Nearly a third of Roma children in Bulgaria are going to Roma only schools. With bad results.
– Bulgarien: Roma-Schulen als Sackgasse. In: Deutsche Welle. 14.09.2018. https://www.dw.com/de/bulgarien-roma-schulen-als-sackgasse/a-45472186 [link-preview url=”https://www.dw.com/de/bulgarien-roma-schulen-als-sackgasse/a-45472186″]
The polemic on the German child benefits reached the Balkan Press …
– Romanians, Bulgarians Accused of Abusing German Child Benefits. In: Balkan Insight. 10.08.2018. http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/romanians-and-bulgarians-targeted-as-benefits-abusers-in-germany-again-08-10-2018 [link-preview url=”http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/romanians-and-bulgarians-targeted-as-benefits-abusers-in-germany-again-08-10-2018″]
– Bulgaria and Romania Mark Roma Holocaust Memorial Day. In: Balkan Insight. 02.08.2018. http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/gallery/bulgaria-and-romania-mark-roma-holocaust-memorial-day-08-02-2018 [link-preview url=”http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/gallery/bulgaria-and-romania-mark-roma-holocaust-memorial-day-08-02-2018″]
Not a surprise, unfortunately, but the Mafia is exploiting Bulgarian Roma as cheap labour in Southern Italy.
– Bulgarian Roma – Labor Force Under Mafia Control in Southern Italy. In: EUScoop. https://www.euscoop.com/en/2018/7/23/bulgarian-roma-work-force-mafia-control-southern-italy [link-preview url=”https://www.euscoop.com/en/2018/7/23/bulgarian-roma-work-force-mafia-control-southern-italy”]
A new program was launched in several countries. It aims to develop initiatives that further the public dialogue and abolish the increasingly sharp divides between Roma na d the rest of the population as well as and deducing radicalization in a polarised society in seven countries (Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Romania, Germany).
– Ako práčovňa na Horehroní rieši problémy nezamestnanosti Rómov. In: TV SME. 04.07.2018. https://tv.sme.sk/v/36852/ako-pracovna-na-horehroni-riesi-problemy-nezamestnanosti-romov.html [link-preview url=”https://tv.sme.sk/v/36852/ako-pracovna-na-horehroni-riesi-problemy-nezamestnanosti-romov.html”]
The Bulgarian parliament rejected the 2017 monitoring report on Roma integration. The rejection is seen as a move against the minister in charge of Roma integration Valery Simeonov (Deputy Prime Minister).
– Parliament rejects 2017 monitoring report on national strategy for Roma integration. In: Focus. 14.06.2018. http://www.focus-fen.net/news/2018/06/14/431470/parliament-rejects-2017-monitoring-report-on-national-strategy-for-roma-integration.html [link-preview url=”http://www.focus-fen.net/news/2018/06/14/431470/parliament-rejects-2017-monitoring-report-on-national-strategy-for-roma-integration.html”]
The news this week in France are dominated by criminality. A ring of Bulgarian Roma was arrested near Toulouse for having exploited people for mendicity, allegedly holding them like slaves and even torturing them. Bad indeed. Near Paris, other Roma are being investigated for the theft of over a million Euros of smartphones. Finally, a large fight in a Roma camp in Triel sur Seine resulted in 6 arrestations.
Then, in Nice, a rightist politician wants to forbid begging. This has never been a solution and is totally ineffective. This is pure demagogism.
The rest of the news are the usual ones: In the North, some land is being set aside for Roma; in Tours, some Bulgarian Roma camping by the river will be expulsed; and near Paris, Roma are squatting an empty house, much to the anger of neighbours.
