Dear Serbia, why are you quiet?

Respected,

We inform you that on March 12, 2021, seven persons of Roma ethnicity experienced a tragedy due to an electric shock that happened around 4.30 pm on the corner of Milorada Jovanovića and Galipoljska streets in the Belgrade municipality of Čukarica. The Opre Roma movement of Serbia immediately visited the settlement and determined that there was an electric shock from an unsecured transmission line, after which the children were struck by electricity. The families immediately called an ambulance, but there was no emergency response. According to the testimonies of the families, the ambulance arrived only after half an hour. Due to that, the parents were forced to transport the children to the Children's Clinic in Tirsova on their own, by stopping passers-by on the street. Zlatko Đurić, an officer of the Border Police Administration, was the first to find himself on Friday near the place where seven children were seriously injured in Galipoljska Street when they were struck by electricity from the transmission line. Thanks to Đurić, who happened to be there, the children were taken by private vehicle to the Children's Hospital in Tirsova, where they are still receiving treatment. Mr. Đurić was recognized as a hero by the Roma community, so we invited him to the Live show we are organizing.

Unfortunately, six children suffered serious burns, life-threatening, including one adult who was transferred to the Emergency Center. Our movement got in touch with the clinic and constantly monitored the condition of the children. We received information that two children are in danger for life with about 80% burns on their bodies. Unfortunately, yesterday we received information that one of those two children succumbed to injuries.

At the same time, our movement contacted MDULS Secretary of State Stevan Gligorin and asked him to visit the Roma settlement and to establish what urgent measures are necessary regarding the safety of families and the settlement itself, but also the recovery of children after leaving the hospital. Stevan Gligorin invited the president of the city municipality, Srdjan Kolarić, and the city secretary for social protection, Natasa Stanisavljević. One of the first decision-makers to visit this settlement is the mayor of Belgrade, who said in a statement on the Belgrade portal that he visited the children, that he was very worried about the accident that happened in Cukarica and that the top doctor took care of them. After that, this settlement was visited by MP Dragoljub Ackovic, NSRNM member Sonja Mitrovic Lukic, NSRNM president Dalibor Nakic. Minister Lončar promised that the state would do everything possible to recover the children from injuries, both in terms of hospital treatment and rehabilitation. When asked by the Movement for the Support of Roma in Serbia what we can do to prevent such cases in the future, the Minister answered that it is necessary to provide all living conditions for Roma outside such unsafe settlements and that we must all get involved in the process of Roma living in settlements that meet all the conditions in which they are not in danger of fire, floods and everything else that can lead to such cases.

This is a great tragedy for Roma children, for Roma families, for the Roma community, for the whole of Serbia. The tragedy is even greater because this can be prevented by responsible behavior of the state and institutions. Decades of poverty, inequality, and ignoring this reality are not good for the Roma, they are not good for Serbia. Roma is part of the solution for Serbia. We are the most loyal, most numerous, and the youngest and most dynamic national minority in Serbia. Ignoring this blocks the realization of the full potential of the Roma community. Kovid-19 showed that ignoring the situation in our communities exposed us to a much higher risk of infection and death, or to losing even that little bit of progress in education or income that we had.

In addition to visiting families immediately with the goal of helping them directly, we tried to raise this issue in the general public. We wrote to all competent institutions, we were in constant contact with the hospital and parents, we wrote to the authorities, we wrote to the embassies, the Patriarch, the Mufti, all the media, we wrote to everyone. In all the addresses and letters we sent, we asked for only one thing, and that is to stop ignoring the reality that kills our children and for everyone to contribute to the change of that reality with their role.

However, the reaction to that is again ignoring.

From the day of the accident until today, only a few media reported the news that the accident happened. Almost no media outlet has "hit" the cause of the accident (not a fire but an electric shock in the context of wider social exclusion and inequality), and absolutely no media outlet has raised the issue of the responsibility of the authorities. However, just these days, the media somehow accidentally found it necessary to raise the issue of neglect of children in Roma settlements and again started the action of demonizing Roma and shifting the blame to the victim. Authorities did not respond, the Mosque did not respond, embassies did not respond, international organizations did not respond.

We have waited as a society to ignore the problem that leads to the death of our children and we believe that this is a signal of our moral decline and we believe that only a collective reaction of all these actors can open this issue.

Opre Roma Serbia