A white paper has been released by the Swedish government highlighting Sweden’s treatment of Roma people within its borders since 1900
Last Tuesday saw the Swedish government release a white paper on the treatment of Roma people, bringing to people’s attention the many hardships suffered in the name of discrimination and how it must finally come to an end. The release of this paper signals a new leaf for Sweden, in regards to its stance on this misunderstood minority.
Invited as a guest for the unveiling was Diana Nyman, chairman of the Roma council in Gothenburg, who inadvertently found herself at the centre of a situation which exposed this huge issue that needs to be addressed in Sweden. This is a dark underside of Sweden that must now be recognised.
Ironin i att Diana Nyman bjuds till Stockholm för att tala om diskriminering & sedan inte tillåts äta frukost i hotellmatsalen …
— Jenny Maria Nilsson (@jennymaria) March 26, 2014
Nyman was put up in Stockholm’s four star Sheraton hotel – a standard policy for visits of such a nature, -and it was here that she experienced first-hand the second-class treatment that Roma have been subjected to for years. Donning traditional Roma livery of white and black, Nyman was set to enjoy her morning meal in the breakfast room when she was denied entry by hotel staff and permitted only a coffee in the lobby.
The irony of this breakfast incident does not need to be spelled out - Nyman was there to promote an end to such absurdities, ones that echo the similarly backward attitudes toward black citizens prevalent in 1960s America. But this is merely the tip of the iceberg. Nyman’s breakfast ban is one example of a whole white paper of instances that the Roma people have had to endure just because of their ethnicity.
As of 2000, Roma became one of the five officially recognised large ethnic minorities in Sweden along with the Jews, Sami, Swedish Finns and Tornedalers. As well as boasting their own language and their ‘Gelem-Gelem’ anthem, the Romani flag of green and blue is complete with the red chakra, symbolic of their nomadic lifestyle.
The release of this white paper is an example of 21st century Sweden’s attempts to acknowledge the atrocities experienced by the Roma in the 1900s and adds to other progressive measures taken (gradually) throughout the 20th century to ensure it stopped. The paper refers to itself as “an important starting point in strengthening the work on the human rights of Roma.” It also consists of seven chapters addressing the hardships these people have suffered, ranging from exclusion when it came to education, work and housing to the rather more shocking forced sterilisation of Roma women in the mid-1900s. Such horrors were lawfully carried out under the Swedish Sterilisation Act of 1934 and is clear example of the inhumanity they have been subjected to.
Not only were these ‘undesirable’ sub-citizens refused safe passage into the country, but a smear campaign developed within the Swedish media
In the year of the outbreak of the Great War, a ban on Romani immigration was introduced, which denied the persecuted people living in fascist European states any hope of finding sanctuary in Sweden. This remained in place long after the Allies’ victory in 1945 and was not lifted until 1954. In this period, not only were these ‘undesirable’ sub-citizens refused safe passage into the country, but a smear campaign developed within the Swedish media resulting in headlines such as: The Final Solution of the Tattar Problem.
The negative image of Roma projected by the media was encouraged by Swedish governments and authorities who played a leading role in such discrimination. A 1923 official government report on the tartars and gypsies of Sweden proved that the powers that saw Romani integration as an ‘unsolvable problem’. As part of an attempt to solve this problem, in the 1950s a separate register was formed in which all Roma identities were collected and assigned a ‘Z-number’, highlighting their ‘subhuman identity’. Things were getting increasingly more dystopian for Roma citizens, whose existence had more in common with characters in an Orwell novel than a modern European state. This Z-registry existed separately to the civil registry, meaning basic civil rights did not apply to the people on it.
It was only in the 60s that some long overdue advancements in the Roma situation came into place. While it was very gradual and by no means evidence of a completely reformed attitude, Roma citizens could at least dream of a brighter future to contrast with their dark past. They gained full civil rights as well as the right to vote – though it was not until 1975 that the Z-registry was abolished. Yet even after this, certain departments around the country still maintained banks of Roma indentities. So grounded were anti-Roma views that while governments made changes at the top, discriminatory behaviour continued at a ground level.
Sweden is now realising that its predated views on Roma must be revised. In a speech at the 4th International Roma Conference in Finland in 2013, minister for integration, Erik Ullenhag said: “We will not solve all the problems of discrimination and exclusion of Roma and Travellers with a white paper, but it is an important piece of the puzzle.” This suggests a period of change is on the horizon. Viviane Reding, The EU Justice Commissioner, confirmed this in a statement made in the run up to the impending EU Roma Summit on 4th April, saying that, “since 2010, the European Commission has put Roma integration firmly on the political map”, optimistically declaring that “a wind of change is blowing”.
Roma Support Group operates across the globe, aimed at helping the people “overcome prejudice, isolation and vulnerability”. It is their experiences of bad treatment which has prompted affirmative action to be taken, particularly in Sweden where it has evidently been a huge problem. As of late, the focus has switched from discrimination to integration, and repression to promotion. The white paper is not only an example of Sweden’s recognition of its guilt but also a promising step in the right direction.
While the history of the Nordic nation may be riddled with regret, this is an indication of its reconciliation . Roma representative Lars Demetri, who was part of the government commission set up in 2006 to investigate the Roma problem, disclosed to the BBC that “regarding integration and democracy, Sweden is the world’s leader”. In the interests of justice, humanity and the Roma of Sweden, I hope he’s right and this dark chapter of history can be eclipsed by volumes of future acceptance and prosperity.
Images: Twitter/Wikimedia Commons.
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