On the World Romani Language Day, which we mark today, the Romani community around the world and in Slovenia emphasizes the importance of preserving language as a key element of identity. Romani scholar Jožek Horvat Muc believes that “the Romani language is what tells members of the Romani community who they are and what their history was like”.
Slovenian municipalities will now have to report to the state on the use of money in which Roma live. 25 of them, received over nine million euros from the state budget for this purpose this year, the most ever. But there is no clear answer to the question of where the money ends up.
Data reveals that in previous years quite a few municipalities did not spend the money at all or spent it on something else instead of integrating Roma. This is precisely why they will now have to report to the state on the use of the money in detail on a special form.
In the wake of the killing of a man by Roma in Slovenia, the government is planning new repressive measures. The current proposal will allow cutting social benefits to perpetrators of crimes and their families.
The Faculty of Social Work of the University of Ljubljana and the Association of Social Workers of Slovenia have described several measures from the so-called Šutar Act as unconstitutional and a departure from the principles of the welfare state. They called on the government to avoid collective punishment, stigmatization and repression of the poorest and most socially excluded groups.
The Murska Sobota Regional and Study Library marked the upcoming World Romani Language Day, which is celebrated on November 5, with a presentation of a poetry collection and a discussion about the importance of the Romani language.
Jožek Horvat Muc said that “the Romani language is always the one that tells members of the Roma community who and what they are”. According to Horvat Muc, preserving the language is directly related to preserving the identity of the Roma community.
Following the killing of a man in Novo Mesto, news in Slovenia are full of discussion about the Roma “problem”.
President of the Slovenian Republic Nataša Pirc Musar warned in the show Odmevi on TV Slovenija that measures will have to be prepared according to the principle of ‘nothing about Roma without Roma’.
The Slovene President Nataša Pirc Musar visited Novo mesto for the first time since the tragedy. She lit a candle in memory of Aleš Šutar who was killed recently and met with Mayor Macedoni. “If the state reacts only with repression, these are short-term solutions,” the president is convinced.
The president “told the representatives of the Roma community that if they do not try to limit violence and criminal acts among themselves, it will not be good for them or for us. If the state only reacts with repression, these are short-term solutions. The Roma must help us with this.”
Two articles in the French press about the manifestations and fall out after a man was killed after being aggressed by Roma in Novo Mesto.
Roma expressed solidarity and condolences at a rally in Črnomelj: We are not all the same. They emphasized that this was not a protest, but an expression of solidarity and condolences. They also pointed out the growing intolerance towards Roma and emphasized that not all Roma are the same.
A talk with Haris Tahirović, journalist and president of the Roma association Anglunipe and president of the Roma Community Association, which is called Umbrella, about the situation of the Roma in Slovenia and we tried to answer the question of what was the cause of the tragic event in Novo mesto.
The 2007 Roma Community Act has caused considerable debate and opposition. One of the key complaints, explains Tahirović, is that it separates Roma into autochthonous and non-autochthonous, which many believe is discriminatory and causes additional divisions within an already marginalized community. Another problem is the uneven implementation of national strategies and measures. Some measures have been implemented only on paper, without any real impact on the lives of Roma.
In response to the Novo Mesto tragedy, the Human Rights Ombudsman strongly condemned all violence. According to the Ombudsman, the state has failed to integrate the Roma. He warned that the right to security is one of the fundamental pillars of trust in the rule of law, and added that the incident reveals deeper social and systemic problems.
“The outbreaks of violence are a reflection of systemic shortcomings,” it is written on the Ombudsman’s website. They also recalled that the Ombudsman has been warning for many years about the lack of sustainable and inclusive measures, ghettoization, spatial and social segregation, and unequal opportunities that deepen differences, strengthen mistrust, and prevent coexistence.
The entire Roma community, like every member of the Roma community of southeastern Slovenia, must do everything to stop the criminal acts of individual Roma immediately, wrote the president of the Roma Community Council of the Republic of Slovenia Jožek Horvat Muc in a message to the mayor of Novo Mesto, Gregor Macedoni.
