Non-communities in Kosovo in Crisis

Emine shows that they faced even greater existential problems during the coronary pandemic that began spreading in Kosovo in March 2020.

The five-member family cannot live with the social assistance of 137 euros, to tell them the truth”, Emini tells Radio Free Europe, adding that they faced additional problems during the pandemic because of poor living conditions.

We live in a 50 square metre house with poor infrastructure, no sewage, no road”, Emini relates.

However, he stresses that difficult days during the pandemic were somewhat facilitated by humanitarian organisations and local authorities, and that they regularly received aid packages in the form of food and hygienic products.

The spread of COVID-19's pandemic has affected the worsening financial situation and increasing unemployment among Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities.

These are the findings of an investigative report prepared by the organisation “Voice of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians” that was released on April 1st.

The investigation was conducted under a poll of 600 people of the three communities in 14 Kosovo municipalities.

Close to half of those surveyed had claimed that their finances have deteriorated since the beginning of the spread of pandemic with COVID-19 in Kosovo.

On the other hand, over half of these respondents had said unemployment has increased among these communities since the beginning of the pandemic.

Kosovo Deputy Health Minister Dafina Geja-Bunjaku, commenting on this report, says financial problems caused by the pandemic have affected the participants of the informal economy more.

“Certainly that during the pandemic the informal part was especially hit because it was not registered and it was easier for employers (to fire workers)”, she says.

Meanwhile, MP from the ruling party, the Vetevendosje Movement and chairman of the Commission for Health and Social Goodness, Fatmire Mulhrama Kolcaku, stresses that the COVID-19 pandemic may have influenced deepening inequality for these communities.

It is clear that you should be guided (funds) especially at times of crisis among citizens who are most vulnerable, the poorest part”, she says.

For the opposition MP from the Democratic Party of Kosovo, Bekim Haxhiu, the government has failed in adequate economic assistance over the pandemic for all citizens.

The government has failed in the majority in terms of support, and let alone the most minor”, Haxhiu says of Radio Free Europe.

Ipziu, the government must also respond to the lack of statistical health data for non-partisan communities, and in particular the data for Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities living in the northern part of Kosovo.

Recent official data on representation of the Roma community, Ashkali and Egyptian in Kosovo were taken in the 2011 population census, which stresses that 8,824 Roma, 15,436 Ashkali and 11,524 Egyptian live in Kosovo.

However, these figures do not present the exact demographic image of these three communities, since all their members did not participate in the census, and the census was not conducted in the four Serb majority northern municipalities due to the boycott of the census.

Since there is no official record of unemployment in these communities, according to a 2021 report by the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSBE) in March 2019, about 2,000 Roma 3,581 Ashkali and 947 Egyptians have accepted social assistance from Kosovo institutions.

Problems With Access to Information

The impact on worsening the economic situation for non-US communities in Kosovo has also been consistent with the ombudsman in Kosovo in a 2021 report.

According to this report, the authorities' occasional failure to respect linguistic rights and to adapt assistance application procedures, in line with the needs and capabilities of community members, influenced the socio-economic position of sensitive citizens, including non-communist communities”.

On April 3rd 2020, aimed at easing economic consequences from COVID-19, the Kosovo government had approved the Operational Plan for Emergency Fiscal Package.

According to the ombudsman, members of non-US communities, who do not speak and/or understand official languages, accepted the information late.

The report stressed that difficulties in following the application procedures of the aid package affected mainly members of the Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities.

This is due to low levels of education, lack of electronic devices (smart phones, computers etc.), lack of identification documentation, and poor access to information and services for persons and families disadvantaged in society”, the report says.

Egyptian MP Fridon Lala from the party New Democratic Initiative of Kosovo (IRDK), for Radio Free Europe, says the political crisis -- the change of governments during 2020 respectively -- directly affected economic assistance to the three non-communal communities.

“We have then postponed (at the beginning of the pandemic) a special point in the package for economic recovery that has exclusively targeted Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities, with 2m euros earmarked”, Lala says.

He adds that “, with the change of government, among the first cancelled measures has been this measure”.

The Kosovo government had been led by the Vetevendosje Movement from 3 February 2020 to 3 June that same year, and with the change of powers government leadership had taken over the Democratic League of Kosovo.

Since March 22, 2021, the Vetevendosje Movement has returned to power.

The organisation's report “The Voice of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians” has also mentioned the problem in the vaccine against COVID-19 for Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities.

However, the Ministry of Health has indicated that there are officially no separate data showing how much these communities have been vaccinated.