Migration and Poverty: The Case of the Slovak Roma

Abstract

This article locates the issue of recent migration among Slovak Roma into the Czech Republic within the context of EU enlargement and the recent concerns over immigration control. The small-scale fieldwork undertaken among the Slovak Roma migrants in Czech detention centres revealed – not surprisingly – that the choice to seek asylum is closely associated with the loss of their economic status and employment in Slovakia. To become an asylum seeker in a neighbouring country is a way of looking for work whilst the family members are safe, free from harassment and unwanted hostilities back at home. The link between migration and poverty, however, should not be seen as a causal link for this category of asylum seekers, since increasing poverty among the Roma cannot be dissociated from political issues, such as institutional discrimination that has not been effectively addressed by the government itself.