The Roma are a minority population
living primarily in Central and
Eastern Europe, the Balkans and
Western Anatolia who are often not
well integrated into local society.
For Roma, registering as citizens
and obtaining documentation
have been especially difficult.
Macedonia,1
like other states which
became independent following the
break-ups of Yugoslavia, the Soviet
Union and Czechoslovakia, had
to decide who would be granted
citizenship and has adapted
legislation over time. The number
of stateless Roma in Macedonia is
difficult to ascertain. It includes some
of the long-standing Roma population
– 53,879 Roma were counted in the
2002 census but estimates of the
true number range between 180,000
and 200,000 – and some 5,000 Roma
who fled Kosovo and Serbia in 1999
and have been unable to return.
There are four particular issues
regarding access for stateless Roma
to Macedonian citizenship: their
eligibility under law; wider political
concerns of the government; access
to documents; and donor projects
to reduce statelessness. Access to
personal documentation and nondiscrimination
are centre-pieces of the
2005–2015 Decade of Roma Inclusion2
,
and promoted by organisations active
in the region such as the OSCE.