Category Archives: Slovakia

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia, Health, and Roma

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An article in the Slovak press that says more than it intends: A Romani grandmother saved a new-born in a Roma settlement in Slovakia, even though she has not medical education. Fact is, if you live in a Roma settlement in Slovakia, you can write off health case, and no doctor or ambulance will go there.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia: Documentary

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Director Peter Záchenský  made a documentary on the small village Bôrka, about 20 km from Rožňava (Slovakia). Similar to elsewhere – Slovaks, Hungarians, Roma together on a small piece of land, mostly out of work. He explores and portrays the situation from several angles.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia, the Police, and Roma

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When a Rom complains about police’s actions, the truth is difficult to uncover. In Slovakia, the police need not fear any punishment, according to Amnesty International director Rado Sloboda.

He went to a regular work dinner but ended up in handcuffs at the police station. He claims that they pressed his head against a table, beat him and kicked him. Roma activist Zoltán Sztojka draws attention to an incident at the regional police department in Trnávka, Bratislava, where, according to his own words, he was beaten. He talks about slaps, kicks and racist insults.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia, Roma, and Fashion

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The former and fourth president of the Slovak Republic, Andrej Kiska, presented a fashion brand in Bratislava that changes the lives of Roma. The unique ROMADE project was created with the aim of systematically helping people from Roma communities in Slovakia. It provides them with permanent employment, regular income and professional advice. The ROMADE fashion brand is represented by original collections that were created by combining Roma culture, the talent of Slovak designers and the work of Roma.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Roma Spirit Laureates

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The 2023 Roma Spirit award nominated its laureates on Saturday (November 25) evening. They were announced at the National Theater in Košice. The prize was awarded by an expert jury in eight categories.

Šukar Dživipen from Banská Štiavnica won in the NGO category.

Zdravé regióny – a state organization won in the category Company and employer.

The city district of Košice – Luník IX won in the the Town and City category.

Paulína Slepčíková from Košice won in the in the Personality category.

The project Stories without Borders won in the Media category.

Barbora Botošová from Bratislava won the award in the Culture category.

Natália Gažiová from Košice won the Act of the Year category.

The special prize of the jury was awarded in memoriam to Daniela Hivešová Šilanova, a Slovak writer, dramaturg and screenwriter, co-founder of Romathan Roma Theatre.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Roma Spirit: Portrait

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The director of the Filakovo school is a finalist in Roma Spirit. Ildikó Kotlárová, a Romni,  has been working in education for 36 years. “When pupils see that the principal is a Roma woman, it can inspire and motivate them,” she says.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia: Awards

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Folklorist, civic activist and community worker Marie Oláhová, sociologist Zuzana Kusá and mayor of Toporec Gustáv Pompa won the Luč z tmy (Ray of Darkness) award this year. The prize was awarded for the sixth time to people who have long been advocating for the improvement of the position of the Roma in various areas of life.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Roma Spirit

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The Roma spirit finalists are announced. The Roma Spirit prizes are given to organisations and individuals who have contributed to the integration of Roma.

Among them are, for example, the non-governmental organizations Detstvo deťom from Dobšina, Šukar Dživipen from Banská Štiavnica and Spokojnost – a center of social services from Prievidza. The gala evening with the awards will be on November 25.

  • Finalistami Roma Spirit sú aj učiteľky z Dobšinej, združenie zo štiavnického Šobova aj mäsokombinát a odpadová firma. In: Dennik N. 20.11.2023. https://dennikn.sk/minuta/3688446/
News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia and Roma Education

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An editorial on the newly published government program on education. In the case of Roma, the government “hid” the entire extensive topic of their inclusion in education under the concept of generational poverty. According to the editorial, this is the proof that the current government is not sincerely interested in solving the inclusion of Roma on a human rights and respectful approach.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia and the Telgart Debacle

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Amnesty international stated that the Slovak government failed to resolve the Telgart issue. A Roma settlement totally burned out in the summer, and the residents of the settlements are still in tents as we speak. A bit of caution is needed on the reporting due to its source, as it is very critical of the previous government.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia: Portraits

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The portraits of ten Slovak Roma writers, as part of the exhibit “Portraits Between the Lines” from the artist  Šarlota Bottová opened on Tuesday (November 7) in the Ethnographic Museum in Martin. It was prepared by the Museum of Roma Culture in Slovakia on the occasion of the World Day of the Roma Language (November 5).

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia, Fico, and Roma

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An increasing number of Roma are worried about the prime minister Fico and his plkans to abolish the office of the plenipotentiary for Roma of the Slovak government. Reason behind it might well be, that this office will decide on EU funds earmarked for Roma …

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Telgart: A Solution?

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28 containers are already standing near the Roma settlement, where a fire broke out in July, almost totally destroying it. 105 people could move into them, 60 of them children. “Everyone is impatient, they have been here too long to be in a good mood,” said Telgárt mayor Jozef Štajer.

The catch: Electricity has not yet been installed.

Hungary News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Exhibition on Roma and the Holocaust

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In the gallery of the City History Museum in Fiľakovo, Slovakia, visitors will be able to view the exhibition of the Dutch photographer Jutka Rona entitled Hungarian Gypsies – Survivors’ Testimony dedicated to the memory of the Hungarian Roma holocaust.

Hungarian-born photographer Jutka Rona was two years old when her parents immigrated to the Netherlands.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia, Roma, and Politics

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In the new composition of the Parliament of Slovakia, out of 150 representatives, as many as six are Roma. And not by some kind of key, but as elected representatives. Many Roma voted for the the party called “Ordinary people and independent personalities” (OľaNO) led by Igor Matovič, which is at the end, with 9% of votes won became the fourth largest party in the Slovak parliament. In some places with a majority Roma population, Matovic’s alliance achieved election results that were suspicious even to the police: while other parties got two or three percent each, OLaNO collected over 90% of the votes.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia, Roma, and Fico

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The new Slovak prime minister Fico and his extreme right coalition partners are not exactly pro-Roma. Their first test will be on how to deal with the Roma of Telgárt, whose settlement burnt down over the summer and who are still housed in tents.

Fico will definitively need the office of the plenipotentiary for Roma communities, as for the first time, it has a large budget under its belt – it will distribute up to 400 million euros from European funds in the next few years, and also has greater powers.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakian Roma

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Petr and Jana Ščuka are married and Roma. They are exceedingly successful, are de facto billionaires but gave away 1/3 of their fortune to help others, be they Roma or non Roma.

Well done.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia: Football Tournament

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The EQUAL CUP football tournament is taking place in Záhorí under the auspices of the Human in Danger organization, with the participation of students from Lozorn and Plavecký Štvrtek. As part of the Better Future for Young Roma project, which is financed by the Volkswagen Slovakia Foundation, the organization Human in Danger works with young people from marginalized Roma communities (MRK) in western Slovakia, primarily in Záhorí.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Erik Žigmund

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Erik Žigmund is a successful Slovak musician, and a Rom. He says: “There are very few Roma in Trenčín, I was probably the only one in the whole school”. He also said he was bullied in school. He speaks about a friend who died and abot commemoration in this interview.

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