Montenegro: The Aftermath

Published by:

A fire ripped through a Roma settlement in Bar, Montenegro. The Roma Council has now allocated 12’000 euros for the repairs.

Slovakia: Stereotypes

Published by:

The story of the Roma “King” Róbert I. Botoš and his numerous designer shirts and gold.

This perpetuates the clichés and the untruth that there is such a thing as a Roma king.

Roma Vakeren

Published by:

Roma program about the forgotten story of Antonia Single, an extraordinary Roma flamenco dancer,

Photographer Antoine Le Roux on nomads and on the RomanoNet organization has been coordinating the cooperation of non-profit organizations engaged in work with the Roma minority.

Belgium, Politics, and Racism

Published by:

The former president of the Flemish socialist party (Vooruit), Conner Rousseau, seemed to be able to escape a trial despite his racist remarks against Roma, provided he would respect certain conditions. But one of the three Roma community associations involved in the agreement has decided to withdraw from the mediation procedure and is considering other actions.

French Chronicle …

Published by:

The usual unfortunate news: A camp near Paris that existed since 2017 has been closed this week, leaving roughly 200 people of which 90 children without a roof; there was a large police action in another camp on the outskirts of Paris; a festival of Roma culture in the South West; and finally, the extreme rightist Breizh info reports on the cancellation of an insertion village near Nantes in Western France.

Slovakia Elections

Published by:

A reportage Cakov, a village in Eastern Slovakia. The current Slovak president Zuzana Čaputová won almost 98 percent of the votes in Cakov last time. Who the residents will support this year will depend on how the candidates approach the problems of the Roma and Hungarian minorities.

Czechia and School Segregation

Published by:

Two articles dwelling on what happened in the 16 years since the Czech Republic was condemned for school segregation and discrimination against Roma. There are still segregated school, and according to the Deputy Minister of Education Jiří Nantl (ODS), Czech society is thereby producing clients of the welfare state.

These schools should be closed, and desegregations should be enforced.

Greece: A Really Bad Article

Published by:

of Greeks involved in thefts and burglaries are Roma” and requires the state to deal with “the systemic delinquency of the Roma”.

He further says that “they used to be mostly vagrants, employed in seasonal agricultural work, basket weaving, petty trading and peddlers, almost all of them uneducated and with slight delinquency, mainly petty theft”.

So basically, all Roma are thieves since immemorial times.

Not a word about the segregation and racism, about the failure of the state to improve housing conditions and so on.

We will pass on the measures advocated by the article like police control of the slums etc.

Poland, Foreigners and Minorities

Published by:

Well, the results of a survey in Poland are unfortunately not surprising. The least liked people in Poland (in that order) are Byelorussians, Roma, and Russian.

Sad that a local minority is so badly recognised.

Paleta

Published by:

Every weekday in the morning slot from 10.05am on TV1 and replays at 4.10pm on TV2, Paleta brings pictures and words from life, stories about ordinary people, reports on events and processes important for the preservation of cultural, linguistic and ethnic diversity in Vojvodina. Reports, life stories, information, documentary shows, events, problems and solutions…

One of the broadcasting languages is Romanes.

Child Abuse Case

Published by:

Canadian anthropology professor David Scheffel had been conducting research on child prostitution in Roma settlements in Slovakia since the revolution and was accused of sexual crimes. He spent 6 years in prison for a validly convicted act of sexual abuse and endangering moral education. And he is free with an electronic bracelet waiting for the next verdict in another case.

Now some of the witnesses are recanting.

Slovakia: Role Model

Published by:

Mechanical engineer and influencer Tomáš Csicsó, followed by more than 160’000 people, proves with his stories on social networks that Roma don’t have to end up in factories, but can have big dreams and ambitions, just like he had. He achieved success even though he grew up in poverty and encountered those who told him he would not make it.

Slovakia: Blank Racism

Published by:

Children on a train were verbally assaulted by older women from the majority. For example, the said: “Smelly Roma, they should look for a job and not go on trips.” The only one who stood up for them was the conductor, who warned the passengers not to make derogatory comments.

As part of the ZEBRA project, the “Cesta von” NGO organize activities and trips for teenage children from excluded environments. They want them to meet peers from the majority and broaden their horizons. These were children from this program.

Bad.

Greece: The “No one should be left behind” Project

Published by:

The project “Empowerment of young Roma women in matters of health, prevention and human rights” implemented as part of the Active citizens fund program sees Roma schoolgirls return to their camps and teach other women a great lesson about human rights, health and domestic violence.

17-year-old student Katerina Mukani from Zefyri was one of the students trained by experts to give a great lesson on human rights, health and domestic violence to the rest of the Roma women back in the camp where she lives. She says: “My daily life in Zefyri is boring and I feel trapped. I think a lot about my life after the Panhellenic Games, while many nights I dream of the moment when I will leave Athens, even far from Greece. Educating other Roma women helped me a lot to understand that my dreams and all of us are possible because we all deserve something better. None of us should be left on the sidelines.”

Poland, Minorities, and Foreigners

Published by:

Americans, Italians and Czechs, as well as Slovaks, are the favorite nations of Poles. This was shown by a new public opinion poll, TASR took over the report from the Polish news agency PAP. Up to 65 percent of respondents in the CBOS survey expressed positive feelings towards Americans. They are followed in second place by the Italians with 63 percent, ahead of the Czechs (61 percent), Slovaks (60 percent) and the British (55 percent).

Poles have the most negative views of Russians (76 percent), Belarusians (47 percent) and Roma (43 percent).

Uzhhorod Roma School

Published by:

The Czechoslovak president Masaryk contributed to the establishment of a should for Roma in what is now Transcarpathian Ukraine and before was the Ruthenian region of Czechoslovakia. The school was opened as an experiment to try to integrate Roma in the regular school system and Roma contributed to its creation. It was also a de-facto segregated school…

Czech Republic and Roma Education

Published by:

In 2007, the European Court of Human Rights, in a ground-breaking decision, condemned the Czech Republic for discriminating against Roma pupils in their access to education.

However, the Czech Republic continues to discriminate against Roma children in education in spite of this condemnation. Recent statistics show that 15% of Roma children are educated outside of the regular school system (i.e. special schools) whereas for the majority population, this is the case only for 3% of the children.

So there are still special schools in addition to at least 130 segregated ones.

Nazi Medical “Experiments”

Published by:

A new paper and hybrid seminar from the Trinity College in Dublin on the Roma and Sinti women who were abused in the Nazis’ biomedical experiments during the Nazi regime.

Prague and Roma History

Published by:

Jana Kokyová, chairwoman of the Roma Holocaust Compensation Committee, recalled the tragic fate of the Roma and Sinti during the Holocaust at a memorial meeting in Prague-Ruzyn on the 11th of March. In her speech, she emphasized that almost 90% of the Czech Roma and Sinti were exterminated and that this chapter of history is still neglected. She pointed to personal family experiences with Nazism and expressed concern that history might repeat itself. She criticized the insufficient representation of Roma history in school curricula and called for the support of educational programs that would help build a fairer and more tolerant society. At the same time, she drew attention to the current increase in extremism and the need for financial support for the Roma and Sinti Centre to continue its important work.

rroma.org
fr_FRFR