More than half of the Roma children reached in the children’s affairs commissioner’s report had experienced discrimination.
Romani children life in Finland is otherwise quite positive, but it is overshadowed by discrimination and racism, says a recent report by the Children’s Commissioner.
More than half of the children reached in the survey had experienced discrimination. The situations described by the children were constant racist barking and being left out, as well as physical violence.
Most often, bullying and discrimination happened at school.
“Well, at school, our classmates do shout a lot about everything. Something dirty and all that. And to keep the things with you so they don’t get lost,” said one of the respondents.
“Manne” is a racist slur for Roma.
“I made such a presentation about the Roma. And then after that they didn’t take me to football anymore.”
Children’s Commissioner 18 children between the ages of 11 and 17 were interviewed in the survey. 93 children responded to the electronic survey.
About half of the children felt that bullying and discrimination situations were not addressed at all at school.
“The teachers claim they didn’t notice even though they were in class and heard everything.”
According to the report, the children hoped that the teachers would take them seriously both in terms of discrimination and studying.
“Teachers could pay more attention to Roma children, and not leave them aside, but because it is assumed that Roma children are not interested in going to school. Sometimes it can just be low self-esteem, shyness or feeling like an outsider.”
“Teachers don’t believe in Roma youth and their skills. Opot encourages you to apply to become a family nurse, even if you yourself dreamed of something else.”
An explanation according to Roma children, a special asset in their lives is close family and relatives. Children spend a lot of time with family, and they have a lot of close people to support them. Children receive encouragement from family and relatives in going to school, hobbies and future plans.
“Encouraging feels like something safe or something like that. You don’t feel like you can do this or that.”
Half of the children said that family makes them happy and two out of five mentioned friends.
“And then at school, what finally made me happy was that someone from our class, who never talks to me, started talking to me like, ‘yes, good game’ and all that sort of thing.”
An explanation according to Roma children are proud of their own roots, and the awareness of Roma culture was strong. Manners, respect for parents, community spirit and caring for others were mentioned as important things.
The children’s dreams and future plans were related to, for example, studies, work and their own home. The hopes also included the status of the Roma and its improvement.
“A good job, a family, a peace that would descend on the world, that we too are human, let us be human. And that everyone would accept each other as they are.”
As part of the report, a number of action proposals were published to support the well-being of Roma children and families. In order to combat discrimination, it is proposed, among other things, to increase the number of encounters between Roma children and the main population, for example in hobbies and camps. One suggestion was to strengthen the ability of teachers and other adults to intervene in situations of discrimination.
For student guidance according to the report, should invest when Roma children are thinking about further studies and career choice, and organize a variety of internships and summer jobs for children.
It is estimated that there are 10,000–12,000 Finnish Roma in Finland. In addition, an estimated 3,000 Finnish Roma live in Sweden.
#Home #country #Romani #children #face #discrimination #racism #everyday #lives #Finland #report