– Mendiants violentés, esclavagisme, torture… Ce qu’on sait sur le réseau démantelé à Toulouse. In: Actu.fr. 08.06.2018. https://actu.fr/occitanie/toulouse_31555/mendiants-violentes-esclavagisme-torture-ce-quon-sait-sur-reseau-demantele-toulouse_17199842.html
– Toulouse : démantèlement d’un réseau de Roms bulgares exploitant des mendicants. In: Europe 1. 08.06.2018. http://www.europe1.fr/societe/toulouse-demantelement-dun-reseau-de-roms-bulgares-exploitant-des-mendiants-3676148
– Réseau de mendicité et traite d’êtres humains : opération de police dans un camp de Roms à Toulouse. In: Actu.fr. 05.06.2018. https://actu.fr/occitanie/toulouse_31555/reseau-mendicite-traite-etre-humains-operation-police-camp-roms-toulouse_11816177.html
– Vaste opération de police à Toulouse. In: Toulouse 7. 05.06.2018. https://www.toulouse7.com/2018/06/05/vaste-operation-de-police-a-toulouse/
– Seine-et-Marne et Oise : six Roms mis en examen pour un million d’euros de smartphones volés. In: Le Parisien. 05.06.2018. http://www.leparisien.fr/seine-et-marne-77/seine-et-marne-six-roms-mis-en-examen-pour-un-million-d-euros-de-smartphones-voles-05-06-2018-7754601.php
– Triel-sur-Seine : violente bagarre au camp de Roms, craintes de représailles. In: Temps Réel 78. 08.06.2018. https://tr78.fr/triel-sur-seine-violente-bagarre-au-camp-de-roms-craintes-de-represailles
– Nice: Dans les rues, la mendicité sera bientôt interdite. In: 20 Minutes (FR). 06.06.2018. https://www.20minutes.fr/societe/2284683-20180606-nice-rues-mendicite-bientot-interdite
– Nice : Christian Estrosi va prendre un arrêté contre la mendicité. In: Europe 1. 06.06.2018. http://www.europe1.fr/societe/nice-christian-estrosi-va-prendre-un-arrete-contre-la-mendicite-3673064
– Bientôt un terrain, mis à disposition par la ville, pour les familles roms du Pont-Royal. In: La Voix du Nord. 08.06.2018. http://www.lavoixdunord.fr/393106/article/2018-06-08/bientot-un-terrain-mis-disposition-par-la-ville-pour-les-familles-roms-du-pont
– Les Roms des Iles Noires condamnés à l’expulsion ? In: La Nouvelle République. 09.06.2018. https://www.lanouvellerepublique.fr/indre-et-loire/commune/la-riche/les-roms-des-iles-noires-condamnes-a-l-expulsion
– Thorigny-sur-Marne. Une maison abandonnée est squattée, les riverains vivent « l’enfer ». In: Actu.fr. 07.06.2018. https://actu.fr/ile-de-france/thorigny-sur-marne_77464/thorigny-sur-marne-une-maison-abandonnee-est-squattee-riverains-vivent-lenfer_17145526.html [link-preview url=”https://actu.fr/occitanie/toulouse_31555/mendiants-violentes-esclavagisme-torture-ce-quon-sait-sur-reseau-demantele-toulouse_17199842.html “]
The Bulgarian authorities have begun destroying “illegal” houses, i.e. undocumented constructions, in the Stolipinovo neighbourhood of Plovdiv. Stolipinovo is one of the largest mahala (Roma neighbourhood) in the city.
– Събарят незаконните постройки в кв. Столипиново в Пловдив. In: Novini. 22.05.2018. https://www.facebook.com/Novini.bg/videos/1873962609337056/ [link-preview url=”https://www.facebook.com/Novini.bg/videos/1873962609337056/”]
Stolipinovo is the largest “mahala” or Roma neighbourhood in Plovdiv. Many of its residents are now working on a regular basis in Germany – generally short term manual work in construction. And this has an influence on Stolipinovo itself. A story of two worlds!
– How the ‘Germans’ are changing the largest Roma enclave in Europe. In: Deutsche Welle. 08.04.2018. http://www.dw.com/en/how-the-germans-are-changing-the-largest-roma-enclave-in-europe/a-43298822 [link-preview url=”http://www.dw.com/en/how-the-germans-are-changing-the-largest-roma-enclave-in-europe/a-43298822″]
There is a meeting of the Ad Hoc Committee of Experts on Roma and Traveller Issues (CAHROM) from Bulgaria, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Romania and Spain in Helsinki (Finland), on 21-23 March 2018, to discuss access to justice for Roma, and especially for Romnja.
– CAHROM thematic visit on Roma and Traveller’s access to justice (with a focus on women). In: Council of Europe. 14.03.2018. https://www.coe.int/en/web/portal/-/cahrom-thematic-visit-on-roma-and-traveller-s-access-to-justice-with-a-focus-on-women- [link-preview url=”https://www.coe.int/en/web/portal/-/cahrom-thematic-visit-on-roma-and-traveller-s-access-to-justice-with-a-focus-on-women-“]
Good intentions – getting poor Roma children to school, wrong presentation, especially for Bulgaria. This country had until recently one of the most integrated Roma minority with many of them having completed higher education.
Roma in Bulgaria are Orthodox or Moslems. Why convert them? Religion and humanitarian help are not the best friends.
– Bulgaria: ACN project encourages Roma children to go to school. In: Independent Catholic News. 12.03.2018. https://www.indcatholicnews.com/news/34499 [link-preview url=”https://www.indcatholicnews.com/news/34499″]
Although the high rate of Roma unemployment in Central and South-Eastern Europe is often attributed to a low level of education and professional skills, one of the more important reasons is discrimination that prevents Roma from entering the labour market on an equal footing.
Integration into the labour market should be a priority in promoting a full social inclusion. Some steps towards this goal were made by the recently completed two-year international Working Roma project, which included the Novo Mesto Society for the Development of Volunteer Work.
As project coordinator Tina Cigler says, in the Working Roma project, partners from nine European countries have tried to develop new tools to prevent intolerance against Roma in the labour market, thereby increasing their employment prospects. The tools and recommendations were developed on the basis of study visits by partner countries, consultations within different groups and good practices that we detected in our partner countries: Italy, Portugal, Spain, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovenia, Greece, Malta and the United Kingdom.
Let’s see.
