Beginning in the mid-1950s the government began to assimilate the Roma . This assimilation campaign lasted for some 30 years and affected nearly all aspects of Gypsy life. Despite the changes which have occurred since the fall of the Communist government in November 1989, the Gypsies still suffer gross human rights violations. They face open discrimination from members of the Bulgarian government and parliament. Most Gypsies attend segregated schools where they are denied an equal opportunity to learn the Bulgarian language and are often denied the opportunity to attend university.
Illiteracy is a major problem within the Roma community.
They suffer discrimination in the workplace being given only the lowest paying and most menial jobs, are among the first to be fired or laid off and are almost always denied supervisory positions, which tend to be reserved for ethnic Bulgarians. This situation is made worse by spiraling inflation which has reduced the value of the social welfare payments that they receive to a pittance. They are given the most menial and degrading tasks while conscripts in the Army and there are no Roma officers. They are discriminated against politically by a law forbidding the formation of ethnically-based parties. They are generally given the poorest housing in which municipal services are vastly inferior to those provided in Bulgarian districts.