Category Archives: News Eastern Europe

News Osteuropa Slowakei

Slovakia: Commemoration

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Soldiers of the honour guard of the President of the Slovak Republic laid a wreath at the Roma Holocaust memorial in Dubnica nad Váhom during the commemorative event of the civil association In Minorita as part of the project “Ma bisteren!”. This was done on the  78th anniversary of the tragic events in which 26 Roma from the detention camp in Dubnica nad Váhom were murderedThe monument stands on the site of the cemetery where the victims of the detention camp for Roma in are buried.

Tschechische Republik News Osteuropa Slowakei

A Portrait

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A portrait of Alžbeta Ferencová, a Slovak Romni whose great grandmother was Elena Lacková, the first author in Romanes in Slovakia. Alžbeta is a model, actress and singer, but moved from Slovakia to the Czech Republic, as she found that with her dark looks, she couldn’t get jobs in Slovakia. She says Prague is more tolerant.

News Osteuropa Serbien

Serbia, Roma, and Employment

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An initiative called “Open day”  whose goal is to introduce young Roma to potential employers, so that they can learn more about different occupations and motivate themselves to continue their education and choose an adequate profession. “Open door day” is implemented within the project “Promoting the employability of young Roma men and women – phase II”. The mentioned project is supported through the program of German financial cooperation, which is implemented by the German development bank KfW on behalf of the Government of the Republic of Germany – the Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.

News Osteuropa Slowakei

Slovakia and Segregation

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The Supreme Court of the Slovak Republic decided that children who attend a purely Romani elementary school in the Stará Ľubovňa – Podsadek district are segregated in education. The Slovak state and the city of Stará Ľubovňa were condemned by the court for not having taken sufficient measures to prevent and remediate this discrimination.

The author of the article says that the topic of segregation is a complex one in Slovakia, mostly due to the existence of segregated Roma settlements.

Bulgarien News Osteuropa

Bulgaria: Brawls

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More articles on the fights between Roma in Plovdiv and in Montana. The fight in Plovdiv was broken up early, while the one in Montana escalated and saw one policeman wounded and 4 Roma rrested.
Bad.

Bulgarien News Osteuropa

Bulgaria: Brawls

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Two articles in the Bulgarian press about fights between Roma families: One in Montana, in the north of the country, and one in Plovdiv, in the South East. The fights are apparently brutal. This is really not good for Roma.

Tschechische Republik News Osteuropa

Czech Republic and Forced Sterilisations

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The Czech Prime Minister has condemned the current process of compensation of the victims of forced sterilisations. Several of them were turned down, even though the official reason for the sterilisation was that they were Roma.

Good – but it took time …

Tschechische Republik News Osteuropa

Roma in the Czech Republic

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An article about Roma in the Czech Republic. It states that the most numerous Roma in the Czech Republic are Slovak Roma, who make up about 75 to 80% of the total number of Roma in the country. In addition, the original Czech Roma live in the Czech Republic, as well as German Sinti and Olaš Roma. All this according to Markéta Hajská from the Department of Central European Studies.

Well, less than 60 families of Czech Roma survived the war. This is the reason why after World War Two, the Communist regime resettled Roma to the Czech part of the country. The Olaš – these are Vlach Roma, have been there since the beginning oof the 20th century. Should be enough to make then Czech.

In brief, the usual for that country. Unfortunately.

News Osteuropa Slowakei

Jan Hero

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An interview with Jan Hero, the Slovak Commissioner for Roma Communities. In the interview, he says that “undignified living or existence is not an ethnic problem”, spoke about how his childhood in a Roma settlement motivates him to work as a government representative for Roma, and that he expects politicians to use Roma instead of the derogatory “cigan”.

News Osteuropa Slowakei

Slovakia: Segregation

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The Slovak Supreme Court ruled that at the primary school in Stará Ľubovna, Roma children are segregated.  The Court decisions is based  on the appeal of the non-governmental organization Counseling for Civil and Human Rights. It has been conducting court proceedings in this matter since 2015 after a public lawsuit was filed under the Anti-Discrimination Act.

The defendants are the Slovak Republic, represented by the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sports of the Slovak Republic, and the founder of the school, which is the city of Stará Ľubovňa. According to the judgment, the defendants “violated the principle of equal treatment by not taking sufficient preventive measures to protect against discrimination and measures to eliminate discrimination against Roma children” in primary schools based on their ethnic origin.

News Osteuropa Slowenien

Slovakia: Scathing Assessment

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A really scathing assessment of the Slovak Republic Strategy for Roma education between 2016 and 2020. According to the official audit, 173 Mio Euros were spent, which in comparison to 500’000 Roma in the country is not exactly a lot.

The programs did not meet their own set goals. Worse, the programs did not have clearly specified goals. Thus, according to the article, “it was not possible to monitor the progress and adapt the activities or to inform the public about the development. Later, the indicators were modified, which lost continuity and made everything even more unclear. What did not change over time was the problem of data unavailability. They were missing during the entire period.”

News Osteuropa Slowenien

Slovenia: Really???

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As part of the National Platform for Roma project, the Government Office for Nationalities has prepared a video competition on the topic of early and forced marriages in the Roma community. It is possible to register a video, the purpose of which will be to raise awareness and educate about the inadmissibility of early and forced marriages in the Roma community.

Well, forced marriages are not the norm. Early are common, because married life means living with someone else. This “competition” will increase the stereotypes, not fight against poverty and exclusion.

Litauen News Osteuropa

Lithuanian Folklore and Roma

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Ištvan Kvik, the well-known Lithuanian singer and leader of the Romano ensemble “Sare Roma”, is mostly known for Roma songs. He is now venturing in the Lithuanian folklore. Looking at Lithuanian folk songs from a different perspective, he says that they can also be given a fierier Roma touch. He also says that anyhow, Roma music has always been influenced by local music.

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