Monthly Archives: January 2024

News Eastern Europe Ukraine

Ukraine: Riots

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Several article in the Ukrainian press about Roma rioting in Transcarpathia Ukraine following the release of two murder suspects from custody. The murder occurred during elections of Roma representatives.

Bulgaria News Eastern Europe

Bulgaria – Puppet Theatre

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Eighteen Romane children will appear on the stage of the Sliven puppet theater in the performance “The Bird of Happiness”. Evelina Kösovska, who directed and dramatized the play, said this at a press conference today. The children, who are fourth-graders from the “Miladinovi Brothers” and “Yuri Gagarin” elementary schools, in addition to being actors, participated in the creation of the show based on Romany fairy tales and legends.

News Eastern Europe Ukraine

Kalderaša Kitsch

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An article on photographs of rich Kalderaša in Transcarpathian Ukraine shows the extent of the kitsch and unfortunately reinforces stereotypes.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czech Republic and Online Hate

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Young Roma and Romnja who participated in a volunteer project that fights against hate speech on the Internet in the Czech Republic published two studies today. They reveal the extent and impact of online racism against Roma and propose measures to counter it. The publications are the result of an innovative initiative that showed how Roma people can actively defend their rights by documenting and filing complaints and criminal charges against those who spread racial hatred on the Internet. The project was organized by the European Roma Rights Center (ERRC), the ROMEA organization and the Human Rights Forum.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia: Gifted Musician

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Although he is only 16 years old, Samuel Bandy has already managed to perform in front of 3,500 spectators and win several music awards. “I started playing the violin when I was about three years old,” he recalls.

In addition to studying at the Košice Conservatory, today he is the leader of the family band Ďusi band – he leads both his father and his older siblings. They play Romani folklore, but also Jewish, Ruthenian, Hungarian and classical music. “Roma musicians have played at parties since ancient times and had to be versatile – they had to be able to play everything. And it’s the same today,” says Bandy.

News Eastern Europe Serbia

Serbia: Exhibition

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The historical-documentary exhibition “Between Empathy and Prejudice: Roma in the Press of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1929-1944)” by Dr. Kristina Jorgić Stepanović and Slavko Stepanović will open tomorrow in In the Historical Archives of Šumadija, on Thursday January 25 from 1 p.m.

News Eastern Europe Serbia

Serbia, the EU, and Roma

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The team for social inclusion and poverty reduction and the Roma Information Center (RIC) held a round table with the aim of reviewing the process of Serbia’s accession to the European Union through Chapters 23 and 24 with a special emphasis on the protection of the rights of Roma/Roma women.

Bosnia News Eastern Europe

Bosnia and Roma

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The Association of Roma women Center for Mothers “Izvor života” Vitez held a conference and a workshop as part of the project “Let’s learn the Romani language” financed by the European Union in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and implemented by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP.

The overall goal of this project is: to nurture and spread the culture of the Roma in Bosnia and Herzegovina in order to preserve their identity, but also to be accepted by other peoples in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia and Roma in Parliament

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The Slovak prime minister Fico against accused the OĽaNO opposition party of Matovič to have bought the votes of Roma in the settlements. The combination of the physical presence of the candidates of the OĽaNO Pačivale Roma platform (honest/responsible Roma) directly in Roma communities, extremely effective electoral mobilization, and thoughtful and believable communication on social networks caused the formation of a disciplined mass of Roma voters, who in the tens of thousands voted for one political party – the then OĽaNO movement, now Slovakia.

The new Roma MPs have now a difficult task ahead of them.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Alexander Daško

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The new Slovak government commissioner for Roma communities, Alexander Daško defends the current prime minister Fico and admires Russian culture. He also wants to change the mindset of Roma in his country and his main goal is to eliminate the two shifts in schools and that 120 mio euros have been earmarked for this. In his recent speech, he also hinted that he doesn’t seem to mind if schools are nearly 100% Roma.

