According to Daniel Strauss, chairman of the State Association of Sinti and Roma in Baden-Württemberg, Roma were discriminated against in Ukraine, a discrimination which continued after fleeing the war zone to Germany.
A video purposedly showing three Roma beating a Ukrainian in Brno, is a total fake. Yesterday, it came out that the person beaten up was not a Ukrainian, but today, the Brno police confirmed that neither Roma nor Ukrainians were involved.
Total disinformation.
An “article” about Roma refugees from the Ukraine in Switzerland, claiming they cash in the money and then leave again and come back after a while. The accusations are anonymous (diverse sources say …) or attributed to an Ukrainian.
When you know that the daily stipend of an adult refugee is less than 20 CHF per day and half that for children, this makes little financial sense but again, it portrays Roma as profiteers and liars.
Bad.
The premiere of Oleksandr Gavros’s comedy “Chirikli” (Gypsy Mother) will take place in Kalush. The charity performance is aimed at supporting the affected districts of Kherson region and Mykolaiv region. They play recently won an award in Ukraine.
Another incident in a run-down housing estate in Krupka, Czech Republic. About 500 Roma manifested in the estate, claiming children had been sexually harassed by foreigners. According to Romea, initially the manifestation was not against Ukrainians, many protested against them.
The parents deposited a formal complaint with the police.
Interestingly enough, the news in the Czech Press do not mention sexual harassment, but rather that the children had been locked up in the cellar by drunk people.
Bad in any case.
An article about the recent attacks against Roma by Ukrainian refugees and the Roma protests that followed, protests that were supported by extremists. On controversial Roma activist, David Mezei, got close to nationalist movements, who, by the way do not want Roma ion the country.
Bad for all.
In his speech at today’s demonstration in front of the Government Office, pro-Roma activist from Ústí nad Labem Marcel Packert criticized the so-called patriots, who are actually extremists, xenophobes and anti-Semites. Packert warned against the dangers of associating these people with Roma.
This week in the Czech Republic, the police has been investigating several reports of other alleged attacks by Ukrainians on Roma. They were supposed to be in Sokolov and Přerov. The police have not yet fully completed their investigation and have not confirmed that all of the attacks actually occurred. There is a lot of misinformation being spread among the Roma, and the police have already charged one person for spreading an alarmist message.
This issue is being misused on purpose.
An article on the instrumentalization of the attacks by Ukrainian refugees against Roma in the Czech Republic.
Recent conflicts between Ukrainian refugees and Roma in the Czech Republic have sparked a wave of concerns and demands for a thorough investigation of these crimes. The European network of Roma organizations ERGO Network and the Ukrainian Roma organization ICO Roma Women Fund “Chiricli” appeal to the Czech police and the Ministry of the Interior to act quickly and decisively and ensure that the perpetrators are brought to justice. The organizations also ask Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to call on Ukrainian refugees to respect diversity and refrain from any violent and criminal acts. The organizations also request the introduction of measures to prevent similar incidents in the future. They stated this in a statement sent to the news server Romea.cz.
The documentary play “[Not] my story. Music” about the Roma genocide in the Ukrainian Transcarpatian region was presented in Uzhhorod by the Provocator theater studio.
The one-man play “Chirikli” about Transcarpathian Roma won the All-Ukrainian Theatre Day competition
The Oleksandr Gavros’ monodrama was originally staged in 2021 by the Transcarpathian Music Drama Theatre based on the works of the Roma writer from the Vynohrady region, Mykola Burmek-Dury.
Reportage about a camp of Roma from Transcarpathian Ukraine in Lviv. About two hundred Roma live there. They came from Zakarpattia, where uneducated Roma lack jobs. They hope for a better fate in the case of a big city, which is not fully realized. They collect scrap from garbage dumps, sometimes they are hired to do odd farm jobs. They live in tents made of branches and construction foil, placed on the bare ground.
Catholic parishioners from Lviv are helping them.
Three articles in the Ukrainian press relating the manifestation of the Roma following the brawl between Roma and Ukrainians in that city that left on Rom injured.
The stress in the Ukrainian press is effectively “we don’t really know what happened” and “who started it”, and in one case “nationality of the people was not disclosed”. Other than that, fair representation of the manifestation and the facts.
This weekend, a young Rom was injured in a fight, apparently by three Ukrainian. As a result, hundreds of Roma manifested in Pardubice, Czech Republic.
The organizers of the protest told ČTK that a young Rom was injured during the fight. According to them, the protesters were from all over the Czech Republic. A police spokeswoman said that one person was injured and three people were arrested in a brawl involving about 20 people on Saturday night. The police repeatedly called for calm. “We want to draw the government’s attention to the fact that we too are citizens of the Czech Republic and we do not walk around the city armed and attack. We want to live peacefully. We are here because the situation among the Roma is tense. This case from Saturday is not unique, it is only the second to be reported in the media. Conflicts between Ukrainians and Roma are increasing, I think it is unnecessary,” one of the organizers of the protest, Ferdinand Baník, told ČTK.
The Czech government passed a law stating that from July 1st, Ukrainian refugees who have been in the country for more than 150 days will no longer receive allowances for housing and will have to find their own accommodation. Exempt are a few categories (single women with small children etc.).
Jan Husák from from the association Romodromo stated that this so-called Lex Ukraine will have the hardest impact, among others, on Roma refugees and will increase homelessness.
An article highlighting the fact that Roma refugees are being excluded by Ukrainian refugees.
Many Roma in the Ukraine do not have any official documents. This prevents them from receiving social help, complicates their situation as IDPs, and often prevents them from finding official work. An action was started in Lviv, to help Roma obtain their papers.
Better late than never …
Out of the many refugees out of the Ukraine, ca. 100’000 are Roma. One of the issues they face is that many of them are stateless, they have no official papers, often lacking even a birth certificate that would prove their citizenship.
The fate of refugees in Western Europe is much better than in Eastern European countries bordering the Ukraine. There, they are definitively discriminated against.
An estimated 400,000 lived in Ukraine before the Russian invasion. A quarter fled the war-torn country. Many went to Poland. Władysław Kwiatkowski, president of the Roma Association in Poland, stated in an interview that “Not everyone in Poland realizes that many Roma fight in the ranks of the Ukrainian army. They defend their country. They are citizens of Ukraine, just like the rest”.
Dr. Małgorzata Kołaczek from the Foundation for Dialogue – one of the authors of the report “Human rights, and discrimination – the situation of Roma refugees from Ukraine in Poland. Report on research and intervention activities” Said:
“The Roma, like other Ukrainians, lose their life possessions, husbands and fathers at the front, and yet they are treated differently – as if their pain and suffering were less. As it happens in a situation of uncertainty and danger, the lowest human instincts are activated, which are directed towards those whom one “always” dislikes “.
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