:00:00. > :00:15.They have enjoyed centuries of persecution across Europe. They are
:00:16. > :00:20.perceived by some to be thieves, drug addicts and even child
:00:21. > :00:24.traffickers. Why are the Roma people so feared and reviled?
:00:25. > :00:29.I have come to northern Romania to see what life is like for the Roma
:00:30. > :00:34.in one small town. I have been given a rare access to a community here.
:00:35. > :00:39.Is the poverty and abject conditions they live in down to the choices
:00:40. > :00:40.they have made, or a YouTube discrimination from their fellow
:00:41. > :01:13.countrymen? -- due to. The picturesque mining town in
:01:14. > :01:24.Transylvania. Its grand architecture and cobbled squares create an image
:01:25. > :01:38.of prosperity and tranquillity. But just five minutes away from the
:01:39. > :01:42.historic centre. This dilapidated communist era building is home to
:01:43. > :01:52.almost 700 Roma people, many of them children. The residents here are
:01:53. > :01:58.effectively squatters, living in the kind of conditions that reminded me
:01:59. > :02:05.of a war zone. A crumbling building with no running water, no toilets,
:02:06. > :02:19.makeshift electricity. Balconies like this. As I make my way around
:02:20. > :02:22.the place, I meet sisters Rebecca and Maria. The girls tell me her
:02:23. > :02:31.mother and father have gone to the market. But to speak to her
:02:32. > :02:34.grandmother, she says her parents abandoned them and their siblings
:02:35. > :02:40.five years ago. Why did they leave their children? Have they ever tried
:02:41. > :02:49.to make contact with their children or with you?
:02:50. > :03:02.It is estimated that about 80% of children abandoned in Romania are
:03:03. > :03:06.Roma. She welcomes us into her home, a single room for the whole
:03:07. > :03:10.family. She says she receives state benefits to look after the five
:03:11. > :03:14.children, but it is not enough and she has to borrow from her
:03:15. > :03:26.neighbours. What kind of life to you wish you had?
:03:27. > :03:44.What do you want to be when you grow up? What do you like about police?
:03:45. > :04:02.Why do you want to be in the police? Do you think about your mother and
:04:03. > :04:07.father? It is estimated that between 600,000 - 1.7 million Roma live in
:04:08. > :04:13.Romania. For hundreds of years they faced persecution in this country.
:04:14. > :04:17.Writing from northern India in the 14th century, they were enslaved. It
:04:18. > :04:25.is in the 150 years ago that they were finally given their freedom. --
:04:26. > :04:32.only. Romania is now in the European Union. But human rights groups say
:04:33. > :04:40.the discrimination continues. On the outskirts of town, just ten minutes
:04:41. > :04:45.away, is another Roma settlement. The community has lived here for 20
:04:46. > :04:52.years. But the land is not theirs. Like Roma people across Europe, they
:04:53. > :04:59.have claimed a right to settle on public land and not pay taxes. This
:05:00. > :05:09.woman lives with her husband and five children. This has been her
:05:10. > :05:13.home since she was 17. Last year the Arabic count vowed to demolish the
:05:14. > :05:29.community and evict them. -- the bad now.
:05:30. > :05:38.He had made the demolition of Roma settlements his number one campaign
:05:39. > :05:39.promise for real action. When the bulldozers came, she decided to
:05:40. > :06:10.resist. 453 people watched their homes being
:06:11. > :06:15.demolished. But those refused to vacate their properties were left
:06:16. > :06:22.alone. The Nowra says that you are living here legally. -- illegally.
:06:23. > :06:34.He rehoused the residents who were affected to another place.
:06:35. > :06:41.The demolitions of the Roma settlements are popular in town. So
:06:42. > :06:46.much so that the mayor was re-elected with 86% of the vote. He
:06:47. > :06:50.is now the most popular mayor in Romania. What are your thoughts
:06:51. > :07:11.about the Roma people was to --? And what do you think about the
:07:12. > :08:17.mayor's plans to take them off the settlements?
