Category Archives: Slovenia

Slovenia: Another View on a Roma Settlement

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We are not all the same, say the Roma at the community center in the Brezje Roma settlement in Novo Mesto. The coordinator for Roma groups at the DRPD, Elzana Adnan Odjoski, deals with them there. She runs a program aimed at teenagers and young mothers, in which young people from the age of 15 are involved.

The young mothers agree that their children should go to kindergarten, but not to a Roma kindergarten, but to a normal kindergarten, where they get to know other children and learn the language at the same time. They also said that “Some talk to us, some don’t even look at us, and some immediately run away when they see us”.

School Bully

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A young Rom who injured a ninth-grader at the Velika Dolina primary school in the municipality of Brežice in Slovenia no longer attends the school, principal Anja Zevnik confirmed for STA. HE has been moved to another  school. This prompts the media to ask if his is a good solution and whether he will be less violent in the new environment.

Slovenia and Roma

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The usual current articles in the Slovenian Press. Roma “Issues”, inaction from the central government, and so on.

This is bad.

Slovenia, the Police and Roma

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Two articles in the Slovenian press accusing the police of inaction in the face of Roma Crime. In one article, the police denies reports that the police in Kočevje recently locked themselves in the police station after people who were allegedly shot by Roma took refuge there.

Slovenia and Roma

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The mayors of Novi Mesto, Kočevje, Črnomlje and Brežice call on the Government of the Republic of Slovenia to take action. This followed a shooting inside of the Roma community last Sunday in the Roma settlement Šmihel.

 

Ribnica’s Mayor

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After having denied drinking water unti Roma show willingness to integrate and send their children to school, the mayor of the Slovenian town of Ribnica doubles up in another interview. He said: “Council of Roma communities, start working with Roma after thirty years, until now you have let them down and in chaos. You were only a trade union for rights, but not a pillar that would gradually prepare them for integration or socialization.”

Interview with Vera Kopčič

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Vera Klopčič is an honorary member of the Association of Roma in Slovenia. Until her retirement, Vera Klopčič was employed at the Institute for Ethnic Issues. She devoted an important part of her career to the study of Roma communities in Europe and Slovenia. In 2007, within the framework of the institute, she published a book entitled Position of Roma in Slovenia: Romi and Gadže.

“We must encourage the study of culture, the development and preservation of language and identity even among the Roma themselves. Self-confident Roma will integrate into society more easily,”  she believes.

Slovenia: A Diatribe

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A long and bitter article bemoaning the fact that Roma have been allowed to become unemployed, criminals, of not sending children to school, etc. Of course, the fault is that laws have been made specially for them, and that the equailty of all citizen in front of the law is not guaranteed.

Ribnica and Roma

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The Vice President of the Council of the Roma Community of the RS, Fatmir Bečiri, today visited three Roma settlements in the municipality of Ribnica. The council of the Roma community recently got involved in resolving the dispute between the municipality and the local Roma. The aim of the visit is to prove that it is possible to talk to the Roma and find solutions to their problems, Bečiri told the media during the visit.

The mayor of Ribnica said that Roma would not get drinking water uless they showed they wanted to integrate and send their chlcren to school.

Not all of them

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The problem is not the entire Roma community, but individuals with a first and last name. After the meeting on solving Roma issues, Minister of Internal Affairs Boštjan Poklukar and a representative of the Roma community emphasized that this area can only be solved through dialogue.

Slovenia and Roma

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At an extraordinary session, with 50 votes in favour and 29 against, the parliament adopted the recommendations on the effectiveness of dealing with Roma issues, which proposes to the government to prepare systemic measures by amending the Act on Municipal Financing. At the end of the several-hour debate, which at times devolved into political reckoning, two amendments from the opposition were not accepted.

Slovenia and Roma

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Another expert on the Roma problem. This one says that one needs a new healthy approach to the issues. Bu he also says that in Kočevje, someone said, if you don’t give me water, the children won’t come to school. Children are a means of extortion, as well as a part of the family economy.

No comments …

Slovenia and the Roma “Problem”

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An article whose title says it clearly: Integration in a ghetto? It is like learning to swim on dry land.

In brief, the article discusses the problematic of integration when some of the basics are simply not given.

Slovenia: Discussion

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A round table was held on Slovenian TV  on the topic of Roma. The themes were how to provide Roma with drinking water, solve the problem of ownership and use of the land they live on, and better integrate them into the majority population? Present were the president of the forum of Roma councillors, Darko Rudaš, the mayor of Ribnica, Samo Pogorelc, and Olivera Mirković, who has been working with Roma children in Kerinove Grmo for decades.

Another View on Ribnica

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The mayor of Ribnica, Samo Pogorelec, says that he will deny the Roma drinking water until he judges that they have earned it through better behaviour.

When the President of the Republic, Nataša Pirc Musar, visited the Roma settlement Lepovče in the municipality of Ribnica at the end of May, she said, among other things: school. If it doesn’t go with the carrot, you also need a bit of a stick, in quotation marks.”

Thes repressive ideas are making headway in Slovenia.

This is bad.

Slovenia, Water, and Crime

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Quite a few discussions in the Slovene press of the action of the Ribnica mayor who said he’d not supply drinking water to settlements as long as Roma do not improve their behaviour. Another mayor said that if people believe that denying drinking water in settlements (that by the way, are de-facto illegal) will encourage children to go to school is not understanding anything about the Roma issue. Another article, on the opposite side bemoans the increased criminality of Roma in the country. On the Slovenian TV, a round table on Roma says that Due to the ineffectiveness of institutions in responding to burglaries, robberies, violence and illegal constructions, mayors and residents are increasingly angry. Where did all the millions that the state distributes to all ends for greater inclusion, employment and education of the Roma go?

Bad.

Slovenia: New Measures

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The Minister of Justice, Andreja Katič, believes that a change in legislation is not necessary directly because of the Roma issue. Several legislative changes and innovations are being prepared, including the law on juvenile offenders and changes to criminal legislation, she said after a meeting with the Minister of the Interior, Boštjan Poklukar.

Threats

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The mayor of the municipality of Ribnica, Samo Pogorelc said in today’s program Studio at 5 p.m. on Radio Slovenija, in which they talked about Roma issues, that he received death threats on Wednesday, which he had already reported to the police. Interior Minister Boštjan Poklukar condemned the threats.

Who threatened him is unclear.

Slovenia: New Measures

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The Slovenian government is preparing several measures in the field of Roma issues. The Ministry of Labor announces the opening of new multi-purpose Roma centres and three new day centres for children from the Roma community, while the Ministry of Education announces several changes to the law on elementary schools.

Let’s see what this brings …

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