The Slovenian “European Museum of Roma Culture and History,” which opened its doors at the beginning of the month, is intended to preserve, research and present the history, language, traditions and art of the Roma and their contribution to the development of European society.
On March 10th, near the village of Patskanovo in the Uzhhorod district, a group of Roma blocked the road of a service vehicle and attacked military personnel with wooden sticks.
According to the police of the Zakarpattia region, the incident occurred during the notification of residents of the district about mobilization and verification of military registration documents. People deliberately blocked the movement of a military vehicle, after which they provoked a conflict.
A Slovak project, “Citizen Patrols” which covered hundred and thirty-one cities and municipalities, 2,349 employees, 2,015 of whom are Roma, providing oversight in the municipalities and mediation, is being effectively shut down.
Bad.
The extreme-right My Hazánk Mozgalom (Our Homeland Movement) party, together with their anti-Roma Bűnvadászok (Crime Hunters) vigilante group did an action in the small Nógrád village of Kálló. They were met by local Roma who peacefully told them they should leave.
The party represented this as having been aggressed, even though there are no records of people being wounded or of any police action.
Bad.
Students from the sixth to eighth grades of the “22. oktobar” Elementary School from Bački Monoštor, who attend the elective subject Romani language with elements of national culture, visited the Roma Inclusion Office in Novi Sad.
Accompanied by teacher Ivan Petrović, during this educational visit the students had the opportunity to learn firsthand about the work of this institution and the activities carried out to improve the position of the Roma community.
Representatives of the National Council of the Serbian Roma National Minority visited the Roma settlement “Sever” in Bor in Eastern Serbia, where about 50 families live in very difficult socio-economic conditions.
The settlements “Sever” and “Brezonik” are located in the immediate vicinity of a mine, and the residents mainly live in old and dilapidated buildings that do not meet the basic requirements for a dignified life.
An open discussion will be held on the 17th of March in the Teologická fakulta, Jihočeská univerzita v ČB, in České Budějovice. The discussion meeting is intended primarily for representatives of city administration, schools, kindergartens and the professional public. Together they will focus on current topics related to supporting children not only in education, sharing practice, experiences, opinions and opportunities for mutual cooperation. The aim of the meeting is to create a space for dialogue and inspiration for further steps towards quality and fair education for every child.
The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) condemned North Macedonia for violating several provisions of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. The country had confiscated passports of Roma who were forced returned from Germany after they had lost their asylum case.
The body of a newborn was found in a landfill in Sliven, Bulgaria. Unfortunately, the landfill is in a Roma neighbourhood.
The police confirmed that they are working on the case. The District Prosecutor’s Office in Sliven reported to bTV that a pre-trial investigation for intentional murder has been initiated and an investigation is underway. At the moment, the state prosecution cannot say whether there are traces of violence on the child’s body. However, according to witnesses, he had visible injuries. They say that they saw the body of the newborn being thrown out of a car.
The Ministry of Regional Development is preparing organizational changes that, according to information from the Seznam Zprávy server, could actually mean the end of the Social Inclusion Agency. Since 2008, it has been helping municipalities solve problems in socially excluded localities.
According to information from Seznam Zpráv, the current Department of Social Inclusion is to be merged with the Department of Housing Policy. In practice, this could mean a fundamental limitation of the activities of the Agency for Social Inclusion, which currently employs around a hundred employees and operates directly in the regions, where it helps municipalities prevent social exclusion.
Jovan Živadinović, a Roma singer and songwriter from Serbia, debuted with the single Sve je isto in July 2021. A year after his first album, he participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 with the song Greh, which led him to the final of the competition.
The second album brings a sonic blend of modern electro pop, club aesthetics and the discreet sensibility of soul and rhythm and blues. Through 19 tracks, the album follows a path of self-exploration, emotional conflicts and attempts to understand one’s own identity, from a short introductory confession by Džipsii’s mother to the final track “Kuda”.
