Inside Roma communities around the world

A four-year-old girl, found living with a Roma couple in central Greece, is seen in a handout photo distributed by the Greek police and obtained by Reuters October 18, 2013. Greek police are investigating the identity of the girl on suspicion that the child may have been abducted from her parents. The girl was found on Wednesday at a Roma settlement near Farsala in central Greece during a police sweep of the settlement for suspected drug trafficking.

A Roma child is seen at a window of a caravan at an encampment of Roma families in Triel-sur-Seine, near Paris, October 18, 2013. At this encampment of migrants from Romania, one of the approximately 400 such camps spread throughout France, people say they want to work in France and become integrated, because they have no prospects in Romania. (Benoit Tesser/Reuters)

A Roma boy walks through rubbish behind houses at the Lunik IV settlement unit in Kosice, east Slovakia May 25, 2011. Some 7,000 Roma inhabit the neighbourhood. (Petr Josek/Reuters)

A Romanian Roma (gypsy) girl, participant in the “Miss Piranda” contest, arrives for a news conference announcing the forthcoming competition in Bucharest January 31, 2007. The “Miss Piranda” contest jury will base their decision on not just the contestants’ beauty, but also on their gypsy belly dancing skills. (Bogdan Cristel/Reuters)

A Roma woman gestures in front of her burning home at a Roma settlement in Sarajevo’s suburb of Butmir June 3, 2009. The community set their homes on fire as they were forced to move to new houses provided by the local government.

A teenage girl fixes her hair near hanging laundry inside an illegal camp of travelling people in Indre, near Nantes, western France, on July 30, 2010. President Nicholas Sarkozy on Wednesday ordered the dismantling of 300 illegal camps of travelling people and Roma across France, as part of a “war” on crime and urban violence which has alarmed some rights groups. Some 10,000 Roma were expelled from France last year alone. (Stephane Mahe/Reuters)

A member of Romania’s ethnic Roma minority arrives at Bucharest airport August 9, 2012. Roma people arrived in Romania after French police raided a makeshift Roma camp, evicting about 200 people as the Socialist government quietly follows the former conservative administration’s policy of repatriating illegal immigrants. The evacuation follows a series of police raids this week in Paris and Lyon during which hundreds of undocumented Roma immigrants from eastern Europe were forced from their homes. (Bogdan Cristel/Reuters)

A man guards the entrance of the room where Romanian gypsy girls are preparing for the “Miss Piranda” (gypsy girl) contest in Bucharest, late February 4, 2007. The jury will base their decision not just on the contestants’ beauty, but also on their belly dancing skills. (Mihai Barbu/Reuters)

Families from Romania stand near a fire as they prepare the dinner in front of makeshift shelters in a camp near the Garonne river in Toulouse, September 11, 2012. Around 130 Roma, referred to as “Gens du Voyage”, live in this illegal camp, a low-lying area liable to flooding, without electricity and running water. Picture taken September 11, 2012. (Bruno Martin/Reuters)

A girl leans on a school back pack outside a caravan at an encampment of Roma families in Triel-sur-Seine, near Paris, October 18, 2013. At this encampment of migrants from Romania, one of the approximately 400 such camps spread throughout France, people say they want to work in France and become integrated, because they have no prospects in Romania. (Benoit Tesser/Reuters)

Roma boy wears a helmet on St. George’s Day or Djurdjevdan in the Roma settlement in Sarajevo’s suburb of Butmir May 6, 2009. Members of the Roma minority in Bosnia celebrated their biggest holiday St. George’s Day by slaughtering lambs for the dinner feast and spending the day with relatives and neighbours. (Damir Sagolj/Reuters)

Marus, 7, warms his hands next to a portable stove as warm up his hands before going to school on the eviction day of their trailer and bus home in Las Tablas, northern Madrid, March 21, 2011. Two Romanian gypsy families of four adults and ten children had been living in the bus and trailer since 2008, but they were evicted Monday under orders from Madrid’s town planning board. Both the bus and trailer were torn down while the older children were at school. The two families will each be moved to separate Roma camps on the outskirts of Madrid. (Susana Vera/Reuters)

