Daily Archives: February 21, 2014

Hungary News Eastern Europe News Western Europe

21.02.2014 The victims of the Rroma murders in Hungary

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Verseck (2014) discusses the role of the bereaved families of the victims of the Rroma murders in Hungary. Éva Kóka is the widow of Jeno Kóka, a Rrom from Tiszalök, in North-Eastern Hungary. Kóka was brutally murdered in April 2009 by members of an extreme right-wing group, when he wanted to start his night shift at the local pharmacy factory. Immediately after the murder, the health of Kóka worsened significantly: “Éva Kóka broke together after the murder of her husband, her health deteriorated abruptly. She was unable to work, had to give up her position in a wood factory and moved in with her daughter.” The murders, Verseck states, are symptomatic of the institutionalised racism against Rroma in Hungary. A Hungarian minister is said to have known about substantial evidence that would have led to the arrest of the perpetrators, already back in 2009. But this evidence was purposively obliterated. In addition, the members the families of the six victims and the 55 people heavily injured people didn’t receive any redress or apology from the state until August 2013. On the 6th of August last year, four of the murderers involved were convicted, three of them to life imprisonments. Following the convictions, the Hungarian government promised the victims and survivors financial compensation. To date, they haven’t received anything. Many are seriously ill and are still living in severe poverty.

News Eastern Europe News Western Europe Romania

21.02.2014 The Rroma and the Swedish-Romanian relations

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Iskenderov (2014) reports on difficulties in the Swedish-Romanian foreign relations. The reasons for the difficulties are the integration efforts of the Romanian government towards the Rroma in Romania. The Swedish government accuses Romania to inadequately ask for and utilise the social funds provided by the EU: “The allegations of Swedish politicians against the government of Victor Ponta relate to the use of resources from the European Union funds. It is in particular the inadequate use of these resources, which provoked the discontent of the Swedish politicians. According to the European commission, the European social fund has provided 3.68 billion Euros for the social integration of the Roma in Romania during 2007-2013. Only 27% of the funds were used.” The Swedish integration minister Erik Ullenhag particularly criticizes the non use of the European social fund. This criticism takes place in the context of the ongoing debate about the free movement of persons in the EU. The focus on Rroma is unfortunately highly selective and one-sided: only impoverished or delinquent Rroma get represented by the media and therefore reproduce a stereotyped, public image of the minority.

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21.02.2014 The movie “Lungone Dromença” gives Kosovo refugees in France and Germany a voice

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Delacou (2014) reports on the new documentary by the filmmakers Marie-Christine and Pierre Duchalet Gadrey. The two directors give five Rromni who fled from the war in Kosovo avoice. The filmmakers already knew a Rroma family from Kosovo, through their work for the organization Réseau éducation sans frontières (RESF). The film wants to establish a counter-image to the strongly negative loaded representation and perception of the minority by the media and the public: “By realizing our documentation, we wanted to show the true face of this community: people like everyone else with the same desires and objectives: live free, work, raise their children in peace, being accommodated decently.”  For the five eyewitnesses, the film is also a revelation of their own history and identity to the public: “They are now well integrated in France and Germany. No one knows that they are Rroma! Not even their colleagues, not even her friends. They kept their identity systematically secret, for fear of being rejected.” This film is also a call for more social tolerance and a more humane asylum policy. Although a return agreement between the countries involved exists, the effective situation of Rroma in the Kosovo is not really considered.

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21.02.2014 The misconceptions of organized begging networks

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Ulmi (2014) qualifies stereotypes of organized begging networks among Rroma, as they are disseminated by numerous newspapers, in particular the Weltwoche in Switzerland. In his text, Ulmi refers to the study of the Lausanne sociology professor Jean-Pierre Tabin, who discussed the mechanisms of begging for the canton of Lausanne. Tabin qualifies nearly all conventional notions about organized begging: the income from begging is very modest and only secures the beggars most basic needs. High profits are a media illusion. Most beggars do not operate for organized, criminal networks, but for themselves. With his study, Tabin argues for begging to be considered as poverty mendicancy and not as an enrichment strategy. Tabin explains that the idea of organized begging is a misunderstanding of mendicancy. This incomprehension is then replaced by the apparently obvious answer of criminal networks: “Everything we think we know about begging, in our cities in general and about the begging Rroma in particular, is wrong. False is the idea of the organized networks that take advantage of the beggars. False are our ideas about the gains coming out of begging. Completely wrong is our idea of the identity of the Rroma…“

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21.02.2014 The French mayoral elections and the national Rroma policy

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Nunès (2014) takes the upcoming mayoral elections as an opportunity to reflect on the role of Rroma and of the French Rroma-policy in the election campaign. The UMP is said to cover up sensitive issues such as Rroma and to even support the controversial mayor Luc Jousse in his re-election. Jousse had announced in December 2013 during a press conference that it was a pity to call the fire department too early in case of fire in a Rroma camp. For this tasteless, racist statement he was harshly criticized. He was threatened with exclusion from the UMP. Even Gilles Bourdouleix, who had stated during a confrontation with Rroma in July 2013, that maybe Hitler did not kill enough Rroma, doesn’t have to worry about any consequences for his re-election, apart from a fine of 3000 Euros. This is very worrying indeed.

