President Zuzana Čaputová awarded a state award to Eva Gašparová, who is dedicated to teaching Romanes. The ceremony took place on January 14th in the building of the Slovak Philharmonic in Bratislava.
On January 13th, the European Roma Ball was held in the “Alexandar Palace” hotel in Skopje, organized by the Roma United from Macedonia (ROM) party, headed by Erdzhan Selimi. He thanked the many people present, and mentioned the leader of VMRO-DPMNE, Hristijan Mickoski, who was among the guests, calling him the future prime minister of Macedonia.
The SDS parliamentary group submitted a request to the National Assembly for an urgent meeting of the commission for petitions, human rights and equal opportunities, at which the Roma issue would be discussed in Dolenjsko and Kočevsko, in Bela Krajina and in Posavje. They warn that it is getting worse. They also warn that the government has not prepared the solutions to solve the mentioned problem, which it promised when rejecting the legislative proposals of the Dolenj municipalities. These had proposed measures to cut social help specifically aimed at Roma.
“Blic TV” peeked into the homes of several Roma families in Niš, Serbia.
Roma immigrants of Romanian origin live in former allotment gardens at Lechicka Street in Poznań. The city has had problems with the encampment for years. Now, the city hall has an application for an environmental decision for a new investment – multi-family buildings on that site.
Question is what will happen with the Roma?
The Slovenian Parliamentary Committee for Internal Affairs, Public Administration and Local Self-Government today took note of the tenth report on the situation of the Roma community in Slovenia for the year 2022. A resolution was unanimously adopted proposing to the Education Committee and the government that in solving the challenges of the issue, special emphasis is placed on the upbringing and education of Roma children.
Well, up till now it did not quite work …
An article on minorities in the Czech Republic. Thy by now make up 10% of the Czech population. The article highlights the continuing difficulties encountered by Roma, and also stats that the state created a register of Roma as early as 1927 which was then used to deport them to concentration camps. In the Czech lands, almost none survived.
On January 12, 1942, the Germans completed the liquidation of the Roma camp located in the Litzmannstadt Ghetto in Łódź. The Germans took 5,000 people to Łódź. Mostly Roma from the border of Austria and Hungary. Many of them died in the camp, the rest were murdered in the gas chambers.
On the occasion of the Vasilitsa holiday, celebrated by Roma as the beginning of the New Year, children from the secondary school “Traiko Simeonov” in Shumen visited Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov in the Council of Ministers. According to the article, they were “dressed in traditional costumes for the ethnic group” which is utter nonsense.
A young Rom was stabbed to death in Hradec Králové. It was apparently not a racist act, but a stabbing prompted by the refusal to give a cigarette. A vigil was held in the town for the victim. And there was some criticism that no official representative of the government, i.e. people meant to represent Roma there, were present.
Government Commissioner for Roma Minority Affairs Lucie Fuková apologized for her absence at the memorial meeting that took place on Sunday at the main station in Hradec Králové.
A traveling exhibition showcass the many faces of successful Roma women. It shows successful Romnja – entrepreneur, social worker, mother, singer, small business owner, hairdresser, student, pharmacist.
An ecoduct in Svrčinovec did not manage to be built by the end of 2023. This means that Slovakia lost millions from European funds – apparently threatening the entire funding of a highway. The problem was the Roma settlement which existed on the site of the planned work. The state did not find any suitable alternative housing for the Roma, and communes nearby squabbled as to whom would have to take these Roma.
Bad, but foreseeable …
On Tuesday, January 9, Łódź commemorated the 82nd anniversary of the liquidation of the Roma and Sinti camp established in the Litzmannstadt Ghetto.
The Lety memorial to the victims of the Genocide of the Roma will open with a delay in April of this year.
The reason being delays and issues discovered while building the site.
The two Balkan stars Svetlana Ceca Ražnatović and Tea Tairović will perform at the “World Roma Ball” in Skopje, which will be held on January 18 of this month. Ceca will sing for 50,000 euros, Tea Tairovic for 20,000 euros.
This is a ball with budget to say the least …
The Independent Journalism Endowment Fund recently updated the ranking of the most trusted domestic media. Among those evaluated is the news server ROMEA.cz, which achieved the highest mark.
“It is the result of many years of work and efforts of our team, which tries to bring quality, objective and up-to-date information about events from the Roma world,” says Zdeněk Ryšavý, director of the ROMEA organisation.
Well done!
In November 1941, in the Litzmannstadt Ghetto, Nazis established a sub-camp to which Roma and Sinti were brought from the Burgenland. After several weeks, on January 5, 1942, the deportation of prisoners to the extermination camp in Chełmno nad Nerem began, where several thousand people were brutally murdered.
An interview with Ilona Ferková who recently published her first novel, AMEN, which tells about a great girl friendship on the threshold of adulthood. The book is not a social drama about an excluded ethnic minority, but a colourful portrait of Czechoslovak youth in the relaxed sixties.
Natalia Yuzypchuk, a Ukrainian Romni, fled to Warsaw from Lutsk, Ukraine, seeking safety for her grandchildren. A year and a half later, Natalia is the driving force behind the Roma Community Centre in Warsaw, run by the W Stroną Dialogu Foundation and supported by UNICEF.
Since the first months of the war, the situation of Roma refugees has been much worse than that of other groups of refugees from Ukraine. Roma refugee families face many barriers in accessing basic services due to administrative obstacles and lack of documents. This leads to bigger obstacles, including: in access to financial support, health care, education, housing and the labour market. Many people also tell us that they have faced overt discrimination as a result of prejudice and stereotypes.
The traditional World Roma Ball will be held in Skopje for the 44th time on January 18, are already preparing for the event. As in previous years, guests from all over Europe are expected. They will be entertained by Ceca, Thea Tairovic, Jogani, Muharem Serbezovski, Tarkan, Jefrina at the Alexander Palace Hotel.
EN 
DE 
FR