Indicator history

Out of the recognised national minorities, only the Roma reside in segregated conditions. There are few studies on the issue, which include the RAXEN  Thematic Study on housing conditions of Roma and Travellers, carried out in March 2009 for the FRA, an Ombudsman's report and references in Council of Europe reports (ECRI, FCNM). The housing offered to the Roma by the state is in  specifically designated settlements comprising of prefabricated houses; Turkish-Cypriot properties vacated by their owners and now administered by the Ministry of Interior; houses which the Welfare Service of the Ministry of Labour and Social Insurance had rented from the private sector before being offered to the Roma.  Although no systematic data is available, it is a fact that the Roma settlements are generally located in in remote areas, sometimes without access to schools (Fourth ECRI report on Cyprus 2011) and with little or no contact with the host population. In the early 2000s, when the locations for the Roma settlements were chosen by the government, efforts were made to appease the local communities by setting up the settlements of prefabricated houses in remote rural areas (RAXEN Thematic study March 2009).