The Slovenian opposition Alliance (ZaAB) wants to introduce a new law in parliament aimed at providing better housing condition for Rroma in that country.
Another report, this time on TV on the tours of the notorious 8th District of Budapest. These tours, organised by local Rroma offer a view of a part of town that is usually not on the tourist itineraries.
Another report on the village of Garmen where houses were destroyed last week. The families continue to live in the houses and refused social assistance as a protest for their evictions.
A long article on the village of Gramen in Bulgaria where ethic tensions came to a boil a while back and on which we have already reported.
The OSCE stated in a report, that greater effort were required in Hungary to find sustainable non discriminatory housing solution for Hungary’s Rroma minority. Well done, and yet another proof of what is really going on there.
An article about a Rroma family from Kosovo which are due to be deported back to Kosovo.
The city of Usti nad Labem, which is already known for issues with Rroma and general racism (they once built a wall around a Rroma settlement), has called for the army to deal with the problem of Rroma, be they locals or migrants, often from neighbouring Slovakia.
Are they totally out of their mind? The army is not there to deal with migrants, nor to improve security, this is the affair of the police and of the law.
A US State department report on Bulgaria notes the increased prejudice against Jews and Rroma as well as the increasing number of incidents related to ethnicity. The press, according to the report, describes Rroma and other minorities in “discriminatory and abusive language”, thus contributing to the issue.
Scary…
The European Roma Right Center (ERRC) slammed the Slovak government on the second anniversary of the police raid in the Rroma settlement of Moldava nad Bodvou on June 19, 2013. The police violence and actions have not been investigated at all, especially the question of the necessity of such a raid.
While we certainly greet the fact that the council of Europe wants to advance its Human Rights Goals as well as the statements of its commissioner for Human Rights, Nils Muižnieks, the journalists should have taken care of his formulation in the title… The story is somewhat different if you are disabled or if you are Rrom in Slovakia.
Switzerland just signed an agreement with Bulgaria providing 8 Mio Swiss Francs to the municipalities of Burgas, Ruses, and Sliven to further Rroma (and other minorities) inclusion, centring on education and basic health care. In view of the more and more extremist views of the general population towards minorities and Rroma in particular, this in a country that used to be tolerant, one wonders whether this is the right approach.
Rroma in Plovdiv asked for the resignation of the minister of health in Bulgaria because of his xenophobic statements. In one of these, he compared Rroma to “stock” and to “horses”.
An article on a Rroma family from Serbia who had asked for asylum in that country and now faces deportation back to Serbia. Germany, since it declared Serbia to be a safe country now regularly deports Rroma from that country who ask for asylum.
Two Roma from Slovakia are in court, being accused of having trafficked women from Slovakia for weddings to migrants from non EU countries, mostly to Asians. The scheme flew off after one of the women was raped by a Pakistani man to whom she had been “sold”. While it seems that not all the defendant are Rroma, they were “assisted” in recruiting the women by a Rroma family.
This, once again has nothing to do with Rroma and all to do with poverty and crime…
Interesting article about the situation of Rroma in Bulgaria and their increasing victimisation and isolation based on observations on the Rroma Mahala (neighbourhood) of Iztok in the city of Pazardjik.
A summary of the events and latest developments in the rising tensions in Bulgaria and on the increasing instrumentalisation of Rroma among rightist parties.
Rita Iszak, the author of the UNHCR report on Rroma that investigates the situation of this minority in terms of human rights is interviewed on the report.
A worthy read!
According to the Novinite News Agency of Bulgaria, the continuing ethnic tensions in Bulgaria show that politicians are good at doing nothing. The article gives a good summary of the issues, the views of the various groups on the Rroma situation in Bulgaria. That this has changed in recent times is unfortunate. Rroma were quite well integrated in Bulgaria.
A statement of a Bulgarian political scientist is totally off … Rroma are not a century old problem in Bulgaria. Nationalism is. Rroma lived fully integrated in Bulgaria for centuries before nationalists declared them and other minorities unwelcome.
Shame.
A report from a social research foundation in Sweden contradicts the well entrenched stereotype of Rroma living in organised crime families. According to the report, Rroma are not being trafficked into Nordic countries and are not under the influence of criminal gangs. This article focuses on newly arrived Rroma and not on the actual Nordic Rroma who have lived there since the 16th century.
FR 
EN 
DE