The Roma community in Serbia, which is estimated to number between 400,000 and 500,000 people, continues to face numerous challenges when it comes to political representation and real influence in public life. Although there are formal mechanisms for Roma political participation, many experts and activists believe that their political power is still limited.
In Serbia, Roma have certain institutional mechanisms for political action. One of the key ones is the National Council of the Roma National Minority, which represents the central institution of the Roma community in the areas of education, culture, information and official use of the language.
Well, those mechanisms have little influence, and can be called alibi excercises.
There are approximately 450,000 Roma living in Slovakia, yet we often know little about their everyday experiences. Discussions about Roma communities are often full of stereotypes, emotions, and simplifications that obscure the complex reality of the life of the Roma minority. This new episode of the SAS Scientific Podcast, welcomed social psychologist Barbara Lášticová from the Institute of Social Communication Research of the SAS, v. v. i., and anthropologist Andrej Belák from the Institute of Ethnology and Social Anthropology of the SAS, v. v. i. In an interview with Peter Boháč, they talk about anti-Roma racism, the everyday experiences of Roma in Slovakia, and why the integration of Roma communities is so difficult.
At one of the larger primary schools in Dolenjska, Slovenia, 15 students are repeating a grade this year, all of them Roma children. The data was confirmed by the principal of the Kočevje Assembly of Delegates Primary School, Peter Pirc.
The principal explains that a large number of unsuccessful students appear almost every year, especially in the first and sixth grades. The first grade is particularly pronounced, where many children have problems right from the start of school.
Another article about a Rom, his wife and child refused service in a restaurant in Novo Mesto, just because they were Roma.
Bad, and so far without consequences.
ROMEA TV broadcasted a live coverage of a memorial service in Prague’s Ruzyne on Tuesday, March 10, at 3 p.m., commemorating the Roma and Sinti Holocaust victims. The memorial service took place at the former forced labor camp, from where Roma and Sinti were deported to the Auschwitz II – Birkenau extermination camp in March 1943.
The Romano Them Radio show on the Belgrade Radio features Professor Husein Kicuk talks about the forced name change of Roma in Bulgaria during communism and the consequences that this policy had on the identity and Romani language. Young Roma football players in the Czech Republic faced racist insults, and local authorities and sports clubs responded with the “No to Racism” campaign and support for the community. We present the work of the Commissioner for Roma Issues in the Government of the Czech Republic, Lucie Fukova, and her contribution to the inclusion of Roma in public life.
A testimony in a Restaurant in Novo Mesto, Slovenia. “Today, my family and I experienced something that really shocked and angered me. My wife and my 4-year-old daughter and I came to a restaurant in Novo mesto. We sat down at a table like any normal guest and waited for someone to come and serve us. I watched as the waiters served other guests normally, but no one came to our table.”
When his wife went to ask for a cake or ice cream and something to drink, the waiter told her: “We don’t have any cakes and we don’t have anything to drink, we’ve run out of everything.” When the man went to ask why they weren’t serving them, he was shocked by the answer: “The waiter told me that they wouldn’t serve us because I’m Roma – in the local language, because I’m a ‘gypsy’. He said that the boss ordered them not to serve Roma.”
Two Roma families Baltovi and Chorovi, around 40 people, attacked 10 people from the Machevi family in Rozino. The aggressors threw stones and trees, as well as other objects, at the Machevi homes, and beat up some of the Machevis. No one knows why they are fighting, but the scandals have been going on for years. According to our information, there are arrests and injuries. The police in Plovdiv told Novinar that there were no serious injuries and one person was provided with medical assistance.
One hundred days after the entry into force of the so-called Šutar’s law, the debate on Roma issues in Slovenia is heating up again. Roma representatives say the law is harming them. Meanwhile, many residents in the southeast of the country claim something completely different – that the law has merely restricted actions that some have begun to perceive as self-evident rights.
English (UK) English (UK) 
Deutsch
Français