing public health services. Recent data show that there is still a gap in the indicators of morbidity and mortality among Roma compared to the majority population in Romania, especially when it comes to lacking annual medical examinations, enrolment with family doctors, use of contraception, medical supervision of pregnancy period, most of the common diseases, etc. A significant share of members in communities with Roma live in inadequate (inhuman, degrading) living conditions: housing that barely provides shelter against the weather, and overcrowded houses with poor or even miserable hygiene conditions. This category includes abandoned blocks of flats, without sanitary installations and equipment, without windows or doors, damaged walls, poorly resistant to weather, and spaces where we often find Roma residents. In terms of infrastructure, there is a need for decent living conditions for the Roma communities through access to transport and utility infrastructure, issues dependent on the goodwill and/or interest of local public administration authorities, but very often also on the legal status of the settlements.
Racism and discrimination is the underlying issues of all other major obstacles and challenges Roma are facing in all areas, reducing their chances to develop as human beings, limiting their access to social services, health, labour market, public and political life, justice, etc. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a rise in discrimination and harassment of Roma, manifested in strong anti-Roma rhetoric of portraying Roma as a threat to the majority population, making them scapegoats for the spread of the virus, police violence in Roma communities having also been reported.

Romanian Government Strategy for the inclusion of Romanian citizens belonging to the Roma minority for the period 2022-2027 (Government of Romania, in Romanian)

RCM Coordinator:

RCM coalition members:

RCM 2 (2021-2025) reports:

Roma Civil Monitor (2022) Civil society monitoring report on the quality of the national strategic framework for Roma equality, inclusion, and participation in Romania. ENGLISH – ROMANI – ROMANIAN

Poster presenting main findings of the report (2022):

RCM 1 (2017-2020) reports:

Roma Civil Monitor (2017) Civil society monitoring report on implementation of the national Roma integration strategies in Romania: Focusing on structural and horizontal preconditions for successful implementation of the strategy. ENGLISH – ROMANIAN

Roma Civil Monitor (2018) Civil society monitoring report on implementation of the national Roma integration strategy in Romania: Assessing the progress in four key policy areas of the strategy. ENGLISH – ROMANIAN

Roma Civil Monitor (2019) Civil society monitoring report on implementation of the national Roma integration strategy in Romania: Identifying blind spots in Roma inclusion policy.  ENGLISH – ROMANIAN

Roma Civil Monitor 2017-2020 country fiche: Romania

Decade of Roma Inclusions (2005-2015) report:

Decade of Roma Inclusions (2013) Civil Society Monitoring Report on the Implementation of the National Roma Integration Strategy and Decade Action Plan in 2012 in Romania. ENGLISH