After the passed Law on Population Census in our country as the Decree Signed by the President Stevo Pendarovski, it is clear that after a break of 19 years, the Population Census will be held in our country.
Otherwise, this statistical operation in all normal countries is taken into account as a reference figure for development planning. economy and similar parameters. But in our country, after a game and ambience, a political connotation is immediately sold. This is because the Constitution of Macedonia also guarantees ethnic representation in almost all fields. And immediately begin calculations and calculations of how many are numbered. Everyone "pulls" to their side.
Otherwise, the emphasis of this column of mine will be - the Roma community! How much are we really?
According to previous research, analysis, both nationally and internationally, Roma as one of the most marginalized communities in the world and in our country.
According to the UNHCR Report and their research, the most endangered and stateless in the country are Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians, as well as Roma children.
According to some estimates, it weighs about 10,000.
At the same time, now with the action taken by the MLSP and the Ministry of Justice, about 559 Roma have recently been registered in the procedure for obtaining personal documents and in the system.
A recent statement by DUI leader Ali Ahmeti stressed that there are currently about 3,500 stateless people in the country. of which the majority are Roma.
A well-known practice of "melting" Roma into other nationalities (Macedonian, Albanian, Turkish ...) as well as declaring a large number of Ashkali or Egyptians, in reality the number of Roma at the national level is much higher than the official one from 2002 - 55,000 Roma. By the very fact of "statelessness" that number at the start is 10,000 more Roma.
Otherwise, if the campaign prepared by the "Network for Permanent and Systemic Solutions" is implemented, consisting of a large number of Roma NGOs, which reads "Ma ladža, ma dara - Vaker deka sian Rom", "Do not be ashamed, do not be afraid - say you are a Roma". Then it is believed that by motivating this nationality the optimal number that would be obtained at the end of the census in the Republic of Northern Macedonia live from 75,000 to 80,000 Roma, and in total with those Roma who are currently out of the country that number can easily to be 100,000 Roma, and thus will be third in number as a nationality at the state level.
In my opinion, if the awareness of self-identification is raised, if the state has a sense to solve this problem, and if all factors are taken into account, my free assessment is that we Roma in the country will be close to 4% of the total population. And the numbers in our country, according to the current practice, are not only statistical information, but on the contrary, guaranteed benefits according to the Constitution of the country.
Time will tell how it will be. However, I am still behind "Ma ladža, ma dara - Vaker deka sian Rom" - "Do not be ashamed, do not be afraid - say you are a Roma". I think it's okay.
