Category Archives: Slovenia

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia: Conference

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Slovenia: Conference

An international Roma conference is taking place in Murska Sobota, focusing on the progress, challenges, and future of the Roma community, twenty years after intensified policies were initiated.

Jožek Horvat Muc, president of the Roma Community Council, noted some improvements due to political measures, but highlighted ongoing issues like access to education, housing, and basic utilities. The conference emphasizes the need for greater Roma involvement in decision-making and a coordinated EU approach to address the community’s challenges.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia: Settlements

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Slovenia: Settlements

The Minister of the Interior and Public Administration, Franci Matoz, met with Mayor Gregor Macedoni to discuss current security conditions in the municipality of Novo mesto. The Mayor made himself known by taking drastic measures against Roma linking social services as well as warer and electricity to “good behaviour”.

The meeting focused on issues related to the Roma community and illegal construction, emphasizing the need for collaboration between various government departments and local authorities. The Minister confirmed the government’s commitment to addressing Roma issues through inter-departmental cooperation, acknowledging that narrow departmental approaches have hindered effective responses to challenges in southeastern Slovenia and Posavje.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Young Roma in Slovenia

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Young Roma in Slovenia

The article discusses an international roundtable event focused on creating an open society for youth, held in Murska Sobota, Slovenia, which brought together various stakeholders in youth work.

Key topics included challenges faced by marginalized youth, the importance of education and active participation, and the role of local communities in supporting youth initiatives.

Participants emphasized the need for collaboration among local communities, schools, NGOs, and youth to foster inclusive and quality youth work, highlighting the significance of international programs like Erasmus+.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia: New Project

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Slovenia: New Project

A new Slovenian project addresses the prevention of early and forced marriages, gender equality, women’s empowerment, and combating anti-Roma sentiment to enhance the skills of public officials working with the Roma community.

A training session was held online on June 12, 2026, focusing on various aspects of working with Roma youth, emphasizing inter-institutional cooperation and the role of social work centers. The training included presentations from government representatives and educational leaders, highlighting the importance of education in the lives of Roma youth and sharing best practices in inter-institutional collaboration.

Nice, but what is the impact?

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia and WWII Victims

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Slovenia and WWII Victims

The Slovene National Assembly has passed a law regarding the burial of victims of post-war killings. According to the article, the left continues to label as an ‘ideological law’ and a source of ‘division’. The article argues that this law is a necessary civilizational duty to address the thousands of unburied victims of communist terror, supported by archival documents.

It recounts historical atrocities committed by communists, including the execution of innocent civilians, emphasizing the need for the law’s implementation as a moral obligation.

Roma were also killed by Partisans in Slovenia. From mid-May 1942, communists partisans forcibly gathered and drove a large group of Roma from below Krim, from Vrblje and Podpeč into the gorge. At Benkov meadow, they shot everyone in a row without a shred of mercy: children, young people, old people, men and women. At that time, 43 innocent victims ended up in a common grave, which turned Iška into one large cemetery.

What the article fails to mention, is that the mayor od Ljbljana, who is not a leftist, denied the burial of these Roma victims in local cemetary for war victims … This all is part of a narrative whereby Roma were not killed by Slovenes, but by partisans only (some of which were indeed slovenes).

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia, Kindergartens, and Roma

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Slovenia, Kindergartens, and Roma

The municipalities of Šentjernej, Škocjan and Šmarješke Toplice are facing challenges in integrating Roma children into kindergartens. Despite the large number of Roma families, the enrollment of Roma children in kindergartens is very low, which raises questions about the success of integration efforts. It seems that the problems with the admission of children have been successfully addressed in the aforementioned municipalities, but we still rarely encounter Roma children in kindergartens.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Kindergarten and Roma

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Kindergarten and Roma

An article about the fact that there are almost no Roma in Kkindergarten in a Slovenian region that has several Roma settlements. According to the article:

Although there are many Roma people living in the municipality of Šentjernej, and around 70 Roma children attend primary school, this is not reflected in kindergarten enrolment. According to the principal, not a single Roma child currently attends the kindergarten.

“Despite our efforts, we have not managed to collect enough applications for a shorter program funded by the state and intended for children who do not attend kindergarten before entering school.”

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Romanes in Slovenia

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Romanes in Slovenia

One of the long-standing representatives of the Romani community is Slobodan Nežirović from Šaleška dolina. He pays special attention to the preservation of the Romani language, culture, and tradition, and the inclusion of Roma in education, employment, and public life. He is also the author and editor of several publications in the field of the Romani language, poetry, fairy tales, and folk traditions.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Šutar Act

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Šutar Act

Zvonko Golobič, president of the Association for the Development of the Roma Community from Črnomelj, Slovenia, said that after 100 days of the so-called Šutar Act, representatives of the Roma settlements of southeastern Slovenia assessed that the situation of the Roma community had drastically deteriorated.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia and Roma

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Slovenia and Roma

The change of government in Slovenia is having an effect on Roma.

