Monthly Archives: November 2022

News Western Europe Spain

Spain: Discrimination Report

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Spain: Discrimination Report

The Fundación Secretariado Gitano (FSG) presented its 18th Annual Report “Discrimination and the Roma Community” today in Seville. The focus of the report is the Discriminatory bias in the use of artificial intelligence and its impact on the Roma community.

The report presents 554 cases of discrimination and antigypsyism reported and assisted by the FSG in 2021, in its capacity as coordinator of the Service of Assistance and Guidance to Victims of Racial or Ethnic Discrimination and the Calí programme for the Equality of Roma Women. In addition, the report includes the most recent advances, good practices, jurisprudence and strategic litigation in the field of discrimination led by the FSG.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia and Minority Languages

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The Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sports (MŠVVŠ) of the Slovak Republic has set aside special funds for 2022 to finance development projects aimed at supporting the teaching of the mother tongue of the national minority. 12,000 euros are allocated for this purpose.

The area of ​​focus is activities intended to support the education of children and pupils belonging to national minorities in their mother tongue in accordance with the fulfilment of the Slovak Republic’s obligations towards the European Charter of Regional or Minority Languages. “The project aims to support preparatory activities for the implementation of the teaching of the language of the national minority (Croatian, Polish, Ruthenian, Romany, Ukrainian, German, Czech or Bulgarian language) and for the actual implementation of the teaching of the language of the national minority,” the Ministry of Education stated.

12,000 euros were set aside for the call, the maximum contribution amount for one applicant is 2,000 euros. Eligible applicants are the founders of primary and secondary schools teaching the language of the national minority or the teaching language being Slovak.

Well, the amounts are tiny, but better than nothing …

Czech Republic Europe News Eastern Europe

Gabriela Hrabaňová: Interview

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An interview of Gabriela Hrabaňová, head of the European network of Roma organizations known by the acronym Ergo Network, which promotes issues related to the social inclusion of Roma, poverty reduction and the fight against antigypsyism in European institutions. The organization works closely not only with the European Commission, the Council of Europe, the World Bank and the UN, but also with members of the European Parliament. For a long time, he has been trying to help the Roma not only in the European Union, but also in Ukraine.

She says that “Anti-Gypsyism is not a problem of the Roma, but of the majority society,” and she is right.

Germany News Western Europe

Germany: Brawl

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In a mass brawl in a parking lot in Düsseldorf, a man drove his car into a group of people and injured several people. Five men were so badly injured in the incident early Saturday morning that they had to be taken to hospital for treatment, police and prosecutors said. After outpatient treatment, the men were released.

Witnesses estimated that up to 50 to 60 participants took part in the brawl, as reported by the “Neue Ruhr Zeitung”, citing a police spokeswoman. The participants apparently came from the Sinti and Roma milieu.

News Switzerland

Koudelka

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Koudelka

An exhibition in Lausanne of the work of the Czech photographer Josef Koudelka who published a cult book on Roma. A must see.

France News Western Europe

French Chronicle …

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Interesting week about Roma in the French press. First, an article about a “reportage” on Travellers in France that simply panders to the worst common stereotypes. This is definitively not journalism, but rather disinformation, unfortunately watcher by 2.9 Mio French. In Mulhouse, in Eastern France, there will be an information day on Roma and Travellers. In Grenoble, in the Southeast, young Roma can do sports. Then, an article about the rumour about a traffic of human organs and abduction, all involving Roma. The article investigates where the rumour started and how it spread through social media. Finally, a more common news in Toulouse, where Roma camping near the river have been told to leave.

Montenegro News Eastern Europe

Montenegro: Mediators

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The Institute of Roma-Egyptian RE mediators has proven to be one of the most successful models in the Western Balkans region, which enables this community to have easier and faster access to basic rights at the local level, and now it is up to the state authorities of Montenegro to do their part, i.e. to systematize the position of mediator in local services – it was concluded at the two-day international conference organized by Help on the occasion of the completion of the project “Social inclusion of the RE population through associates in social inclusion – RE Mediators”.

“We received assurances from the representatives of the state institutions of Montenegro on this occasion that work is being done to introduce the position of RE mediator in services at the local level,” said the representative of the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare, Budimirka Đukanović.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia: Roma Language Symposium

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November 5, 2008 marks the World Romanes Day. A symposium entitled “ROMA LANGUAGE – basis for understanding Romani history and culture” was prepared on the occasion of World Roma Language Day. It is a project that was implemented with the help of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia and the Council of the Roma Community of the Republic of Slovenia. The organizers of the symposium are the Association of Roma of Slovenia and the Roma Association Romani Union and IRŠIK, the Institute for Roma Studies, Education and Culture.

