Roads of Hope: What Bosnian Roma Go Through to Get Asylum in an EU Country

Roma in Bosnia and Herzegovina live very difficult lives, which is why a large number of them leave the country during their lifetime, heading to some Western state in search of a better existence, writes BH news agency Patria.

But do all of them actually find a better place to live than what they could get in Bosnia and Herzegovina?

Roma woman Zehra E. from Sarajevo told Patria that she lived in Belgium for five years, after which she returned to BiH. Life in this European country, which hosts the capital of the European Union, was for her only slightly easier than in BiH, but nowhere near as comfortable as she had expected.

- Roma from BiH who try to get asylum in some Western country first go through a real hell for several years – says Zehra.

- Rarely are they immediately placed in reception centers, while a large number of Roma spend time on the streets, sleeping in parks and underground stations at night – she adds.

Zehra says she has two sons in Brussels. Her younger son married a woman with Belgian citizenship, after which he also received permission to stay in this country. The older one, who also has two children, was less fortunate than his brother, but not much less. His family of four is housed in one of the reception centers, where they are now waiting for an answer from the Belgian authorities on whether they will be granted asylum or returned to BiH.
The wait can last several months, sometimes more than a year.

- You can consider yourself saved immediately only if a woman finds a man with Belgian citizenship who will marry her. The same applies to men - the most important thing is to find a woman to marry. That means you have an address where you live. And with an address, all doors are open to you. But that is usually hard to achieve. When you come to a foreign country, you don't know people – explains Zehra, adding that for this reason, Roma first try to get into one of the reception centers, which are increasingly overcrowded.

- Without an address, you are nobody and nothing. You are not even allowed to work. If you had a bit of luck and ended up in one of the reception centers, then you have food, clothes, and a bed. It is true that you sleep in a room where 30 or more people stay, but you are not on the street. My son and his family live in one of those centers and are waiting for an answer from the local authorities. We all hope for the best answer.

Zehra says that during their stay in the EU, Roma spend the most money on lawyers, who take from them between 100 and 300 euros per month, sometimes more, promising to obtain papers for them to stay. This sometimes actually happens, and sometimes it does not.

There are no exact figures on how many Roma live in BiH. According to the 1991 census, about 8,000 Roma lived in BiH. However, Roma associations today operate with data of about 80,000 Roma in BiH.

Zehra says that Roma from BiH love their country very much, but when they cannot achieve even basic human rights there, such as a job, they are forced to move on. She also adds that Belgium, Germany, and Switzerland are the dream of every Roma, if they must leave their country, writes Patria.