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7 E. Eur. Const. Rev. 58 (1998)
Denying Citizenship to the Czech Roma

handle is hein.journals/eeurcr7 and id is 158 raw text is: Law as w instument of dscrtn Denying Citizenship to the Czech Roma firina Siklova and Marta Miklusakova T his article is about Gypsies-Roma or Sinthi-and, especially, their situation in the Czech and Slovak republics after 1993, when these two countries came into being. The question that will occupy us is one of citizenship. The story of this direly underprivileged group can be illuminated by a brief flashback. In 1989, so peaceful was the change of government in Czechoslovakia that it was called the Velvet Revolution. Those who would become the so-called elite of our nation successfully accomplished a variety of difficult tasks, such as taking political power in the first place, ratifying a new constitution, electing the first government, and founding the first political par- ties. A democratic system was established and, in the Czech Republic today, we not only run legal elections but we also have undergone genuine governmental crises. We have banks, a stock market, and new finan- cial systems. But despite these new acquisitions, so familiar to Westerners, there are still many postcom- munist citizens who do not comprehend very well certain things that seem self-evident to the inhabitants of Western democratic societies. For instance, most people are thoroughly unfamiliar with the new laws to which they are being asked to adapt their behavior. They are often simply unaware of the very existence of these laws. They seldom know the basics of a free- market economy. And such ignorance prevails despite the fact that informative lectures have been broadcast on national radio explaining what is the value-added tax and what is a tax return. To understand the fundamental problem, one must remember what life was like before and after 1989. Before it ended, life under communism resem- bled what goes on in a foster home or perhaps (as someone said) in an asylum for the mentally retarded. Everything was decided for you, from above and in advance. The paternalism of the state was so pervasive that it can barely be comprehended by those who have not lived under it for generations. Then, suddenly, in the aftermath of the Velvet Revolution, Czechoslovaks became, as it were, political adults-feeling like inmates who had been deinstitutionalized if not cured, grown-up but with little experience, pushed out of the foster home and onto the streets, and encouraged (with little or no follow-up) to take care of themselves. Most people were able to do so, but many still do not fully grasp the tasks involved. And if the mundane challenges of a democratic and relatively free-market society can prove daunting to ordinary citizens, imag- ine how people whose lives were already socially marginalized before the 1989 would (or would not) cope with legal concepts and constitutional issues that sometimes baffle even sophisticated members of mod- ern Western nations. What makes this story especially painful is that the concept in question, namely citizen- ship, touches on the Roma's legal status as members of the Czech community. Some background and history The social issues and policies concerning the citizen- ship of the Romany minority and their integration into the Czech Republic are complex and fraught with difficulties. But it may be that our experiences and mistakes will someday serve as a lesson guiding welcome changes in the citizenship laws of other post- communist countries. The problem here is acute. For the technical complexity of legal regulations invariably seems to weigh most heavily on socially marginalized groups, such as the Roma. This is the case not only in 58 8AST EUROPEAN CONSTITUTIONAL REVIEW

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