The Council of Europe’s ROMACTED Programme has been assisting vulnerable Roma and Egyptian communities in Montenegro, impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
While Montenegro was the last of the Western Balkan countries to record cases of COVID-19, once numbers started growing, the most vulnerable communities found themselves unable to provide for their families.
Many members of the Roma community make money through litter picking and informal trade. They also occupy casual and day working roles meaning they have been unable to work due to lockdown restrictions.
ROMACTED signed a Memorandum of Understanding with 23 Roma and Egyptian NGOs in Montenegro on 18 March. This resulted in the launch of the RESPECT campaign which aimed to spread information on preventive measures and emergency kits for the most vulnerable families in the country.
Some 400 kits were purchased, each containing 17kg of food, 7kg of hygiene products and 25kg of flour.
The kits were distributed in coordination with Mladi Romi, in four ROMACTED beneficial municipalities. The local Red Cross provided additional support during the distribution of packages across the municipalities.
In Ulcinj municipality, 110 emergency kits were distributed in eight neighbourhoods (Bijela Gora, Pinješ, Totoše, Kolomza, Kodre, Štoj, Darza and MUP barake). In Bar, the neighbourhoods Naselje pod Volujicom, Sokolana, Bijelise, Stari Bar, Susanj, Sutomore, Lamela and Makedonsko received 100 packages. In Tivat, 160 kits were distributed in 7 Jul, Lovanja and Gradiošnica settlements. In Niksic, 30 packages were distributed to Roma residents of Budo Tomović and the neighbourhood around the hospital.
ROMACTED has also been active in Albania, supporting over 300 families in Elbasan, Korce, Permet and Roskovec in March alone. An additional 118 families have been helped in Vlora by the Municipality following an appeal from the ROMACTED facilitator.
The organization and other NGOs have asked the government to provide running water in Roma settlements as well as hygiene and food supplies
Albanian Roma communities have been protesting the lack of government assistance since the beginning of the outbreak. Protests have taken place in various locations across the country.
Yesterday, Albanian human rights organisations criticised Prime Minister Edi Rama for derogatory and discriminatory comments made against the Roma community.
Rama accused them of faking protests asking for food and criticising the inaction of the Municipality in Fier. The Prime Minister accused them of having no basis for their complaints and being used for political games by other political parties. He also used the hashtag ‘Inhuman’ to describe the situation.
