Category Archives: Slovenia

Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est Slovénie

Slovenia and Minorities

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The interesting story of a Slovenian village, Dobrovnik,  where Slovenes are the minority and where Hungarians and Roma are present. During the local mayoral and local elections, there are three electoral commissions, and as many as seven ballots were in front of the voters. Ironically, the village will have to elect a Slovene minority representative in the village administration, a unique case in Slovenia.

Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est Slovénie

Slovenia: Ticking Bomb?

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An incendiary article about the “ticking Roma social bomb in Dolenjsko”. In Brief, the mayors of this region of Southeastern Slovenia complain that the central government is not doing enough, and that effectively, the situation deteriorates. So far so good, but these mayors also hold Roma responsible for a large part of the problem, saying they are not sending their children to school, do no efforts, and generally tend to be criminals. They had petitioned the government earlier in the year to harden the delivery of social help to Roma.

Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est Slovénie

Ljubljana’s Mayor and Racism

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Zoran Janković, the current mayor of Ljubljana, Slovenia, is trying to be re-elected for the fifth time in a row and also to get a majority in the city council to govern. He is however involved in a controversy about the burial of Roma from Ižan, victims of the Nazis and of the Partisans in Ljubljana’s cemetery. He is opposing the burial and has now been officially accused of racism by the Assembly for the Republic who published a harsh statement: By not burying the Roma from Ižan, he showed a level of racism hitherto unknown in Ljubljana, that he despises the sanctity of life by abusing cemeteries, that he incited intolerance and hatred with his political appearances.

Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est Slovénie

Slovenia: Roma “Issues”

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The working group for dealing with the Roma issue (which is supported by the mayors of the municipalities of southern Slovenia) held its first meeting yesterday. The group will strive for a comprehensive approach of the state in solving the complex Roma problem, ensuring decent living conditions and active inclusion of Roma in social life, the government announced.

What is so complex in discrimination, racism, and the resulting exclusion? It is not a Roma “Issue” it is a gadže issue.

Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est Slovénie

Slovenia: Roma Victims

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As noted by the member of the committee for the excavation and solemn burial of Roma killed during the war, Dr. Miran Komac from the Institute for Ethnic Issues, the Roma minority in Sloveniantry experienced the murder of around 70% of the entire population  during the Second World War – committed both by the occupying side and by partisan units.

Recognising that even partisans killed Roma is an important step. Miran Komac lobbied for the burial of Roma victims in Ljubljana, but Ljubljana’s mayor Zoran Janković persistently rejects this request. It is to be noted that other victims of World War Two got a space in the Ljubljana’s cemetery. So this is definitively racially motivated …

Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est Slovénie

Slovenia and Discrimination

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Discrimination of the Roma community is still present in Slovenia according to  Jerica Lorenci, the researcher of the Epeka association who presented the report of the project Promoting Roma Equality in Slovenia and Slovakia. She also drew attention to the lack of statistical data related to the Roma community.

Since there are no reports of discrimination, their level is higher than that perceived by the Defender of the Principle of Equality, she stated. Every one of the 50 people who were interviewed as part of the research had experienced discrimination, Lorencijeva told STA on the side-lines of the presentation, which took place in the premises of the Ljubljana Faculty of Social Sciences.

Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est Slovénie

Slovenia: Roma Language Symposium

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November 5, 2008 marks the World Romanes Day. A symposium entitled “ROMA LANGUAGE – basis for understanding Romani history and culture” was prepared on the occasion of World Roma Language Day. It is a project that was implemented with the help of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia and the Council of the Roma Community of the Republic of Slovenia. The organizers of the symposium are the Association of Roma of Slovenia and the Roma Association Romani Union and IRŠIK, the Institute for Roma Studies, Education and Culture.

Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est Slovénie

Slovenia: New Initiative

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The mayors of 11 municipalities in South-Eastern Slovenia submitted an initiative to to amend five laws to “resolve” Roma issues. They want “to protect children” who have no future in Roma settlements. Municipalities have exhausted the possibilities for rescue, so a systemic approach by the state as soon as possible is necessary, including changes in legislation. They proposed changes to the laws on parental care and family benefits, on social security benefits, on regulating the labour market, on the protection of public order and peace, and on drivers.

Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob also spoke about the initiative of the mayors of 11 municipalities in southeastern Slovenia to change laws related to Roma issues.

Last time there was such an initiative, the laws were actually repressive, so let’s see.

Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est Slovénie

Slovenia and Roma

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After the recent events in the Roma settlement of Brezje near Novem mesto, where a 22 years old was shot dead and two were wounded, some mayors in south-eastern Slovenia point to the need for a comprehensive solution to the Roma problem. They propose the establishment of a special interdepartmental working body.

In a letter sent to Prime Minister Robert Golob, the mayor of Novo Mesto, Gregor Macedoni, assesses that the latest tragic confrontation in Brezje, is a new harsh reminder that the Roma issue in south-eastern Slovenia deserves concrete inter-ministerial attention. consideration at the state level.

Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est Slovénie

Slovenia, Murder, and Roma

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In a Roma settlement in Novo Mesto, Slovenia, a Rom was murdered. The mayor and the municipality issued a statement saying that they hoped that justice would be done. They also insisted on the fact that the state had not paid enough attention to the fact that illegal weapons are common in Roma settlements. Whether this is truly the case remains to be verified.

Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est Slovénie

Slovenian Pilgrimage

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Roma have been participating in this pilgrimage in Brezje, Slovenia for a century. Usually set a week before Mary’s Assumption day, during the festivities, they help carry the image of Mary from the church to a nearby park and back to church, a trip symbolizing the search for an abode that Mary and Josef had to do.

After two years where the feast was cancelled because of Corona, it takes place again. But the local authorities do not want to provide a place where the Roma could stay during the pilgrimage, in fact, preventing them from attending. This is bad, but in view of the general view of Roma in Slovenia, not surprising.

Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est Slovénie

Slovenia Holocaust Commemoration

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A word of warning during the Slovenian commemoration of the Roma Holocaust Day in view of hate speech and racism towards Roma.

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Training in Rome

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Training in Rome

End of June or at the beginning of July, youth workers from the Society for the Development of Voluntary Work Novo mesto Anisa, Enja, Teo and Tina were in a hurry in Rome, where they took part in the Erasmus+ project Stop Antigypsysim. Together with participants from Serbia, Croatia, Italy, Bulgaria and Montenegro, they discussed the Roma issue, the situation of Roma in the participating countries, and also had the opportunity to get to know Rome, the Vatican and the beach in Ostia.

Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est Slovénie

Not Sure …

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Not Sure …

A survey conducted by Laura Kovač, a student at the Faculty of Arts, University of Maribor, Slovenia, as part of her master’s thesis, showed that Roma students in Prekmurje and Dolenjska feel comfortable in primary school. Discrimination and stereotypes are still present, but Roma students mostly describe school relations as good.

Somewhat doubtful…

Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est Slovénie

Slovenia and Roma

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The Murska Sobota Development Center has organized a first “international” Roma conference at the RIS Dvorec Rakičan, aimed at exchanging views on education and political and social inclusion of the Roma community. The director of the Office for Nationalities, Stane Baluh, estimated that in Slovenia the legal and formal issues regarding participation are well regulated, but they are lame in practice.

Effectively, Roma are segregated…

Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est Slovénie

Slovenia and Roma

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Slovenia and Roma

Jožek Horvat-Muc, president of the Roma Association of Slovenia (ZRS) was interviewed on the situation of Roma in Slovenia and on what still needs to be done. Horvat notes that each government has done something, but none has done enough.

Still a long way to go for this rather small minority.

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