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other Romani peoples |
The Finnish Kale (Romani: Kàlo, Finnish: Kaale or pejoratively mustalaiset (pl.) "blacks") or the Finnish romanis (Suomen romanit) are a group of the Romani people that live primarily in Finland and Sweden.
Their main languages are Finnish and Finnish Romani. They are mostly Christian.
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Finnish Kale came to Finland 500 years via Sweden by Romani groups who travelled from the kingdoms of Scotland and England in the 16th century.[2][3] In 1637 all Romani groups were declared outlaws who could be hanged without trial. This practice was discontinued in 1748. When Finland declared independence in 1917, all Kales received full citizenship and rights. During the Winter War and Continuation War about a thousand Kales served in the Finnish military. [4]
The Kale have traditionally held positions as craftsmen, but the occupation has lost importance in modern times, leading to a significant rise in unemployment within the group.[5] A paper published by the Ministry of Labour states that "According to labour administration's client register material, 70% of the Roma jobseekers had a primary school or lower secondary school education." According to the same paper: "Education is compulsory in Finland and this obligation applies equally to the Roma as to other citizens, but dropping out of basic education is still common among young Roma, while in the mainstream population it is extremely uncommon."[6]
In 2007 police officer and boxer Riku Lumberg (of Romani heritage) wrote an open letter to his own people, seeking an end to the "barbaric tradition of blood feud" in the community.[7] Roma artist Kiba Lumberg has said the following about the culture she grew up in: "Blood feud and the violence that exists in Roma culture, can't be discussed in Finland. We can't accept that some groups hide behind culture to excuse stepping on human rights and freedom of speech," and "the problem is, that when a Gypsy dares to speak in public about the negative things happening in their own tribe, they face death threats. If a white person opens their mouth, they're accused of racism."[8]
In Finland, unlike in many other countries, crime statistics give the ethnic background of the perpetrator. The Finnish Ministry of Justice indicated that in 2005, persons of Romani background (who make up less than 0.2% of the total population of Finland[1]) perpetrated 18% of solved street robbery crimes in Finland - by way of comparison, Somalis were responsible for 12%, while ethnic Finns were close to 51%.[9] According to a 2003 report by the Finnish Department of Corrections, there were an estimated 120 to 140 Romanis in the Finnish prison system. The report discussed ways to combat institutional racism and discrimination within the prisons system, as well as ways for improving rehabilitation of Romani inmates through, for example, education programmes and better cooperation with the Romani community at large.[10]
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