News Eastern Europe Poland

Roma Graves

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The graves of the Roma from Świebodzice in Southwestern Poland stand out in the cemetery. The locals are used to seeing human figures made of marble with golden signet rings on the squares and a cell phone in their hand. Visitors, especially those visiting the cemetery for the first time, cannot pass by indifferently. They take pictures and look at the monuments with interest.

News Eastern Europe North Macedonia

North Macedonia and Roma Education

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The Ministry of Education and Science informed that it hired 40 Roma educational mediators who will provide additional support for students in elementary schools in municipalities with a larger number of students from the Roma ethnic community.

“Their role is to help improve awareness of the possibilities and access to schools, to have regular meetings with the population and employees of the primary school related to the educational specifics and needs of this vulnerable group, to regularly collaborate with professional associates and teachers to improve the achievements of the students, as well as to take actions to reduce the dropout of the educational process”, said the Ministry of Education and Culture.

This is not much when one thinks of how many Roma there are in Macedonia.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia, Insurances, and Roma

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Tens of thousands of people from the poorest communities change health insurance every year. They are profitable for insurance companies mainly because they use little health care if at all, meaning their fees are very profitable to the companies. Questionable business practices were revealed in this context by the data of the Value for Money Unit (ÚHP), which is explained in the interview by analyst ADAM MAREK from the unit.

Montenegro News Eastern Europe

Montenegro, Parliament, and Roma

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The debate in Montenegro about reserved seats for the Roma minority continues.

According to the debate held, it is necessary to ensure that the Roma community has a representative in the Parliament of Montenegro, because members of that people would explain in the best way what problems they are facing and what they see as a solution. This was assessed at the panel discussion “Reserved mandate for members of the RE population in the Parliament of Montenegro”, organized by the Centre for Monitoring and Research (CeMI) and the MINA agency.

The right question is to ask what a single (or even a few) reserved seats for minorities can do to change things. The anser is easy: NOTHING. This is an alibi exercise.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia: Roma Mayors

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Another mayor in Slovakia is a Rom. This is a trend, as more and more Roma get involved in politics. In this case, it is in Strány pod Tatra, where the Roma candidate won. The village of roughly 2’300 inhabitants has above 90% of Roma residents.

Kosovo News Eastern Europe

Prizren and Roma

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The municipality of Prizren in Kosovo decided that Romanes would become an official language of the municipality. This is rather surprising, when one think that many of the Roma living there were expelled after the war and that racism against Roma is still very much prevalent in Kosovo.

Germany News Western Europe

Racism in Germany?

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In early summer 2021, Kelly Laubinger wanted to join a gym in her hometown of Neumünster, but she didn’t get a place. Because she is Sintica, she believes – and is now suing the studio for violating the Equal Treatment Act. It was only because of Corona, claims the operator of the fitness studio. But in court he got caught up in contradictions. Case is still open.

France News Western Europe

French Chronicle

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Not much this week on France and Roma. A rumour about people being abducted and of a traffic of human organs involving Roma spread through France. Las time such a rumour occurred, Roma were victims of attacks. Other than that, three camps closed near Paris, one in Lyon, and in Montpellier, apparently some success at integration.

Montenegro News Eastern Europe

Montenegro and Roma

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The greatest responsibility for the fact that the Roma community still does not have its own representative in the parliament lies with the politicians, because their voting on any socio-political issue depends on their agreements and party interests, according to the Institution of the Protector of Human Rights and freedom of Montenegro.

Back in 2013, the Institution of the Protector expressed the position that the Roma community should be provided with a lower census in order to be adequately represented in the Parliament of Montenegro, but even today, 30 years after the introduction of multi-party system, the Roma are the only national minority that does not have its own representative in the parliament.

Well, one can and should argue that members of parliament should NOT be allocated along ethnic lines but rather that parties should get minorities involved.

Bulgaria News Eastern Europe

Bulgaria: Epidemic

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An epidemic outbreak of hepatitis A was registered in the Roma district of Kosharnik in Montana. The Bulgarian Red Cross (BRC) provided 300 hygiene packages and health and educational materials to its residents, reports the BRC.

Preventive and anti-epidemic measures have already been taken on site to limit the spread of the infection among the vulnerable communities in the Roma neighborhood. Each of the hygiene packages provided is individual and includes hand sanitizer, soap, washing powder, shampoo, wet wipes, reusable face masks, etc.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Health Insurance and Roma

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According to the Slovak ÚHP analyst Marek, Health insurance companies make money from poor Roma. It is immoral. “The facts are quite clear. The health outcomes are terrible, at the level of the third world, and those insured are profitable for health insurance,” says Marek.

Bad.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia: New Initiative

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The mayors of 11 municipalities in South-Eastern Slovenia submitted an initiative to to amend five laws to “resolve” Roma issues. They want “to protect children” who have no future in Roma settlements. Municipalities have exhausted the possibilities for rescue, so a systemic approach by the state as soon as possible is necessary, including changes in legislation. They proposed changes to the laws on parental care and family benefits, on social security benefits, on regulating the labour market, on the protection of public order and peace, and on drivers.

Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob also spoke about the initiative of the mayors of 11 municipalities in southeastern Slovenia to change laws related to Roma issues.

Last time there was such an initiative, the laws were actually repressive, so let’s see.

News Eastern Europe Poland

Auschwitz on Roma

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The International Centre for Education about Auschwitz and the Holocaust organised a meeting devoted to the extermination of the Roma for the inhabitants of Oświęcim and its vicinity. It will be held on November 4.

The Centre announced that the meeting is part of the “Around the History of Auschwitz” series. Classes have been conducted since May this year.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

EU Report and the Czech Republic

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According to the EU Fundamental Right Agency (FRA) Report on Roma, Roma in the Czech Republic, poverty threatens 77 % of Romani people, a clear deterioration of the situation as compared to 2016, when poverty threatened 58 % of Roma.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia and Racism

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Slovakia and Racism

The director of the Slovak National Theatre (SND), Matej Drlička had to resign following sarcastic remarks he made about “national artists” who worked in the past or still work in SND ensembles, “that I guess they are the most important people in Slovakia”. He also added comments addressed to politicians who are he said, are fulfilling their constitutional duties, noting “that unfortunately they are still breathing”.

He was referring to Roma.

The Minister of Culture Natália Milanová accepted his resignation and stated that the remarks were beyond the bounds of decent behaviour. The former Culture Minister, Marek Maďarič, on the other hand stated that “Matej Drlička is such a high-quality manager that I would fight for him even against the will of the committee if I were the minister, even more so because he apologized promptly and, in my opinion, sufficiently for his statement.”

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