The New York Times
PRAGUE, Jan. 16 — Poverty has worsened for millions of Gypsies acrossCentral and Eastern Europe since Communism collapsed a decade ago, andmany now live in conditions resembling those of poor sub-Saharan Africa, theUnited Nations said in a report published today.The report, by the United Nations Development Program, studied the Gypsies, orRoma, as they prefer to be called in Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic,Romania and Bulgaria. Unless action is taken before these countries join thewealthy European Union, the Gypsies may become a permanent underclass, thereport said.It found that many often go hungry, one in six is "constantly starving," and one infive families did not send their children to school because they lacked decentclothing. Only a third of the Gypsies surveyed had completed high school orvocational school."By measures ranging from literacy to infant mortality to basic nutrition, most ofthe region's Gypsies endure living conditions closer to those in sub-Saharan Africathan to Europe," said the report, titled "Avoiding the Dependency Trap."According to the European Roma Rights Center in Budapest, there are between sixmillion and eight million Gypsies across Europe, the majority in formerCommunist states.Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic are among eight former Communistcountries that have been invited to join the European Union next year. The UnitedNations report said that they must move quickly to help Gypsies obtain bettereducation, jobs and a higher living standard in order to protect these countries' ownchances of economic success inside the union."If postponed, the cost of finding solutions for marginalized groups will beimmeasurably higher and will have few chances of success," the report said.Keeping Gypsies marginalized, the report said, will strengthen the hand ofnationalist and xenophobic political forces.The report blames the Gypsies' problems partly on their own communities andpartly on what it called the failed systems of education, labor and economic andsocial development often imposed on them
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