Category Archives: News Eastern Europe

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia: Floods

Published by:

Two videos and descriptions of the floods that struck Slovakia yesterday.

News Eastern Europe Serbia

Serbia: Mentors

Published by:

The Roma organisation called “Romani asvin” from Kruševac launched a peer mentoring program. Until the end of August, a program called “Mentors on a click” is available to all Roma students at universities. Since the beginning of May, about twenty people interested in getting mentors have contacted us electronically – says Alma Kajtazi from the Association, explaining the advantages of the website www.romaniasvin.org on the Edu info-roma platform.

News Eastern Europe News Western Europe Slovakia United Kingdom

Slovak Emigration

Published by:

A documentary film, entitled “Leaving” and directed by Mira Erdevički, presents a picture of the Roma that will probably surprise many viewers in Slovakia. The three main protagonists speak perfect English, are appreciated in their professions, and especially accepted by their surroundings, to which they repay by actively helping the community. But there is one catch. Although they come from Slovakia or the Czech Republic, they had to go to Britain to get such an opportunity.

Europe News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia, Roma, and the EU

Published by:

The European Commission criticizes Slovakia for not being able to effectively use hundreds of millions of euros from European funds. The money is intended to improve the quality of life of marginalized communities. There are about 500,000 Roma in Slovakia. Many live in extreme poverty, on the margins of society.

Belarus News Eastern Europe

Belarus and Roma

Published by:

The Roma organization of the Ashmyany Land region has been closed by the authorities. It has officially existed for twenty years – it was registered in 2003. It is one of the smallest ethnic associations in the Grodno region in terms of the number of members. As of January 1 last year, the Community had only 22 members, eight fewer than in 2014, when the list of organizations included thirty names.

Officially, there are only 7’079 Roma in Belarus.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czech Republic: Arson Victims

Published by:

The Karel Janeček’s foundation, in response to the early release from prison of two of the Vítkov arsonists, has established a collection called “We Stand With Natálka” (“Stojíme za Natálkou”). The aim to not only to help the victims of this arson, but also to highlight that little is done in the country for victims of serious crime.

Hungary News Eastern Europe

Catalan Rumba in Hungary

Published by:

MazsiMó-GipsyMó’s first album titled Gypsy DNA was launched in a concert on May 19, 2023 in the Akvárium Klub in Budapest. The formation, which plays music based on Catalan rumba, was created in August 2021 by the internationally recognized band Romengo and the head of the International Gypsy and World Music Network, Mihály Mazsi Rostás. The Catalan rumba was made known all over the world by the Gipsy Kings.

The members of the band express themselves most easily in the Lovári language, and they also want to get the young Gypsies – who generally speak the language of their grandparents less and less – to sing as much as possible to the catchy tunes in Gypsy.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia and Inclusion

Published by:

Peter Pollák, a Slovak EU MP stated that when it comes to Roma children, there was not a single minister of education who would give them a chance for the future. The government should come with a clear commitment to drastically revise the current plans in the area of school desegregation.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia and Roma Settlements

Published by:

Support and improvement of the standard of living of localities where predominantly marginalized Roma communities live, as well as adjacent areas with non-Roma population, were the topic of the meeting of representatives of the city of Humenné with the representative of the Slovak government for Roma communities on Thursday (18 May) Ján Hero and Member of the European Parliament Peter Pollák in Humenno.

Bulgaria News Eastern Europe

Bulgaria: Theatre Program

Published by:

A project, “Educational theatre, a tool for improved awareness of the art and culture of the Roma ethnic group in Bulgaria” did a casting for candidate actors. The goal is to develop skills through culture and art, and for theatre to be a path to education. And to stimulate greater social cohesion and mutual understanding between the majority and minority cultures with a focus on the Roma.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia and Roma

Published by:

Gataum Rana,  who, after eight months of living in Slovakia and after regularly traveling around this beautiful country, is firmly convinced that the Roma minority is the biggest source of Slovakia’s untapped potential.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia and Osada

Published by:

A rather bold project in a village in Slovakia: Connect the Roma settlement to the centre of the village. They want people to get closer and know each other better by removing the existing physical barrier.

A common feature of all excluded Roma communities is that they are located on the outskirts of municipalities, often kilometres from the centre, where a person from the majority rarely gets to

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenian Mass Murder

Published by:

The first mass murder of Slovenian civilians by communist partisans took place on May 17, 1942, when they murdered 53 people in the Iška gorge, south of Ljubljana. The victims were mostly Slovenian Roma. The event has been thoroughly researched and historically documented, as the Government Commission on Covert Graves excavated the remains of the victims in 2017. The perpetrators were partisans of the 1st company of the Šercer battalion, who murdered 53 people that day, of which 49 were Roma and four were Slovenian. The only Romani woman who escaped the massacre in Iška was later murdered in Gornji Igo.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia and Roma

Published by:

Urška Klakočar Zupančič, the speaker of the Slovene Parlaiment, received representatives of the Association of Roma Councillors of Slovenia. They pointed out that the situation of the Roma is still bad, and they are also concerned about the low reputation of the Roma in society.

News Eastern Europe Poland

Auschwitz: Commemoration

Published by:

On Tuesday, Roma representatives commemorated Roma inmates in Auschwitz who, 79 years ago, rebelled in the so-called Zigeunerlager, which is part of the German KL Auschwitz II-Birkenau.

“Today we celebrate the 79th anniversary of the Roma rebellion. On May 16, 1944, one of the most heroic events during the functioning of KL Auschwitz-Birkenau took place in this area. (…) Today, by laying wreaths and lighting candles at the monument to the murdered Roma, we pay tribute to all the heroes of that day and honour the memory of those murdered here,” said Władysław Kwiatkowski from the Roma Association in Poland.

News Eastern Europe Ukraine

Ukraine Roma Strategy

Published by:

The Roma Women’s Foundation “Chirikli” initiated a discussion of the Action Plan for the Implementation of the Strategy for Facilitating the Realization of the Rights and Opportunities of Persons Belonging to the Roma National Minority in Ukrainian Society for 2024-2025.

The discussion took place online on May 12, 2023. It was attended by Roma mediators (Valentyna Zolotarenko, Zhuzhuna Duduchava, Maksym Jum, Bublyk Marina, Rada Kalandia) and representatives of 15 Roma organizations from Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk, Zakarpattia, Chernihiv, Kyiv, Donetsk, Kirovohrad regions (Yulian Kondur, Vasyl Bilous, Vira Drangoy, Eleonora Kulchar, Myroslav Horvat, Kostyantyn Musenko, Oleksiy Padchenko, Mykhailo Bilyavskyi), as well as the representative of the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine Zemfira Kondur.

https://www.facebook.com/Chiricli/photos/a.1337218203040379/6029698317125654/

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia: Weapons

Published by:

According to this article, there are more and more weapons to be found in Roma settlements in Slovenia. Why this is the case is not explained, nor is the source of those weapons.

Bad for all.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Role Model

Published by:

Roma university student and futsal talent Dominik Balog says he want to show the way to Roma children. He is completing his bachelor at the university in Prague, where he is studying criminology and will also play in the finals of the Czech futsal league. He was also a member of the delegation of successful Roma students, with whom the presidential couple recently discussed the possibilities of better integration of Roma into Czech society at Prague Castle.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czech President on Lety

Published by:

Petr Pavel, the new Czech president says the state carries responsibility in not having acted faster to buy the pig farm on the site of the concentration camp of Lety.

rroma.org
en_GBEN
de_DEDE fr_FRFR en_GBEN