Roma official visits Roma settlements in Ribnica to encourage cooperation

The council has recently got more actively engaged in efforts to address challenges involving the Roma in Ribnica.

To facilitate dialogue, a Roma organisation is being established in Ribnica, and will join the Roma community umbrella, the Roma Association of Slovenia, Bečiri said on Saturday.

He first visited Otavice, where three Roma families live, before going to Goriča Vas and Lepovče, the biggest Roma settlements in the municipality.

He discussed the problems Roma face, chiefly integration and water supply, while trying to encourage them to enter dialogue with Ribnica authorities to find solutions.

Bečiri said the council expects Ribnica to lend an ear to the Roma and show understanding for their problems, "while the Roma must also do their part".

"They must put their settlements in order, adjust to the locals, and most importantly send children to kindergarten and school."

The Roma official also expects Roma to get jobs, where he counts on assistance from the municipality, given that many would not hire Roma people.

Otavice and Goriča Vas would like the municipality to secure them water, which Otavice resident Amir Hudorovič said was key to their integration, and criticised Mayor Samo Pogorelc for what he sees a lack of understanding.

Pogorelc, on the other hand, said the municipality will do its job once the Roma do what was agreed at a recent meeting.

It was agreed that the Roma in Otavice will commission a surveyor to measure their plot, while withdrawing from the surrounding plots they occupy but do not own.

The Roma must also send their children to school, and "some employment must also happen", said the mayor.

Once this happens, Ribnica will furnish the plot with water in a temporary solution, as farming land cannot be furnished with proper water supply infrastructure.

For Goriča Vas, the municipality is already changing its zoning plan to legalise the village.

Once this is done, and the Roma start getting integrated while not further spreading their settlement unlawfully, the municipality will proceed with water supply. But if new Roma families move in, the municipality will give up and let the state address the situation, the mayor said.

Hudorovič meanwhile said that Otavice residents had already started sending their children to school, while employment will be hard as not many want to hire the Roma.