According to the article, after the enactment of the Act on Emergency Measures to Ensure Public Safety (Šutar’s Act), a shift has already occurred at the local level, says the mayor of Novo Mesto, Gregor Macedoni: “Changes have been detected in the greater inclusion of children in the education system, i.e. increased school attendance.” However, the activities at the state level to date are assessed as insufficient, because progress in solving long-term challenges will require closer cooperation between all institutions, the mayor emphasizes: “We expect the new government to approach solving the problem comprehensively, and above all with a clearly established principle of equal rules for all.”

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia: Verdict

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Slovenia: Verdict

A while back, following a brawl, Aleš Šutar from Novo Mesto died after being punched once by a Rom Samire Šiljić who pleaded guilty to the attack. He was sentenced to six years and three months in prison, which led to outcries that this was totally inapropriate. The judge justified the sentence with the guilty plea and with th efact that a single blow in the face is not murder.

In response to today’s conviction, the President of the Roma Association of Slovenia, Jožek Horvat Muc, assessed that it is right that all such cases, such as the attack on Aleš Šutar from Novo Mesto, also receive a court epilogue.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Discrimination in Slovenia

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Discrimination in Slovenia

Advocate of the Principle of Equality Miha Lobnik submitted his regular annual report for 2025 to the President of the National Assembly Zoran Stevanović. The report shows that discrimination in Slovenia remains present in many areas of life, in work, access to services, healthcare, and education. Prejudices against Roma, LGBTIQ+ people, foreigners, and even religious minorities are growing.

Albania News Eastern Europe Slovenia

A Slovenian in Albania

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A Slovenian in Albania

The Slovenian journalist and presenter Rosvita Pesek famous in her country, is currently on vacation in Albania. She describes the latter as a country of differences – on one side, majestic buildings, on the other, unfinished buildings, on one side, greenery, on the other, garbage.

Right from the very beginning, Rosvita Pesek described Albania as “a country of a little less than three million people, of Albanians and Roma”.

No Comments …

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia: Award

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Slovenia: Award

This year, the Andragogic Center of Slovenia awarded the Roma Academic Club an award for exceptional achievements in the field of lifelong learning in the Pomurje region.

The Roma Academic Club, which is based in the municipality of Puconci, has been operating since 2008. It was founded by a group of students from the Roma community with the desire to connect individuals who share a common goal, education.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Roma in Slovenia

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Roma in Slovenia

Slovenia is estimating that there are 7,620 Roma residents in 25 municipalities with 80 Roma settlements. Among the municipalities in Dolenjska and Posavje, according to the above estimates, the largest number of Roma is in the municipality of Novo mesto, where approximately 1,180 live in Roma settlements.

When there are so few Roma, why are there so many articles about them being a “threat”?

Bosnia News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Yugoslav Wars

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Yugoslav Wars

An interesting  article about Roma victims of the Bosnian war. Among the victims in Srebrenica were also Roma, but this is not recorded, because, like in other parts of the world, Roma also took on local names.

Human rights lawyer Lejla Hadžimesić talks about what went wrong, so that the process of reconciliation and dealing with the past in Bosnia and Herzegovina stopped years ago and started the journey back. She cites Milorad Dodik’s speech about secession fifteen years ago as a turning point. She sees this situation as the reason why it was (only) three decades after the war that the space for researching Roma victims opened up, which she herself is also involved in.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Protest

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Protest

The association Vstani romski otrok in Slovenia is announcing a rally on the Glavni trg in Novo mesto on Tuesday afternoon, with which they will express their disagreement with the confiscation of social benefits due to the so-called Šutar Act. They are expecting between 100 and 300 Roma, who will also present the hardships that some have found themselves in due to the foreclosures.

Germany News Eastern Europe News Western Europe Slovenia

Award

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Award

The GoShorts program selected six short films that open up space for questions of power and empowerment – of collectives and individuals. Among them was Kismet by Novo Mesto director Žiga Virc, who received the RheinMain Award. It is the sotory of a 11 years old Romni.

Europe News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Romani Gili Competition

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Romani Gili Competition

A competition celebratings Roma music and culture, Romani Gili 2026 is organised by the European Roma Institute for Art and Culture (ERIAC). The audience plays an important role. As much as 50 percent of the final result is represented by public support. The remaining 50 percent of the score is contributed by an expert jury appointed by ERIAC.

A young singer from Prekmurje, Nina Brasseur, is stepping onto the music stage again – this time with a great opportunity at an international competition. The 25-year-old singer, who was introduced to the general public in 2016 on the show Slovenija ima talent, is presenting herself today with her original song Sune (Dreams) and is competing to win the Romani Gili Contest 2026.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Discrimination in Slovenia

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Discrimination in Slovenia

Representatives of Roma communities warn of the need for official recognition of Roma settlements. They say that the government accepts the unequal position of the Roma as normal. Settlements in southeastern Slovenia are without water and electricity. Children’s rights are violated. Inadequate conditions limit children’s right to education.

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