The Roma in East-Central and Southeastern Europe. Migration, Citizenship and Asylum

Few ethnic groups in the European history have suffered more than the Roma under deficient citizenship laws & inadequate protection. Since their arrival in Europe in the middle ages, they were exposed to abuse involving the denial of the most fundamental human rights. Wherever they lived, they were relegated to the lowest level of the socioeconomic ladder, where they had to fight not only for survival, but also for the conservation of their self-respect as individual ethnic minority with their own rich cultural & linguistic traditions. Adapted from the source document.