A REPORT into the living conditions of some of the 10,000-plus Roma in the Netherlands has identified high unemployment, illiteracy and mental health problems as the greatest barriers to successful integration.
The report, written by Suzanne Jansen, formerly of the Institute for Political Participation and now a programme manager at The Hague Academy for Local Governance, says Roma self-help organisations need more support from the Dutch government.
"The first Roma families came here 30 years ago and for them the integration process has partly succeeded", Ms Jansen told The Irish Times. "However, government at both local and national level has to realise that partly is not good enough.
“For the many families who can’t get work because they don’t speak Dutch or whose children drop out of school, the next downward step tends to be deteriorating mental health. They remain caught between two very different cultures.”
It is estimated that the number of Roma living in the Netherlands is at least 10,000 and possibly as high as 15,000. Some have Dutch nationality but many others are stateless – and it is among those stateless that social problems are most intractable.
Ms Jansen’s report focused on a group of more than 300 Roma who have settled in Nieuwegein, which has a population of 60,000. She says support for Roma mothers is hugely important.
“When mothers speak Dutch well, understand how to run a household and deal with bills, can use computers to help children with their schoolwork and help their husbands with their businesses, it has a very positive effect,” the report says.
It also recommends special supervision for Roma children at school and targeted aid to prevent a younger generation from becoming trapped in a continuing cycle of family unemployment.
Different groups of Roma have had different levels of success in terms of integration. For instance, those who fled the Balkan wars and arrived here as asylum seekers during the ’90s have integrated relatively well.
However, about 2,000 recent arrivals from Romania and Bulgaria have so far been less successful. This has prompted calls to have them deported, because after 2014 they will no longer require permits to live and work in the Netherlands.
“These people cause a nuisance in many Dutch towns, so if they are not employed, I think sending them back home would be a good approach,” said Christian Democrat MP Miriam Sterk.
Her comments during the week gave rise – according to some sections of the media at least – to fears among the Roma of large-scale deportations similar to those authorised by President Nicolas Sarkozy in France.