Coronavirus increases risk and stigmatisation for Europe's 10 million Roma

The combination of poverty, crowded living conditions, and lack of access to running water place Europe's 10 million Roma at particular risk from the coronavirus, leading in some countries to their scapegoating as potential hotspots for illness, according to an Open Society Foundations report. In Sofia people are only allowed to leave Roma neighbourhoods through police checkpoints if they can produce a work contract or urgent reason. In Slovakia, five Roma settlements were put under quarantine in early April; four have since had the quarantine lifted. Many Roma people have lost their jobs and may not be eligible for state compensation schemes, and many families do not have either broadband connections or sufficient devices to support distance learning for their children.

Writer: Shaun Walker
Publication: Guardian