News Eastern Europe Romania

21.02.2014 Rroma in Cluj-Napoca and the British-Romanian relations

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Alexander (2014) reports about segregated Rroma in Cluj-Napoca in Romania. The resident Rroma had obey the verdict of the local mayor, who planned to build a park and a church on their previous place of residence. The displaced Rroma now live on the site of a former chemical plant. The hygienic conditions are precarious: For around 360 people there is only one shower system. Initially, there were not even toilets in the one-room apartments. The English clergy has now appealed to the religious and moral conscience of the city mayor Emil Boc, in collaboration with Amnesty International, and asked this segregation to be ended. The criticism by the English happens during a highly politicized context, with British Conservatives repeatedly criticising the alleged upcoming mass migration of Rroma into Britain to tap the welfare system. To describe the Rroma in their countries of origin as victims and as perpetrators in Western Europe is symptomatic of the stereotyped coverage of the minority. The article goes on to compare the integration efforts of Romania and Great Britain. While from Alexander’s perspective, the Rroma policy of Romania has to be strongly criticised, for the press officer of Emil Boc, this is political propaganda: “We are far more tolerant than you guys, she said. The children get free buses to school. Before they were living in slums anyway. When they were moved to Pata Rat, it wasn’t that the land was bad and no one wanted to live there. It was just the only available area.” One third of the annual budget is said to be spent on social projects, the spokeswoman continues. For Alexander, however, it remains clear that Pata Rat is a clear example of state-organized segregation. The two sides remain at odds.

France News Eastern Europe News Western Europe

21.02.2014 Rroma doing community service in favor of other Rroma

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Libération (2014) reports on the new project “Romcivic” by the organization Les Enfants du Canal. 24 young, unemployed Rroma were recruited for community service. Their task is to help the residents of illegal settlements with their everyday problems and to explain them their rights. By working in the program, their chances on the labour market should be improved so that they can lead a normal life in the future: “We want to be like all the other people and work, have a normal life, a life like you […] The goal [of the project] is to integrate the young people in France and to finally enable them an education.” However, the promotion of the selected few also attracts the anger of other immigrated Rroma, who see themselves disadvantaged.

France News Eastern Europe News Western Europe

21.02.2014 Photo exhibitions document the suffering in French Rroma camps but confirm prejudices

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During 2012, the photographer Hervé Lequeux spent four months in three French Rroma camps in the Paris region. His work shows the everyday life of immigrant Rroma, their misery, the life with modest means, the sale of second hand items in flea markets and some begging. He encountered only very few representatives of aid agencies or the government during his four-month study. He states that the Rroma are mainly left to themselves. One of the camps visited by Lequeux has already been evicted. The other two still exist, for the time being. With his photographs, Lequeux gives an emphatic look at the simple life in the slums, but at the same time reproduces stereotypes of impoverished, poorly educated, begging Rroma, who burden the French social system. He would have helped Rroma to successfully integrateif he had made a reportage about the integrated, invisible Rroma of France, a fact that doesn’t come to his mind. However, is clear to him that the immigrant Rroma do not voluntarily live in miserable conditions, as is assumed by some conservative politicians, but would like to integrate if they could so: “They want to live as the French do. They want a house, a car, that’s all” (Lindell 2014).  

Mathieu Pernot – in his exhibition – also focuses on the visible Rroma of France. With his camera, he accompanied Rroma living in a settlement near Arles. The photos are of an aesthetic brilliance, but it wouldn’t hurt if the photographer ad a bit more political awareness. The demonstration of misery alone, even when borne with dignity, does not help to change the socio-political discourse (Paris Match 2014).

France News Western Europe

21.02.2014 France: renewed fire in a Rroma settlement

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Metronews (2014) reports on a fire in a Rroma settlement in Marseille. This is the second fire, shortly after a fire in Bobigny took the life of a little Rroma girl. The 45 residents of the settlement remained unharmed. There is no agreement on the cause of the fire. While eyewitnesses report a burning object that was thrown from the highway next to the camp, the authorities do not want to jump to any hasty conclusions. Philippe Dieudonné, from La Ligue des Droits de l’Homme (LDH), sees meanwhile a very real potential for violence by aggressive residents and other Rroma haters. A mob of fifty people had charged a Rroma settlement in Marseille in September 2012, forcing some of the inhabitants to flee and setting the camp on fire (Metro News 2012). For the residents of the presently affected settlement, alternative accommodation is being sought. Gauriat/Chatelais add (2014) that approximately 20 informal camps with around 1,000 residents exist in the area of Marseille. For the settlement affected by the fire, an eviction was planned, as the organization Rencontres tsiganes announced. The camp had been evicted three times in the past, the last time in December 2012. The prefect of Bouches-du-Rhône applied to the owner of the land, the operator of the French rail network Réseau Ferré de France, to protect the land against further occupations (Rosnoblet 2014).

