Category Archives: News Eastern Europe

Bulgaria News Eastern Europe

Romni, or not?

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Romni, or not?

Social media went bersek after Ana Metusheva from Lovech, who had been persistently posting as Shermin from Israel, posted photos from Christmas with her family. Her stepfather was an Israeli man who died recently, forcing the family to move back to Bulgaria. She is apparently a Romni, and has a younger half-brother from her Israeli stepfather.

Bulgaria News Eastern Europe

Roma Integration

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Roma Integration

The Bulgarian Cabinet of Ministers approved the report on the implementation of the National Strategy for Equality, Inclusion and Participation of the Roma in 2024.

The report was prepared based on the data received on the implemented measures, activities and policies by the responsible institutions and presents comprehensive information on the implementation of the National Strategy, as well as the municipal action plans.

Nice, but what really happened?

Montenegro News Eastern Europe

Education in Montenegro

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Education in Montenegro

The Ministry of Education and Science introduced Roma educational mediators in secondary education for the first time this school year, with the aim of promoting inclusion and reducing dropout of students from the Roma ethnic community. Through a public call, 20 individuals were selected to work directly with high school students and their families to overcome the educational and social challenges they face.

Let’s see what it really does.

Bulgaria News Eastern Europe

Fire

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Fire

A fire burned in the Soifia “Lyulin” district at night. Accirding to the article, “It houses a temporary accommodation center. Socially disadvantaged Roma families are accommodated there. People from the area have been complaining for years about numerous problems related to crime, poor hygiene and aggressive behaviour of some of the residents. The place has become a ghetto.”

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Music ban …

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Music ban …

A few days ago, the Ljubljana City Council, at the suggestion of Mayor Zoran Janković, voted to ban spontaneous street musical performances until the end of December. This removed the trumpeters from the streets, who were the main target of the decision.

News Eastern Europe Romania

Witches?

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Witches?

An article full of stereotypes and folklore… A few excerpts:

In the village of Săpânța, near the Ukrainian border, two women recall: “If a boy was jealous of another, his mother would cast a spell on the girl to make her feel bad and prevent the marriage from taking place.” Next to her, her friend adds: “When my niece left home, we had a falling out. A woman at the market offered to cast a spell on her to bring her back, by the heavens. I refused, of course.”

Bulgaria France News Eastern Europe News Western Europe

French Chronicle …

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French Chronicle …

Almost nothing about Roma this week in the French press. Just an article about a camp near Paris that was left, but with tons of garbage in its place, and an article in Charlie Hebdo, the French satirical newspaper about Bulgaria, unfortunately with lots of French based clichés on Roma.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Czechia, Slovakia, and Christmas

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Czechia, Slovakia, and Christmas

The well-known Roma musician Gejza Horváth can tell you at length how they celebrated Christmas. He was born in 1948 in Písečná in the Šumpersk region, but spent his childhood in the settlement of Kolinovce near the Slovak town of Krompachy. He comes from a musical family and was already playing with the biggest bands in Slovakia at the age of twelve. So he was definitely not bored at Christmas. In Gejza Horváth’s childhood, Roma would go around the village to play carols for the gádže

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Human Rights in Slovakia

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Human Rights in Slovakia

In 2025, human rights were most weakened since the founding of the Slovak Republic. This was pointed out by the Human Rights Coalition, which presented the Human Rights Balance 2025. In it, the organizations pointed out a widespread deterioration of human rights and freedoms. The analysis reveals a dramatic increase in interference with the rule of law, a weakening of media freedom, deepening discrimination against Roma, a shrinking space for civil society, and also restrictions on the rights of children, women and LGBTI+ people.

Croatia News Eastern Europe

Roma, Music, and a Mayor

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Roma, Music, and a Mayor

A huge number of articles in the Croatian press about the mayor of the town of Sinj, Miro Bulj who removed removed the Roma orchestra from the public space on Christmas Eve, even though they played the since years at Christmas. The mayor explained that they were singing “Đurđevdan”, and that it was inappropriate for Christmas Eve, and that anyhow, they were not authorised to play in public. A video contradict this, as it shows him gesturing towards the musicians to leave.

