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PP RUEHAG RUEHDA RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHLN RUEHLZ
RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHSL #0373/01 1310816
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 110816Z MAY 06
FM AMEMBASSY BRATISLAVA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9818
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BRATISLAVA 000373 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
EUR/RPM PLEASE PASS CSCE ERIKA SCHLAGER 
BUDAPEST FOR MONIQUE NOWICKI 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL KPAO SOCI LO
SUBJECT: ROMA UPDATE: MAYOR TRIES TO DEPORT FAMILIES, NDI 
FEARS VOTE-BUYING IN UPCOMING ELECTIONS, EMBASSY INCREASES 
OUTREACH 
 
¶1.  (SBU)  SUMMARY:  The Embassy continues to be heavily 
involved in promoting human rights and integration among 
Slovakia's minority communities, the Roma in particular.  In 
the past month, the Emboffs have: 
-- Visited a northern village in which the mayor is seeking 
to move 35-40 Roma to a small, three-unit house in another 
nearby village so they will be the other town's "problem;" 
-- Heard both optimism about Roma political participation, as 
well as concerns from NDI about the possibility of political 
parties "buying votes" in Roma communities in June's 
parliamentary elections; 
-- Published op-ed pieces and hosted events highlighting Roma 
issues and putting activists in touch with opinion leaders. 
END SUMMARY. 
 
MAYOR WANTS TO DEPORT DELINQUENT (ROMA) RENTERS 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  In March, the media reported that the Mayor and 
city council of Puchov was resettling four Roma families to 
the smaller, nearby village of Nimnica, after the families 
failed to make rent payments in their public housing. 
Emboffs recently traveled to Puchov and Nimnica to meet with 
local officials and investigate the situation.  The Mayor of 
Puchov told Poloff that the decision was "humanitarian," as 
the families have children and therefore could not simply be 
evicted.  According to the Mayor, the families will remain 
citizens of Puchov despite their new home in Nimnica (which 
the city of Puchov purchased for them), and the children will 
still be enrolled in Puchov schools.  The Mayor of Puchov 
hopes that the families will find it easier to make their 
rent payments in this less expensive housing. 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  Other members of the Puchov city council, however, 
told us of their staunch opposition to the plan.  They note 
that the (reportedly shabby) housing currently occupied by 
the families is near an area the city is planning to 
rehabilitate into a pedestrian shopping and dining district 
and that the Mayor is likely involved financially in this 
development and hopes to revamp the public housing into an 
engine for increased revenue.  The Mayor told us that he 
"doesn't ask" what ethnicity the delinquent renters are, but 
that, as families with children, they deserve this 
"opportunity" in Nimnica. 
 
¶4.  (SBU)  In contrast to the large, prosperous town of 
Puchov, Nimnica is a small village of 700.  The Mayor of 
Nimnica described to us his town's opposition to the move. 
Deporting "undesirable" residents from one town to another 
sets a dangerous precedent, he noted, as there would be 
nothing to stop other towns -- particularly in Eastern 
Slovakia, where the majority of Slovakia's Roma live -- from 
putting their citizens on buses and sending them to other 
localities.  The Mayor of Nimnica showed us the house to 
which Puchov plans on moving its Roma; the three-unit, 
two-bathroom space is in disrepair, is unconnected to gas 
lines, and relies on a small septic tank for its sewer.  It 
is by no means appropriate for such a large number of tenants. 
 
¶5.  (SBU)  Additionally, Nimnica's Roma population -- already 
well-integrated in the small community -- fears that the 
addition of "troublemakers" from another town will cause a 
rift in the village, as all the Roma citizens will be blamed 
en masse for any stolen vegetables or missing chickens.  The 
Mayor of Nimnica has, to date, sought to fight the forced 
relocation through administrative channels, denying building 
permits at the property in an attempt to forestall "make 
ready" of the property by Puchov. He sought the advice of 
Slovakia's Plenipotentiary for the Roma Minority, whose 
office told him to pursue legal action to halt the transfer; 
however, attorneys could find no legal grounds upon which to 
pursue court action. 
 
