At last some thoughts on the topic. Such as: Extending the list of safe countries will not solve the problem…
Germany’s Green party says that Kosovo is not a safe country for Rroma. BRAVO and at last.
Kosovo was nearly totally ethnically cleansed from Rroma in 1999 with roughly 90% of all Rroma leaving. Today, there are less than 20’000 Rroma in that country. The others cannot go back. Their houses and properties are occupied, and no one will tolerate their return. Definitively not safe.
An interesting opinion on the camps that will be established specifically for refugees from the Balkans in Germany, in view of the German responsibility in the Rroma Holocaust.
An article about the real hate directed at refugees in Germany. Scary!
A visit together with Romani Rose, president of the German Council of Sinti and Roma, in Auschwitz. One thing can be said: In Germany, they deal with the past. Some other countries should follow.
Another article on the “safe countries” and on the fact that these are all but safe if you are from a minority!
An article of the magazine the Spiegel on the myths of the Balkan refugees and their preponderance in the debate in Germany.
Bavaria is going ahead with a controversial plan to set up camps for refugees from the Balkan. These camps, especially in view of the past – Dachau was one of the first camps to be set up in Germany – and since Rroma make about a third of all Balkan refugees, leave a bitter taste.
There has to be better solutions…
Kosovo and Montenegro are asking Germany to recognise them as being “safe countries”. They want to show that no one in their countries is persecuted or discriminated against. In Kosovo especially, this can only be laughed at. 80% of the Rroma population was ethnically cleansed away from the region.
More on the story of the one third of Rroma among Balkan refuges…
The 2nd of August is the official international day of remembrance of the Holocaust on Rroma and Sinti. Several organisations (here just as a sample) are planning commemorations in Germany and Austria.
Another interview with Romani Rose, president of the German central council of Sinti and Roma in the context of the celebrations of the 2nd of August on the Rroma and Sinti Holocaust.
Asylum seekers from so-called safe countries are systematically denied asylum in Germany. This, in spite of the fact that in many of these “safe” countries, the situation is far from stable or peaceful, as the example of Macedonia shows. Kosovo is now under discussion, unfortunately.
Are truly all refugees from the Balkan who request asylum in Germany simply in search of a better life? This is not as simple, as TAZ shows. Many of these refugees are Rroma as noted by the Frankfurter Allgemeine which titles that up to a third of the refugees are from this origin.
Excellent interview of Romani Rose, head of the German Central Council of Sinti and Roma stating that special camps for refugees from the Balkan are simply not acceptable.
The next consul of Romania in Bonn, Germany (and the former capital) is a Rrom. Should not be a surprise, as they are indeed integrated Rroma, but nevertheless nice.
An article about the cohabitation of “gens du voyage” – the French version of Travellers, and Rroma. Travellers is used in France to denote both non-Rroma as well as Manouches and other local travelling Rroma, while Rroma (Roms in France) is a term that is only used to denote the “foreigners”. This is a remake of the Sinti and Rroma that we know from Germany, although all are Rroma.
Again a case of a Rroma wedding near Zurich were roughly 70 caravans gathered to celebrate a wedding. These travelling Rroma are from France and Germany (with a corresponding passport) and are members of a pentacostal church. A farmer rented them his land for 5’000 Swiss Francs. People in the village are annoyed and are asking why nothing is being done by the police.
A typical controversy, including the fact that people defecate in the open, and thus befoul the region and adjacent wood.
But the WORST are the commentaries: Bigots and racists seem to love these news.
Around 600 people – mostly Rroma – protested in Hamburg against the deportation of refugees back to their home countries, a policy Germany now strictly enforces for so-called “safe” countries. That these countries are not so safe and secure if you are part of a minority seems not to be taken into account, thus actually violating the rights of the refugees.
Let’s hope this will show results!
A further article on the Dachau Theatre project, a project fighting stereotypes and played by Rroma and Sinti children. That this play is staged in Dachau, the site of one of the earliest concentration camps in Germany is really symbolically important.
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