Category Archives: Slovakia

News Osteuropa Slowakei

Slovakia and Roma Integration

Published by:

One year after the adoption of the first action plan of the Strategy for Roma Equality, Inclusion and Participation until 2030, it will be necessary to strengthen communication and monitoring of the completion of the tasks. Ján Hero, the representative of the Slovak government for Roma communities, admitted it. Former Roma plenipotentiary, current Member of the European Parliament Peter Pollák Sr. points out that even the perfect strategy and action plan cannot improve the situation of marginalized Roma if all those involved do not make increased efforts.

News Osteuropa Slowakei

Slovakia: 4 Books

Published by:

An article on 4 books about exceptional women. What is truly exceptional is that one of this book is one written by a Czech Romni Elena Lacková’s  called “I was born under a happy star”. The first author is Elena Lacková with her memoirs, the second is the Czech romani studies professor Milena Hubschmannová, who recorded them all, transcribed them and prepared them for printing.

News Osteuropa Slowakei

Slovakia, Work, and Roma

Published by:

A video on Roma and work. It cites Jan Hero, the plenipotentiary of the Slovak Government for Roma, who says that the society has not made great progress in employing Roma. But is also says that “some Roma simply do not want to work”.

Bad.

News Osteuropa Slowakei

Jan Hero on Employment

Published by:

The topic of employing disadvantaged applicants on the labour market is more and more a hot topic in Slovakia. According to the Association for Culture, Education and Communication, the finalists of the Roma Spirit award are a real proof of effectiveness in the inclusion in the employment of low-qualified persons. In this context, the government representative for Roma communities, Ján Hero, stated that the percentage of employed people from marginalized Roma communities is growing only very slowly, but the situation is improving. While meeting employers awarded within the framework of Roma Spirit, which took place this week in Poprad this week, Jan Hero stated:

“With segregation and non-inclusive approaches, the concentration of poverty multiplies, and it is very difficult to get out of that situation. We have experience that Roma people also get jobs outside their homes, but they often do not have a permanent job and thus even better housing is more inaccessible for them.”

News Osteuropa Slowakei

Slovakia and Roma Aid

Published by:

Anti-poverty projects have apparently helped “thousands” of Roma find jobs or enrol their children in kindergartens. Up to 64 million euros were handed out in seven years. 150 villages were helped. Improvement can be seen somewhere, but there are also villages where the aid system is failing.

Well, frankly, this amounts to 61’000 Euro per village and per year. What did they expect?

News Osteuropa Slowakei

Slovakia and the Holocaust

Published by:

The civic association “Lavuta” with the support of the Fund for the support of the culture of national minorities Kult Minor is organiing a series of cultural and educational events in elementary schools about the Roma Holocaust in the Banskobystrica region.

News Osteuropa Slowakei

Discrimination in Slovakia

Published by:

According to the recommendations of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Slovakia must take the necessary measures to eliminate discrimination and segregation of Roma children in education.

The annual report of Amnesty International Slovakia (AIS) for the year 2022 states that in 2022, systemic discrimination against Roma continued in Slovakia. Roma children are systematically denied the right to education and protection from discrimination in primary education. Investigations into inappropriate use of police force are insufficient.

News Osteuropa Slowakei

Slovakia, the Holocaust, and the Aftermath

Published by:

A few days ago, Slovakia remembered one of the darkest chapters of our modern history – the creation of the wartime Slovak Republic under the leadership of the president of the ruling Hlinkova Party (HSĽS) Jozef Tis.

What memories did this experience of mass complicity in the genocide of one’s own population left in the Slovak collective consciousness and subconsciousness? How do the Slovak deal with this past, and are they willing to admit that they were often active participants Mass Evil?

An Ethnologist is investigating.

News Osteuropa Slowakei

More on the Slovak Relocation

Published by:

The relocation of the Roma community for the construction of the ecoduct (a wildlife overpass)  in Svrčinovec has raised a wave of resentment in both Čadec and Lopušné Pažite. Some of the Roma are planned to be relocated to a property in Čadec by the end of the month, a part to a house in the village of Lopušné Pažite, and a part will stay in Svrčinovec.

It shows how Roma are viewed in Slovakia…

News Osteuropa Slowakei

Slovakia: Relocation

Published by:

The relocation of the Roma community for the construction of an ecoduct (a wildlife overpass) in Svrčinovec raised a wave of resentment in the neighbouring town of Čadca where thy will be relocated. Part of them are planned to be resettled in housing estate in Čadci-Podzávoz, and the residents there have already started writing a petition. Roma talk about discrimination. The situation is also troubling the mayor Matej Šimášek, as no one from the competent state authorities is communicating with them.

News Osteuropa Slowakei

Interview with a Teacher

Published by:

An interview with Stanislava Dotková, a teacher in a school in the infamous Roma housing estate of Lunik IX in Košice.

In the interview, she explains, among other things, whether the fact that she is Roma herself helps her in teaching Roma pupils, why they have a sensory carpet in the classroom and what she lacks in the education of excluded communities.

News Osteuropa Slowakei

Slovakia School Segregation

Published by:

After the supreme court judgement on school segregation, condemning the state and town of Stará Ľubovňa-Podsadek, another case of segregation was judged by the regional court in Prešov. This one concerned three Roma students in the Elementary School with Kindergarten in Hermanovce in the Prešov district. The court judged they were discriminated against. The parents of the three children will receive each 5’000 EUR.

News Osteuropa Slowakei

Slovakia: Forced Sterilisations

Published by:

Slovakia still has not voted a law to compensate the victims of forced sterilisations in the country. The Czech Republic has already done so. A politician, Peter Pollak is pushing for it and comments it. Right now, with the upcoming parliamentary elections, the probability the law will be voted is small.

News Osteuropa Slowakei

Slovakia: Segregation

Published by:

Another article about the recent condemnation of the Slovak state and the town of Stará Ľubovňa-Podsadek for having run a segregated school for Roma. The decision was made by the Supreme Court based on the appeal of the non-governmental organization Counselling for Civil and Human Rights, which confirmed that the state is responsible for segregation even if it arises only because the state neglects its obligations or fails to act. According to the Advisory Board, this judgment is ground-breaking.

“When these children finished primary education, they had very limited options of where to go. One of them wanted to be a car mechanic, but since he attended a special school, he had no chance to get the necessary education,” says Vanda Durbáková, a lawyer from the consulting firm, about the case.

Well done!

News Osteuropa Slowakei

Book Launch

Published by:

The Romani actress Alžbeta Ferencová was present at the launch of Elena Lacková’s book entitled “I was born under a lucky star” which was published for the first time in Slovak, 30 years after its first publication. Alžbeta is Elena’s great-grand daughter. Elena was the first Romni to publish a book in Romanes in Slovakia.

News Osteuropa Slowakei

Slovakia: Commemoration

Published by:

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

Published by:

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 Slowakei

Slovakia and Segregation

Published by:

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.

rroma.org
de_DEDeutsch
en_GBEnglish (UK) fr_FRFrançais de_DEDeutsch