Category Archives: News Eastern Europe

The Slovak Roma Union went to court for an alleged attack by a policeman against 5 Roma children in a Roma settlement during a quarantine. The children apparently had strayed too far from the settlement.

In a resolution on January 20, the investigator referred to a section of the Criminal Procedure Code, which states that the prosecution is stopped if “there is no doubt that the act for which the prosecution is being conducted has not occurred”.

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• Policajná inšpekcia zastavila stíhanie pre incident v Krompachoch. In: SME. 01.02.2022. https://domov.sme.sk/c/22832028/urad-inspekcnej-sluzby-zastavil-trestne-stihanie-pre-incident-v-romskej-osade-v-krompachoch.html

Representatives of the civic association eduRoma claim in an open letter that the Minister of Finance of the Slovak Republic Igor Matovič (OĽaNO) is building rough walls between the current government of the Slovak Republic and the civic sector.

The controversy follows the allocation of 330’000 EUR to the Conference of  Bishops of Slovakia to support missionary pastoral work in Roma communities and ignoring the work of other NGOs and churches.

• Organizácie na podporu Rómov kritizovali Matoviča za účelové financovanie. In: SME. 28.01.2022. https://domov.sme.sk/c/22829873/organizacie-na-podporu-romov-kritizovali-matovica-za-ucelove-financovanie.html

Where are the Roma in the Census? There is a lot of excitement, even outrage at the fact that Roma in their large majority, did not declare themselves as Roma in the latest Slovak census, but rather as Slovak or in quite a few cases as Hungarians.

Well, first, they are Slovaks… Whether the majority population likes it or not. Second, asking for ethnicity is fraught with problems. Third, the main reason people will not declare themselves as a minority is simple: Racism and discrimination. That question is absent from the articles on the topic.

Sad.

• Nie som Róm, ale Slovák. Podľa sčítania zmizla vyše polovica Rómov na východe. In: Korzar. 26.01.2022. https://korzar.sme.sk/c/22828094/nie-som-rom-ale-slovak-podla-scitania-zmizla-vyse-polovica-romov-na-vychode.html

The case of Nižný Slavkov, a small town in Eastern Slovakia, where none of the roughly 230 the Roma living in the local Osada (Settlement) declared themselves as Roma in the census, saying that they are Slovaks (which, by the way it technically correct).

• V Nižnom Slavkove akoby Rómov ani nemali. Z osadníkov sa totiž nikto k tejto národnosti neprihlásil. In: TV Noviny. 24.01.2022. https://www.tvnoviny.sk/domace/2050272_v-niznom-slavkove-akoby-romov-ani-nemali-z-osadnikov-sa-totiz-nikto-k-tejto-narodnosti-neprihlasil

Nine Roma who sued for having been evicted under the pretext of “waste collection” in 2012 by the then mayor Richard Raši (then Smer, now Hlas) from their homes in the Nižné Kapustníky district of Košice, have finally won in court.

It is a moral win, they lost their homes and were awarded 1’000 EUR each…

• Rómov vysťahovali pod zámienkou odvozu odpadu. Súd rozhodol v ich prospech. In: SME. 24.01.2022. https://kosice.korzar.sme.sk/c/22826893/sud-rozhodol-v-prospech-romov-vystahovanych-z-niznych-kapustnikov.html

The findings of the Slovak 2021 Census do not reflect the real numbers of the Roma community in Slovakia. The survey of the Atlas of Roma Communities and the estimates of local governments estimate the number of Roma at 450’000.

• Sčítanie neukazuje reálny počet Rómov, uviedol Ján Hero. In: Teraz. 21.01.2022. https://www.teraz.sk/najnovsie/citanie-neukazuje-realny-pocet-romo/606085-clanok.html