Closing the Gap Between Legal and Social Citizenship for Roma People

Abstract

While Roma people are most often legal citizens in their countries, long-term persecution and discrimination has affected their social citizenship: their ability to fully participate as active citizens, their capacity to pursue high-status professions and their choices and rights. This essay integrates personal reflections with a historical and contemporary overview of citizenship rights for Roma, makes recommendations for reducing the gap between their legal and social citizenship, and explores the possibility to redefine the Roma condition in the twenty-first century.