20-May-05
On Thursday, May 19th, 2005, Germany sent back the first 200 Rroma refugees from Kosovo. Some of these refugees had been in Germany for several years (as many as eight). These are the first of ca. 26'000 Rroma refugees from the region that are to be sent back to Kosovo.
Germany took this unilateral decision in spite of the known situation for Rroma in the region and in spite of the protest of non-governmental organisation and even of the UNMIK. In their country of origin, they face an uncertain future, and will certainly not be able to find a place to stay, their houses having been either destroyed or occupied by Albanians. Access to health services, work, going out, all this is pretty much impossible for Rroma in that region.
We fear that these first returnees will face a disaster, and that they will end up in some of the few refugees camps in the region. Some of these camps are within the enclosures of KFOR camps, and the Rroma who leave there are literally prisoners. How Germany arrived at this decision and at its assessment of the situation of Rroma in the region remains a mystery. However, one of the reason cited was that most of these families were on welfare, i.e. did cost the state money.
This is not surprising, for the Germans never granted asylum to these refugees in the first place. Not even a temporary residence permit, as in neighbouring Switzerland. As a result, these refugees had only a so-called "Duldung", that is, were allowed to stay, literally were only tolerated there and of course, were not allowed to work... This is more than bad faith on the part of German authorities, as the argument used is the result of ill conceived policies of the German state.