Category Archives: News Eastern Europe

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia and Roma Personalities

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Slovakia and Roma Personalities

The Old Town Library, in cooperation with the Slovak National Museum in Martin – the Museum of Roma Culture in Slovakia and the Romano Forum magazine, opened the exhibition Gallery of Roma Personalities.

The exhibition presents 24 prominent personalities of Roma origin who, with their talent, work and legacy, contributed to the development of society in Slovakia.

Kosovo News Eastern Europe

Mitrovica, Kosovo, and Roma

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Mitrovica, Kosovo, and Roma

Despite efforts, numerous obstacles remain to Roma inclusion in Mitrovica, exacerbated by the divisions between Kosovo and Serbia. At a learning centre, students from the community are bearing the brunt of these ambivalent policies.

News Eastern Europe Poland

Poland and Roma Settlements

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Poland and Roma Settlements

An old story, in the Polish town of Limanowsa, local Roma lived in a insalubrious building. So the municipality decided to purchase another building to house these Roam families. The catch: They did not buy the building in the town but in another one …

That town is a touristy one and did not appreciate this. Neither did Roma who were de-facto forced resettled.

Since no one moved in, the town of Limanowa needs to repay loans.

We are not going to cry here …

Lithuania News Eastern Europe

Vilnius – Lithuania and April 8th

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Vilnius – Lithuania and April 8th

On Tuesday April 8th, Vilnius hosted celebrations to mark World Roma Day. An event with the participation of representatives of the authorities and the Roma community was held in  the Visitors’ Centre of the Seimas (Parliament). The Roma anthem was sung on the banks of the Neris River, and wreaths of flowers were lowered into the water to commemorate the victims of the Roma genocide.

News Eastern Europe Poland

Poland and April 8th

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Poland and April 8th

A few of the many articles on April 8th in the Polish press. The university of Warsaw claim theyt have been conducting research on Roma “migration” since 2016. There they mean migration of Roma from other countries as Poland such as Ukrainian Roma.

Bulgaria News Eastern Europe

Bulgarian Politics, Roma, and Mahalas

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Bulgarian Politics, Roma, and Mahalas

Kiril Petkov, a former Bulgarian prime minister and candidate in the upcoming elections is defending the rights of a Mahala (a Roma neighbourhood) in Sofia. He is not alone in defending the “Zaharna Fabrika” which has who has called for manifestations in front of the parliament.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czechia: School Segregation

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Czechia: School Segregation

The segregation of Roma children in education in the Czech Republic continues. There are still more than 130 segregated schools, of which in 78 of them Roma children make up more than half of the pupils, according to a PAQ Research study based on estimates from the Ministry of Education. Segregated schools are located in most regions and the situation has not changed significantly in the last decade.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Charter 77 Award

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Charter 77 Award

The František Kriegl Award of the Czech Charter 77 Foundation for Civic Courage was awarded this year to Romani activist and social worker Elena Gorolová. The jury honoured her for her personal and professional contribution to the fight for compensation for victims of illegal and secret sterilizations. It particularly highlighted her long-term efforts and the courage with which she raised the topic, as well as her subsequent fight for compensation for victims of illegal actions by state healthcare facilities.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czechoslovakia: Sterilisations

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Czechoslovakia: Sterilisations

It is estimated that thousands of women of Roma origin were sterilized in Czechoslovakia since the early 1970s. They had to wait decades for compensation.

In the Czechoslovak environment, forced sterilizations often took place in delivery rooms, at the moments of greatest vulnerability of women, during cesarean section births. Women in pain and under pressure from medical personnel were unable to give truly informed consent. The decree on sterilizations was repealed in 1993, but unfortunately isolated and illegal cases continued to occur. The last verified case of involuntary sterilization in the Czech Republic dates back only eleven years, to 2007. As Kateřina Čapková from the Institute of Contemporary History of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic emphasizes: “Forced sterilizations as a scientific topic seem to me to be important to study mainly in international contexts as a phenomenon that appears in states with different, and one could even say contradictory, ideologies.” The Prague Forum for Roma History therefore plans to support deeper research into this area that has so far been insufficiently researched.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia and the Billion for Roma

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Slovakia and the Billion for Roma