:08:18. > :08:23.Looming over the town, the infamous chimney. This abandoned copper
:08:24. > :08:29.factory was one of the most polluting in Romania. For decades
:08:30. > :08:40.toxic chemicals were used and produced here. This is where the
:08:41. > :08:47.Mayor has rehoused the families who were affected. -- evicted. The
:08:48. > :08:54.officers and the laboratories were not converted into living space. Yet
:08:55. > :09:03.this is now home for 116 families, including 246 Kelvin. -- children.
:09:04. > :09:14.This 60 rolled lives in one of the former laboratories. --
:09:15. > :09:19.six-year-old. It is alleged that when the family 's first moved in,
:09:20. > :09:25.jars of toxic chemicals, including sulphuric acid, were still stored
:09:26. > :09:57.here. Samuel's mother says that her children were at. -- affected.
:09:58. > :10:03.Roma charities reported that 22 children were taken to hospital. The
:10:04. > :10:07.events prompted protests in the capital, Bucharest. It is alleged
:10:08. > :10:12.that as a result of the authorities disposed all the chemicals. But the
:10:13. > :10:22.local Mayor denies any of this happening. More than a year later,
:10:23. > :10:35.Samuel and his family still live here. His grandfather has just come
:10:36. > :10:41.back from work. He is a street cleaner. His wife helps by sorting
:10:42. > :10:57.out scrap metal at the local rubbish dump. Could you ask grandma if she
:10:58. > :11:01.favours any of them? The grandfather provides for mind of his
:11:02. > :11:08.grandchildren. Orphaned after his son died. -- all mine. He has looked
:11:09. > :11:12.after Samuel said he was two weeks old, when his mother abandoned him.
:11:13. > :11:18.Although she is now back on the scene and lives next door. Until
:11:19. > :11:23.last year, he was raising the children in a house in the
:11:24. > :11:26.settlement that he purchased 15 years ago from another Roma family.
:11:27. > :11:57.He watched his own being demolished. In return for demolishing his
:11:58. > :12:01.house, the authorities offered to grant him an ID card, giving him the
:12:02. > :12:08.same legal rights as other Romanians. Traditionally, some Roma
:12:09. > :12:29.people have registered such symbols of officialdom. -- resisted.
:12:30. > :12:33.Above all else, with nine grandchildren to look after, he did
:12:34. > :12:59.not want to end up in the street. In this corner of the former
:13:00. > :13:08.laboratory, he is still trying to create a comfortable environment for
:13:09. > :13:14.the children he cares for. But outside in the hallway, the reality
:13:15. > :13:28.is still exist. The neighbours sniffing paint thinner, while Samuel
:13:29. > :13:38.and his cousins play. One man with a deep cuts on his arm pace up and
:13:39. > :13:43.down, yelling from time to time. I wanted to find out from Samuel what
:13:44. > :13:58.he thinks about living here. Do you like living here? Do you have any
:13:59. > :14:09.friends left back there? What do best most about your friends? Do you
:14:10. > :14:22.feel safe care? Where would you like to live? Across the hallway I meet
:14:23. > :14:34.his daughter-in-law. She is 17 with two children. She tells me that
:14:35. > :14:38.shortly after moving, part of the ceiling collapsed on her 1-year-old
:14:39. > :14:47.son while they were sleeping. She was pregnant at the time. Since
:14:48. > :15:22.then, life is not that easy for her children.
:15:23. > :15:34.Across Europe, 90% of the 12 million Roma live in poverty. In Romania,
:15:35. > :15:39.one third of them are unemployed, twice as high as the national
:15:40. > :15:47.average. Most source scrap at the rubbish dump to earn a subsistence.
:15:48. > :15:57.Many of those who are informal jobs are in low paid work, many refuse
:15:58. > :16:04.that recommend we refuse. I have come back to this apartment block.
:16:05. > :16:14.It is a weekday, but there are a lot of children running around, and
:16:15. > :16:18.will. -- not at school. Although this girl is ten years old, and says
:16:19. > :16:31.she wants to go to school, she is not. I ask her grandmother Y.
