Category Archives: Slovakia

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia and Roma Personalities

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Slovakia and Roma Personalities

The Old Town Library, in cooperation with the Slovak National Museum in Martin – the Museum of Roma Culture in Slovakia and the Romano Forum magazine, opened the exhibition Gallery of Roma Personalities.

The exhibition presents 24 prominent personalities of Roma origin who, with their talent, work and legacy, contributed to the development of society in Slovakia.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia and the Billion for Roma

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Slovakia and the Billion for Roma

Slovak opposition Vladimír Ledecký (SaS) calls for reconsideration and revision of the action plans for the Strategy for Equality, Inclusion and Participation of the Roma until 2030 for the years 2025-2027, which were approved by the government in December 2024. As a Member of the National Council (NR) of the Slovak Republic, he submitted a resolution in which he warns that, based on the action plan, millions of euros are to be spent on “meaningless projects whose real contribution to improving the living and economic situation of the Roma is zero”.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia: Housing

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Slovakia: Housing

The city of Veľký Šariš today began installing new unimo cells for residents who lost theirs in the tragic fire on March 19th with five victims. After today’s installation of the connection on Thursday, the unimocells (container housing units) will be connected to the existing networks, and the tenants should start moving into them from Friday.

It is in such housing units that the fire started. And nothing has really been done to prevent a further tragedy. But this is at least something.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Illegal Houses

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Illegal Houses

The mayor of the village of Torysa near Sabinov has ordered the residents of the settlement to remove illegal buildings. They are using the land on which their homes stand without any legal title. The government’s plenipotentiary for Roma communities Alexander Daško is looking for a systemic solution with the mayor of the village of Torysa. The demolition of 77 illegal dwellings would deprive four hundred Roma of a roof over their heads. Miriam Žiaková, director of the media department of the Office of the Plenipotentiary of the Government of the Slovak Republic for Roma Communities, informed about this.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia: Politics and Roma

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Slovakia: Politics and Roma

The chairman of the political party “Progressive Slovakia”, Michal Šimečka, said: “Approximately 440,000 Roma live in Slovakia. A huge number of them face discrimination, open or hidden hatred or violence every day. And I am not just talking about the thousands of them who live in settlements without sewage and drinking water.”

According to the chairman of the Progressive Slovakia, by excluding them, we are unnecessarily losing the potential, wasting the talent and job opportunities of tens of thousands of people who could be an enrichment for our society – humanly, culturally and economically.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia: Illegal Buildings

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Slovakia: Illegal Buildings

The mayor of the village of Torysa near Sabinove has ordered the residents of the Roma settlement to remove illegal buildings. They are using the land on which their homes stand without any legal title.

According to the mayor of the village, Jozef Stedina, the residents of the settlement have not yet responded to repeated calls to legalize their homes and have not even paid a fine. For this reason, he sent them calls to definitively remove the illegal buildings within nine months.

This is a usual trend to remove settlements. The issue is that at the fall of communism, Roma were not given the land on which they lived. Thus, all buildings are illegal. The same argument was done in Bulgaria to remove Roma.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

International Roma Day

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International Roma Day

Several articles in the Slovak press about the International Roma Day on April 8th. They stress that 35 years have passed since the decision was made that April 8 would be International Roma Day. Ite was adopted in 1990 by delegates near Warsaw at the fourth World Roma Congress (Romano kongreso lumiakro), organized by the International Romani Union (IRU). The choice of the date of April 8 is connected with the commemoration of the first global meeting of the Roma, which took place from April 8 to 12, 1971 in Orpington near London.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Reportage in Lunik IX

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Reportage in Lunik IX

An Australian woman did a reportage inside apartments of the infamous Lunik IX estate in Slovakia. And surprise. The apartments are clean and well kept. Roma tell he about discrimination, especially when looking for work.

