For more than 1,000 years, the Roma (still more commonly known
in the English-speaking world as “Gypsies,” although
this term is now outdated and considered to be derogatory) have
lived on the fringes of the societies of the European nations in
which they reside. This is true in spite of the fact that the
Roma, also known as the Romani, are the single largest minority
group in Europe. Indeed, in some countries Roma (which for
the purposes of this article is meant to include Romani peoples of
various distinct, but generally related, subgroups such as the
Sinti of Central Europe, the Kale of Spain and Wales, and the
Travellers of Ireland and Scotland, to name a few) make up
approximately 10% of the population. Nevertheless, for
centuries the Roma had been subject to laws in their respective
home countries specifically meant to limit their rights, travel and
freedoms. In some instances in fact, groups of Romani peoples
were subject to actual slavery into the later half of the
Nineteenth Century. And, more recently, between 250,000 and
500,000 Roma (and by some estimates many more) were killed by
Nazis during the Holocaust. Partly as a result of this
history, the Roma traditionally have not used the judicial systems
of their respective countries to seek redress for grievances,
criminal or civil.
However, in recent years, and especially within the past decade,
European countries have become focused on the plight of Roma, and
have enacted broad-based initiatives to protect the rights of the
Romani people and bring them into the fold of European
society. Leading the way has been the European Commission
(“EC”), the executive body of the European Union
(“EU”) responsible for proposing legislation. In
2011, the EC adopted a “Communication on an EU Framework for
National Roma Integration Strategies by 2020,” which in turn
led to EU member states developing their own individual national
strategies to integrate their respective Roma populations, both
economically and socially.
Part of the broad EC initiative, as well as the individual member
states’ strategies, is to ensure that Romani people have
access to jobs and are not discriminated against in the hiring
process or in the workplace. To this end, the Roma should be
considered protected minorities in all the EU countries, as all of
the member states have incorporated the EU Directive on Racial
Equality into their own respective laws, which prohibits employment
discrimination on the basis of race or ethnicity.
The EC’s and EU member states’ most recent push for
Roma integration also coincides with the growing self-initiated
civil rights movement by the European Roma population. The
combination of civil rights activism combined with state
initiatives to combat discrimination against the Roma is most
certain to lead to more legal action initiated by, and on behalf
of, the European Roma population, including action against
employers for alleged discrimination based upon an
individual’s Roma affiliation and/or heritage. For this
reason, employers with European operations and employees would be
wise to re-evaluate their anti-discrimination and harassment
policies, and re-emphasize the existence of these policies to their
employees, especially in countries with a large Roma population
and/or in countries or regions where latent discriminatory
attitudes towards the Roma may still exist.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