:16:32. > :16:46.I need another child. He is in his first year of school. Why are you
:16:47. > :16:54.not at school? They will not let you go to school with dirty clothes? Is
:16:55. > :17:01.not just here that school attendance is low. 70% of the children living
:17:02. > :17:15.in Craica do not go to school. In other areas, it is as high as 75%. I
:17:16. > :17:20.have come to a local kindergarten. 25% of the children here are from
:17:21. > :17:24.the Roma community. There is no restriction on the children
:17:25. > :17:34.attending mainstream schools. These children come here. Roma parents are
:17:35. > :17:40.helps to access mainstream education. One of the things people
:17:41. > :17:48.say is, why don't they send their children to school?
:17:49. > :17:54.She explains that many of the children work alongside their
:17:55. > :18:25.parents as the rubbish dump, their school attendance can be patchy.
:18:26. > :18:50.Gaby met the children? Years in Craica.
:18:51. > :19:06.So, Gaby helped the parents get jobs as gardeners. All five of their
:19:07. > :19:09.children now go to school. Next door is a completely different sort of
:19:10. > :19:18.children's centre. It was set up by the Mac, specifically for the Roma.
:19:19. > :19:20.This is not school, and the staff who are not Roma see their job is
:19:21. > :19:25.preparing the children for mainstream education. When they
:19:26. > :19:33.first come here, they do not know how to speak, they do not know how
:19:34. > :19:38.to interact with other children. They were aggressive. Now they learn
:19:39. > :19:45.how to socialise, how to speak correctly. Regardless of how the
:19:46. > :19:46.stuff view the children, the lack of schooling remains a big problem for
:19:47. > :19:57.this community. This girl was 12 when she got out of
:19:58. > :20:16.school. Now 17 she has two children of her
:20:17. > :20:28.own. Did you want to continue going to school?
:20:29. > :20:32.You are still 17 though, what you think you will do in the future?
:20:33. > :21:02.What do you hope for? In the Craica we spot a couple, they
:21:03. > :21:07.have come to visit their old neighbours. They show me where the
:21:08. > :21:49.house used to be. What happens to those who were
:21:50. > :21:52.evicted from here and rehoused in the factory has been condemned by
:21:53. > :21:58.Amnesty International and other NGOs. The European Commission of
:21:59. > :22:02.Human Rights has expressed deep concern that the authority 's
:22:03. > :22:07.treatment of the Roma here. Next year, the elections will continue.
:22:08. > :22:39.So what does the man make of all this?
:22:40. > :22:47.So you are looking out for them? You want to take care of them? I take
:22:48. > :22:53.care, I do not want, they take care. They make social centres, they bring
:22:54. > :23:03.the children to school, I give them, from my money, clothes and something
:23:04. > :23:07.to eat. Then why would you move children into a former copper
:23:08. > :23:13.factory? Amnesty International says if you are going to move them, then
:23:14. > :23:25.you should put them in to adequate housing. Amnesty International is
:23:26. > :23:28.nothing for me. So you deny this quote that Amnesty International
:23:29. > :23:36.says this building has never been approved for resident use, and is
:23:37. > :23:42.not mean basic standards of Romania cosmic housing standards. It is an
:23:43. > :23:50.organisation that wants money, using the Roma community. Nobody was
:23:51. > :24:00.demolished or removed from that without the agreement. We have a
:24:01. > :24:06.signed agreement from everybody. It is 630 in the morning, and another
:24:07. > :24:10.working day. Despite moving, and doing as the man demanded, there is
:24:11. > :24:25.uncertainty hanging over the family again. He was never compensated for
:24:26. > :24:30.the loss of his demolished home. Instead, he was given a three-year
:24:31. > :24:33.contracts to live here. Now he has been told the contract has been
:24:34. > :24:37.changed, and was only valid for a year, it has expired, which means he
:24:38. > :26:31.could be threatened with the eviction again.
:26:32. > :26:35.Hello once again. We are expecting to see further bouts of quite wet
:26:36. > :26:43.and windy weather across the British Isles. If you have concerns, the
:26:44. > :26:44.flood line number is on