 

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia: April 8th

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Slovakia: April 8th

International Roma Day, which has been commemorated on April 8 for more than thirty years, will be celebrated in Banská Bystrica this coming Wednesday with the event Mirror. It will take place in Záhrad and will be a combination of the power of art, culture and social discussion.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia, Work, and Roma

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Slovakia, Work, and Roma

Minister Erik Tomáš came up with a catchy name “work instead of benefits”. In reality, it is a populist farce aimed against Roma that will not resolve the issues faced by Roma in Slovakia. The obstacles on the labor market are much more complex than the minister would be willing to admit. Many employers refuse to hire Roma. If you have a Roma surname, even education will not help you.

The minister chose the easiest victims. He painted a picture of a threatening army of people who sit at home all day, take money from the state and refuse to work. To make it sound even more dramatic, he did not forget to mention that this mainly concerns long-term unemployed Roma from marginalized communities.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia and Housing

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Slovakia and Housing

Apparently, only 40 millions euros (out of the billion) of the Roma fund granted to Slovakia by the EU will be used for building houses for poor Roma. This is a ridiculously low sum of money.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia: Atlas of Roma Communities

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Slovakia: Atlas of Roma Communities

The Office of the Government Plenipotentiary of the Slovak Republic for Roma Communities (ÚSVRK) is preparing an update of data related to the facilities and infrastructure of municipalities with a significant Roma representation. The data collection will be carried out in April 2025. Unlike previous updates, this will be conducted online. The Office has already pilot-tested the new sociographic mapping of Roma communities in Slovakia in seven municipalities, from February to March.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia: New Artist

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Slovakia: New Artist

Vanesa Horáková is only 16 years old, but her talent is confirmed by her latest single “Nechcem Ťa”.

She said: “I wanted to transfer the Roma style to pop and show people that Roma music can also be made in a modern, attractive dress. I wanted to prove that a song can be created by connecting both languages, which also fit perfectly into the Latin music background. I have many fans in the Roma community and I believe that they will be pleased with the lyrics in our language.”

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia: EU Funds

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Slovakia: EU Funds

Slovakia has received almost a billion euros from EU funds, which are intended to improve the living conditions of poor Roma. Whether the state is using this money effectively, and whether this aid is at all visible directly in the Roma settlements, will be the topic of today’s TA3 discussion show “Let’s look at it”.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Fire

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Fire

The quick reaction of a group of Roma prevented a tragedy in Topoľčany. A fire broke out in a family house on Tuesday, March 25, in the afternoon. Two women who lived in it without electricity, water and gas were trapped in thick smoke (no, it was not a Roma house).

At that time, Roma were working in the yard, helping the owner of the house with cleaning the land. When they noticed smoke pouring through the cracks in the windows, one of them did not hesitate to act. He ran into the building to save the women from danger.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia: Protest

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Slovakia: Protest

Teachers and students of Matej Bel University symbolically buried the code of ethics in protest against the speech of MEP Milan Mazurek at the university. “Dear mourners, on Thursday, March 20, the spirit of the code of ethics of Matej Bel University died.

Milan Mazurek, of the Republic Party (formerly “Our Slovakia”) is an extreme right politician who was condemned for racism against Roma in 2018, a decision upheld by the supreme court in 2019. Hew said in a speech: “The Gypsy anti-socials have never done anything for the nation and never will”.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Roma Ball

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Roma Ball

An article on the Roma ball held in Bratislava and the outfits of the Roma who attended. The article stresses the amount of jewellery and gold worn by the attendees.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia: Acquitted

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Slovakia: Acquitted

Canadian professor David Scheffel, who came to Slovakia to conduct research on child prostitution in Roma settlements near Prešov after the revolution, was prosecuted for sexual crimes for years. He was accused based on the statements of teenage girls from a poor Roma settlement where he conducted his research.

Last year, the girls recanted in an interview with the press and now, they have retracted their statements in court. The court subsequently acquitted David Scheffel.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia and Roma Settlements

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Slovakia and Roma Settlements

The Plenipotentiary of the Government of the Slovak Republic for Roma Communities Alexander Daško, who has been in place for 15 months, says that there have been enough concepts and analyses, and that one already knows everything about the living conditions in the communities, now we need to work. He also claims that nothing has been done in the last 30 years. He added that changes will take a long time.

Fact is, fires such as the one in Veľký Šaris will continue to happen, for as long as people have to resort to burning plastic in stoves to heat their homes.

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