page_title: Environmental racism in Europe
section_title: Slovakia
hierarchical_section_title: Environmental racism in Europe / Central and Eastern Europe / Slovakia
caption_attribution_description: Slovenčina: Rómska osada pri obci Richnava. Okres Gelnica.
context_page_description: Environmental racism is a term used by Enikő Vincze for "the practice of environmental injustice within a racialized context", in which "socially marginalized communities and minority groups" are subjected to disproportionate exposure of environmental hazards, denial of access to sources of ecological sustenance such as clean air, water, and natural resources, or infringement of environmentally related human rights.
  According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, environmental justice is "the fair treatment for people of all races, cultures, and incomes, regarding the development of environmental laws, regulations and policies".
  As applied to Europe, patterns of "environmental racism" have been postulated in particular toward Romani communities.
  According to Trehan and Kocze, "EU accession for the post-socialist countries has resulted in a de facto centre and periphery within Europe itself, thus exacerbating the already marginal economic and political position of Roma in Europe whose communities continue to subsist as internal colonies within Europe."
context_section_description: In Slovakia, many Romani were settled by the fourteenth century. In 1927, a new Act on Nomadic Roma came into place, whose statutes dictated that nomadic Romani were not to settle in locations of their choosing, but as selected by the mayors of villages. During the Second World War, thousands of Slovak Romani were transported to extermination camps in Nazi Germany.
  Following the war, Romani were largely left out of postwar land redistribution schemes. One of the first laws created by the postwar government was the 'Directive on Governing Certain Conditions of Gypsies,' which states that "In villages where they [Roma] have dwellings in proximity to public, state-owned and other roads, the dwellings will be removed, placed separately from the village on distant places selected by the village." The implications of this law was that Romani communities, recently liquidated by the Nazi Holocaust and without resources to purchase land, were now subject to the settlement plans of non-Romani decision-makers.
  After initially treating Romani as "non-workers existing 'outside the class system'", socialist governments created policies that led to the rapid integration of Romani communities into the industrial labour force. In spite of official socialist policies of equality, social divisions and social stratification remained. Romani communities experienced poverty emerging from the market transition, as well as significant vulnerability to environmental issues and harms associated with industrialization.
  During the mid-1950s, research was conducted by the Slovak government determining that there were 1,305 segregated Romani shantytowns throughout Slovakia. In 1965, after failed attempts at economic and social integration, the Slovak government began to attempt more drastic policies aimed at assimilation of the Romani body politic. Directed primarily at Romani settlements in Eastern Slovakia, these policies sought to create employment for all able-bodied Romani, particularly Roma males; termination of Romani shantytowns and resettlement into modern housing; and programs to support Romani students accessing formal education. In spite of these policies, shantytowns only decreased in number slowly; after the resettlement program was terminated as a result of post-socialist funding shortages, shantytowns began to grow again, largely due to economic conditions. By 2004, there were an estimated 320,000 Romani individuals living in Slovakia in 1,575 "integrated and segregated settlements."
  As these settlements have grown, impoverished Romani communities became more visible, land has become scarce, and tensions with non-Romani communities have risen. The environmental implications of this scenario have been that these communities have been marginalized onto environmentally problematic parcels of land, where patterns of environmental issues entail exposure to hazardous waste and chemicals, vulnerability to floods, limited access to potable water, and discriminatory waste management practices. The rapid growth of these settlements in a context where freedom of settlement and movement is restricted due to discrimination from the majority population has complicated property rights and entitlements and hence the legal ability to participate in land-based decision-making.
caption: Romani settlement at Richnava.
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