Antiziganism - Environmental Struggles

Environmental Struggles

Environmental issues that have been the cause of Cold War-era industrial development have disproportionately impacted upon the Roma, particularly in Eastern Europe—this phenomenon has been considered a form of environmental racism by many analysts. Due to the traditional nomadic lifestyle of the Roma, the people most often settle on the outskirts of towns and cities, where amenities, employment and educational opportunities are often inaccessible. As of 1993, Hungary has been identified as one country where this issue exists: "While the economic restructuring of a command economy into a western style market economy created hardships for most Hungarians, with the national unemployment rate heading toward 14 percent and per capita real income falling, the burdens imposed on Romas are disproportionately great."

The various legal hindrances to their traditional nomadic lifestyle have forced many travelling Roma into unsafe areas, such as ex-industrial areas, former landfills or other waste areas where pollutants have affected rivers, streams or groundwater. Consequently, Roma are often unable to access clean water or sanitation facilities, rendering the Roma people more vulnerable to health problems, such as diseases. Based in Belgium, the Health & Environment Alliance has included a statement in relation to the Roma on one of its pamphlets: "Denied environmental benefits such as water, sewage treatment facilities, sanitation and access to natural resources, and suffer from exposure to environmental hazards due to their proximity to hazardous waste sites, incinerators, factories, and other sources of pollution." In many areas of central and eastern Europe, the provision of decent running water is a particular issue, with "water-borne diseases, such as diarrhoea and dysentery" being "an almost constant feature of daily life, especially for children" in Bulgaria. Médecins Sans Frontières runs the sole medical centre in an area called Fakulteta and has estimated that infant mortality rates among Roma children is six times higher than for the rest of the Bulgarian population.

According to a study by the United Nations Development Program, the percentage of Roma with access to running water and sewage treatment within Romania and the Czech Republic is well below the average in those countries. Consequently, a proliferation of skin diseases among these populations, due to the low quality of housing standards, including scabies, pediculosis, pyodermatitis, mycosis and askaridosis, has occurred; respiratory health problems also affect the majority of the inhabitants of these areas, in addition to increasing rates of hepatitis and tuberculosis.

Additionally, the permanent settlement of Roma in residential areas is often met with either hostility by non-Roma or the exodus of non-Roma, similar to the "white flight" phenomenon in the United States. Moreover, local councils have issued bans against Roma and Roma people are frequently evicted.