The ROMACT programme helps Roma from the village of Valea Seaca in Romania to get ID documents

Some 20 Roma living in Valea Seaca, a commune of about 3,000 inhabitants in Eastern Romania, are facing constant administrative difficulties as they were not registered at birth, lack ID documents and therefore do not “exist” administratively.

Ionela Ciobanu, for example, is a Roma woman who had lived for over 30 years without an ID card. As a direct consequence, her three children could not attend school and she could not qualify for any assistance from the State.

Thanks to the ROMACT programme implemented in Romania by Romano Butiq, she received legal assistance to start legal procedures for being registered as a Romanian citizen. She is now the proud owner of an ID card, which will also allow her to start procedures for registering her children and obtaining ID documents for them.

Her story will be part of the film „Parovel” (“Change” in Romanes), to be released in 2015.