France News Western Europe

French Chronicle …

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Few news on Roma. An article about Roma travellers in the South of France; the fate of Roma who where expelled near Lyon; a police operation in a Roma camp near Nantes in Western France; and the condemnation of a man who robbed a shop armed with a pitchfork.

Montenegro News Eastern Europe

Montenegro and Roma

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A survey was conducted in the second half of October and the first half of November last year by the NGO “Association for the Support of Roma and Egyptians” in the Montenegro town of Berane. The aim was to understand the interactions of the Roma and general population. Based on a very limited sample of

200 respondents of the majority population and 148 respondents of the Roma population.

Out of 200 surveyed citizens of Beran, 112 of them answered that they or someone close to them had as a close friend a member of the RE population, or 56 percent, while 88 survey participants among the local population, or 44 percent, answered negatively to this question.

News Eastern Europe Poland

Poland and the Genocide

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A video on the history of the extermination of the Roma from Borzecin and Szczurowa is available on the History Hiking.

The presenters describe two stories related to the Nazi murders of the Roma population. On a Saturday in July 1942, the gendarmes stopped a group of 30 Gypsies near Wał Rudy: three men, five women and the rest – children. In carts driven by local peasants, the Germans took them to the Kisielina River between Wola Radłowska and Wał Ruda. Local people begged the Germans and Polish policemen not to kill Gypsies near the village. The Germans took the victims along the road towards Borzęcin. The execution took place in the forest. Probably one man managed to escape. The murdered belonged to the Majewski, Kwiatkowski, Chmielewski and Cioroni families. The names indicate that they were Gypsies from the Polska Roma tribe and local settlers (Cioronie). The victims of the massacre were exhumed in 1959 and placed in a mass grave at the cemetery in Borzęcin Dolny.

Germany News Western Europe

Germany and Discrimination

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“The “Pro Sinti & Roma” contact point is intended to make it easier for people who live here, regardless of their origin and religion, to have access to society. The project is intended to be a door opener for people who are somewhere between their country of origin and their country of immigration.

Germany News Western Europe

Germany: Exhibition

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The exhibition “Racial Diagnosis: Gypsies” commemorates the systematic persecution and extermination of Sinti and Roma during the Nazi era. It was opened by the President of the North Rhein Westfalen State Parliament, André Kuper, and the first chairman of the State Association of German Sinti and Roma NRW, Roman Franz.

Germany News Western Europe

Roma, the UN and the Roma Holocaust

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Christian Pfeil (80) from Trier, Germany will speak at the United Nations on Friday, January 26th, on the occasion of Holocaust Remembrance Day. He was born in a concentration camp and many members of his family were murdered in Auschwitz. Christian Pfeil has been committed to coming to terms with history for years. With his speech at the UN he wants to draw attention to the increasing anti-Semitism and the situation of the Sinti and Roma in the Balkan states.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia and Roma

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Again an article on the Roma and security in Slovenia. The parliamentary group of the Slovenian Democratic Party requested the convening of an urgent meeting of the Commission for Petitions, Human Rights and Equal Opportunities.

According to the article, inhabitants of the Dolenj municipalities express their concern about the increasing level of crime and violence in various ways, including in the school environment, where they witness cases of violence perpetrated by Roma. Children from Roma families often miss lessons and, as a result, lag behind their peers in terms of knowledge, which often leads to physical dominance in the classroom and, as a result, to extortion and fights. Many of them drop out of school, which in turn increases their risk of unemployment, social poverty and involvement in criminal activities.

Well, it is a self-made issue…

News Eastern Europe North Macedonia

Roma Ball

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More on the Roma ball and on the fashion exhibited there in Skopje yesterday.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia, Fico, Roma, and Davos

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Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) said at the Davos forum that a significant part of the long-term unemployed are part of the Roma minority, and also said that it is difficult to convince them to join the labor market.

Roma in Slovakia protested against these statements.

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