A series of photographs of life inside two Rroma settlements in Hungary.
Following his remarks on refugees and Rroma, the Hungarian Justice Minister, László Trócsányi had to apologise. Well, kind of, as he denies his statements could be deemed racist, and that he just wanted to highlight the priority for Rroma inclusion.
The far-right Jobbik mayor of Ózd, in north-east Hungary is currently being accused of forcing poor Rroma resident out of their homes. He did change the housing regulations making it easier to evict “undesirable”, read Rroma, tenants.
Zoltan Balogh, the Hungarian Human Resource Minister, gave a speech on the Rroma Resistance Day (the day commemorating the uprising of Rroma in Auschwitz on May 16, 1944), and had to apologise for his remarks last August where he actually stated that no Rroma had been deported from Hungary – a lie. At least now it is somewhat official.
Holocaust in Hungary is still not widely acknowledged, especially the fact that most Jews in the countryside were deported as early as 1941 to extermination camps, and this on Hungarian initiative. Rroma were also constantly deported to Auschwitz and other camps.
An interesting article on the various ways to fight school segregation in the case of Rroma in Europe. School segregation is too often still the norm, especially in Hungary, Slovak and the Czech republic, as well as in Romania.
László Trócsányi, Hungarian Minister of Justice lashed out at the EU proposed quota system for taking refugees, added that they had already many from the Balkan, notably from Kosovo, and anyhow, cannot take more, as they have already to integrate 800’000 Rroma in Hungary.
While we greet the “official” recognition of the 800 thousands Rroma in Hungary (officially, there are much less than that – the 800 thousand is an estimate from NGOs), the statements are simply not acceptable from a minister in an EU country. First, not all Rroma are a problem, as is indeed suggested here, and second, one cannot use a minority as an excuse against refugees.
Austrian Airlines, Austrian airport officials, and the CIC (Citizenship, Immigration, and Canada) banned a Rroma researcher from Hungary to board a plane to Toronto where she was scheduled to do research on fellow Hungarian Rroma who migrated to Canada recently, this in spite of having a valid EU passport, 1’000 dollars, and a return ticket.
This seems to be a consequence of several airlines being fined by Canada following them transporting Rroma who later asked for asylum or for immigration to that country. In any case, there is a presumption of innocence, and the researcher’s rights were clearly flouted in a bout of racial profiling.
The current Indian Ambassador to Hungary, Malay Mishra is currently studying the Rroma communities in Hungary as part of a Ph.D. he is currently registered for at Corvinius University. He is looking at parallels and at what could be learned from India in terms of integrating disadvantaged minorities.
We cannot but agree with his statement that in spite of 1’200 NGOs active in Hungary for Rroma, there seem to be precious few recipients, especially in the country side.
A portrait and interview of a Hungarian Rromni activist who worked first at the European Roma Right Centre (ERRC) and who is now the special raporteur for Minority issues at the UN.
Well done!
The appellate court in Budapest upheld the first instance judgment against the perpetrators of the hate crimes against Rroma in Hungary. Three of the perpetrators are sentenced to life without parole, while another forth one to 13 years in Prison.
The European Commission criticised Slovakia for systematic discrimination of Rroma children in education. It started legal proceedings for breaches of EU anti-discrimination law, referring to discrimination against Roma children in education. After the Czech Republic where such a procedure was started in September 2014, this is the second country in Europe that is being targeted.
Segregation in schools has been common in both the Czech and Slovak republics, but also exists in Romania and in Hungary. The practice of sending Rroma children systematically to schools for mentally disabled people is unfortunately also part of this pattern.
We welcome these actions!
Amnesty International condemned the fact that the Czech Republic has failed to comply with a European court order to stop placing Roma children in schools for the mentally disabled regardless of the students’ capabilities. Placing Rroma in schools for mentally disabled people has a long tradition in the Czech and Slovak republics as well as in Hungary and Romania. This is simply no longer acceptable in the 21. Century.
Following a scathing report on lawyers who did not defend Rroma refugees from Hungary properly, the Ontario state has passed a slate of new measures requiring competency tests for lawyers. There were a number of cases that were lost due to the incompetency of lawyers, resulting in several expulsions back to Hungary.
The Hungarian supreme court allowed Rroma only religious schools in that country. The Hungarian minister for Education, Integration, and Human resources had been supporting the views from the schools who had lost a case in lower instances. The EU and the Chance for Childrne Foundations were clearly against it.
So are we… Segregation on any reason is not an answer. The answer is integration.
The German Paper the TAZ launched a controversy when they published an article entitled “Political Correctness: Me, a Gypsy” (Politische Korrektheit; Ich, Zigeuner). The author, starting with the “Zigeunerschnitzel” argues that in some countries, such as in Hungary, Rroma call themselves Cigany, so – Tsigan / Gypsy. There is thus nothing bad in using the word, it depends on its utilisation, as in any other case.
The article is written by a young intern from Hungary, Tobor Racz who is a Cigan … It prompted some fiery reactions from various quarters, most notably from the page “Sag Nicht Zigeuner.
An official Cancadian delegation is currently visiting Hungary to understand the reasons and true situation of the 40 to 50 families from the region who fled Miskolc and asked for asylum in Canada. This exodus is due to the expulsion currently under way in a Rroma neighbourhood, to make way for a parking lot for a football stadium. Rroma were pushed outside of the city. This action initiated by the mayor has already generated quite a bit of noise. Let’s see what the Canadian officials come back with, and let’s hope that they will see these were illegal expulsions.
Meanwhile, Canada expulsed a Hungarian criminal kingpin who trafficked people into Canada, coaching them to tell they were persecuted Rroma. Neither he nor most of his victims were Rroma …
The Green party (LMP) is currently suing the Roma Autonomy, the Rroma self Government on Hungary for lack of transparency. They had requested information as allowed by the law but have not yet received anything.
The Roma Autonomy has been shrouded in controversy. One of his previous heads in under investigation, the current one is close to the Orban government, and anyhow the effectiveness of this organisation is far from proven.
CBC News report that Rroma refugees in Canada, mostly from Hungary, have been facing massive bias and discrimination in their cases. The report making this claim, authored by Sean Rehaag, a law professor, is damning for the immigration authorities in Canada. He speaks of “luck”, of little hope at appeals, and at denials at the actual situation of Rroma, especially in Hungary.
Bloomberg News report on Jobbik’s attempts to shed its racist and radical rhetoric in order to become more mainstream and potentially open the way to Vona, its chairman, to becoming Prime Minister in Hungary.
Let’s hope this is far from us, for these attempts are nothing more than window dressing.
In spite of the picture, and in spite of the beliefs, not all poor people in Hungary are Rroma. Unicef claims 620 thousand children live below the poverty line. This is many more children as the Rroma minority, which all in all numbers ca. 800 thousands.
Note that three million Hungarian are now below the official poverty line.
FR 
EN 
DE