Bulgaria News Eastern Europe

Bulgaria Festival

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The children’s Roma festival “Open Heart” was held for the 18th time in a row and brought together children and young people from all over Bulgaria in V. Tarnovo. This edition was also a bit special for the organisers from the Amalipe Center for Inter-Ethnic Dialogue and Tolerance, as in 2023 the forum turns 20. Many songs, dances, poems, a theatrical production and a number of other side events entertained the spectators and the participants themselves in the festival, which traditionally gathered in “Marno Pole” park. It was attended by more than 1,000 students from over 70 schools across the country, included in the Folklore of Ethnicities, Roma Folklore and other activities of interest, girls and boys from the Youth Groups for Tolerance and Civic Participation, as well as educational mediators.

France News Western Europe

French Chronicle …

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First, a TV “reportage” omen “Gypsy Wedding”… With all stereotypes, and the implied generalisation on all Roma. Then a recent book, translated from the Italian on Roma living on the outskirts of Florence, Italy. Then the more usual: A massive Roma camp in Bordeaux, with more than 2000 people, and a camp near Aix en Provence that will be closed soon.

News Eastern Europe North Macedonia

North Macedonia and Racism

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The Helsinki Committee for Human Rights strongly condemned offensive graffiti with swastikas and inscriptions “Gyupci”, written with black spray on the houses of the Roma population on Debarska street in Bitola, North Macedonia. According to them, this is another case of a hate crime, with a message calling for violence against the Roma ethnic community.

“Starting from the aspiration to build coexistence, tolerance and mutual respect, regardless of national, ethnic, religious or any other affiliation, we demand that the competent institutions, above all, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Prosecutor’s Office thoroughly investigate the case, find the perpetrators , who should be held accountable for this crime,” the Helsinki Committee stated.

News Western Europe United Kingdom

Appleby Fair

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Several articles and pictures of the start of the fair.

News Eastern Europe Ukraine

Ukraine and Roma

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The Ukrainian state guarantees its citizens equal access to legal aid and justice. The possibility of receiving services in the system of free legal aid does not depend on social status, race, ethnicity or other characteristics. At the same time, the Roma national minority, which is quite significant in Ukraine, is also one of the most socially vulnerable, and therefore requires the special attention of human rights defenders.

In order to ensure unimpeded access of Roma to free legal aid, specialists of the BPD system organize out-of-court consultation points in settlements where Roma live, explain the rights of representatives of national minorities during legal education events, prepare and distribute information and explanatory materials about the rights of national minorities.

“The lawyers of the BPD system in Sumy Oblast are constantly approached by representatives of the Roma nationality. In the regional centre, we even organized a consultation centre on the basis of one of the schools, where part of the children belong to the Roma community. Yes, at the specified time, everyone who wants to can consult with a specialist,” says the director of the Sumy local centre for the provision of BVPD Valentyna Troshechko.

A Step in the right direction …

Germany News Eastern Europe News Western Europe Ukraine

Germany: Fire

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A small child died in a fire in an asylum seeker centre in the Thuringian town of Apolda. The child is from a Roma family from the Ukraine.

It is not yet known whether this was arson or an accidental fire. Romani Rose, the chairman of the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma is asking for a prompt investigation.

Bulgaria News Eastern Europe

Bulgaria, Rock, God, and Roma

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A Bulgarian rocker who emigrated a long time ago to the US and turned preacher in an evangelical church there, is helping Roma – apparently praying for healings of sick Roma – and also helping children. Frankly, this could be done without the religion, as many Roma there are Moslem, and the others orthodox.

Germany News Western Europe

Remembrance

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The German town of Neustrelitz, north of Berlin, will name a street after deported Sinti children who died in Auschwitz. The Street will be named Rose-Wagner-Groß Strasse after the 7 children.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia and Statistics

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The usual statistics: In the municipality around Novo Mesto, Slovenia, on average 12 percent of Roma students completed primary school, or approximately one in eight school-age children. There are currently 290 unemployed Roma registered at the regional office of the Employment Agency, which is 30 percent of all unemployed in the municipality. Of these, 73 percent have been registered at the institution for more than one year and 56 percent for more than two years.

Only issue pops up if you ask how many Roma there are in the municipality. Answer is usually we do not really know … This makes for highly accurate percentage …

Hungary News Eastern Europe Ukraine

Ukrainian Refugees in Hungary

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Roma from Ukraine fled to Hungary because of the war, but not because of poverty. Rozina is 38 years old Romni and is one of several thousand refugees from Ukraine who fled to Hungary after the Russian invasion in February 2022.

She sits at a table and practices writing her name at a school in the eighth district of the Hungarian capital. She has freckles on her face, a bright smile, and struggles with the letter “k” when writing the surname Farkaš. The classes are run by Taleta, a non-governmental organization founded by two Hungarian women, Silvija Moldovan (Szilvia) and Agnes Pletser, immediately after the war began, with the aim of helping to educate young Roma refugees from the western Ukrainian Transcarpathian region.

Germany News Western Europe

Germany: Unusual Football Cup

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The Madhouse association developed a special idea with the Munich police to break down mutual prejudices: a friendly football tournament in which all groups, Sinti, Roma, the police, compete and play together. get to know and respect each other.

Bulgaria News Eastern Europe

Bulgaria: Competition

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A competition for student candidates of Roma origin was announced by the Foundation “Health Problems of Minorities”. The competition will select candidate Roma students who will be able to attend preparatory courses for applying to medical universities in Bulgaria for “Medicine”, “Pharmacy” and “Dental Medicine”.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Josef Miker

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The portrait of an activist, originally from Slovakia but now from the Czech Republic who fights against hate.

What a destiny: His grandparents were shot by guardsmen, his parents met in a concentration camp. His father came from Velké Zalužice in Slovakia, where he owned huge plots of land on which a Roma settlement stood. His great-ancestor saved the life of his lord in the Battle of Slavkov, and he gave him extensive land in Slovakia for that.

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