Ukraine’s Roma have suffered worse than most in the war
Half of them may have fled
The war in Ukraine has shattered its Roma community. At least half of its pre-war population has fled abroad. That is a vastly higher proportion of refugees than among Ukrainians at large. Eleonora Kulchar, the director of a Roma refugee shelter in Uzhhorod in the country’s west, says that many have gone “for a new and better life, because they were discriminated against here and poor”. Few expect them ever to return. Many of them lack passports or identity cards, so may never be able to, because they cannot prove they are Ukrainian citizens.
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This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “Hoping for better”
Europe October 5th 2024
- Pedro Sánchez clings to office at a cost to Spain’s democracy
- Why the hard-right Herbert Kickl is unlikely to be Austria’s next chancellor
- Ukraine’s Roma have suffered worse than most in the war
- The Netherlands’ new hard-right government is a mess
- A harrowing rape trial in France has revived debate about consent
- How the wolf went from folktale villain to culture-war scapegoat
From the October 5th 2024 edition
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Why Russia is trying to seize a vital Ukrainian coal mine
Without it, the country’s remaining steel industry will be crippled
The search for Ukraine’s missing soldiers and sailors
The families of missing loved ones are trying to find them, alive or dead
Europe could become Trump’s geopolitical roadkill
A second dose of MAGA will put the EU in a pickle
Russia continues to advance in eastern Ukraine
But it is encountering growing problems
Turkey’s long hard struggle with inflation
High interest rates are starting to do the trick
Delays on Italy’s spruced-up trains have got worse
Matteo Salvini is making feeble excuses