Author Archives: Roma Foundation

French Chronicle …

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French Chronicle …

An interesting article about a professor in France stating “they are not nomads”. Pretty much everyone knows that, except for France …

Other than that, Roma from a closed camp still have no permanent abode, and two articles on dogs. One where apparently dogs were drugged by Roma for begging, and the other, the case of a dog stolen by a Rom.

Lety: Commemoration

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Lety: Commemoration

On Sunday, May 11, 2025, at 12 noon, a traditional commemoration of the Roma and Sinti Holocaust victims will take place in Lety u Písku, which will take place at the site of the former so-called gypsy camp. The annual gathering commemorates the tragic fate of hundreds of Roma men, women and children who were deported from this place to extermination camps. The commemoration will also be possible to watch live this year thanks to the first Roma internet television, ROMEA TV, which will offer a live broadcast from the site.

Children’s Music

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Children’s Music

Čeky Čháve Čhavorenge is the title of the third album by the Roma band Lomnické čháve and Marián Čekovský. It is an album on which children and their parents will find children’s rhymes set to music in Slovak and Romanes. Manager Tomáš Slebodník says how this whole project came about.

Šutka: Femicide

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Šutka: Femicide

The Roma Association for Women and Youth “LULUDI” expresses serious concern about the premature reaction and lack of measures to protect a Romni who was a victim of domestic violence by her partner despite the fact that she reported it several times at the local police.

Krakow: Celebration

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Krakow: Celebration

The Krakow somewhat belated celebrations of International Roma Day are taking place today place at the Multicultural Center at ul. Zabłocie 20. The program includes a debate, workshops, tasting of traditional dishes and a concert by Marek Balog – an outstanding Roma artist.

Lublin on Roma Integration

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Lublin on Roma Integration

On May 5, 2025, the Municipality of Lublin concluded agreements with the Voivode of Lublin to implement tasks under the “Social and Civic Integration Program for Roma in Poland for the years 2021-2030.”

The projects plans to increase the social integration of Roma and non-Roma children through participation in a joint holiday trip to summer camps in 2025 and to purchase school materials, textbooks, and sports articles for Roma children.

Whether this is enough for integration remains to be seen…

Politics in Czechia

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Politics in Czechia

The umbrella platform of Roma and pro-Roma organizations RomanoNet and the civic members of the Government Council for Roma Minority Affairs sharply condemned the behaviour of Marek Cavali, the candidate of the STAČILO! movement in the Ústí nad Labem Region, who, according to the media and witnesses, has been threatening, insulting and dishonouring his opinion opponents for a long time. His behavior is being responded to by a joint statement from almost two dozen Roma organizations and individuals, according to whom Cavali’s actions create an atmosphere of fear and damage trust in the public representation of the Roma.

Bad, that this has no consequences…

Everest …

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Everest …

Gennaro Spinelli, an Italian Roma activist and artist, raised the Romani flag at the base camp of the Everest on April 30th. He gave an interview to Romea.

100 Years

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100 Years

Football in Leskovac, Serbia, among the Leskovac Roma, began to be played between the two world wars, and their first official match was recorded on July 26, 1926 in the then city weekly “Leskovački dnevnik”.

But the idea of ​​forming a Roma football club began a year earlier, on St. George’s Day in that distant year 1925, in a smoky tavern on the edge of this popular Roma neighbourhood.

Now the club apparently closed …

International Catholic Commission for the Roma

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International Catholic Commission for the Roma

The annual meeting of the International Catholic Commission for the Roma (CCIT) took place in eastern Slovakia in recent days, attracting approximately 100 participants from 14 European countries. Slovakia was represented by more than 20 participants from cities and municipalities.

Slovenia: Book

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Slovenia: Book

In the Miran Jarca Library in Novo Mesto, Matic Vidic recently presented his book Guide to Meaning: Journeys of a Proven Logotherapist.

Matic chose to study theology and philosophy because he was already struggling with difficult life trials as a teenager. With the death of his mother and his father’s alcoholism, he began to wonder at an early age what the meaning of life was. Today, he is a permanent deacon of the Novo Mesto diocese, does pioneering work in Roma pastoral care and the integration of Roma into society, is an attentive husband to his wife Petra and a father to four-year-old Izak. Some of his stories in the book are powerful, others sad, but with each one he wanted to light the light for the reader that gave meaning to his life.

Roma Community Act

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Roma Community Act

The Roma Community Council of the Republic of Slovenia does not support the draft amendment to the Roma Community Act, they concluded at Friday’s extraordinary session. They believe that the draft contains numerous shortcomings that must be eliminated in order for it to be in line with the constitution. They propose that it be withdrawn from further procedure due to its failure to observe fundamental legal principles.

In their position on the draft amendment, they wrote that the proposer, the Office of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia for Nationalities, did not take into account key normative and constitutional aspects when preparing the draft. “In addition, the draft contains numerous shortcomings that must be eliminated in order for the law to be in line with the constitution and to provide an appropriate legal basis for the operation of the Roma Community Council and the implementation of its tasks,” they are convinced.

Among other things, they believe that the state would interfere too much with the competences of local communities by determining the tasks of municipal coordinators introduced by the amendment, explained the president of the Roma Association of Slovenia, Jožek Horvat Muc.

French Roma in Neuchatel

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French Roma in Neuchatel

Another story, this time in the canton of Neuchatel, where Roma  tried to rent a camping site and after an initial accord, were told there was no longer a vacancy.

In brief, Switzerland doesn’t want Roma travellers…

Police in Valais

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Police in Valais

The head of the police force in the Canton Valais has been defending his decision to stop the ca. 40 caravans of French Roma on a highway on April 15th.

In an interview published Saturday in “Le Nouvelliste”, Christian Varone, commander of the Valais cantonal police, spoke at length about the blocking of caravans on Tuesday, April 15, on the highway in Saint-Maurice, disrupting traffic between Vaud and Valais for more than seven hours in the region.

HeE said: “There’s zero tolerance for situations where public order is not respected.”

The problem is precisely determining the extent to which these Roma failed to respect public order while traveling to Gampel, where they had duly rented a private campsite. They had paid some 15,000 francs in advance for the rental. They were driving peacefully along the highway with their wives and children before encountering the Valais sheriff and his deputies.

The Police commander said that the Roma themselves to the owner of this land as Swiss Jenishe when they were actually Roma of French nationality. Upon learning of this, the lessor considered it a fraud and cancelled the agreement.” He communicated his decision to us orally, then in writing a few days later.

French Chronicle …

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French Chronicle …

The news in France on Roma is dominated by the murder of a Moslem in the South of France. The suspect, a Frenchman of Bosnian origins surrendered to the Italian police after he fled the crime scene. What does it have to do with Roma, well, unfortunately, the suspect murderer is Christian Rom from Bosnia…

Other than that, an exhibition in the South of France on “Gitans”.

Une exposition raconte les trajectoires gitanes. In: Midi Libre. 03.05.2025. https://www.midilibre.fr/2025/05/03/une-exposition-raconte-les-trajectoires-gitanes-12672536.php

Memorial

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Memorial

Thirteen people, including four children, were executed by the Nazis in November 1944 in Valaská Belá in the Prievidza district of Slovakia. A monument commemorating the victims of the Roma Holocaust stands at the site of the mass execution.

  • Nacisti vo Valaskej Belej popravili 13 Rómov vrátane detí. In: Teraz. 02.05.2025. https://www.teraz.sk/regiony/nacisti-vo-valaskej-belej-popravili-13-r/875281-clanok.html
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