Monthly Archives: October 2022

France News Western Europe

French Chronicle

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Not much this week on France and Roma. A rumour about people being abducted and of a traffic of human organs involving Roma spread through France. Las time such a rumour occurred, Roma were victims of attacks. Other than that, three camps closed near Paris, one in Lyon, and in Montpellier, apparently some success at integration.

Montenegro News Eastern Europe

Montenegro and Roma

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The greatest responsibility for the fact that the Roma community still does not have its own representative in the parliament lies with the politicians, because their voting on any socio-political issue depends on their agreements and party interests, according to the Institution of the Protector of Human Rights and freedom of Montenegro.

Back in 2013, the Institution of the Protector expressed the position that the Roma community should be provided with a lower census in order to be adequately represented in the Parliament of Montenegro, but even today, 30 years after the introduction of multi-party system, the Roma are the only national minority that does not have its own representative in the parliament.

Well, one can and should argue that members of parliament should NOT be allocated along ethnic lines but rather that parties should get minorities involved.

Bulgaria News Eastern Europe

Bulgaria: Epidemic

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An epidemic outbreak of hepatitis A was registered in the Roma district of Kosharnik in Montana. The Bulgarian Red Cross (BRC) provided 300 hygiene packages and health and educational materials to its residents, reports the BRC.

Preventive and anti-epidemic measures have already been taken on site to limit the spread of the infection among the vulnerable communities in the Roma neighborhood. Each of the hygiene packages provided is individual and includes hand sanitizer, soap, washing powder, shampoo, wet wipes, reusable face masks, etc.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Health Insurance and Roma

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According to the Slovak ÚHP analyst Marek, Health insurance companies make money from poor Roma. It is immoral. “The facts are quite clear. The health outcomes are terrible, at the level of the third world, and those insured are profitable for health insurance,” says Marek.

Bad.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia: New Initiative

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The mayors of 11 municipalities in South-Eastern Slovenia submitted an initiative to to amend five laws to “resolve” Roma issues. They want “to protect children” who have no future in Roma settlements. Municipalities have exhausted the possibilities for rescue, so a systemic approach by the state as soon as possible is necessary, including changes in legislation. They proposed changes to the laws on parental care and family benefits, on social security benefits, on regulating the labour market, on the protection of public order and peace, and on drivers.

Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob also spoke about the initiative of the mayors of 11 municipalities in southeastern Slovenia to change laws related to Roma issues.

Last time there was such an initiative, the laws were actually repressive, so let’s see.

News Eastern Europe Poland

Auschwitz on Roma

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The International Centre for Education about Auschwitz and the Holocaust organised a meeting devoted to the extermination of the Roma for the inhabitants of Oświęcim and its vicinity. It will be held on November 4.

The Centre announced that the meeting is part of the “Around the History of Auschwitz” series. Classes have been conducted since May this year.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

EU Report and the Czech Republic

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According to the EU Fundamental Right Agency (FRA) Report on Roma, Roma in the Czech Republic, poverty threatens 77 % of Romani people, a clear deterioration of the situation as compared to 2016, when poverty threatened 58 % of Roma.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia and Racism

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The director of the Slovak National Theatre (SND), Matej Drlička had to resign following sarcastic remarks he made about “national artists” who worked in the past or still work in SND ensembles, “that I guess they are the most important people in Slovakia”. He also added comments addressed to politicians who are he said, are fulfilling their constitutional duties, noting “that unfortunately they are still breathing”.

He was referring to Roma.

The Minister of Culture Natália Milanová accepted his resignation and stated that the remarks were beyond the bounds of decent behaviour. The former Culture Minister, Marek Maďarič, on the other hand stated that “Matej Drlička is such a high-quality manager that I would fight for him even against the will of the committee if I were the minister, even more so because he apologized promptly and, in my opinion, sufficiently for his statement.”

No comments.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia and Roma

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The Slovak summary of the EU studies on Roma. The Slovak Paper also gives a better understanding of how the survey was done.

The report “Roma in 10 European countries”, which also deals with the situation of Roma in Slovakia, points to little progress since the last survey in 2016. Although there has been some improvement, the general finding is that Roma families still live in shocking conditions and their prospects for education and employment are poor. Data for Slovakia showed that 14 percent of Roma experienced harassment motivated by hatred on ethnic grounds, which is a significant – 23 percent decrease – compared to 2016.

