Romani people in Serbia

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Romani people in Serbia
Роми у Србији
Flag of the Romani people.svg
Flag of the National Council of the Roma Ethnic Minority in Serbia [1]
Total population
131,936 (2022 census) [2]
Regions with significant populations
Southern Serbia, Belgrade, Banat
Languages
Balkan Romani, Romano-Serbian, Kurbetcha, Serbian
Religion
Eastern Orthodoxy, Sunni Islam, Catholicism

Romani people, or Roma, are a recognized ethnic minority in Serbia. [3] According to data from the 2022 census, they are the fourth largest ethnic group in the country, numbering 131,936 and constituting 2% of the total population. [2] However, owing to various factors, the census figure likely underrepresents the actual population. [4] [5]

Contents

Another name used for the Romani people is Cigani (Serbian : Цигани, lit. 'Gypsies'), although the term is today considered pejorative and is not officially used in public documents.

History

Roma family in Serbia, 1905 Gypsy family from Serbia.jpg
Roma family in Serbia, 1905

Research on Roma migrations is scarce. Roma often lived on the margins and their presence was often not registered in documents so it is difficult to claim any definite historical path of Roma. On some accounts, Roma arrived in Serbia in several waves. [6] The first reference to Roma in Serbia is found in a 1348 document, by which Serbian emperor Stefan Dušan donated some Roma slaves to a monastery in Prizren. [7] In the 15th century, Romani migrations from Hungary are mentioned. [6]

In 1927, a Serbian-Romani humanitarian organization was founded. [8] In 1928, a Romani singing society was founded in Niš. [8] In 1932, a Romani football club was founded. [8] In 1935, a Belgrade first Romani magazine, Romani Lil, was founded as well as Belgrade Romani association. [8] In 1938, an educational organization of Yugoslav Romani was founded. [8]

Romani people in Serbia are divided into subgroups, with different, although related, Romani dialects and history. As there are difficulties with the data collection, historization, and with the questionable familiarity of the Serbian scholars with Roma lives and culture and significant demographic changes and migrations of Roma population, it is difficult to establish one definite division within Roma community. According to the study of scholar Tihomir Đorđević (1868–1944), [9] main sub-groups include "Turkish Gypsies" (Turski Cigani), "White Gypsies" (Beli Cigani), "Wallachian Gypsies" (Vlaški Cigani), and "Hungarian Gypsies" (Mađarski Cigani).

Demographics

Share of Romani people by municipalities, 2002 Serbia roma 2002.PNG
Share of Romani people by municipalities, 2002
Average share of Romani people by municipalities, 2002 Serbia roma 2002 (average).PNG
Average share of Romani people by municipalities, 2002

The largest concentration of Romani people in are to be found in Southern Serbia, Belgrade, Banat. In some administrative districts in southern Serbia, Romani population exceeds 5% of total population: Jablanica District (5.7%), Pčinja District (5.6%), and Pirot District (5.5%), respectively.

There are some estimates that between 46,000 and 97,000 Romani people in Serbia are internally displaced persons from Kosovo after 1999. [14] [15]

YearPopulation
186624,607
189546,000
194852,181
195358,800
19619,826
197149,894
1981110,959
199194,492
2002 (excl. Kosovo)108,193
2011 (excl. Kosovo)147,604
2022 (excl. Kosovo)131,936

Politics

The National Council of Roma Ethnic Minority in Serbia is a representation body of Romani people, established for the protection of the rights and the minority self-government of Romani people in Serbia. [16]

There are two ethnic minority parties representing interests of Romani people in Serbia: the Roma Union of Serbia and the Roma Party.

Culture

According to data from the 2011 census, majority of Romani people in Serbia are Christians (62.7%): mainly belonging to the Eastern Orthodoxy (55.9%), followed by the Catholicism (3.3%), and various Protestant denominations (2.5%). There is also a significant Muslim Roma community, with 24.8% of all Roma being Muslim. [17]

The Romani people in Serbia mainly speak Romani and Serbian. Some also speak the language of other people they have been influenced by: Romanian or Hungarian. In 2005 the first text on the grammar of the Romani language in Serbia was published by linguist Rajko Đurić.

Đurđevdan (or Ederlezi) is a traditional feast day of Romani in Serbia.

Discrimination

Due to a record of discrimination, human rights reporting mechanisms have consistently drawn attention to the treatment of the Romani people in Serbia. [18] [19] The United Nations have reported persistent discrimination and social exclusion as a concern, particularly stemming from poor birth registration and identity documentation for citizens, and inequitable access to education, housing, employment, and legal protections. [18] The UN has expressed concerns that the state of Serbia has failed to ensure accountability measures that continually monitor and implement these rights.

