Rom

The Rom (Romanies or Gypsies) of Finland belong to the Kaale (Caló) group. They first arrived in the kingdom of Sweden-Finland early in the 16th century. In the 17th century the Rom were ordered to settle in the eastern part of the realm, Finland. Most Roma live in southern Finland close to urban areas. They nowadays live in permanent homes, but often move around during the holiday season. Like other Finns, most Roma belong to the Evangelical Lutheran Church. The Rom population is now about 10,000. Due to the wave of emigration from Finland to Sweden during the 1960s and 1970s there are now about 3,000 Finnish Rom living in Sweden.

The profound structural changes in Finnish society have adversely affected the ability of itinerant Rom to earn their living through traditional occupations such as horse dealing, tinkering, working in leather and other small-scale trading. In the 1990’s Rom have mainly been employed in social and health care, youth welfare, Romani teachers’ training, information technology and entertainment. In spite of their equal legal status, the Roma have still not achieved real equality with the majority population in Finland. Roma continue to experience discrimination in their everyday lives (Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, electronic, 2001)

Mainly elderly people still speak the Kaale dialect. Efforts to promote the teaching of the Romany language have revitalised its use. Nowadays Romany can be learnt as part of the school curriculum if a group of at least four pupils can be formed. On the national level there are three Rom organisations. The oldest, the Romano Missio, was founded in 1906 and maintains children’s homes, organises summer camps and provides social assistance. The Finnish Free Romany Mission has the same goals as Romano Missio. The third organisation, the Finnish Romany Society, promotes better housing conditions and education, as well as the language and culture of the Rom.

The Finnish Broadcasting Company has, since the beginning of 1999, been obliged by law to provide programming in the Romany language. News in Romany has been broadcast once a week since 1997.There is no Rom member of parliament in Finland but some Rom have been elected to municipal councils (Virtual Finland, 2001, electronic).