Prior to that, the orchestra played among the gathered citizens, without any visible incident.

Well, depending how you pronounce this mayor’s name, it means an ass in Romanes.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe News Western Europe Spain

Sally Cortes

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Sally Cortes

“The first step must be taken by oneself – to believe that one can achieve everything one dreams of,” says Romani writer and activist Sally Cortés in an interview.

News Eastern Europe North Macedonia

North Macedonia and Citizenship

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North Macedonia and Citizenship

The North Macedonian appeal court confirmed the condemnation of the state for failing to comply on the law of unregistered persons, a law that allowed registration of people without a birth certificate. I did discriminate against Roma, especially in the countryside.

Kosovo News Eastern Europe

Kosovo and Racial Discrimination

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Kosovo and Racial Discrimination

Institutions and Civil Society Unite Against Racial Discrimination during the Kosovo Regional Summit where they reaffirmed the commitment to combating racial discrimination and promoting the inclusion of Roma, Ashkali, and Egyptian communities.

The Regional Summit Against Racial Discrimination, held in Pristina for the sixth time, emphasized institutional cooperation with civil society to promote inclusive policies and strengthen mechanisms to combat discrimination, particularly against Roma, Ashkali, and Egyptian communities.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Romano Football

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Romano Football

The Roma football club, which was founded without a pitch and without money, today attracts the attention of opponents and spectators throughout the district. SK Roma Mělník had to fight for its place in football. “I was excited, but at the same time I knew that starting from scratch would be incredibly difficult,” says its chairman and player Dominik Malinský in the DROMcast podcast.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Law in Romanes

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Law in Romanes

The Hermeniculum Association is preparing the first translation of the Constitution of the Czech Republic and the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms into the Romanes. It will be created as part of the Romani version of the book Constitutional (Disorder) in Pictures, which will be published by Wolters Kluwer. The translation is intended to symbolically and practically strengthen the position of Romani in the public sphere and draw attention to the importance of not only the linguistic rights of national minorities.

Well, not sure of the purpose.

Croatia News Eastern Europe

Theatre

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Theatre

TeatarR, the first and only Roma theatre in Croatia, is visiting Sisak with the play “Prison Flowers” directed by Zvjezdana Bubnjar. After the premiere in Zagreb at the end of November this year, the Sisak audience will have the opportunity to see it on Sunday, December 21, 2025 at 7 p.m. at Theatre 21.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Arrest

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Arrest

The person who punched and killed Aleš Šutar is 20-year-old Samira Šiljić, who allegedly provoked one of the guests of the bar before. According to unofficial information, the 20-year-old, who had already been convicted in the past and was also placed in the Radeče reformatory at a critical time, was incriminated by at least five witnesses before the investigating judge as part of the judicial investigation.

Bad.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Work, or …

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Work, or …

The Dolenjska People’s Initiative, which brings together six people’s initiatives from the Dolenjska region and one from the Ljubljana region, last week presented a proposal for a program for the social and work activation of employees, which would also regulate the employment of Roma. Basically, Roma would need to enrol in special training centres where the unemployed would gain experience and vocational education, and financial social assistance would be tied to participation.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Education

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Education

The low level of education among Roma is seen in Slovenia as a large issue in integrating Roma in the workforce. There have been efforts to better the situation, but they are only a few. The Novo Mesto Development and Education Centre has been working intensively with the education of Roma for the past twenty-five years, ever since they began to more seriously include them in the adult primary school program.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Award

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Award

The Republic of Slovenia thanks the Romani Union Murska Sobota Association with a state decoration for its invaluable social contribution in the field of legal regulation of the special rights of the Roma community, and thus for its contribution to the development of an open and inclusive society and for strengthening intercultural dialogue and respect for human rights.

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