Category Archives: News Eastern Europe

Roma and Czech Schools

Published by:

A dreadful reportage in a segregated school in the Czech Republic. Karel Rajchl, the director of the Vojanova Elementary School in Děčín says that getting children and their families to cooperate is often almost impossible.

“Shh, they’re writing a test,” she warns, upon entering the seventh-grade physics class. The teacher replies “It doesn’t matter, they can’t do anything anyway”. In the last pews, two boys don’t even bother to have an open notebook in which to calculate the task entered on the blackboard, they just giggle. “These boys are one step away from raping our young female teachers,” states principal Rajchl dryly as he leaves the class again.

No Comments…

Bratislava: Exhibition

Published by:

An exhibition of drawings by children on the theme of Roma personalities has opened in Bratislava in the baroque courtyard of the university. “Especially for Roma children, this topic was very inspiring, encouraging and instilling pride. For children from the majority society, such a topic is an opportunity to get to know successful Roma,” explained Agnes Horváthová, founder of the civil association Romano kher – Rómsky dom, which organizes the competition.

Slovakia and Poverty

Published by:

An article on the improvements in terms of work and poverty in the town of Rimavská Sobota, in South Central Slovakia. There, the unemployment has been the highest in Slovakia for a long time, but it has fallen sharply over the last 10 years. In addition, a large investment is planned for the district, the German company Winkelmann will build a plant there, which will create 450 jobs.

At the exit meeting on Wednesday, the government distributed approximately two million euros to various projects in the districts of Rimavská Sobota and Poltár.

What benefit will come to Roma still needs to be seen.

Slovenia and Roma

Published by:

There was an altercation between Roma and non-Roma in an elementary school in the municipality of Brežice, Slovenia. This made the news in the country, and a controversy arose as the mayor of Brežice wrote in social media “a Roma student attacked an eighth-grader in class.” The question raised whether this is an incitation to racial hatred or not.

Slovakia and Roma

Published by:

For a change a positive article about Roma. A employee of a supermarket about her colleagues who are all Roma. According to her, 90% of the team are Roma: They are hardworking and family-oriented. They also take the whole family to team building.

Poland: A Never-Ending Story

Published by:

A team, appointed by the Voivode of Lesser Poland to solve the problems of the Roma community in Koszary has started work. Currently, the settlement located on plots belonging to the Limanowa commune is inhabited by over 120 Roma (including a large group of children), but a large part of them live in unauthorized construction works, which are subject to a valid demolition order. The first proposals were made on how to effectively enforce the law without escalating tensions in the area where the Roma have lived for half a century. One idea is to relocate Roma families to larger cities.

Already a few years ago, families living in the buildings, brick houses with water, sewage and electricity connections, received final decisions requiring demolition. So far, none of them has complied with the order.

Slovenia and the Roma “Problem”

Published by:

The Slovenian president met the mayors of the municipalities of the Novo Mesto region regarding the Roma “Problem”. These mayors have proposed drastic measures to limit social benefits for Roma. They were not approved in parliament as they were obviously targeted at a minority, but the issues persist, and the mayors are pushing the government for action.

Slovenia, Social Help, and Roma

Published by:

A vehement article in the Slovene press against the social help that Roma in that country are getting. According to the article, “Roma have the highest child benefits and social assistance in Slovenia, which prevents them from working, they live in non-profit apartments in settlements that have become ghettos, they do not pay rent, and they break in, threaten and attack everyone: the old, the young, women, the disabled. Among the Kočevci, because of the indifferent attitude of the government towards the increasingly serious Roma problem, it is boiling.”

Well, what about that fact that no-one in Slovenia would employ Roma?

Czechia, Roma, and Strasbourg

Published by:

The city of Vsetín will file a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg in the case of the eviction of Roma in 2006. In his opinion, the right to a fair trial was violated in the dispute. The court condemned the city of Vsetín for the eviction of Roma from a boarding house in 2006.

The house was in bad condition, and the city then had it demolished. Some of its residents, including the plaintiffs in the case, had previously failed to pay rent. The Roma ended up either in container houses elsewhere in Vsetín or in old houses outside the region.

Miss Romani Czechia-Slovakia

Published by:

On the weekend in Hodonín, the final of the Roma beauty queen pageant took place. Twelve finalists, who were chosen from more than sixty applicants, competed for the title. The winner was sixteen-year-old Martina Balažová from Liptovský Mikuláš.

Slovakia and Roma

Published by:

Almost a hundred years ago, the so-called Pobedim massacre, a pogrom against Roma, took place in Slovakia. In October 1928, a group of rioters from Pobedimi attacked a Roma settlement. The pogrom left behind destroyed houses, injured and six dead, including a six-year-old child. But no one saw and did nothing. This event is commemorated by a production of the Slovak National Theatre.

Romania, Racism, and Music

Published by:

Coldplay frontman Chris Martin personally invited the increasingly popular Romanian musician Babasha for a duet in front of thousands at the National Arena in Bucharest on Wednesday. Neither expected the crowd to react with such fury.

The issue is that Babasha is Rom and plays Manele music, a music that  many Romanians associate with criminality. He was booed.

Bad.

Slovakia: Car Workers

Published by:

Branislav Ondruš, State Secretary of the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family of the Slovak Republic, revealed more about a planned project to support the work integration of marginalized Roma communities and women from eastern Slovakia to the SITA agency.

Serbia and Child Marriage

Published by:

A seminar for representatives of local institutions on the topic of Child, early and forced marriages was held in Vranje, within the framework of the Roma women’s activism project in the protection of Roma girls from violence caused by child marriages.

The goal of the project is to reduce the number of child marriages in the Roma community in Serbia, that is, to protect the human rights of Roma girls, as well as to raise awareness that child marriages are not part of Roma culture.

Slovakia, a Pogrom, and Theatre

Published by:

In October 1928, a group of rioters from Pobedimi attacked a Roma settlement. The pogrom left behind destroyed houses, injured and six dead, including a six-year-old child. This event is commemorated by a production of the Slovak National Theatre.

Poland and Roma

Published by:

On June 11, in the centre of Warsaw, Dariusz Gabor, the father of the famous singer Vika Gabor, was brutally attacked by a 34-year-old man. He severely beat Dariusz Gabor and sprayed him with gas. Viki was also injured. A few hours after the attack, the singer’s sister issued a statement. — Unfortunately, Polish society has a big problem with accepting and treating Roma.

rroma.org
de_DEDE