Daily Archives: April 26, 2015

Czech Republic Hungary News Eastern Europe Romania

Amnesty International condemns the Czech Republic for segregation

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alJazeeraAmnesty International condemned the fact that the Czech Republic has failed to comply with a European court order to stop placing Roma children in schools for the mentally disabled regardless of the students’ capabilities. Placing Rroma in schools for mentally disabled people has a long tradition in the Czech and Slovak republics as well as in Hungary and Romania. This is simply no longer acceptable in the 21. Century.

News Eastern Europe News Switzerland News Western Europe

Amnesty: Who are Rroma

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amnestyAmnesty wrote a FAQ sheet on Rroma. Not bad, but still perpetuating some stereotypes. Rroma “travelled from place to place”. This is clearly false in many places, in the Balkans but also in Western Europe. Pity that they couldn’t get over their stereotypes.

News Eastern Europe

Police Brutality in the Slovak Republic

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The Slovak Police raided the village of Vrbnica on April 3rd to seek people who faiuled to show up for prison sentences. Rroma activists state that the police action was brutal and violent, and showed their injuries. The police had not been using cameras, making any proof of these allegations extremely difficult, but this raid and the violence is reminiscent of another case in Moldava nad Bodvou.

Fact is, the police there is prone to use violence against minorities and has an extremely negative view of Rroma. This has to change.

News Eastern Europe

Turkish PM pledges to help Rroma

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The Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has pledged to help Rroma with an 11 legal article commitment during a meeting in Istanbul with Rroma representatives. This is pretty much a first, as the dominant AK party has been more eager to evict Rroma rather than to help them, as in the case of the Sulukule neighbourhood in Istanbul. Fact is, “Çengene”, the name Turks give to Rroma is still very much of a swearword in that country. Let’s see what comes next.

Germany News Eastern Europe News Western Europe

Rroma conference in Ulm

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More than 100 organisations from various countries around the Danube gathered in Ulm, Germany, to discuss the situation of Rroma in Europe. Consensus seems to be that the Rroma are the losers of the changes that followed the fall of communism, and that in spite of the Rroma decase that started in 2004, their situation has gotten worse.

Italy News Western Europe

Italy: Rroma Petition the Pope

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Rroma are petitioning the Pope to prevent evictions from their camps due to the so-called “Year of Mercy” Jubilee in Rome. Authorities in Italy tend to “park” Rroma in makeshift camps that are under NGO and police surveillance. These camps are still provisional, although many of them exist since decades.

Hungary News Americas News Eastern Europe

Canada toughens legal assistance requirements

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Following a scathing report on lawyers who did not defend Rroma refugees from Hungary properly, the Ontario state has passed a slate of new measures requiring competency tests for lawyers. There were a number of cases that were lost due to the incompetency of lawyers, resulting in several expulsions back to Hungary.

Hungary News Eastern Europe

Hungary: Rroma only schools

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The Hungarian supreme court allowed Rroma only religious schools in that country. The Hungarian minister for Education, Integration, and Human resources had been supporting the views from the schools who had lost a case in lower instances. The EU and the Chance for Childrne Foundations were clearly against it.

So are we… Segregation on any reason is not an answer. The answer is integration.

France News Western Europe

Meanwhile, in France

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Hautbourdin, the commune where the mayor dumped mud on a Rroma camp to force its eviction is still in the French headlines. In some papers such as La Voix du Nord, there is some understanding towards those actions, stating that mayors do no longer know what to do, while in other papers, such as Nord Éclair, one reports on counteractions of people incensed at the actions of the mayor.

Clearly, he was not right. And there should be consequences.

In Lyon, Rroma started squatting an empty building, while close to Paris, the fire brigade was called due to a fire in a Rroma camp (one of the excuses used by the authorities to close them). And clearly, the tour de presse could not be complete without three Rroma being arrested for burglary.

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