Thousands of believers, mostly from eastern Slovakia, took part in the traditional Roma pilgrimage in Gaboltov in the Bardejov district on Sunday.
Quite a few articles in the Slovak press for the 80th anniversary of the destruction of the Roma camp in Auschwitz Birkenau.
Šimon and his wife Romana only know life in a Roma settlement. They show their house in Hrušovce, which has only one, but cozy room. It serves as bedroom, living room, kitchen and bathroom all in one. Šimon says that they would like to move with the help of the organization DOM.ov.
The organisation helps Roma obtain a better home. They have to be employed, have an income to be able to pay the mortgage. At the same time, they must start saving a year in advance, at least 100 euros per month. The NGO then helps them getting and building a new home.
The first stage of the construction of a new factory in Eastern Slovakia is complete and work is proceeding according to plans. Volvo is preparing to recruit employees at the end of next year. Volvo has committed to hire and train Roma for this new factory.
For the first time in the history of Slovakia, the court ruled that the police acted in a discriminatory manner during the intervention in the Roma settlement. It happened more than nine years ago in the village of Vrbnica near Michalovce. Fifteen Roma ended up in hospital after police intervention. T
he Ministry of the Interior appealed against the court’s verdict.
Following a monitoring visit to Slovakia, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Michael O’Flaherty called for an urgent housing solution for the Roma, who often live in unsatisfactory conditions without sewage or access to drinking water.
Following a monitoring visit to Slovakia, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Michael O’Flaherty called for an urgent housing solution for the Roma, who often live in unsatisfactory conditions without sewage or access to drinking water.
Let’s see …
An article about the Slovakian Romano Group “Kesaj Tchave”, founded more than 20 years ago by Ivan Akimov. The group recently made a tour in France.
A Slovak MP, Ingrid Kosova criticizes the project of the Ministry of Education to teach Roma children in Romanes. She says that up to 65 percent of Roma children encounter segregation during education. They do not encounter other children, they lose the opportunity to escape from the environment of generational poverty. It is not just a historical, cultural or economic question. It is first and foremost a deeply moral question. The consequences of segregation in schools are humiliating and dehumanizing. First of all, politicians can change it. However, they are failing miserably, and the result is that, according to the data of the European Union, Slovakia is the worst in terms of segregation among the member states. And the situation continues to worsen.
The Slovak Ministry of Education launched a pilot project where Roma children are taught in Romanes. This is a scandal and cementing the segregation of Roma in school. It certainly will not help integration.
The Slovak Ministry of Health reacted to the comments of the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Michael O’ Flaherty, who, after a recent visit to Slovakia, called on the Slovak authorities to urgently address the “terrible living conditions” of thousands of Roma, and improve their access to health.
The ministry said they would support programs for “socially excluded groups”.
Let’s see.
After a recent visit to Slovakia, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Michael O’Flaherty called on the Slovak authorities to urgently address the “terrible living conditions” of thousands of Roma. In the east of Slovakia, he visited Stará Tehelňa in Prešov, Jarovnice, Petrovany, Luník IX in Košice and Kecerovce, where he met with representatives of Roma communities, local authorities and groups working with Roma.
“Prejudice against Roma is deeply rooted in society. Discrimination affects all areas of Roma life in Slovakia: from placing Roma women in separate maternity wards to segregated Roma children in education. Many Roma are deprived of access to adequate housing and are rejected in job interviews, ” he stated.
A reportage in Spiš, Slovakia, where many residents of the Roma settlement work in the UK and return home with nice cars, luxury goods, and renovate their houses. The story from exclusion to integration, albeit in another country.
Over the weekend, Nitra, in Slovakia, will host the eighth annual international Roma festival called Amaro Fest 2024 – open air gipsy festival. As the organizers from the civic association Roma Art Agency stated, in addition to promoting culture, the festival is supposed to support Roma identity and contribute to the social and cultural inclusion of Roma. “Amaro Fest 2024 will offer performances by professional Roma artists from abroad and from home. The audience will see dynamic dance ensembles and the world star from Germany Ricard Kwiek with a live band, Ján Bendig will come from the Czech Republic,” the organizers informed.
A Slovak journalist, Petra Strižková, went to two Slovak villages: Bystré and Hlinné. What they have in common is that they succeeded in what many only dream of or say is impossible! Roma-non-Roma coexistence is harmonious there – and has been for decades. The beginning of the successful story of integration was the demolition of a Roma settlement 50 years ago.
Well, that is clear: If you segregate people in a ghetto, you will definitively not integrate them.
The Office of the Government declared that, in addition to focusing on the field of civil protection, it will make maximum effective use of European funds aimed at the restoration of cultural monuments. “The restoration of cultural monuments, […], also has an important social element, in the form of social enterprises that employ a significant part of members of marginalized Roma communities during the restoration of cultural heritage,” according to the document approved by the government on Wednesday.
It means, like in Hungary, that they hire Roma (usually at low rates) for unskilled work…
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) of the Slovak Republic wants to establish a working group that would prepare a legislative proposal for compensation for women sterilized in violation of the law. The Department informed about this in connection with the meeting of its State Secretary Katarína Roskoványi with the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, Michael O’Flaherty.
It is about time. The practice continued even after the fall of the iron curtain.
The State Secretary of the Ministry of Justice of the Slovak Republic, Katarína Roskoványi, met today with the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, Michael O’Flaherty. The subject of the meeting was the human rights of the Roma.
Commissioner O’Flaherty informed about his visit to Slovakia. During the initial days, he visited eastern Slovakia, where he met with representatives of the Roma community and held interviews about their situation, access to housing and other rights.
There are many Roma in Slovakia under the long term unemployed. Many of them retrained, but employers do not want to hire them… And now the minister wants to stop the benefits if they refuse a job. The fear is that the jobs they will propose are menial work with 19th century technology like the Hungarian közmunka (public work).
An Interview with Igor Andre, a Slovcak from Bratislava who worked in the office for the plenipotentiary of the Roma and moved 10 years ago in Eastern Slovakia and taught in a Roma school.
Well, his view of Roma is stereotypical. He states: “The debate about the Roma in our country is influenced by the woke ideology”; that the debate is “automatically based on the principle that the majority is the oppressor and the Roma are the victims.” He continues and says that Roma are gifted in crafts… In brief, he knows and sees only a part of the Roma community and thinks he knows it all.
Another Slovak article about the latest measures from Minister of Labor Erik Tomáš to reduce unemployment and prevent abuse of the social system.
“We want to employ and get to work as many Roma as possible,” said the minister at the beginning of the press conference. How will it work in practice? If an unemployed person rejects a job offer, the material need benefit will be withdrawn or reduced for 12 months. According to the law, it still applies that it must be such an offer that is suitable for the person in question and corresponds to his abilities.
Well, how will it work with Roma? Since most companies do not want to employ them, how is this supposed to work? This is just another of those populists measures that bring nothing.
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