Roma mediators have identified cases of discrimination against Roma individuals in Kyiv, Kropyvnytskyi, Odesa, Kharkiv, Uzhhorod, Svaliava, and Mukachevo. This was reported by Roma mediator Valentina Zolotarenko during an interview on the “Morning Wave” program on Hromadske Radio, as part of the Roma project “Chiriklo”.
Discrimination against Roma citizens
A Roma woman who was released from a detention facility due to amnesty approached the management of the penitentiary institution to request the return of her passport. She was refused in a rude manner, with the response: “It’s not worth looking for it just because of a Gypsy, perhaps the lost document isn’t important.” The refusal was accompanied by other offensive statements with implications related to her ethnicity. This incident occurred in September of this year in the Odesa region.
Meanwhile, in Svaliava, Zakarpattia region, a young Roma woman sought help from the pediatric department of the central district hospital. She was placed in a so-called “Roma ward,” where conditions were significantly worse. There was a strong smell from the sewage system, and the sanitary conditions were inadequate. When the patient requested to be moved to any other ward, she was refused in a rude manner.
These are just a few of the cases of discrimination against Roma citizens that Roma mediators documented in September in Kyiv, Kropyvnytskyi, Odesa, Kharkiv, Uzhhorod, Svaliava, and Mukachevo. How common are these incidents, and how often do Roma women and men complain about their rights being violated? Journalists asked Roma mediator Valentina Zolotarenko:
“These cases are very typical, there are many of them. Especially in the medical field – people almost always encounter remarks, if not in a completely rude form, then in one way or another, the issue of ethnicity is brought up. A patient comes for help, and they start asking whether they are Roma or not. People don’t want to publicize such cases because you live there, you have to deal with these structures again, and in order not to harm themselves, people don’t want to talk about it openly.”
Listen to the full segment here.