On behalf of the Roma Community Council and on his own behalf, Horvat Muc expressed his sincere condolences to the family and relatives of the deceased and condemned “all acts of violence and gross violations of security and endangering the life of every citizen”.
The entire Roma community and every individual within the Roma community in the area of southeastern Slovenia must, in his belief, be aware that everything must be done to stop the criminal acts of individual Roma immediately.
Bad news. According to the news, a gang of Roma in Novo Mesto., Slovenia, beat up a father who defended his son, he died in hospital.
All articles say there is a problem with Roma violence, criminality, and that the government doesn’t do anything. All Roma are being put in this category, regardless. This is bad.
The Slovene Ministry of Labour launched the Roma Model programme in May this year, with the aim of increasing Roma employment. The programme is currently implemented only by the Kočevje Business Incubator. Nine Roma women have joined it. Employers’ experiences with them vary, but currently, according to the programme’s implementers, the biggest problem is low pay.
The Institute for the Study of Gender Equality (Ipes) presented the Fortuna project, which addresses discrimination in healthcare, which makes it more difficult for Roma men and women to access services and often receive worse treatment. They investigated administrative, linguistic and logistical barriers, lack of information, distrust in institutions, experiences of discrimination, as well as the quality of treatment received by members of this largest European minority, which is known to have a significantly worse health picture compared to the majority population. According to Ana Pavlič, Ipesa’s program director, life expectancy in Slovenia for its members is more than 20 years lower, and child mortality is four times higher. A major indicator of inequality in health care is also early childbirth, with two-thirds of births among Roma women occurring between the ages of 15 and 24. “So women are starting to give birth at very young ages, which certainly indicates a high level of distrust in health institutions related to contraception and reproductive rights,” Pavlič said at a press conference.
Another diatribe from a Slovenian MP regarding the security in Southeastern Slovenia. MP Anja Bah Žibert stated at a press conference: Due to the failure to resolve the Roma issue, the situation in the southeast of Slovenia is deteriorating. We are no longer talking about individual incidents, but about steadily increasing violence. Despite numerous warnings from residents, mayors and people’s initiatives, which have been warning about the increase in crime, violence and threats to security for a long time, the state remains passive. The government of Robert Golob has repeatedly promised measures, but these have not been implemented in practice, the SDS MP reminded.
In Lendava, a dispute has been flaring up in recent weeks between the municipal administration and Roma councilwoman Nataša Horvat, the representative of the Roma community in the municipal council. According to some sources, the councilwoman is trying to influence municipal procedures in favour of her extended family, which the municipality understands as an overstepping of her powers.
She apparently advocated for the construction of a driveway to a house, which was allegedly built without proper permits, owned by her husband’s brother.
This morning, representatives of newly established people’s initiatives to solve the Roma problem (Sic), which operate under the auspices of the regional one, gathered at the Jordan homestead in Mihovica.
According to them. The “Roma problem” is getting worse and worse and the security and social conditions have become unbearable. They added that if the sate doesn’t protect them they will have to do it themselves.
State Secretary at the Ministry of the Interior Helga Dobrin met with representatives of the Regional Civil Initiative of Southeast Slovenia. The main topic of the discussions was the Roma issue and ensuring security in local communities in southeast Slovenia.
She said that the police will ensure an increased patrol presence as long as necessary but that it is only is only a short-term measure, the long-term goal being Roma integration.
Another one of these articles about young Roma robbing a man in the Novo Mesto region. The facts are not to be denied, as the Roma, aged 14 to 16 were arrested by the police and will be indicted. The issue here is that the general trend is to lump all Roma as criminals. This is bad and dangerous.
The Police in Novo Mesto, Slovenia, reported a robbery committed by a group of young men aged between 12 and 14. According to the article information, they are Roma from Žabjak. The victims were two young men from whom the group took money, and then one of them was slapped and hit with a stick.
Bad.
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