Fostering policing in ethnic Roma communities in Skopje

The OSCE Spillover Monitor Mission to Skopje is focusing on improving policing in ethnic Roma communities and enhancing the trust of Roma people in the police as part of its overall task to promote Roma integration into mainstream communities.

This undertaking stems from the 2003 OSCE Action Plan on Improving the Situation of Roma and Sinti Communities within the OSCE Area, whose recommendations highlighted the need for improvements in policing.

Ethnically mixed police team

The Ministry of the Interior, with the support of the Mission and the U.K. Embassy in Skopje, opened the first police office in the mainly Roma-populated municipality of Shuto Orizari in February. It is staffed with an ethnically mixed police team.

"The citizens of our municipality can only benefit from it, since police services will be brought closer to the community, and the efficiency of the police work in the municipality will increase," says Erdogan Iseni, Mayor of Shuto Orizari.

Trpe Stojanovski, Head of the Sector for European Integration and International Co-operation within the Ministry of the Interior, says his government is committed to addressing Roma and minority issues in policing and noted that the country has adopted a ten-year action plan on Roma inclusion.

"The government has been following the guidance of the OSCE and the Council of Europe, and is engaged in a process of a comprehensive police reform designed to introduce best practices," he says.

The Mission's next project to assist the government in achieving its goals is a survey of police officers, designed to assess their knowledge of Roma culture and traditions.

"The findings will serve as a basis for future projects, which will include the training of police aimed at promoting tolerance, and helping overcome prejudices in everyday policing activities in Roma-populated areas," says Raul Correa Cruz, Chief of the Community Development Division in the Skopje Mission's Police Development Unit.

Reviewing regional progress

The OSCE organized a regional workshop on policing in Roma and Sinti communities in Skopje in 2006 to discuss regional progress. Officials from the host country and from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia, as well as experts from the respective OSCE Missions and the OSCE Mission to Kosovo determined that while most of the countries had made improvements in certain areas, further progress was needed.

The Head of the Mission's Police Development Unit, Philip Tolson says, "Major improvements we have noted relate to inclusion and recruitment of Roma police officers, to the extent that there are approximately 80 newly trained ethnic Roma out of 8,000 officers currently serving in the police force."

Enhancing confidence and co-operation

The establishment of thematic Citizen Advisory Groups focusing specifically on Roma issues has bolstered co-operation between Roma and the police.

"This practice gives ethnic Roma the opportunity to raise their concerns to local law enforcement and municipal authorities. It also helps to develop co-operative approaches to address communal problems, and increases ethnic Romas' participation in public life," says Fatma Bajram, of the Roma non-governmental organization Association of Citizens SUMNAL, or "world" in English.

Citizen Advisory Groups have also been set up in some of the largest Roma neighbourhoods and municipalities nationwide, such as Shuto Orizari, Vinica, Kocani, Stip and Kumanovo.

"But in spite of these improvements, major challenges remain," says the OSCE's Correa Cruz. "Ethnic Roma police officers have to enjoy equal opportunities to reach managerial and high-level positions.

"In addition, the authorities must foster the appropriate use of mechanisms to avert and discipline cases of discrimination within the police and promote tolerance, particularly among police officers serving in Roma communities," Correa Cruz says.