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Study: Roma children without chances
Around 12.000 Roma and members of other minority groups are threatened to be deported to Kosovo. Around 5.000 of them are children and minors. A majority of them was born and raised in Germany. They face social exclusion and massive discrimination upon their arrival in Kosovo. As shown by a recently published UNICEF REPORT, 75%
Around 12.000 Roma and members of other minority groups are threatened to be deported to Kosovo. Around 5.000 of them are children and minors. A majority of them was born and raised in Germany. They face social exclusion and massive discrimination upon their arrival in Kosovo.
As shown by a recently published UNICEF REPORT, 75% of the children who were deported dropped out of school. Even when they do get the opportunity to visit a school, deported children remain isolated. Since many of them speak German as their first language, communication is difficult for them. The deportation thus means an abrupt discontinuation of their schooling career as well as social uprooting. For children socialized in Germany, deportation is a banishment from their home. They have no relation to their parent’s country of origin. The study also shows that every third Roma child in Kosovo lives in extreme poverty. On an average, the interviewed families had lived in Germany for 14 years. Every second family tended to a chronically sick family member.
In April 2010 Germany and Kosovo signed a readmission agreement. Up to 2.500 people are to be deported yearly. In Kosovo, the perspective for deportees is literally a life in the gutters. Therefore, deportations of Roma and other minorities to Kosovo have to be stopped immediately and a generous arrangement allocating residence permits needs to be implemented.