As every year on May 25th of Rroma pilgrims gathered in Saintes Marie de la Mer in the Camargue in honour of the black Madonna, Sarah la Kali.
In 2013, Garda members took away children from Rroma families based solely on their appearance (i.e. they were not dark), as there was deemed to be a fair incertitude as to whether the children were really with their parents. A senior Garda member is now in custody following leaks to the press regarding this case. Highly unusual!
Following the condemnation of a Canadian lawyer for having mishandled the cases of Rroma refugees, a couple of Hungarian Rroma are getting a second chance and the court is now re-considering the refugee status.
A blog/photographs on Rroma weddings, mostly in Turkey.
A report by the Council of Europe Human Right Commissioner, Nils Muižnieks, claims that a quarter of Norwegian Rroma children in Olso are in or at risk of being put in foster care. Upon more careful reading, one finds that 60 children are in, and another 60 are at risk of being put in foster care. So all in all 120 children, which, if this is true, means there are 460 Rroma children in Oslo. Who knows … It would be better to say the exact numbers instead of clamouring some phony eye catching headline which is obviously not correct.
The story of the few homeless Rroma in Brussels (we reported on it), is drawing lots of attention in the Belgian press and now also in the Slovak one. Even the European Affairs Minister Miroslav Lajčák stepped into the fray and stated that “We provide assistance to all of our citizens that approach us with a request for help, but this wasn’t the case in this instance.”
Lots is made of a few isolated cases, and the Rroma who migrated and integrated are barely mentioned. Again, only stereotyped views of the Rroma are pushed by the press.
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.
A case of abduction, sequestration and rape where a young Rromni was abducted by a Rrom and his daughter, forced to have sex – having 4 children in the process, and finally being freed after several years is raising controversy in Finland. The reason: the mild verdict ( 3 years and ten months for the father, 2 years and 8 month for the daugher), which according to the press was due to the fact that they are Rroma, the father having claimed this was culturally ok among Rroma, as the abducted girl was de-fact his wife according to custom.
Finnish Rroma (so-called Kaale) countered that the deed was in no way condoned by the community nor was it the result of cultural traits. They also criticised the debate in the press.
Follows an extensive debate about culture and law… Fact is, Rroma culture doesn’t condone such acts, by far. Contrary, this would have resulted traditionally in the total exclusion of the Rrom from the community. Unfortunately, some of these traditions are getting lost, in part due to the pentacostal influence and other assimilation factors.
Throughout the German press, there have been articles commemorating the 75th anniversary of the first deportations of Rroma and Sinti on May 16th, 1940, to concentration camps. Writers, politicians, clerics, all reflected on this dark chapter of German history. Even darker when one considers that the persecution of Rroma and Sinti was not recognised as an ethnic one by the German state until 1982 (Date at which the German Government under Helmut Schmid recognised the racial nature of the perecution). Until then, Rroma and Sinti had been persecuted officially solely for being “asocial” Needless to say, reparations were also not really forthcoming, even after that date.
In Bologna, 100’s of Rroma demonstrated on the 16th of May to protest against racism and discrimination, especially fuelled by the Lega, a right wing populist party that is currently stirring up hatred towards immigrants and Rroma especially. This, in spite of Bologna being quite a model city with their action against prejudices on which we reported a while back.
The town of Watrelos in France, right on the Belgian border wants to erect a 2 ½ meter high concrete wall to “protect” its citizen from a camping site for travellers on the other side of the border in the town of Mouscron. The French press is full of several articles on this. Fact is, this is not acceptable in the 21st century in Europe. And these people are Europeans, and to a large extent citizen of Schengen states. A shame for France and for the socialist mayor to the French commune.
The French Prime Minister stated in an interview that all Rroma camps should be closed. He also insisted that all social measures required by the law are being applied prior such a closure and that the evicted families are followed on.
What a lie
Meanwhile, evictions continue, and very few of the evicted people are re-lodged as per the directives from the Valls’ government. For example in St.-Fargeau; in Grenoble, where the eviction has been requested by the mayor; and so on…
Meanwhile, in Belgium, there are also calls to re-lodge Rroma, for example in Brussels, in Ixelles, and a bus is being used as a temporary abode for five Slovak Rroma families in Brussels.
Viorel Costache, Rrom and president of the association PRALES (Brothers) and Gabriela Munteanu, a Romanian translator have denounced the inacceptable situation of Rroma Migrants in Strasbourg. In their press conference, they have compared the measures of the city of Strasbourg to a “modern concentration camp” for having established an enclosed camps for Rroma and are accusing the police and the authorities of a true hunt against Rroma.
We do agree with them. Please support them and join their action!
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.
France has been slammed by a UN report on racism in France. The report, among other states that “The committee is concerned by the recrudescence of hate and xenophobic speech in certain political circles and the media which contribute to the trivialisation of racism and xenophobia”. It cites racism against Jews, Moslems, but also increasingly against Rroma with statements such as the “unbearable smell” of Rroma in public transportation, but also due to police brutality in clearing illegal camps and the breach of the rights to proper lodging when expelled from such camps.
This increase of racism towards minorities is worrisome and not worthy of a country like France. Unfortunately, in the case of Rroma, even people such as the Prime Minister are prone to racist statements – for example when he deemed that Rroma do not and cannot integrate. This has to stop.
A Canadian lawyer was suspended for 5 months for misconduct involving Rroma refugees for failing to adequately represent thousands of Rroma claimants between 2009 and 2013. In view of what this meant for these refugees, i.e. being deported back, this is a mild sentence indeed.
Özcan Purçu is a candidate of the opposition Republican People’s Part (CHP) in Izmir for a parliamentary seat and stands good chance of being elected. As such, he will be only the third official Rroma representative in Europe’s parliaments. For such a large minority, not an acceptable representation. We wish him all the luck!
A new project in collaboration between the city of Manchester and the EU aims at reducing prejudices against Rroma as well as to break their “dependency on others”. The project coordinator is Yaron Matras, professor at the University of Manchester and a specialist of Rroma. The project aims to increase the Rroma access to public services, education and employment.
While we greet the first part and the goals, the second subtitle, the one on the dependency, leaves a bitter taste. This is definitively a paternalistic view of the world, and is ascribing an ethnic trait to what is simply a social and poverty problem.
Many young Rroma are rebelling against so-called scientific evidence on and about Rroma. They are rebelling against statements such as “that Roma mothers willingly accept evaluation of their children as mentally disabled so that they can reap social benefits” found in a Serbian scientific journal. The Central European University is starting a program of graduate studies aimed at young Rroma so that they can contradict such nonsense from the inside!
All the luck to them!
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