Within the Project “Contribution to Social Inclusion and Combat against Discrimination of Marginalized Population in Serbia”, funded by the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Praxis issued the report Analysis of the Main Obstacles and Problems in Access of Roma to the Rights to Health and Health Care in July 2011.

The right to health represents a necessary precondition for exercise of a range of other rights including the right to life. At the same time, the right to health itself is conditioned by exercise of numerous other rights, including the right to food, housing, employment, education, human dignity, absence of discrimination, equality, prohibition of torture, privacy and access to information. The close correlation and inter-dependence of these rights are reflected in the fact that a violation of one right prevents access to a range of other rights. Deep differences with respect to health status of the vulnerable groups and deprivation of their right to health care are most often a consequence of an earlier violation of some other right. This is confirmed also by the position of the Roma ethnic minority in the Republic of Serbia (RS). The Roma represent one of the most vulnerable groups in the society. It is the members of this group who are most often deprived of access to the basic health care and numerous other determinants of the right to health.

The right of each person to health is contained in the most relevant international and regional instruments. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights stipulates that “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care (...)“. Guarantees of the right to health, as a fundamental human right are enshrined also in the (revised) European Social Charter, The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Roma have not arrived to the position they are in by themselves – much of the responsibility for this lies with the society. Stipulating “equal conditions” and letting them “find their way by themselves” will not do. Exclusion and isolation of Roma were largely caused by the society, so it is impermissible that the society should not take part in resolving these problems. Drastic inequalities in health of Roma and the shorter life expectancy of the members of this population are not the consequences of genetic predispositions, but a testimony to their exclusion that the State must put an end to.

Download: Analysis of the Main Obstacles and Problems in Access of Roma to Rights to Health and Health Care