05.09.2014 Sweden: Rroma lawyer receives Raoul Wallenberg Human Rights Award

The Local (2014) reports on the award of the Raoul Wallenberg Human Rights Award to a Swedish Rroma lawyer. Emir Selimi migrated from Serbia to Sweden when he was eight years old. There, as an adult, he founded an organisation that fights for the rights of the Rroma and fosters the education and the language of the minority. Raoul Wallenberg, after whom the award is named, worked as a diplomat who, through his altruistic actions, saved thousands of Hungarian Jews’ lives. Emir Selimi, for his part, gave to understand that he did not think that one had to be a superhero in order to do good. Everyone can achieve that, he stated, if he or she champions it decidedly: “The jury were particularly impressed with how Selimi had attempted to combat Sweden’s sometimes negative image of the Roma population. As part of his work he has made strong contacts with the Jewish, Sami and Muslim communities and hosted lectures on intolerance in school. “When Emir was growing up in Serbia he said he experienced a lot of discrimination in school. He was kicked and spat at because of his Roma background which had a significant effect on him”, said Wästberg. Emir said when he came to Sweden that he didn’t suffer those problems at school. He said the problems started when he entered the labour market where he found his Roma background was a barrier to finding work. Now he is doing something about it by making a difference for the better.” Selimi is also a good example for a so-called “invisible Rrom” that does not conform to the negative stereotypes of the public perception of the minority. These invisible, integrated Rroma represent the actual majority of all Rroma.