"Take Heart, Mrs. Chancellor!" The Society for Threatened Peoples, the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma and also Amaro Drom demand a right to stay for Roma children from Kosovo

"Take Heart, Mrs. Chancellor! Offer 'our' Roma children a future in Germany!" On occasion of the International Roma Day on April 8, the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP), the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma and the Roma youth organization Amaro Drom sent an appeal to Angela Merkel to demand a right to stay for Kosovan Roma children who were born or raised in Germany. The organizations also asked all members of parliament and all interior ministers and senators of the federal republic and the federal states for support.

"In 2013, there were tens of thousands of job training vacancies in Germany: a lot has been invested in the integration and education of these 5,000 to 6,000 children and youngsters – and we need them here! It would do Germany good to finally offer them and their families a right to stay. It was German soldiers too who stood aside while members of the Roma minority were driven out of the country by nationalist Albanians in the course of the liberation of Kosovo in 1999. About 14,000 of the 19,000 houses were destroyed, 75 Roma neighborhoods and villages were erased. "At least 120,000 of the previously around 150,000 Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians were forced to flee, intimidated by killings, disappearances, rape, torture and threats. This is why Germany has a particular responsibility for the Roma from Kosovo too. They have been living in Germany for years – and it would be inhumane to deport them again, especially since the children speak German, went to school here and have no other home.

The appeal also refers to the UN Children's Rights Convention: The German refugee policy must prioritize the children's well-being. There are still about 10,500 Roma from Kosovo facing deportation from Germany. About half of them are children, of which two thirds were born or raised here. There are regular reports by the local office of the Society for Threatened Peoples and UNICEF studies that show how desperate the deported Roma children and young people in Kosovo are: "There are not enough educational opportunities, not enough medical supplies and hardly any specific integration programs." Since they barely speak Albanian or Serbian, they often become victims of social exclusion. In Kosovo, they are threatened by a lack of perspectives and extreme poverty. Moreover, Roma people often become victims of human rights violations.

The World Roma Day was established after the first international congress of the Sinti and Roma in London on April 8, 1971.