Author Archives: Roma Foundation

Austria News Western Europe

EU Dream Road in Austria

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The EU project “Dream Road” dealt with strategies to improve the living conditions of the Roma in Europe. Austria, represented by the Roma adult education center in Burgenland, dealt, among other things, with the inclusion of Roma in politics. A great success is the commitment for a central memorial for the Roma Holocaust in Vienna.

Bosnia News Eastern Europe

Bosnia: Human Trafficking

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Two people were sentenced recently in Bosnia Hercegovina for human trafficking. They had forced people to beg and steal in Paris by threatening them and their families back home. Apparently, they managed to earn around 1.5 mio EUR between 2012 and 2015.

The threats were recorded, which provided the evidence and they were sentenced to 12 years each.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia: Anna Koptova

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A Romni, Anna Koptova, received the Slovak state award. As a member of parliament in the 1990s, Anna Koptová worked to ensure that the Roma were recognized as a national minority. According to her, there is a lack of passion in the fight for Roma rights today. “It’s not enough to show up to meetings or have papal visit settlements and when they leave they just wipe the mud off their shoes.”

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czech Republic’s first Roma Commissioner

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The Czech Republic has taken an important step in addressing the complex situation of Czech Roma. As recently as December 2022, the government of Prime Minister Petr Fiala created the post of government commissioner for Roma community affairs at its last meeting of the year and appointed 41-year-old Romni Lucie Fukova as the first Roma commissioner.

Europe

ERGO Report

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A report was published by the European network of Roma organizations ERGO, and was recently presented by the Swedish politician Soraya Post. The prominent Roma activist was a member of the European Parliament from 2014 to 2019. The current report, among other things, shows that in the field of health care, Roma do not have the same treatment as others. Thus, 22 percent of members of the Roma community suffer from chronic diseases, and every fourth person does not have health insurance. These data come from national studies and confirm that Roma have more difficult access to health care in several EU countries.

News Eastern Europe News Switzerland North Macedonia

The Šutka

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Swiss television definitively not at its best. 8-10 Mio Roma (the Council of Europe cites 12 to 14, but then, the Swiss must know it better), and now a capital: the Šutka in Skopje.

It is always amazing what people can write or say about Roma with total impunity.

News Eastern Europe Serbia

Niš – Serbia

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or ten years, the 12 February Roma camp in Niš has been trying in vain to obtain a reliable electricity connection. Instead of a solution, the neighborhood was completely without electricity for six months – a record. The inhabitants decided to demonstrate in front of the Ministry of Energy and Mines in Belgrade on December 6th. The authorities then promised representatives of the Opra Roma Srbija movement that the camp would be reconnected and that a lasting solution would be found.

Well, let’s see when this is done …

Germany News Western Europe

Philomena Franz

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Many articles in the German press and reactions from politicians to the death of the Holocaust survivor Philomena Franz.

May she rest in peace.

A selection of articles below:

Roth würdigt Auschwitz-Überlebende Philomena Franz. In: WDR. 30.12.2022. https://www1.wdr.de/kultur/kulturnachrichten/philomena-franz-sintezza-auschwitz-tod-claudia-roth-100.html

News Eastern Europe Poland

Małgorzata Mirga-Tas

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An interview on Polish TV of the Romani artist Małgorzata Mirga-Tas. She talks openly about her inspirations in art, Roma women who are important to her, and about stereotypes she would like to fight against. She admits that the Roma have to “try twice as hard, prove twice as hard”. “We are second-class citizen,” says Mirga-Tas. The artist is involved in many social projects counteracting exclusion, racial discrimination and xenophobia. She also participated in the reconstruction of the monument commemorating the Genocide of the Roma.

Croatia News Eastern Europe

Croatia and Adoptions

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A disturbing article about a centre for adoption in Croatia who is “among the leader of realised adoptions” having  placed “18 children of Roma origin” thus giving them “the opportunity for a better and different life”. Follows the rosy story of an adopted girl who now excels at school and will work when she graduates, and of course many stereotypes…

Bad.

Bulgaria News Eastern Europe

Bulgaria and Mahalas

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Another story of an “illegal” building, this time in a Mahala (Roma neighbourhood) in Plovdiv, with the police sealing the building waiting for bulldozers to destroy it.

News Eastern Europe Poland

Poland and Roma

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A somewhat confusing article about Roma in the Polish Press. On the one hand, the story of Ukrainian Roma and some of the stories that are told about them which are mostly false, and on the other hand, the story of Roam in Norway, with the strong discrimination, removal of children etc. that was the norm in that country. All with a mention of the Swiss policies amounting to the same.

News Eastern Europe Ukraine

Transcarpathian Ukraine: A Portrait

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Eleonora Kulchar is an Ukrainian Romni who fascinates and fascinates with her desire to help everyone. She heads the “Blago” charitable foundation and is the national coordinator of the REYN-Ukraine network project, which deals with the early development of Roma children.

In her every word, you can feel how sincerely she is working for her cause and Ukraine. In half an hour, while we were talking, she was called several times, someone came to ask something important, and someone just to say hello.

And even while working in non-stop mode, she continues to radiate a huge force that can literally be felt in the air: “I know what I have to do. I ask God for help and I feel how he fills every cell of my body with strength.

Now Mrs. Eleonora is in charge of the first and so far the only shelter for Roma. About its everyday life, problems and residents – in our material.

News Eastern Europe Ukraine

Donbas – Shot

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In the occupied region of Makiivka, a family of 8 Roma was shot. The youngest victim, shot in the head, was a year old. Apparently, they were shot by Wagner Mercenaries who wanted to steal a car. Three of them have apparently been arrested.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Pavel Berky

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Pavel Berky, born in 1986, is a graduate of the UMPRUM fashion design studio in Prague. He was successful in the Top Style Designer competitions during the Prague Fashion Week, and was at the Exalt Fashion Show and others, world shows in New York, London, Paris or Milan. He placed third in the MasterChef Czechia 2020 competition, appeared in his own TV shows. His cookbook was awarded as the Most Beautiful Book of the Year.

He speaks about his traditions of Christmas dinner.

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