Special places for minorities within police schools

Policy Response DateMay 19, 2011 Country: Romania General Type: Racist violence, Discrimination, Institutional discrimination, Equality/Integration Racism and discrimination phenomena: Anti-roma/zinghanophobia, Inter-ethnic
Groups affected / Interested in: Roma & Travelers, Ethnic minorities, National minorities Key socio-economic/institutional areas: Policing - law enforcement

Since 2007, the Romanian Ministry of Administration and Internal Affairs has been allocating special places for national minorities within its academic structures (police, gendarmes). In 2007, it allocated 30 places for the Roma minority. The measure came in a context where, only 1 per cent of the employees within the Ministry were part of a national minority although about 10 per cent of the population is, and where “to a greater extent than the majority population, the members of ethnic communities do not see the police, and in general the forces keeping public order as institutions which are at their service, which belong to the local and national communities, and of which they are also a part, but moreover as belonging to the majority population”.[1] In 2011, 48 places were approved and allocated as follows: 15 for the Hungarian minority, 14 for the Roma minority and 19 for other minorities taken together. [2] [3]

No assessment of the impact of this measure could be identified as yet.

The NGO Ethnocultural Diversity Resource Centre has been implementing training projects for the police in order to prevent conflicts in multiethnic communities since 2000. After the introduction of these special places it has also implemented awareness raising campaigns and professional orientation activities for potential candidates, encouraging them to opt for a career within the police structures. [4]

 

Sources:

  1. General Inspectorate of the Romanian Police, Institute for the Research and Prevention of Criminality and Ethnocultural Diversity Research Centre, Mission Possible  (brochure drafted in Romanian, Hungarian and Romani languages), 2007, available at: http://www.edrc.ro/docs/img/Brosura-Misiune-Posibila_Ro-Hu.pdf (Accessed on 10.03.2012)
  2. Ministry of Administration and Internal Affairs, Human Resources Management General Directorate, Admissions 2011, available at: http://www.mai.gov.ro/Documente/Prima%20Pagina/ADMITEREA%20-%202011.pdf (Accessed on 10.03.2012) The places were allocated in 2011 according to an Instruction of the General Director of the Human Resource Management General Directorate No. II/533/19.05.2011
  3. According to preliminary estimates of the 2011 census, the ethnic makeup is as follows, in rounded figures: Hungarian- 1,238,000, Roma: 619,000, Ukrainian – 51,700, German – 36,900, Turkish – 28,200. See Mediafax.ro, Recensamant 2011, rezultate provizorii: Populatia a scazut cu 2,6 milioane. Cati locuitori au mai ramas in fiecare judet (Census 2011, provisional results: the population has dropped by 2.6 million. How many inhabitants are left in each county), 02.02.2012, available at: http://www.mediafax.ro/social/recensamant-2011-rezultate-provizorii-populatia-a-scazut-cu-peste-2-6-milioane-cati-locuitori-au-mai-ramas-in-fiecare-judet-foto-9200342 (Accessed on 10.03.2012) Romania has 20 recognized national minorities, but the biggest proportion is represented by the Hungarioan and the Roma minorities.
  4. Ethnocultural Diversity Resources Centre, Good governance in multiethnic communities, available at: http://www.edrc.ro/programs.jsp (Accessed on 10.03.2012)