The survey was conducted on a sample of 8,500 Roma respondents with information on more than 20,000 household members in the Czech Republic, Greece, Croatia, Hungary, Portugal, Romania, North Macedonia, Serbia, Spain and Italy, while FRA also supported the collection of national data on Roma in Bulgaria and Slovakia.

Europe

Europe and Roma

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In recent years, the EU has repeatedly measured the situation of Roma in the member states, for example in 2008, 2011, 2016 and 2019. With results that are always similar or the same, which the current report confirms: The living conditions of Europe’s largest – and most discriminated – minority improved in very small steps and sometimes not at all.

In its most recent report, published on Tuesday, the EU Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) found that 80 percent of members of the minority in Europe still live in poverty – by no means only in the Balkan countries, where they make up almost a tenth of the population place.

As usual how to measure the 80% remains shrouded in mystery, as the overall number of Roma is not accurately known.

Germany News Western Europe

Film Festival Ake Dikhea

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The Ake Dikhea Sinti and Roma Film Festival opened yesterday in Berlin. It will show 9 bibliographies of Roma and Sinti Holocaust victims.

Europe

Europe and Roma

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European countries with large Roma populations are making little progress towards equality for this minority. This is the result of a study published by the Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) of the European Union in Vienna today.

In ten eastern and southern countries surveyed, 80 percent of Roma are at risk of poverty, the same number as in a 2016 survey. In the total EU population, 17 percent are currently at risk of poverty.

Roma are the largest ethnic minority in Europe with an estimated population of ten to twelve million. For its study last year, the FRA surveyed almost 8,500 of them and collected data on around 20,000 people in Greece, Italy, Croatia, North Macedonia, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Spain, the Czech Republic and Hungary. The EU agency uses Roma as a collective term that also includes the Sinti group.

As usual, percentages about Roma are always suspect, as the true number of Roma is not known.

Germany News Western Europe

Germany and Racism against Roma

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Ten years ago, the memorial to the Sinti and Roma of Europe who were murdered under National Socialism was inaugurated in Berlin, but little is known about this Nazi genocide. Young descendants of the victims want to change that.

It’s a cool autumn morning. It rained during the night. Stefan Pavlovic and his colleague David Nikolic are part of the “Me Sem Me” project, which was launched by the “Rroma Information Centre” in Berlin. In the project, young descendants whose families were affected by Nazi persecution report on the genocide of the Roma and Sinti. David says he feels a kind of obligation to his ancestors to bring the story closer to others. “Me Sem Me” is Romani and translated into German means: “I am I”. The association wants to make it clear that they want to be accepted as Roma.

Germany News Western Europe

Ten Years of Memorial – German President

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Germany’s Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier honoured the memorial for Sinti and Roma in Berlin on its tenth anniversary. The President criticized ongoing discrimination against Roma in Germany and Europe. According to Steinmeier in Berlin, the old anti-Roma prejudices persisted in many parts of society. They could be revived all over Europe by radical right-wing forces. “The everyday discrimination against Roma and Romnja must stop,” he said.

Germany News Western Europe

Germany and Racism

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The Federal Government’s Antiziganism Commissioner has denounced far-reaching discrimination against Sinti and Roma in Germany. “We have a racist profiling in the areas of police and justice, education, the housing market and social administration,” said Commissioner Mehmet Daimaguler of the German Press Agency. The genocide of the National Socialists against the Sinti and Roma has not been dealt with either. That is why he is planning a truth and reconciliation commission for the coming year.

Germany News Western Europe

Berlin Memorial

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The ten years old Holocaust Memorial for Sinti and Roma in Berlin is threatened by the construction of a new subway right underneath it. Associations of Sinti and Roma see the function of the memorial where fresh flowers are always placed on the stele, and where there is a violin sound threatened by planned construction work for a new S-Bahn line. The chairman of the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma, Romani Rose, has indicated that he is willing to discuss a modified draft.

Germany News Western Europe

Ten Years

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Today marks the tenth anniversary of the Holocaust memorial of Sinti and Roma in Berlin. The German President, Frank-Walter Steinmeier will hold a speech there at 11 AM.

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