The town of Banovce in Slovakia is implementing hard rules against the Rroma minority: If a family breaks public order or housing rules three times, it will be expulsed. These measures are meant to “protect” decent people from the noise and nuisance of the Rroma. In fact, this is an expulsion measure and as such cannot be tolerated.
SHAME.
Sweden’s tolerance seems to crumble as an attack on a Romanian Rroma migrant shows. The influx of migrants from Syria and from the Balkan is polarising Sweden.
Another article on the group of young Rroma musicians and dancers from Slovakia, Kesaj Tchave and of a French association helping them.
A chilling article on a small town in Hungary and of his extreme rightist mayor. Scary reality for many Rroma in Hungary.
A SHAME
Nils Muižnieks, the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights, warned against the modern racism against Rroma while at the commemorations of the Rroma Holocaust. We cannot but agree with him here.
In the article, the term of “Porajmos” is used. This term has often been put in conjunction with the Rroma Holocaust. Actually, it means a sexual rape, and is only understood in some Vlax dialects. This term should not be used at all in this context.
A clear position to the current xenophobic views of the Hungarian government and on their attitude towards minorities. Hungary must face up to its past and to upcoming realities!
An article on Kesaj Tchave, a group of young Rroma musicians, singers, dancers who are come from real ghettoes who tour Europe under the direction of Ivan Akimov.
Bavaria is going ahead with a controversial plan to set up camps for refugees from the Balkan. These camps, especially in view of the past – Dachau was one of the first camps to be set up in Germany – and since Rroma make about a third of all Balkan refugees, leave a bitter taste.
There has to be better solutions…
Kosovo and Montenegro are asking Germany to recognise them as being “safe countries”. They want to show that no one in their countries is persecuted or discriminated against. In Kosovo especially, this can only be laughed at. 80% of the Rroma population was ethnically cleansed away from the region.
More on the story of the one third of Rroma among Balkan refuges…
More articles on the August 2nd commemorations of the Rroma Holocaust. In Maribor, Slovenia; in Leipzig; in Vienna; in Ireland; in Slovakia, where the government proxy for Rroma questions gave a message; and in the EU, with a message from the commission.
A recent study on the EU subsidies to Roma communities in the Balkan showed that only 1.5% of the aid was aimed at integration. Apparently, programs had “shortcomings”.
A SCANDAL
Yesterday’s Rroma Holocaust Remembrance Day was observed in several countries and also in Auschwitz.
The Romanian Prime Minister Ponta for the first time ever also noted the Romanian contribution to the murder of Rroma in Transnisrtria and in the Bug. How many died there is still debated, but the Romanians did it by themselves.
On the Rroma and Sinti Holocaust Remembrance Day, Europe’s top human right official emphasised the plight faced by many Rroma in Europe to this day with continuing discrimination. This needs to change!
Serbia has been taken to the European court of Human Rights over its evictions of Rroma who fled the Kosovo War in 1999.
The 2nd of August is the official international day of remembrance of the Holocaust on Rroma and Sinti. Several organisations (here just as a sample) are planning commemorations in Germany and Austria.
In spite of a supreme court ruling and of international criticism, Rroma are still being evicted in Miskolc, Hungary. These are not slums, but actual houses, and Rroma are evicted to make space of a football stadium and parking. They are evicted and not given any alternatives.
A chilling read, and something that has to stop!
Asylum seekers from so-called safe countries are systematically denied asylum in Germany. This, in spite of the fact that in many of these “safe” countries, the situation is far from stable or peaceful, as the example of Macedonia shows. Kosovo is now under discussion, unfortunately.
Are truly all refugees from the Balkan who request asylum in Germany simply in search of a better life? This is not as simple, as TAZ shows. Many of these refugees are Rroma as noted by the Frankfurter Allgemeine which titles that up to a third of the refugees are from this origin.
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