Racism in Romania is mostly directed against the Roma people, the country's third-largest minority, who are routinely discriminated against by the state, local authorities and private enterprises, in matters of housing, employment and education. Belonging to the lowest social classes, the Roma are caught in a vicious circle of poverty reinforced by segregation.[1] Prejudice against Roma people is common among the Romanians, who characterize the Roma as being thieves, dirty and lazy.[1]
Violence against Roma is also common in Romania, especially police brutality, such cases of excessive force being not adequately investigated or sanctioned.[1] Several anti-Roma riots occurred in the last decades, notable of which being the Hădăreni riots of 1993, in which a mob of Romanians and Hungarians burnt down 13 houses belonging to the Roma, lynched three Roma people and forced 130 people to flee the village.[2]
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The Roma are discriminated on the access to healthcare, which leads to a generally poorer health status, the life expectancy of the Roma minority being 10 years lower than the Romanian average.[1]
Within the Romanian education system there is discrimination and segregation, which leads to higher drop-out rates and lower qualifications for the Roma students.[1]
In Baia Mare, Mayor Cătălin Cherecheș anounced the building of a 3-metre high, 100-metre long concrete wall to divide the buildings in which the Roma community lives from the rest of the city, arguing that this would bring "order and discipline" into the area. [3]
In Wallachia and Moldavia, The Roma people have been for centuries slaves belonging to the state, church or boyars until slavery was gradually abolished during the 1840s and 1850s (see Slavery in Romania).
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