Slovak opposition Vladimír Ledecký (SaS) calls for reconsideration and revision of the action plans for the Strategy for Equality, Inclusion and Participation of the Roma until 2030 for the years 2025-2027, which were approved by the government in December 2024. As a Member of the National Council (NR) of the Slovak Republic, he submitted a resolution in which he warns that, based on the action plan, millions of euros are to be spent on “meaningless projects whose real contribution to improving the living and economic situation of the Roma is zero”.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia and International Roma Day

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Slovenia and International Roma Day

Some articles in the Slovenian press about the international Roma day. In one, a discussion with the German/Kosovar publicist, artist, photographer and human rights activist Behar Heinemann, and in the other, the more traditional dance and folklore.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia: Housing

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Slovakia: Housing

The city of Veľký Šariš today began installing new unimo cells for residents who lost theirs in the tragic fire on March 19th with five victims. After today’s installation of the connection on Thursday, the unimocells (container housing units) will be connected to the existing networks, and the tenants should start moving into them from Friday.

It is in such housing units that the fire started. And nothing has really been done to prevent a further tragedy. But this is at least something.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

LGBT+ Roma

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LGBT+ Roma

David Tišer is a well-known Czech Roma activist. He is the director of the Ara Art organization, which also supports LGBT+ people among the Roma. In his interview, he was asked why some Roma consider queer people ritually unclean and why coming out among Roma can be even harder than in mainstream society.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Illegal Houses

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Illegal Houses

The mayor of the village of Torysa near Sabinov has ordered the residents of the settlement to remove illegal buildings. They are using the land on which their homes stand without any legal title. The government’s plenipotentiary for Roma communities Alexander Daško is looking for a systemic solution with the mayor of the village of Torysa. The demolition of 77 illegal dwellings would deprive four hundred Roma of a roof over their heads. Miriam Žiaková, director of the media department of the Office of the Plenipotentiary of the Government of the Slovak Republic for Roma Communities, informed about this.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia: Politics and Roma

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Slovakia: Politics and Roma

The chairman of the political party “Progressive Slovakia”, Michal Šimečka, said: “Approximately 440,000 Roma live in Slovakia. A huge number of them face discrimination, open or hidden hatred or violence every day. And I am not just talking about the thousands of them who live in settlements without sewage and drinking water.”

According to the chairman of the Progressive Slovakia, by excluding them, we are unnecessarily losing the potential, wasting the talent and job opportunities of tens of thousands of people who could be an enrichment for our society – humanly, culturally and economically.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czechia: Education, Art, and Roma

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Czechia: Education, Art, and Roma

What is the power of words, culture and art in creating a feeling that one belongs somewhere and can be proud of oneself? This is a question that concerns not only minorities in Czech schools. The way to do this can be social support from the environment and art. For Roma students, it is offered, for example, by the Ara Art organization, which is dedicated to activist culture, or the Kher publishing house, which publishes children’s books on Roma themes. How to ensure that children’s talent and potential do not go to waste?

Roma children make up roughly three percent of all students in Czech schools. However, they are not enrolled evenly. According to PAQ Research data, in 2023 there were approximately 130 segregated schools where Roma made up at least a third of the students.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czechia and the International Roma Day

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Czechia and the International Roma Day

An article about April 8th, stressing its origins to the historic congress in Orpington, near London, UK, which took place from April 7 to 12, 1971, laying the foundations for international Roma cooperation and bringing symbols of Roma identity.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia: Illegal Buildings

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Slovakia: Illegal Buildings

The mayor of the village of Torysa near Sabinove has ordered the residents of the Roma settlement to remove illegal buildings. They are using the land on which their homes stand without any legal title.

According to the mayor of the village, Jozef Stedina, the residents of the settlement have not yet responded to repeated calls to legalize their homes and have not even paid a fine. For this reason, he sent them calls to definitively remove the illegal buildings within nine months.

This is a usual trend to remove settlements. The issue is that at the fall of communism, Roma were not given the land on which they lived. Thus, all buildings are illegal. The same argument was done in Bulgaria to remove Roma.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

International Roma Day

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International Roma Day

Several articles in the Slovak press about the International Roma Day on April 8th. They stress that 35 years have passed since the decision was made that April 8 would be International Roma Day. Ite was adopted in 1990 by delegates near Warsaw at the fourth World Roma Congress (Romano kongreso lumiakro), organized by the International Romani Union (IRU). The choice of the date of April 8 is connected with the commemoration of the first global meeting of the Roma, which took place from April 8 to 12, 1971 in Orpington near London.

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