Contrary to the image of Roma as wanderers, Roma have settled and lived for over 700 years in Kosovo as well as in the rest of the Balkans. Most Romani refugees from Kosovo have stated clearly their desire (and need) to return home. The hostile environment in post-war Kosovo makes that nearly impossible. For the Roma, the centrality of home, family and community, and the necessity to die where one is born profoundly counter the stereotype of nomadism.

The Roma have survived and maintained their culture worldwide over centuries, in part through their particular relationships to and definitions of home, community and travel. For the Roma of Kosovo, and, to a large degree, those from other parts of the former Yugoslavia as well, the current series of wars and upheaval in their homeland have shattered their ability to stay connected to one another. The traumatic impact of the breakdown of their personal infrastructure must therefore be understood as a most pernicious threat to Romani cultural survival.

Article 3 of the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights guarantees that "Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person." In the case of the Roma of Kosovo today, Voice of Roma affirms that the lack of security, housing, and access to jobs and education must be addressed in order to prevent the annihilation of this threatened minority population in this region. It is simultaneously and equally crucial that the loss of the personal infrastructure described above be addressed in an attempt to prevent what may very well be the ethnocide of the Roma of Kosovo.

In the Proposal portion of the section which concludes this report, Voice of Roma outlines simple, broad-based policy recommendations to address the issues described in this overview, along with suggestions for continued targeted demographic research and training projects for and with the Roma of Kosovo. We have also included descriptions of smaller scale, grassroots humanitarian aid, cottage industry, and self sustainability projects as examples of the kinds of initiatives that are needed to quickly mitigate some of the dire circumstances the Roma in Kosovo are facing in their struggle to survive on a daily basis.

Obviously, the most crucial need for Roma is to address the lack of security for those currently living in Kosovo, and for the thousands who wish to return. Homes must be built and support services provided for education, job training, healthcare and travel. Only then will the environment exist for integrating Roma into the kinds of leadership programs and democratic structures which function in a truly multi-ethnic society.

"In many respects, the protection of minorities remains the litmus test of peace in Kosovo, as it has in all of the wars in the former Yugoslavia."¹²