The ghettoisation of the Roma in the Czech Republic

One third of the Roma in the Czech Republic live in closed ghettos, according to a study by the Czech Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs. "This figure has surprised even the experts, who had previously assumed the existence of a dozen such ghettos," Vojtech Blazek comments. "Now it is clear they exist in almost every big major city... Roughly 90 percent of the Roma are jobless. They have no idea how to help themselves, and have already given up the struggle for a better life. They live on welfare. Sociologist Ivan Gabal warns, 'The problem is, there is already a second generation of Roma growing up in the Czech Republic who don't know anything else except being dependent on welfare. Disbanding these ghettoes will take up to thirty or forty years.' Although the EU will make two billion Czech crowns [70 million euros] available between 2008 and 2013, it is not yet clear what kind of concrete help the Roma should get."

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