The eight-year-old Rroma girl that was killed by a fire in a camp in Bobigny last week, was remembered with a funeral march at beginning of this week. The mayor of Bobigny announced that it was a shame for a rich country like France that there are people who still have to life in slums. She stressed that the right to adequate housing for all residents of the European Union has to be ensured (Libération 2014).

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21.02.2014 Discussion around the integration of Rroma in Duisburg

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Schlömer (2014) reports on a meeting of local organisations to discuss the possibilities for successful integration of immigrated Rroma. The presentation of the Romanian-German pastor Dieter Herberth is said to have revolved primarily around the deconstruction of prejudices: “Since a long time Roma migrants of In den Peschen are a controversial issue that haunts the population like no other. And just as long, dangerous half-knowledge about the new neighbours and wild speculations have been spread and constructed a terrifying vision.” The meeting was an attempt to provide historical facts instead of distorting culturalisms and to show the social structures in countries like Romania. The speaker also pointed out that integration requires patience and that the majority of the immigrants is willing to integrate, if they are allowed to. Schlömer’s statement about half-knowledge is very appropriate, since a lot of politicised and ethnicised knowledge was presented as total truth during the past year.  

Cnotka (2014) expands the topic by pointing out that beginning of next week, ten volunteer Rroma-Scouts will support the immigrant families in their integration efforts. The companions will help with administrative procedures or doctor visits in order to strengthen the autonomy of the immigrants: “The ten scouts will accompany their individual families to government offices, doctor visits, to shopping, or for finding accommodation”, says Jürgen Voss, head of the deaconry of Duisburg-West. Dieter Herberth adds that it will be easier for the Roma if they have a companion, not only because of the language barrier, but because refusals are common when the address In den Peschen is mentioned.”  One of the challenges is that none of the scouts speak Rromanes or Romanian. Thus, the families are actively encouraged to improve their German language skills as quickly as possible. Cnotka’s arcticle is written emphatically and objectively. Nevertheless, he indirectly promotes notions of Rroma who are hard to integrate and burden the social security system. The inconspicuous Rroma should get attention in the media as well.

Hungary News Eastern Europe News Western Europe

21.02.2014 Discrimination against Rroma in Hungary worryingly high

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Matache (2014) reports on the results of a study published by the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University. The study criticises the increasing institutional racism against the Rroma in Hungary and the tolerance of extremist groups who rally against the minority. The discrimination against Rroma has strongly increased since the beginning of the economic crisis in 2008. The Hungarian government did almost do nothing to respond to these recent development: “Though the rise of racially motivated crimes and violent attacks since 2008 should have given strong signals for intervention, the FXB report shows how weak Hungarian government’s response has been. Because of its failure to act definitively, perpetrators and their followers have been emboldened, unhindered by any public outrage or strong government sanction. Racist violence is increasingly accepted as a legitimate form of retribution, a model followed by citizens, organisations, and leaders alike.” The Hungarian minister of human resources, Zoltán Balog, meanwhile emphasises in his public statements the strong efforts of Hungary to successfully integrate the Rroma in the majority society. He particularly draws attention to the economic potential of the minority. In his opinion, great progress has been made. However, that his point of view is the one of a politician of the ruling party, should not be forgotten. Concern about the increasing racism is appropriate (compare FXB Center 2014).

News Eastern Europe News Switzerland News Western Europe

21.02.2014 Conference on human trafficking: Rroma are said to be particularly affected

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The members of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), led by Switzerland and the Council of Europe, met for a conference on human trafficking in Vienna. Rroma were said to be particularly affected by human trafficking. An expert group analysed the situation in 30 countries ahead of the conference. How the statement about Rroma is to be understood in details, is not explained any further in this article. However, it is important to negate the idea that Rroma primarily enslave other Rroma and that prostitutes are automatically victims of human trafficking. The fact that prostitution regularly happens out of poverty is often neglected. Simonetta Somaruga stated: “We should never look away from human trafficking, which is not limited to the problem of prostitution alone, said Simonetta Sommaruga, minister of justice of Switzerland. The criminal networks that control and organize the trafficking of human beings add a variety of ways harms to society.” For the conference, the enhancement of the international cooperation in the fight against human trafficking was the primary target (APA 2014, Blick 2014, Kleine Zeitung 2014, Der Landbote 2014).

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