– Se zaposlovanju Romov obetajo boljši časi? In: Dolenski List. 28.02.2018. http://www.dolenjskilist.si/2018/02/28/191553/novice/dolenjska/Se_zaposlovanju_Romov_obetajo_boljsi_casi/ [link-preview url=”http://www.dolenjskilist.si/2018/02/28/191553/novice/dolenjska/Se_zaposlovanju_Romov_obetajo_boljsi_casi/”]
The page EU Scoop Doesn’t miss any opportunity to present Roma in their worst light and clearly to generalise. Purpose is clear: All Roma are criminals, cannot be integrated and … Well the rest is to be expected.
This time, this is a street light in a house…
– Gypsies Integrated a Functional Concrete Streetlamp into their House in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. In: EU Scoop. https://www.euscoop.com/en/2018/2/6/roma-house-lamppost-integrated [link-preview url=”https://www.euscoop.com/en/2018/2/6/roma-house-lamppost-integrated”]
Again a story that plays on the old stereotypes of Roma stealing children. A 3-year-old child who was missing in Poland was found in a Roma neighbourhood in Varna. According to the woman who kept it, the child’s mother had gone to Poland.
– The Missing Child from Poland was Found in the Roma Neighborhood of Varna. In: Novinite. 02.02.2018. http://www.novinite.com/articles/187562/The+Missing+Child+from+Poland+was+Found+in+the+Roma+Neighborhood+of+Varna [link-preview url=”http://www.novinite.com/articles/187562/The+Missing+Child+from+Poland+was+Found+in+the+Roma+Neighborhood+of+Varna”]
Another article on the new interdiction of horse drawn carriages in the centre of Sofia. This deprives many Roma of their only source of income.
Bad.
– Les charrettes ne sont plus le dada de Sofia qui accueille l’UE. In: Swiss Info. 22.12.2017. https://www.swissinfo.ch/fre/les-charrettes-ne-sont-plus-le-dada-de-sofia-qui-accueille-l-ue/43776542 [link-preview url=”https://www.swissinfo.ch/fre/les-charrettes-ne-sont-plus-le-dada-de-sofia-qui-accueille-l-ue/43776542″]
A scholarly work on the Moslem presence in the Balkan in the last two hundred years. And it concerns Roma too, as the fourth largest Moslem minority in the Balkans, after the Albanians, the Bosniaks, and the Turks.
– Revisiting Europe’s Muslim Heartland. In: TOL. 19.12.2017. http://www.tol.org/client/article/27422-albania-bulgaria-romania-muslims-islam-books.html [link-preview url=”http://www.tol.org/client/article/27422-albania-bulgaria-romania-muslims-islam-books.html”]
A children kanoo team was apparently assaulted by 11 Roma armed with picks and shovels who are now on trial.
Well the story is bizarre and the webpage is even worse so. It is openly anti Roma and relays tons of stories against them and about their “criminal” tendencies.
TO AVOID …
– Children’s Kanoo Team Attacked by 11 Gypsies With Pickaxes and Shovels. In: EU Scoop. https://www.euscoop.com/en/2017/12/18/roma-attack-childrens-kanoo-team [link-preview url=”https://www.euscoop.com/en/2017/12/18/roma-attack-childrens-kanoo-team”]
Seems that Bulgarian maternity wards are segregating Roma women into “Gypsy” wards. Bad.
– ‘Roma Segregated’ in Bulgarian Maternity Wards. In: Balkan Insight. 18.12.2017. https://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/roma-segregated-in-bulgarian-maternity-wards-12-17-2017 [link-preview url=”https://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/roma-segregated-in-bulgarian-maternity-wards-12-17-2017″]
Ahmed Musa, a Roma Imam from Pazardzhik was accused of spreading radical Islam. He has been released on bail pending judgement. This is not the first time, he was convicted of the same offense a while back and sentenced to prison, a sentence that was overturned later.
On TC, when asked whether he had contacts with Islamic State he said “there hasn’t been an Islamic State for 1400 years”.
– Освободиха Ахмед Муса от ареста. In: NVO GO. 06.12.2017. https://btvnovinite.bg/article/bulgaria/osvobodiha-ahmed-musa-ot-aresta.html
– Gypsy Imam Accused of Spreading Radical Islam in Bulgaria Walks After 7500 Leva Bail. In: EUScoop. 06.12.2017. https://www.euscoop.com/en/2017/12/6/imam-free-after-bail [link-preview url=”https://btvnovinite.bg/article/bulgaria/osvobodiha-ahmed-musa-ot-aresta.html “]
An article on the Hepatitis A epidemic affecting mostly Roma children in the Plovdiv region in Bulgaria.
– Plovdiv: 71 of total 89 people infected with hepatitis A in the Roma neighborhood Rakovski of Plovdiv are children aged 1 to 14 years. In: Focus. 25.11.2017. http://www.focus-fen.net/news/2017/11/25/425358/71-of-total-89-people-infected-with-hepatitis-a-in-the-roma-neighborhood-of-rakovski-in-plovdiv-are-children-aged-1-to-14-years.html [link-preview url=”http://www.focus-fen.net/news/2017/11/25/425358/71-of-total-89-people-infected-with-hepatitis-a-in-the-roma-neighborhood-of-rakovski-in-plovdiv-are-children-aged-1-to-14-years.html”]
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