News Western Europe Spain

Roma Genetics

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A genetic study among the Cale population of Spain, with clear results and an interesting diversity of matrilineal material hinting at an original greater diversity of the proto-Roma population than previously thought.

News Eastern Europe Romania

Bucharest Festival

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Musicians from Germany and France are invited to the Days of Sinti and Roma Culture that will take place in Bucharest, between November 10 and 12, as part of an event organized by the Goethe-Institut Bucharest and the French Institute in Romania. According to a press release sent to AGERPRES on Friday, the initiative of the two cultural institutes aims to strengthen the representation of the Roma in the public space, by disseminating their culture.

Sinti and Roma Culture Days will open with the “Roma Music and Community Engagement” round table. Cultural specialists and managers who have carried out projects about Roma culture or projects aimed at this minority will debate socio-economic and cultural aspects of the Roma and Sinti ethnic group in Central Europe and Romania, the press release states.

On November 12, musicians specializing in guitar or violin are expected at the National University of Music, in the Auditorium Hall, for an intensive workshop held by Florin Niculescu and Christian Escoude, where the participants will familiarize themselves with the instrumental style on original Sinti and Gypsy rhythms jazz from Germany and France. The workshop is free and takes place between 10:00 and 14:30.

On the same day, from 19:00, at ARCUB – Hanul Gabroveni, the public is invited to listen to a gypsy and sinti jazz concert, performed by Dotschy Reinhardt Sinteza, a descendant of the jazz legend Django Reinhardt, together with the French guitarist Christian Escoude and the Romanian violinist Florin Niculescu.

News Eastern Europe Serbia

Romnja

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Prejudices are created over centuries and are difficult to eradicate. What is it like to be a girl, a girl and an adult woman, faced with numerous prejudices in society, but also with the traditions of your people?

Roma women are marginalized multiple times: in the Roma community itself, which was and remains very patriarchal, and then as members of the minority by the majority society. We asked eight women about how they grew up and what they experienced in the family, school and society. The stories are very different, even when it comes to close relatives, just as the women we talked to are different, of different generations and destinies.

News Eastern Europe Poland

Roma Graves

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The graves of the Roma from Świebodzice in Southwestern Poland stand out in the cemetery. The locals are used to seeing human figures made of marble with golden signet rings on the squares and a cell phone in their hand. Visitors, especially those visiting the cemetery for the first time, cannot pass by indifferently. They take pictures and look at the monuments with interest.

News Eastern Europe North Macedonia

North Macedonia and Roma Education

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The Ministry of Education and Science informed that it hired 40 Roma educational mediators who will provide additional support for students in elementary schools in municipalities with a larger number of students from the Roma ethnic community.

“Their role is to help improve awareness of the possibilities and access to schools, to have regular meetings with the population and employees of the primary school related to the educational specifics and needs of this vulnerable group, to regularly collaborate with professional associates and teachers to improve the achievements of the students, as well as to take actions to reduce the dropout of the educational process”, said the Ministry of Education and Culture.

This is not much when one thinks of how many Roma there are in Macedonia.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia, Insurances, and Roma

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Tens of thousands of people from the poorest communities change health insurance every year. They are profitable for insurance companies mainly because they use little health care if at all, meaning their fees are very profitable to the companies. Questionable business practices were revealed in this context by the data of the Value for Money Unit (ÚHP), which is explained in the interview by analyst ADAM MAREK from the unit.

Montenegro News Eastern Europe

Montenegro, Parliament, and Roma

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The debate in Montenegro about reserved seats for the Roma minority continues.

According to the debate held, it is necessary to ensure that the Roma community has a representative in the Parliament of Montenegro, because members of that people would explain in the best way what problems they are facing and what they see as a solution. This was assessed at the panel discussion “Reserved mandate for members of the RE population in the Parliament of Montenegro”, organized by the Centre for Monitoring and Research (CeMI) and the MINA agency.

The right question is to ask what a single (or even a few) reserved seats for minorities can do to change things. The anser is easy: NOTHING. This is an alibi exercise.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia: Roma Mayors

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Another mayor in Slovakia is a Rom. This is a trend, as more and more Roma get involved in politics. In this case, it is in Strány pod Tatra, where the Roma candidate won. The village of roughly 2’300 inhabitants has above 90% of Roma residents.

Kosovo News Eastern Europe

Prizren and Roma

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The municipality of Prizren in Kosovo decided that Romanes would become an official language of the municipality. This is rather surprising, when one think that many of the Roma living there were expelled after the war and that racism against Roma is still very much prevalent in Kosovo.

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