Category Archives: Ukraine

Uzhhorod, the War, and Roma

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Uzhhorod, the War, and Roma

A long reportage about the Western Ukrainian city of Uzhhorod. Beside speaking to residents, refugees, people getting rehabilitated, they also looked at Roma from the city. 6’000 of them lived there prior to the war, and now almost 600 of them are enrolled in the Ukrainian Army. In addition, there are Roma refugees from currently occupied territories.

Unfortunately, they also speak about “barons” (which do not exist), and other stereotypes.

Ukraine, the UK and Roma

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Ukraine, the UK and Roma

A reprint of a Guardian article in the Ukrainian press about Roma palaces in Hășdat.

Both articles pander to sterotypes…

Mukachevo Region: Measles Epidemic

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Mukachevo Region: Measles Epidemic

The measles virus continues to spread on the territory of the Mukachevo community, and the epidemic situation remains tense. According to doctors, 25 cases of this disease have been recorded since the beginning of the year, 22 of them in September-October. A measles outbreak occurred in a compact Roma settlement. Currently, 7 children are receiving inpatient treatment. Measles is a dangerous, contagious viral disease that spreads quickly. 9 out of 10 people with whom an infected person has been in contact will also become ill if they have not been vaccinated.

Ukraine: Inclusion Program for Minorities

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Ukraine: Inclusion Program for Minorities

Aproject in the Lutsk region, “Stronger together: support and expansion of opportunities for national minorities in Lutsk during the war” financed in part by the Council of Europe, is aimed at creating a favorable and inclusive environment for national minorities in the community, helping to overcome challenges caused by the war, etc.

Resource meetings, psychological consultations, entrepreneurship, advocacy, and leadership workshops take place within the project. The target audience is representatives of national minorities (communities), internally displaced persons, representatives of the public sector who actively work with national minorities (communities).

Ukraine, the Economist, and Roma

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Ukraine, the Economist, and Roma

A Ukrainian translation of the article of the Economist about Roma in the Ukraine which, unfortunately, is not exactly up to the standards of this publication.

It states, for example, that almost half of the Roma who lived in Ukraine before the war fled Ukraine. But actually base themselves on Transcarpathian Ukraine. And anyhow, one doesn’t know how many Roma lived in Ukraine before the war…

Journalism on Roma is nearly always bad.

Ukraine and Roma

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One of those articles in the Ukrainian press… The article says “In Brovary [On the Eastern Side of Kyiv], a man lives on a bench, and Roma families have settled in his house and lead an immoral (sic.) lifestyle”. According to local residents, Roma have been living in two houses on the street for more than two yearsThey are aggressive, threaten their neighbors, deal with drugs, organize car races on the streets, etc. The houses where their large families live are unsanitary, children do not study and do not go to kindergartens.

Difficult to unravel, but bad in any case.

Ukraine: Registration

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An article about the current registration drive of Roma who had no identity papers in Transcarpathian Ukraine. According to the article, documentation of Roma remains one of the priority tasks for the Migration Service of the Transcarpathian Region. Often, the necessary procedure is complicated by the fact that the first passport is obtained already after reaching the age of 18 – this is almost every second application of the Roma. In this case, particularly painstaking work with the available documents and a mandatory procedure for identification are required.

One of the side effects, is that many of these Roma can then flee the country.

Babyn Yar

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On Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi commemorated the 83rd anniversary of the massacre of more than 30,000 Jews by the Nazis and their Ukrainian collaborators in the Babyn Jar gorge near Kyiv in 1941.

“Babyn Jar is a terrifying symbol that shows that the most heinous crimes occur when the world chooses to ignore, remain silent, be indifferent and lacks the determination to stand up to evil,” Zelensky, who is of Jewish descent himself, said on the X social network.

According to official data, 100,000 – 150,000 people were killed in the Babyn Jar gorge in 1941 and 1942 during the Nazi occupation of Ukraine. The primany targets were Jews and Roma.