A Roma family walks past a policeman as they arrive at the Lille-Lesquin airport for their flight to Romania on a voluntary repatriation scheme September 16, 2010.The European Union threatened France with legal action over its handling of the expulsion of Roma migrants on Tuesday, with the EU’s justice commissioner calling France’s behaviour unacceptable and a disgrace. (Pascal Rossignol/Reuters)

A Roma woman holds her child as she begs on a staircase in the centre of Budapest, May 6, 2009. Hungary remains one of the hardest hit countries in central and eastern Europe by the global economic crisis. (Laszlo Balogh/Reuters)

A Roma woman shows her tattoos, telling about her life full of death and sorrow, on St. George’s Day or Djurdjevdan in the Roma settlement in Sarajevo’s suburb of Butmir May 6, 2006. Around 100.000 members of Roma minority in Bosnia celebrate their biggest holiday St. George’s Day slaughtering lambs and spending the day in good mood with relatives and neighbours. (Damir Sagolj/Reuters)

A mother tends to her children at an illegal camp of Roma in Indre, near Nantes, western France, August 5, 2010. France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy ordered the dismantling of 300 illegal camps of travelling people and Roma across France, as part of a “war” on crime and urban violence which has alarmed some rights groups. Some 10,000 Roma were expelled from France last year alone. (Stephane Mahe/Reuters)

A woman cooks outside her caravan at an illegal camp of travelling people in Le Chemin Nantais, near Nantes, western France, on July 30, 2010. President Nicholas Sarkozy on Wednesday ordered the dismantling of 300 illegal camps of travelling people and Roma across France, as part of a “war” on crime and urban violence which has alarmed some rights groups. Some 10,000 Roma were expelled from France last year alone. (Stephane Mahe/Reuters)

French police inspect an illegal Roma camp in Aix-en-Provence to control and check the identity of its residents on August 19, 2010. France sent dozens of Roma home on flights to Bucharest on Thursday in the first mass repatriation since President Nicolas Sarkozy unveiled a crackdown on crime and immigration with the dismantling of some 300 illegal camps that has been condemned by rights groups. Some 60 Roma left on a chartered plane from Lyon and about a dozen boarded a flight from Paris, the first wave of transfers in a campaign to send 700 people living in squalid camps across France back to Romania and Bulgaria by the end of the month. (Philippe Laurenson/Reuters)

A Roma woman sorts through clothes distributed by aid volunteers in front of her tent after police seized their caravans two weeks ago in an illegal camp in Roubaix, near Lille, northern France, August 18, 2010. Since France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy ordered the dismantling of 300 illegal camps of travelling people and Roma across France three weeks ago, 51 of the camps have been dismantled as part of a “war” on crime and urban violence which has alarmed some rights groups. Some 10,000 Roma were expelled from France last year alone. (Pascal Rossignol/Reuters)

French police stand in an illegal camp of Roma in Villeneuve d’Ascq, near Lille, northern France, August 24, 2010. Following riots in two French cities last month, French President Nicolas Sarkozy ordered 300 illegal camps of travelling people and Roma across France dismantled as part of a crime crackdown targeting immigrants the government blames for a rise in violent crime in France’s poor suburbs. (Luc Moleux/Reuters)

Two Roma women sleep inside a van during the gathering of the ethnic Roma minority in Costesti, 210 km (128 miles) west of Bucharest, September 8, 2011 Following their tradition, thousands of Roma from all over Romania, which has Europe’s largest Roma community, gather every year to celebrate the birthday of St. Mary, to make wedding arrangements for their sons and daughters and to show off their wealth. (Radu Sigheti/Reuters)

Two Roma girls dance during a gathering of the ethnic Roma minority in Costesti, 210 km (128 miles) west of Bucharest, September 8, 2011. Following their tradition, thousands of Roma from all over Romania, which has Europe’s largest Roma community, gather every year to celebrate the birthday of St. Mary, to make wedding arrangements for their sons and daughters and to show off their wealth. (Radu Sigheti/Reuters)

