An interview with a catholic deacon on the “Roma Problem” in Slovenia. The deacon is not that clear cut on the roots of the problem and far less on potential solutions. Well, he at least helps some Roma.
The Roma activist Gianni Jovanovic states it clearly: Cologne is not really a tolerant city.
Students from the Roma Association “Romaversitas” started a campaign against the abuse of quotas at the university and a correction in the application of the enrolment policy, after five Roma students who applied to the Faculty of Medicine were rejected from the state and private quota of the faculty.
Another article on the mayor’s initiative for changing the laws on social benefits clearly directed against the Roma minority without mentioning them.
There must be better solutions.
After a months-long campaign, 11 mayors and mayors of Dolenj, Belokrajna and Posavina municipalities in Slovenia submitted proposals for changes to social legislation to the National Assembly. Throughout the collection of signatures, the mayors announced that the purpose of the changes was to protect the benefits of children from socially difficult backgrounds and to encourage interest in the integration of the unemployed into the labour market.
They of course kept silent the fact that the proposals target Roma, because otherwise the proposals would be rejected as unconstitutional, because they are discriminatory. But it is obvious that problems such as children’s non-enrolment in school are primarily associated with the Roma. The mayor of Novo Mesto, Gregor Macedoni, who is at the head of the initiative, told STA that their initiative deals in a general way with the problem of children who, being born in a “certain social environment”, are marked by the fact that they have no future, and there is a high probability that, that they will not finish primary school. According to his estimate, there are 1.5 percent of such children in Slovenia.
Croatia and Italy are singled out for their discrimination of Roma.
Roma displaced by the war still have problems with access to the labour market in the Ukraine. According to a study by an international charitable organization, which was conducted in May 2023 among Roma immigrants in the Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhya, Odesa, and Zakarpattia regions, the situation has improved.
However, there still are integration problems, discrimination, access to the labour market and ensuring the financial independence of immigrant families, information, and children’s access to education. The most difficult situation is in the Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia regions.
After several months of campaigning, 11 mayors and mayors of the municipalities of Dolenje, Belokraj and Posavina have finally submitted proposals for changes to social legislation to the National Assembly. Under the slogan “For children from difficult social backgrounds”, voters’ signatures were collected in municipalities for amendments to four laws, the content of which is particularly discriminatory against Roma, even though Roma are never mentioned in the proposed legislation.
Roma in Lithuania are a community that still faces discrimination from ordinary people, but also from state institutions.
Roma we spoke to admit that they hear almost every day that a “Gypsy is a thief”, that they cannot be trusted, that they are liars and a cheats.
A Romni tells “Kurier Wileński” that “Roma’s life is very hard. Many of us would like to live like people of other nationalities: go to work, have friends not only among the Roma, not feel inferior. I’d love to get a job. I have looked for her many times, but as soon as I say that I am a gypsy, there are a thousand reasons to refuse me a job. I am over 50 years old and have never been to a doctor. Not because I don’t get sick, but because I don’t have insurance because I don’t work. A closed circle.”
An interview with the commissioner for Roma minority affairs of the Czech Republic. She is being asked what the state is doing to prevent the recurrence of conflicts between Roma and Ukrainians and wether the Commissioner of the Council of Europe right when she claims that the Roma in the Czech Republic face discrimination.
According to this article, a “flood” of complaints was filed with the police because of Roma renting apartments. According to the article, unsanitary conditions and neglect of parental responsibilities are often cited as a reason for the complaints.
How about mentioning poverty and discrimination?
Another unfortunate article about Roma in the Slovenian press. They speak of criminality, brutality, gangs, and the like. In this article, they “explain” that Roma are driving customers away with the intent to extorting money from the businesses.
Bad.
Several articles highlighting the continuing discrimination of Roma in Europe.
A first in Switzerland: an article highlighting the longstanding hostility and persecution of Roma in Switzerland. What is worse, it continues. The country recognised Yenische, Sinti and Manouches but not Roma as a national minority.
Sinti and Roma opened and anti-discrimination office in Nuremberg. They hope this will help highlight the current racism and discriminations faced by this minority in Germany and also contribute to the fight against racism.
An article about Roma in Hungary and the discrimination they suffer in their lives. Good facts and description of the issues, were it not for the statement that the Hungarian Roma were made sedentary centuries ago… They never travelled except for going there.
This is typical of the French view of Roma: They are Travellers and it is a way of life…
In his play “Tschandala”, the Swedish Roma actor Lindy Larsson talks about decades of discrimination against Roma in Sweden – and about his own depressing and touching family history.
It’s hard to bear what the man, standing at the edge of the stage in a pale cone of light, is saying. His father was taken from the family as a child and placed in a government home. There he was beaten, raped, tied up for days, imprisoned. Again and again. He almost succeeded in attempting suicide when he was eleven. Later, as a teenager, he was almost sterilized. And he almost spent his whole life in prison and never met his future wife.
Two young Romnja in Bulgaria signed a contract for managing a restaurant. The contract was cancelled after a few days, apparently because of their ethnicity. The owner claims it is because of the tenant’s plans to organize noisy parties, weddings and baptisms.
Well, the government sys all is well, Roma are involved, and the path to real integration is clear.
Roma organisations say this is basically a fairy tale …
According to the council of Europe Roma and Travellers in the UK suffer persistent discrimination. Unfortunately, not changing at all.
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