Ukrainian Roma and Hungary

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Even though Hungary claims that Transcarpathian Ukraine is Hungarian (one has to agree that historically this was the case), and even though Prime Minister Orban is granting citizenship to “all” Hungarian speakers outside of Hungary, it sems that this does not extend to Roma from Transcarpathian Ukraine. They mostly speak Hungarian, but Orban has now decreed that they are not from war regions and no asylum is required.

Do you spot the issue? Orban claims Transcarpathian Ukraine are Hungarian lands, but he doesn’t want the Hungarian speaking Roma from there in Hungary …

  • Les Roms d’Ukraine ne sont pas les bienvenus en Hongrie. In: La Libre. 27.08.2024. https://www.lalibre.be/international/europe/guerre-ukraine-russie/2024/08/27/les-roms-dukraine-ne-sont-pas-les-bienvenus-en-hongrie-FEZGIXY6LZBKLPAAM5OLEEWW6A/

Hungary and Ukrainian Refugees

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Hungarian Prime Minister Orban had a new decree issued removing the refugee status of Ukrainian in “safe” counties. As a result, quite a few refugees found themselves on the street… Sot this issue? They are all Roma from Transcarpathia, a region Orban claims as his, and they all speak Hungarian.

But are not Hungarian in his view.
Bad and sad.

https://youtu.be/3_jLntdu-us In: Telex. 22.08.2024.

Babyn Yar

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An exhibition follows the path taken by Kyiv Jews on their last journey on September 29, 1941. At every step, you can look into numerous mirrors. They reflect the fates of victims of the Holodomor and Mariupol, deported Crimean Tatars and executed Roma, prisoners of the GULAG, Syrts and Yagidny, prisoners of war killed in Katyn, Darnytsia and Olenivka.

Ukraine and August 2nd

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Ukraine commemorated August 2nd with a ceremony on the site of Babyn Yar where, besides the many jews, Roma were also executed.

Switzerland and Roma Refugees

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An article about the current allegations against Roma refugees from the Ukraine in Switzerland. They are accused of having false Ukrainian papers or having bought them and are used by politicians to lobby against the special status granted to Ukrainian refugees in Switzerland.

Ukraine: Roma Program

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The Kyiv University of Technology and Design launched a bachelor’s program “Roma Music and Theater Art”, reports the Chirikli Roma Women’s Foundation.

Students will be recruited based on the results of a creative competition in which they have to perform a folk Roma song or dance. They will also take an oral exam on the history and culture of the Roma people.
Well, difficult to comment.

Ukrainian Roma Refugees in Poland

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Ewelina Bosak from the W Stroną Dialogu Foundation  stated that 87 Roma from Ukraine are camping in the waiting room of the railway station in Przemyśl. There were 44 people there on Sunday, and on Thursday morning there were 87. Most of them were children, the youngest of whom is eight months old. There is also a pregnant woman and a man with cancer.

Bulgaria, Ukraine, and Switzerland

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The Bulgarian press took the statements of the head of the Asylum system in the Canton of Bern for truth: That Roma used faked Ukrainian papers to abuse the Swiss Asylum system. The title is as false and racist: “Roma flock to Switzerland for aid with fake Ukrainian passports.” The picture used is also not relevant, as it shows carriages, which is definitively not the mean of travel chosen by the Ukrainian Roma who ask for asylum in Switzerland.

Czechia: Mediation

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A round table, attended by representatives of the police, as well as the local Roma and Ukrainian communities, together with the mayor Lukáš Seifert and the representative for the Roma minority Lucie Fuková, took place in the Knight’s Hall of the Vlašské dvor in Kutná Hora. The aim of the meeting was to calm the tense situation after the recent attack by a Ukrainian of a Rom between, which culminated in a Roma demonstration on Palackého náměstí with a parade on Masarykova Street.

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