Thirty years ago, Austria recognised Sinti and Roma as a national minority.
Volodymyr Kondur, Head of the National Minorities Department of the Secretariat of the Human Rights Commissioner of the Supreme Council of Ukraine, was on a working visit to Transcarpathia.
They held a number of meetings, in particular, they visited the Roma settlement, and also met with representatives of the Zakarpattia Oblast and Berehiv City Council.
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.
In Sokoľany, whose written records date back to the 13th century, they organize a Village Day celebration every year (the tradition was disrupted only in the last two years by covid).
However, this year on September 10, it happened for the first time that the celebration was divided into two parts – the Roma had a reception in the settlement, the main celebration was at the football field. Someone says that it was segregation, someone on the contrary – that it was a bonus for the Roma.
In addition, there are suspicions of vote buying for the local municipal elections in a Roma settlement in Eastern Slovakia. Unfortunately, not uncommon in many places.
In recent years, the number of Roma candidates has increased with each election. This is most logically manifested in municipal elections. It is one of the key priorities of the current Roma Integration Strategy. And that at both the national and European level. In recent weeks, the news server Romea.cz has published a relatively comprehensive overview of Roma candidates for municipal elections in individual cities of the Czech Republic.
Roma run for various parties and movements across the political spectrum. Very often these are the Pirates, the ČSSD, the European Democrats and the Green Party. Many candidates also appear on the candidate lists of the newly founded Roma Luma party. But then we also have cities where our people appear on the candidate lists of populist and extremist parties such as SPD or Trikolora.
In Brno, 26 Romani men and women are running for the newly established union (according to the media, communists, neo-Nazis, the right-wing extremist movement Decent People and others). This does rase questions, as these parties are definitively not pro-Roma.
A report of the discriminations faced by Roma and their lack of possibilities of recourse against these in the judicial system in Hungary and Serbia. This is bad but not surprising.
According to the final results of the 2021 population census, there are 3,871,883 inhabitants in Croatia. Among them, by nationality, there are 3,547,614 (91.63%) Croats, 123,892 (3.2%) Serbs, 24,131 (0.62%) Bosniaks, 17,980 (0.46%) Roma, and 13,763 (0.36%) Italians.
Bosnian is the mother tongue of 17,531 citizens (0.45%), Italian is the mother tongue of 12,890 (0.33 %) citizens, Romanes is the mother tongue of 15,269 citizens (0.39%), and Albanian is the mother tongue of 13,503 citizens (0.35).
As usual, it is almost impossible to know if the numbers of Roma is anywhere close to reality.
A new project has been launched in Brazil aiming at helping the country’s Roma. There are quite a few Roma living in Brazil, a fact that is not well known.
On September 21 and 22, 2022, Helena Dalliová, the European Commissioner for Equality, will visit Slovakia.
During the first day of her visit, Helena Dalliová will visit some regions of Slovakia, where she will discuss issues of equality during her meetings, especially regarding the Roma community. She will meet with the mayor of Sečovce and the local residents of the segregated Roma settlement Hábeš, which received several EU-funded national projects. She will then visits a school in Kecerovce, where all the children in primary and kindergarten are Roma.
Romani Rose, the Chairman of the Central Council stated that Sinti and Roma influenced Europe’s music and that when people talk about European culture, Sinti and Roma are often easily forgotten. He would therefore like to open a museum as well as a permanent exhibition in the long term.
The OSCE is launching a new strategy for advancing the rights of Roma in Kosovo. Well, a bit late in the game. No one in Europe did anything when Roma were expelled from Kosovo right after the war.
As long as this has not been acknowledged, these strategies will yield little if any results.
This is a parade example of bad journalism. A Polish newspaper reports on a car crash. Already not really interesting in itself. But then chooses to indicate that the car owner and driver is a Rom.
Why?
This date is considered to be the first written account of the arrival of Roma in German lands. However, here are some accounts from Alsace and Switzerland somewhat earlier. It is also incorrect to use the plural of “Volk” in this context. That they always continue to show Roma as travellers is also annoying.
An interesting article and interview of Agnieszka Kościańska adi Michał Petryk, the authors of a book titles “Polish Racism” on the prevalence of racism in Poland and the use of the term “Negro” in Polish. On Roma, it says that they have “always been invisible”.
According to Agnieszka Kościańska, Anti-Gypsyism in Poland and Eastern Europe is a phenomenon similar to classical racism. We have Roma who live in ghettos, are lowest on the social ladder, and often visually stand out on the streets of Polish cities. This situation limits their opportunities for work or education. At the same time, we hear from everywhere: “It’s their fault,” “They discriminate themselves,” “They don’t care about their education,” “They don’t know how to take care of their homes,” and so on.
The Deutsche Reichsbahn took an active part in the crimes of the National Socialists in the “Third Reich”. Around three million people were deported to ghettos, concentration and extermination camps on their trains. Without the logistics and resources of the Reichsbahn, the Holocaust would not have been possible. How does Deutsche Bahn deal with the historical heritage today?
The story of the German boxing champion Johann Rukeli Trollmann, who as a Sinto was then deported to a concentration camp, and eventually killed.
The English version of an article that appeared last week in German on the confession of the leader of the group which murdered Roma in Hungary 13 years ago.
The martyrdom of the Roma, marginalized by the Yugoslav and Croatian authorities after the Second World War, saw the near-complete annihilation of the Roma community in Croatia. Since 2002, remembrance efforts have been made so that their status as full-fledged genocide victims is recognized, but their story has yet to be truly included in school textbooks. A look back with historian Danijel Vojak on this marginalized history.
Not much this week in France regarding Roma. A manifestation in Strasbourg for the people living in a camp there, and a justice story where a father who “bought” two minor girls in former Yugoslavia was condemned. This latter story adds fuel to the stereotype that Roma buy their women and sell their daughters, something that only Vlach Roma do as a result of the slavery in Romanian lands.
A Czech Mayor Jaroslav Červinka committed felony incitement to hate a group or limit its rights and freedoms when, during a local assembly session, he said it would be “better to shoot” RomaNews server Aktuálně.cz has reported that the local prosecutor has conditionally suspended pressing charges because the mayor has admitted his deeds and made a donation of CZK 30,000 [EUR 1,223] to a fund to aid crime victims.
This is not justice.
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