AI has voiced concern about Croatian Interior Minister Ranko Ostojic's recent statement that Roma in northern Croatia's Medjimurje region were the main perpetrators of property offences and that the welfare intended for the Roma was being used to buy alcohol and not for the basic needs.
By explicitly linking the Roma community to crime and social issues such as alcoholism, Ostojic is reinforcing discriminatory racial stereotypes. Instead, the minister should examine the link between poverty, crime and marginalisation, and ask himself why the Roma, as he said, cannot earn a living, said Nicolas Beger, Director of AI's European Institutions Office, according to AI Croatia.
AI is concerned about such stigmatising rhetoric which is spreading in Europe - anti-Gypsyism - which incites grave Roma discrimination, and recalls that the Council of Europe human rights commissioner recently highlighted this issue in a recent report.
Visiting Medjimurje County on Wednesday, Ostojic said that while he acknowledged the human rights of all national minorities in Croatia, he must point out that more than 50 per cent of property offences in the county were committed by the Roma.
According to the media, he also said it was necessary to see if social welfare grants were being spent on alcohol or the basic needs.
AI Croatia immediately condemned Ostojic's statement, while former Roma MP Nazif Memedi asked Ostojic to apologise to all Roma.