Charities fear Roma deportations post-Brexit

Charities are warning that many Roma lack the documentation required to gain settled status in post-Brexit Britain.

Last month, the Home Office revealed details of its settled status scheme for EU nationals when the UK leaves the economic and political bloc next year. Applicants will be asked to prove their identity, that they have no convictions, and that they currently live in the UK.

Charities working with Roma communities across the UK are concerned that high levels of illiteracy and a lack of official paperwork and access to computers and smartphones will obstruct Roma people’s ability to complete the application process, even though most Roma are EU citizens and have the right to be in the UK. 

The Roma are one of Europe’s largest, poorest, and most socially excluded ethnic minorities, says Martin Kahanec, in his study of Roma integration in European labor markets. An estimated 300,000 Roma live in the UK, many having arrived in the 1990s, escaping persecution in Eastern Europe. 

The Chief Executive of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, Rebecca Hilsenrath, says that Roma experience some of the worst disadvantage and prejudice of all ethnic groups in the UK. She notes how past surveys have reveal that 50% of people living in Britain will openly express unfavorable views of Roma people. They also face significant difficulties in trying to access health care, education, employment, and housing.

Kahanec says that trust needs to be nurtured between Roma and non-Roma populations in order to ensure their equal treatment in the labor market. “Labor market integration of the Roma is a moral and economic imperative,” he says. Educational inequality is a key factor behind labor market gaps between the two populations. Therefore, an important policy objective is to prevent the residential and social segregation that engenders educational and other inequalities. 

The Home Office says that the government will be looking for reasons to grant, rather than to refuse, settled status. “We recognise that we need to reach out to and support a wide range of vulnerable groups, such as the Roma, whose needs will vary. These groups will include those that cannot access, or aren’t confident with, technology and non-English speakers.”

Read more articles on migration policy.