A man and his young wife share a moment next to the debris of their neighbours’ demolished shack in the shanty town settlement of “El Gallinero” on the outskirts of Madrid March 5, 2012. A handful of shacks were torn down under the orders of Madrid’s town planning board on Monday morning. Several hundred Romanian gypsies live in precarious conditions, without running water or sewage services, in “El Gallinero”, just 15 km (9 miles) away from Madrid’s centre. (Susana Vera/Reuters)

Agustin Gabarri (left) talks to his grandson Israel before they sleep at Gabarri’s home for the last time before its demolition the following day at the Puerta de Hierro neighborhood outside Madrid February 14, 2012. Some Spanish gypsy families settled in the area of Puerta de Hierro, near the Palace of Moncloa, in the 1960s and have built brick houses and raised their children and grandchildren there ever since. (Susan Vera/Reuters)

A Bulgarian Roma woman holds a child as they watch an excavator demolish a house in a Roma suburb in the town of Maglizh, some 260km (161miles) east of Sofia September 25, 2012. Municipal authorities started demolishing some 30 illegally built shacks and houses in the suburb on Tuesday. (Stoyan Nenov/Reuters)

Bulgarian Roma women react as an excavator demolishes their house in a Roma suburb in the town of Maglizh, some 260km (161miles) east of Sofia September 25, 2012. Municipal authorities started demolishing some 30 illegally built shacks and houses in the suburb on Tuesday. (Stoyan Nenov/Reuters)

A woman dances with a white sheet during a dance parade organized by community advocates on the streets of the Romanian gypsy settlement of “El Gallinero”, in the outskirts of Madrid November 24, 2012. More than 400 Romanian gypsies live in precarious conditions, without running water or sewage services, in “El Gallinero”, just 15 km (9 miles) away from Madrid’s centre. The inhabitants live in ramshackle huts made out of cardboard and zinc in an area prone to flooding. They have no running water or sewer services. Their children play amidst garbage, copper cables and rats. Picture taken November 24, 2012. (Susana Vera/Reuters)

A Roma resident of the North Slovakia’s village of Vyborna pulls a sledge with wood he collected in a nearby forest to keep his family warm during the cold winter below the Tatra mountains in this January 30, 2004 file photo. British media have recently warned that thousands of Roma will travel to Britain when Slovakia and nine other mostly ex-communist states join the European Union in May. Rights groups and non-governmental organisations who study people migration say fears of a mass exodus from the former Soviet satellites are unfounded. Picture taken on January 30, 2004. (Petr Josek/Reuters)Pictures of the month January 2004 PJ/AA – RTRBVO6

A Roma girl watches elders dancing on St. George’s Day or Djurdjevdan in the Roma settlement in Sarajevo’s suburb of Butmir May 6, 2009. Members of the Roma minority in Bosnia celebrate their biggest holiday St. George’s Day slaughtering lambs and spending the day with relatives and neighbours. (Damir Sagolj/Reuters)

A woman and her children look out of their door as Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi visits a roma camp in the neighborhood of Milan December 23, 2010. (Paolo Bona/Reuters)

Roma people gather in front of their shelter on St. George’s Day or Djurdjevdan in the Roma settlement in Sarajevo’s suburb of Butmir May 6, 2009. Members of the Roma minority in Bosnia celebrate their biggest holiday St. George’s Day slaughtering lambs and spending the day with relatives and neighbours. (Damir Sagolj/Reuters)

Sefora Vargas, 33, a Roma woman who is president of Aproideg (Association for the Progress and Development of Roma), poses for a portrait during International Roma Day in the Andalusian capital of Seville, southern Spain April 8, 2013. (Marcelo del Pozo/Reuters)

A young Roma child stands in the doorway of a shelter in an illegal camp in Lille, northern France during International Roma Day, April 8, 2013. (Pascal Rossignol/Reuters)

Inside Roma communities around the world

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