¶6.  (SBU)  COMMENT:  We are putting the Mayor of Nimnica and 
the Puchov city council in touch with NGOs -- including USAID 
contractor Partners for Democratic Change in Slovakia (PDCS) 
-- and activists with experience in Roma issues, conflict 
resolution, and "reconciliation."  The Embassy will be 
actively and aggressively pursuing this issue through our 
actions at all levels.  END COMMENT. 
 
NDI OPTIMISTIC ABOUT ROMA PARTICIPATION, WARY OF TACTICS 
--------------------------------------------- ----------- 
 
¶7.  (SBU)  National Democratic Institute for International 
Affairs (NDI) head Zuzana Dzurikova told us April 27 that the 
Roma political candidates and activists it has trained have 
 
BRATISLAVA 00000373  002 OF 002 
 
 
increased the community's visibility among national political 
parties.  In addition to lobbying major political parties to 
include Roma issues in their platforms, NDI's trainees have 
held high-level meetings with the President, Chairman of 
parliament, Prime Minister, and other MPs in advance of June 
17 elections.  In addition, Roma candidates have places on 
several candidate lists -- including President Gasparovic's 
Movement for Democracy (HZD), which included a well-known 
Roma musician in the 5th position on its candidate list 
(NOTE:  Despite this high placement, polling indicates that 
HZD is unlikely to win any seats in parliament.  END NOTE). 
In addition, Free Forum (SF) has placed a Roma candidate on 
its list, but lower than the number of seats SF is likely to 
win; however, as SF is likely to pass the parliamentary 
threshold, this candidate will have to work to get enough 
"preferential votes" (votes directly for an individual 
candidate) to win one of the SF seats in the national council 
in June. 
 
¶8.  (SBU)  Citing a continued decrease in voter turnout, NDI 
told us that they are concerned that vote buying will play an 
increasing role in this year's parliamentary elections, as 
unscrupulous parties attempt to pick up "easy votes" in Roma 
communities by paying up to SKK 100 (around USD 3) per vote. 
NDI has already heard some Roma "political activists" 
shopping deals like this around current opposition parties. 
COMMENT:  We enlisted NDI to assist us in "putting the word 
on the street" that we will not have contact in the future 
with any candidate whom we suspect of buying or selling 
votes.  END COMMENT. 
 
AMBASSADOR HOSTS LUNCH IN HONOR OF ROMA DAY... 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
¶9.  (U)  In honor of International Roma Day (April 8), 
Ambassador hosted a Roma Day lunch for Roma activists and 
personalities (many of whom the Ambassador identified himself 
through his travels upcountry), in addition to Roma allies 
from the diplomatic corps and political parties.  Over twenty 
five people attended the lunch, including the GOS 
Plenipotentiary for Roma Affairs, representatives from the 
Deputy Prime Minister for Human Rights and National 
Minorities, as well as a number of Mayors who have showed an 
effort to better integrate their Roma communities, Romani 
politicians, journalists, and activists.  The lunch was an 
excellent venue through which to raise the profile of Roma 
issues, and allow networking among the stakeholders.  The 
event is exemplary of process through which Embassy is 
continuing to focus momentum on the issue of Roma inclusion 
in society, and evidence of the progress activists and 
politicians are making. 
 
...AND PUBLISHES OP-ED 
---------------------- 
 
¶10.  (U)  Also on International Roma Day, the Embassy placed 
an op-ed piece under the Ambassador's by-line in local daily 
SME (estimated readership: 368,000).  The piece called for 
Slovakia to give Roma integration priority as part of its 
efforts toward full democratic potential.  Citing his first 
hand experiences traveling through Slovakia and meeting with 
Roma leaders, the Ambassador called for Slovakia to take a 
strong stand against racism and to increase opportunity for 
Roma in education and the work place. 
VALLEE