International Migration Institute

Johan Wets presents his paper 'Changing migration opportunity structures of Roma and their hosting societies: the case of Belgium' in Parallel session IV(B) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013 The overthrowing of the socialist regimes in Eastern Europe lead to different societies, with more freedom on the one hand, but disappearing social safety nets, economic disruption and often booming unemployment, especially amongst ethno-cultural minorities like the Roma. As a result of the accession of Eastern European countries, some communities saw their "migration opportunity structures" change dramatically. This had lead to increasing numbers of Eastern European migrants with a Roma background in other European countries. Roma populations are on a policy level often approached as one homogenous group. The Roma themselves are however an extremely heterogeneous group having different nationalities, speaking different languages, adhering to different religions, having d