According to the Index for the Integration of Immigrants, published
\nby the Centre for the Compared Study of Migration, in 2018 Romania was in
\ntransition towards a country of immigrant destination. The main reasons for
\nsettling in this country are family reunification in the case of refugees or
\npolitical asylum seekers, work, as Romania is currently facing a labour force
\ncrisis in some fields of activity, or study. Foreign citizens with legal
\nresidence in Romania are nationals of third countries, citizens of the EU or
\nSEE countries or beneficiaries of international protection. The most important
\ncountries of origin of these nationals are: The Republic of Moldova, Turkey,
\nChina, Syria and Israel. Between 2005 and 2017, the percentage of immigrants to
\nRomania rose four times, from 0.5% to 2% (roughly 380 thousand people). Those
\nwho want to settle in Romania are benefiting from assistance from various NGOs
\nsuch as Active Random set up three years ago by several enthusiastic young
\npeople whose average age was 25. From one of these, Iosif Prodan, we’ve learnt
\nwho these migrants are. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
We can draw the conclusion that Romania is the EU country with one
\nof the smallest number of immigrants or refugees. Romania lies at the bottom of
\nthe ranking in terms of the number of immigrants so we cannot speak of it as a
\ndestination country. One of the reasons is the economic situation, which isn’t
\nquite good. Another reason is that immigrants usually look for countries where
\nthey have relatives, friends etc. A case in point are those coming from the
\nMiddle East; if they have relatives in France or Germany for instance, they
\nwould rather go there than to Romania, where they know nobody.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The ActivRandom association works
\nwith the migrants who opt for remaining here, offering free-of-charge Romanian
\nlanguage classes or classes of English and helping them with the courses they
\nneed to take if they want to be granted Romanian citizenship. Also, help is
\nbeing given to children as well, for their integration, through painting
\nworkshops, through staging sports activities for them, through invitations to
\nstage performances. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Denisa Col\u021bea does volunteer work
\nas part of the association, teaching citizenship preparation courses. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Our students also include people
\nwho have been living here for over 20 years now. Initially, they came for study
\npurposes, they went to university here and then they stayed here where they set
\nup their own families. And now, they want to be granted Romanian citizenship as
\nwell. Coursework syllabus includes History, Geography, Constitution, Culture
\nand Civilization, as well as some separate disciplines focusing on Romania’s
\nAnthem and the EU. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
18-year-old Fatima Zarwari of
\nAfghanistan is one of the beneficiaries of ActivRandom. Fatima arrived in
\nRomania three years ago with her mother and brother for family reunification
\npurposes, her father being a resident already, with the status of political
\nrefugee. Fatima left Afghanistan because of the uncertainty and fear induced by
\nthe Talibans among the population, no doubt about that. Speaking about that,
\nhere is Fatima Zarwari herself. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Right now, here, in Romania, we
\nare doing fine, it is peace, I go to school and we are happy. It was kind of
\nhard in the beginning. In our first month in Europe everything seemed all
\nright. All was new. But then I began to feel sad because we had parted company
\nwith our relatives in Afghanistan, with colleagues and friends. It was very
\ndifficult for us. But then we focused on studying the language so that we may
\nlearn it, and that is how we got used to our new life. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Fatima is currently a 12th
\ngrader in a high school in Bucharest. She learned Romanian and she says
\neverybody at school, students and teachers, were quite nice to her. But there
\nhave been unpleasant experiences as well. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The worst incident happened to my mother, who doesn’t speak
\nRomanian very well and maybe she will never be able to learn it properly. There
\nwere days when she came home crying because people in the street had spit at
\nher or given her angry looks. I’ve been through that several times as well.
\nOnce I was with my family on a tram, we were going to the Business Academy
\nwhere I was supposed to give a speech on refugees. It was back when we were
\nstill waiting for an answer to our asylum application, and as far as we knew at
\nthat time, public transport was free for us. We only had our asylum seeker
\ncards. We had had previous encounters with public transport inspectors and
\neverything had been fine, but this time around they were very mean, they told
\nus we had to pay and were very rude to us. When we got down with the
\ninspectors, the police came and people gathered around us, and some kept asking
\nwhat we were doing here and shouted at us to go back to our country. I was very
\naffected, and I cried a lot that day.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
From her experience as a volunteer, Denisa Coltea says the migrants
\nwho attend her training sessions see discrimination cases as one-off incidents.
\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Despite this, for several weeks, the local population in Ditrau,
\nHarghita county, central Romania, have been protesting against the hiring of
\nSri Lankan workers by a local bakery, angry that employers prefer foreign
\nworkers. It’s still not clear if this is more out of xenophobia or outrage at
\nemployers who refuse to provide decent work conditions and payment. Until the
\ncase is settled, we cannot overlook a certain tendency in Romania to
\ndiscriminate against foreigners. Iosif Prodan:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
We, Romanians, like to think that we are welcoming and hospitable.
\nThis self-perception is related, however, to those coming from the West. We never
\nthought someone from the East would ever want to come here to live and work.
\nFirst, we’re not sure how to react. Later, two types of reactions occur: we
\neither reject them completely, or welcome them. I belong to a generation whose
\nparents went abroad to find work, so it’s easy for me to empathise with similar
\ncases. It’s a matter of basic human decency to understand that there are people
\nin this world who have gone through some traumatic experiences and have lived
\nin fear for a long time. I find it impossible not to be able to understand this
\nand not welcome such people and want to help them.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
To help migrants integrate and the locals to accept them, for the
\nlast two years ActivRandom has been holding a festival called OmFest, a
\ncross-cultural event highlighting the diversity of foreigner communities in
\nRomania. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Romania is becoming a country of destination of more and more migrants.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":143455,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42997],"tags":[29207],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-143454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-society-today","tag-migration"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n