Category Archives: News Eastern Europe

100 Years

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100 Years

Football in Leskovac, Serbia, among the Leskovac Roma, began to be played between the two world wars, and their first official match was recorded on July 26, 1926 in the then city weekly “Leskovački dnevnik”.

But the idea of ​​forming a Roma football club began a year earlier, on St. George’s Day in that distant year 1925, in a smoky tavern on the edge of this popular Roma neighbourhood.

Now the club apparently closed …

International Catholic Commission for the Roma

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International Catholic Commission for the Roma

The annual meeting of the International Catholic Commission for the Roma (CCIT) took place in eastern Slovakia in recent days, attracting approximately 100 participants from 14 European countries. Slovakia was represented by more than 20 participants from cities and municipalities.

Slovenia: Book

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Slovenia: Book

In the Miran Jarca Library in Novo Mesto, Matic Vidic recently presented his book Guide to Meaning: Journeys of a Proven Logotherapist.

Matic chose to study theology and philosophy because he was already struggling with difficult life trials as a teenager. With the death of his mother and his father’s alcoholism, he began to wonder at an early age what the meaning of life was. Today, he is a permanent deacon of the Novo Mesto diocese, does pioneering work in Roma pastoral care and the integration of Roma into society, is an attentive husband to his wife Petra and a father to four-year-old Izak. Some of his stories in the book are powerful, others sad, but with each one he wanted to light the light for the reader that gave meaning to his life.

Roma Community Act

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Roma Community Act

The Roma Community Council of the Republic of Slovenia does not support the draft amendment to the Roma Community Act, they concluded at Friday’s extraordinary session. They believe that the draft contains numerous shortcomings that must be eliminated in order for it to be in line with the constitution. They propose that it be withdrawn from further procedure due to its failure to observe fundamental legal principles.

In their position on the draft amendment, they wrote that the proposer, the Office of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia for Nationalities, did not take into account key normative and constitutional aspects when preparing the draft. “In addition, the draft contains numerous shortcomings that must be eliminated in order for the law to be in line with the constitution and to provide an appropriate legal basis for the operation of the Roma Community Council and the implementation of its tasks,” they are convinced.

Among other things, they believe that the state would interfere too much with the competences of local communities by determining the tasks of municipal coordinators introduced by the amendment, explained the president of the Roma Association of Slovenia, Jožek Horvat Muc.

Memorial

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Memorial

Thirteen people, including four children, were executed by the Nazis in November 1944 in Valaská Belá in the Prievidza district of Slovakia. A monument commemorating the victims of the Roma Holocaust stands at the site of the mass execution.

  • Nacisti vo Valaskej Belej popravili 13 Rómov vrátane detí. In: Teraz. 02.05.2025. https://www.teraz.sk/regiony/nacisti-vo-valaskej-belej-popravili-13-r/875281-clanok.html

Slovenia and Roma

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Slovenia and Roma

The Roma Community Council of the Republic of Slovenia does not support the proposal to amend the Roma Community Act, they concluded at Friday’s extraordinary session. They believe that the proposal contains numerous shortcomings that must be eliminated in order to be in line with the constitution.

Kamiben

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Kamiben

She is known on social networks as Kamiben, but her real name is Lana. The twenty-eight-year-old Slovak with Romane roots, a native of eastern Slovakia, has loved art since childhood and wanted to create in a way that would give human meaning and help others. But most importantly, without prejudice.

Amnesty on Czechia

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Amnesty on Czechia

The annual Amnesty International report on Czechia has just been published… It takes note of the incomplete compensation of the victims of forced sterilization among other things.

Planting Trees …

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Planting Trees …

Apparently, the Slovak government is planning to plant trees next to Roma settlements and will use 60 mio Euros for this purpose.

The office of the Plenipotentiary for Roma communities explained that the alleged “planting of trees” is in fact an important multi-departmental project called Revitalization of the area near the settlements of marginalized Roma communities (MRK) through the employment of disadvantaged and endangered groups. The first main activity of this project is the Revitalization of neglected and polluted areas in urban and suburban areas of municipalities with the presence of Roma settlements. The aim is to remove illegally placed municipal waste in protected landscape areas near settlements, in connection with the employment of disadvantaged and endangered groups. The second main activity is the Support of forest cultivation and protection in areas near settlements in connection with the social integration of Roma through their employment in forestry.

Roma Settlements in Slovakia

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Roma Settlements in Slovakia

Ethnologist and Roma expert – Arne Mann (72) has worked at the Institute of Ethnology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences since 1983. He has been working near the settlements for approximately 40 years, thanks to which he is intimately familiar not only with Roma crafts and traditions, but also with the real causes of the ongoing problem.

In an interview with Aktuality.sk, he explained why the state’s treatment of non-profit organizations (which coincidentally were chosen by the current government of Robert Fico as an easy target to distract attention from the real difficulties of the people) is perhaps the worst mistake of all, and reminded that ethnic differences are not at all the most serious cause of the ongoing situation.

Roma Settlements in Slovenia

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Roma Settlements in Slovenia

The Ministry of Cohesion and Regional Development recently announced that they have distributed dedicated funds to municipalities for this year and next year to regulate communal infrastructure in Roma settlements. All municipalities that applied for them received the funds, except for the municipality of Ribnica. This is a municipality where Roma live in three irregular settlements without basic communal infrastructure, mostly without water, often without electricity. One of them, Lepovče, was visited last year by the President of the Republic, Nataša Pirc Musar.

It seems that the municipality did not want to co-finance Roma projects, which is contrary to the rule for attribution of such money.

Slovenia and Education

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Slovenia and Education

Today, at a press conference on pre-primary education, the Minister of Education presented a plan to introduce kindergarten from the age of three for all children, with the option to start as early as two. This step could help, but instead of truly integrating children from excluded communities, it risks separating them even more, said Progressive Slovakia MP Ingrid Kosová.

Belgrade and Languages

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Belgrade and Languages

Serbian is the mother tongue of most Belgraders, and next to it, the most common are Romanes and Russian, according to the study “Population and Households of the City of Belgrade”, published by the Serbian Statistical Office.

The article unfortunately, classifies “Romanes” as a migrant language … No comments…

Children Art

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Children Art

The Gemersko-Malohontské Museum (GMM) in Rimavská Sobota, Slovakia, opened the 14th annual exhibition entitled Romano dživipen [Roma life] on Wednesday (April 30). The exhibition is a showcase of children’s works created as part of a competition aimed at presenting the culture of the Roma ethnic group. Almost 130 drawings by children from three districts were submitted for the current year.

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