Romanians are generally not prone at wanted to be identified as Rroma… Or so it seems, except when it allows them to have an easier way into high school, as a case in Romania shows.
A visit together with Romani Rose, president of the German Council of Sinti and Roma, in Auschwitz. One thing can be said: In Germany, they deal with the past. Some other countries should follow.
Following the refugee wave and the roughly 8’000 thousands Rroma in Rome, the mayor is warning of a collapse of social services. He also complains about the fact that they give quite a bit of money for Rroma, but only 20% of Rroma children go to school…
Maybe, they should close the famous camps and cut the subsidies to those who profit from them, and instead work on real integration!
A new head of the Rroma Education Fund (REF) in Budapest was nominated. It is Andrzje Mirga, from Poland. An interview and more about the education fund.
The European commission scolded Hungary for having segregated schools for Rroma which violate the EU directives on Rroma integration. Hungary has now some time to remedy the situation. Let’s see…
Well done and about time!
Another report on the trial of a French mayor (we reported a while back) of the town of Sucy en Brie who was accused of having denied 5 Rroma children their right to education. The mayor was cleared of all charges, but the fact remains that Rroma children, without a formal housing document, as often denied education, in spite of French law.
A shame.
US Holocaust educators from Florida visited Lithuania to share and develop strategies on some of the controversial aspects (i.e. local participation) of the Holocaust; to better understand what happened in Lithuania; to learn international law; to understand prejudices and to fight against them. On prejudice, they will also discuss the one against Rroma. Let’s see!
As we already reported, the debate in the Berlin Senate on the vote of an interdiction of begging for or with children based on “Missbrauch” [abuse] of the children is continuing. The abuse refers to violations of the child’s welfare as well as a violation of the law on compulsory education. Associations, however counter that begging is often the only revenues for families and that an interdictions will not help.
In a mock open trial, the French state was condemned for violations of the rights of children in the context of the evictions of Rroma camps.
Well done!
Meanwhile in France, the usual expulsions, defence, squats still make the headlines. In the University of Paris 8, the right for children to go to school is at the centre; in Ivry, near Paris, 73 families have to leave their camp; in the South West, two families are also expulsed; while in the Paris region, tensions are reported near a Rroma camp.
The mayor of Sucy-en-Brie Marie-Carole Ciuntu was accused of discrimination for having refused to enrol 5 Rroma children in school ass they did not have a proper “attestation de domicile”, a proof of residency. The mayor was cleared in court.
Portugal just released the result of the first ever Rroma survey. Around 1’600 Rroma were interviewed as part of this survey. The results show a lack of education, poverty, but also among one group of people, some level of integration ad work.
Such studies are always problematic, as they usually only survey visible Rroma, i.e. the ones who conform to the stereotypes. One should therefore be really careful about extending the results to all Rroma in Portugal where 40 to 50 thousand live and to all Rroma in Europe. There are many who are integrated and who obviously did not make it to this study.
Switzerland just signed an agreement with Bulgaria providing 8 Mio Swiss Francs to the municipalities of Burgas, Ruses, and Sliven to further Rroma (and other minorities) inclusion, centring on education and basic health care. In view of the more and more extremist views of the general population towards minorities and Rroma in particular, this in a country that used to be tolerant, one wonders whether this is the right approach.
An article on the schooling of Sinti children in the housing estate “Maro Temm” [our land] in the city of Kiel. Sinti children in Germany often don’t finish school, are often absent, and generally have a low education level. The article highlights some of the reasons.
In France, the summer is the season for expulsions. The reason being that the arguments that children are in school do no longer work due to the fact that the summer holidays have started.
Amnesty reports on this and the general issue of children in Ivry, and in Ris-Orangis in Evry, both near Paris. The last locality, Evry was the municipality that refused burial to a Rroma child a while back, something that is noted in Liberation as being an attack against Rroma. Other news contain the fact that Rosny and Montreuil, near Paris refuse the installation fo Rroma; that in Grenoble, on the initiative of the church and Rroma, a dinner was organised between the two communities; while in Wissous, the situation is getting tense a month after a judge ordered the expulsion.
The newspaper “Le Monde” published two articles on the fate of Rroma children who live in camps are are often the victims of the forced evictions that are the norm under the current government of Valls. For the children, it often means stopping going to school and thus, another failed integration.
Rroma integration will be a key aspect of the discussion of Serbia with the EU for eventual accession talks. Rroma in Serbia are often discriminated against, they are disadvantaged in the education system, and very often unemployed.
An Al-Jazeera film shows the quest of a 30 years old Rrom from a ghetto who, after a beating by the police, decides to finish high school and to become a teacher. While the story is definitively worthwhile and the man’s determination is to be really admired, the film and the article on it serves all the commonly held stereotypes. Broken families, criminality, drugs, etc. A more differentiated view is seldom presented in the press.
An interview of Professor Mihail Konstantinov, mathematician and expert of elections, gives a view of the current situation and thinking of the general population on Rroma in Bulgaria. The Garmen events and their cause is put into a context of lack of education, work, and total lack of propects.
The European Commission (EC) has started a legal action against Slovakia on the basis of the ongoing discrimination against Rroma children in that country. The EC says that a unusually high number of Rroma are placed in schools for mentally disabled children, a practice that is ongoing since the 1950’s in that country. Well Done for the EC, Shame on Slovakia. Especially since the government states that this high number is due to Rroma incest .
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