Roma Community in Kosovo: Between Reality and the European Dream

Abstract

The integration of Kosovo Roma into social and institutional life in the Republic of Kosovo remains a challenge. The purpose of this article is to analyse and discuss the current situation of Kosovo Roma community. Analysis and discussion are placed in the context of the relationship between the real situation and the European dream of this community. The selected method for analysing literature and relevant documents is qualitative content analysis. After applying this method, the results are significant in several directions. It can be concluded that, despite all the problems and challenges faced by the Roma community in the path of achieving the European dream, they nevertheless consider Kosovo as their homeland. From the aspect of constitutional and legal reality, the Roma community has guaranteed rights and political representation, thus experiencing the European dream in this area. However, from the aspect of the implementation of the rights guaranteed by the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo and other laws, this community is far from fulfilling the European dream. The importance of this paper lies in providing a thorough picture of the situation of the Roma community in the Republic of Kosovo as a basis for understanding the problems of this community and outlining the ideas for concrete action in terms of accelerating the integration processes and positive transformations of the economic, social, educational and cultural life of the Roma community in the Republic of Kosovo.

Keywords

• Roma community
• Republic of Kosovo
• human rights
• political participation