ROMA COMMUNITY CENTRE DISTANCES ITSELF FROM REMARKS OF CANADIAN GOVERNMENT OBSERVER AT COUNCIL OF EUROPE MEETING, June 28, 2012

ROMA COMMUNITY CENTRE DISTANCES ITSELF FROM REMARKS OF CANADIAN GOVERNMENT OBSERVER AT COUNCIL OF EUROPE MEETING, June 28, 2012

The Roma Community Centre  (RCC) in Toronto declares openly that it has never had any contact with Mr. Chisu, envoy of the Canadian government present as an observer during the 26th ordinary session of the Council of Europe regular session on June 28, 2012 nor does the RCC condone, support or agree with any of Mr. Chisu's remarks during the session.  

Instead of working to protect refugees in accordance with internationally established standards in operation among western nations since 1951, Mr. Chisu and the government of Canada are criminalizing the victims of persecution.  Mr. Chisu’s statements do more damage than simply denying the right of every human being to flee persecution as recognized in the Geneva conventions. The outright justification to deny Roma victims of persecution refugee status due to accusations that individuals of Romani ethnicity may be involved in human trafficking of Romani victims is absurd. It promotes stereotypical racial prejudice against the Romani people. That anyone can declare an entire people criminals and therefore unworthy of asylum is unthinkable.  

If investigations can lead to criminal charges and successful prosecution of such criminal activity, the Roma Community Centre as well as most Romani citizens worldwide would welcome and support such actions. The very lack of equal access to police protection is what in fact is causing Roma refugees to come to Canada.  We want justice! That includes criminal prosecution of Roma criminals.  Canadians do not tolerate criminal behaviour from other Canadians, so why would we be different?

The existence of criminal activity such as human trafficking in situations where people are in need of fleeing is not unique to the Roma.  Cubans, Cambodians, Sri Lankans, and other nations have been suffering persecution and in some cases in their desperation have allowed themselves to become further victims of human trafficking.  The existence of such activity does not deny, refute, negate or excuse the activity of nations such as the Czech Republic and Hungary from protecting their citizens from racial discrimination as it applies to receiving police protection.  Armed neo-Nazi militias have increased the frequency and severity of their attacks against Roma people, which has been well documented since the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989. The tolerance that the majority populations of these countries demonstrate towards the behaviour of these organized thugs are causing Roma to flee. 

Contrary to Mr. Chisu’s remarks, no further analysis on the possible contributing factors to the Roma’s difficulties is necessary beyond that which already has been analyzed in the past 23 years.  It is time for action. Enforcement of existing laws and reforms in education policies need to be addressed. Police corruption must be rooted out.  Member states must be committed to fighting racism and protect minority rights.  

The RCC does not support the criminalization of refugees.  The RCC supports the claims of Roma who have legitimate claims for asylum in Canada. 

We wish that Mr. Chisu and the Canadian government would actually ask us what we think, and what our recommendations are before making misleading statements about our position to the Council of Europe. The efforts of volunteers in the Roma community for the past decade have been precisely this point: don’t talk about us without talking to us.