These persistent challenges cause many Roma to flee Serbia and other Balkan countries for EU countries. There are cases of children from Serbia being granted refugee status in Ireland due to persecution due to Roma identity. [20] However, with increasingly strict asylum measures in the EU, countries such as Germany are increasingly labeling Serbia and other Balkan countries as "safe countries of origin" despite a lack of measurable improvement in the ability of Roma groups to realize human rights in these countries. [21] [22]

There have been hate-crimes such against Roma community, such as the death of thirteen-year-old Dušan Jovanović (1997), [23] , murder of actor Dragan Maksimović, who was assumed by the perpertrators to be Roma. [24] Also, there were sporadic attacks by the skinheads.[ citation needed ]

A significant number of Romani people in Serbia live in segregated areas, often in shanty towns called "cardboard cities", without electricity or water or provision of public services. [25] [26] In 2009, a group of Romani people who had been living in a large shanty town in New Belgrade were evicted on the orders of the mayor of Belgrade. According to the media, bulldozers accompanied by police officers arrived to clear the site early in the morning before the formal eviction notice was presented to the inhabitants. The site was cleared in order to make way for an access road to the site of the 2009 Summer Universiade, to be held in Belgrade later this year. Temporary alternative accommodation in the form of containers had been provided, but some 50 residents of the suburb where they had been located attempted to set fire to three of the containers. Many of the evicted Roma have spent five nights sleeping in the open in the absence of any alternative accommodation. [27]

Notable people

See also

Notes

    References

    1. https://romskinacionalnisavet.org.rs/o-nama/
    2. 1 2 "Mother tongue, religion and ethnic affiliation". ABOUT CENSUS. Archived from the original on 15 July 2023. Retrieved 10 November 2023.
    3. "Регистар националних савета националних мањина - Министарствo за људска и мањинска права и друштвени дијалог". minljmpdd.gov.rs. Retrieved 25 August 2025.
    4. "UNICEF Serbia - Real lives - Life in a day: connecting Roma communities to health services (and more)". www.unicef.org. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
    5. (www.dw.com), Deutsche Welle. "Roma: Discriminated in Serbia, unwanted in Germany | Germany | DW | 10.08.2015". DW.COM. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
    6. 1 2 Vlahović 2004, p. 66.
    7. Djordjević , T.R. (1924). Iz Srbije Kneza Milosa. Stanovnistvo—naselja. Beograd: Geca Kon.
    8. 1 2 3 4 5 IFDT 2005, p. 23.
    9. 1 2 IFDT 2005, p. 21.
    10. 1 2 Sait Balić (1989). Džanglimasko anglimasqo simpozium I Romani ćhib thaj kultura. Institut za proučavanje nacionalnih odnosa--Sarajevo. p. 53.
    11. 1 2 Adrian Marsh; Elin Strand (22 August 2006). Gypsies and the Problem of Identities: Contextual, Constructed and Contested. Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul. p. 180. ISBN   978-91-86884-17-8.
    12. 1 2 3 4 5 Vlahović 2004, p. 67.
    13. Human Rights and Collective Identity: Serbia 2004. Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia. 1 January 2005. ISBN   978-86-7208-106-0.
    14. "EDUCATION OF ROMA CHILDREN as IDPs/RETURNEES". 1 January 2016. Archived from the original on 1 January 2016. Retrieved 4 September 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
    15. Relief, UN (2010). "Roma in Serbia (excluding Kosovo) on 1st January 2009" (PDF). UN Relief. 8 (1).
    16. https://romskinacionalnisavet.org.rs/o-nama/
    17. "Population by national affiliation and religion, Census 2011". Archived from the original on 8 March 2021. Retrieved 7 October 2023.
    18. 1 2 "OHCHR | Serbia Homepage". www.ohchr.org. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
    19. "Serbia/Kosovo". Human Rights Watch. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
    20. Child Migration and Human Rights in a Global Age. Bhabha, Jacqueline. New Jersey: PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS. 2016. ISBN   978-0691169101. OCLC   950746587.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
    21. "Germany's a Dream for Serbia's Roma Returnees :: Balkan Insight". www.balkaninsight.com. 22 October 2009. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
    22. "Germany: Roma march against asylum-seeker crackdown". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
    23. "Smrt u državi nasilja". E-novine.com. 18 October 2012. Retrieved 18 July 2017.
    24. "14 GODINA OD SMRTI: Dragan Maksimović Maksa zaslužio da dobije svoju ulicu! – Opustise.rs". 4 March 2016. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 4 September 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
    25. "Podstandardna romska naselja u Srbiji" (PDF). osce.org. Retrieved 7 October 2023.
    26. "Mapiranje podstandardnih romskih naselja SRB" (PDF). un.org. Retrieved 7 October 2023.
    27. "Everything you need to know about human rights. | Amnesty International". Amnesty.org. Retrieved 18 July 2017.

    Sources

    Further reading