News Eastern Europe Slovakia

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A Czech reportage on the notorious Lunik IX Roma housing estate outside of Košice, Slovakia. According to the reportage, an average of 12 people live in each of the flats of the estate.

The article also recalls how this ghetto was created: Originally, there were both Roma and others living there. Ut from 1995 onward, the city relocated Roma from the centre to the estate, and non-Roma to the centre. In addition, people who did not pay their rent were also relocated there. So, effectively, the population in Lunik IX is almost entirely Roma.

France News Western Europe

French Chronicle …

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The usual this week in the French news. The story of a camp that is slated for demolition on the outskirts of Nantes, in Western France; finally, a short respite for another camp near Strasbourg.

Hungary News Eastern Europe

InDaHouse: A project in Hungary

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Fruzsina Benkő founded InDaHouse in the most disadvantaged area of Borsod, one of the poorest Hungarian Counties in 2014, driven by her own resources, her frustration with the child protection system, her personal desire to do something and, as she says in the interview, some naivety.

The aim is to show the Roma children that the majority society can believe in them.

Difficult in Hungary …

Hungary News Eastern Europe

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A reportage in a Budapest district that is going to be displaced for building the National University of Public Service’s teacher training school. Where’s the catch: Well, 80% of the residents are Roma. And they fear that they will be relocated to nowhere, in the countryside.

Clearly, the buildings are in need of repairs, but many residents invested and renovated their flats by themselves. Now, they are being expropriated by the state.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia, Roma, and Politics

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Slovakia, Roma, and Politics

According to Ingrid Kosová, member of the National Council of the Slovak Republic for Progressive Slovakia, it is very important that Roma have representation in political parties. At the same time, she emphasized that they must be experts. “Personally, I would like political parties to choose Romani candidates who are experts, and not just because they are Roma,” she said in an exclusive interview for the first Romani internet television, ROMEA TV, in which she spoke with Jarmila Balážová about her journey into politics, the importance of Roma representation in political structures and her priorities as a parliamentarian.

Germany News Eastern Europe News Western Europe Ukraine

Germany and Roma Refugees

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An article on Roma Refugees from the Ukraine in Germany. They are fleeing war, but instead of help, in Germany they often experience racism. The Center for Reporting and Information on Antigypsyism demands action.

More than 1.1 million people fled to Germany from the war in Ukraine, including, it is estimated, several thousand Roma, members of Europe’s largest ethnic minority. While other Ukrainian refugees received unbureaucratic and warm care, most arriving Roma experienced a very different Germany: overly formalized, unhelpful, suspicious, derogatory and racist.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Prague and Roma

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In March, the final conference of the “Together we are developing Roma civil society” project took place in the Svornost hotel in Prague. This project, which started in October 2021 and ends in April 2024, aimed to support the development of Roma civil society in Prague.

The RomPrague association, as an umbrella organization of other non-profit entities, established a platform on which, by setting up regular and systematic cooperation of Roma non-profit organizations, the foundations were laid for mutual exchange of information and discussion not only between representatives of these organizations, but also representatives of city districts, the City Hall of Prague and other entities whose touches on the integration of Roma.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia: Roma “Problem”

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Over last weekend there was a shooting in the Roma settlement Kerinov Grm in the area of the Krško Municipality. While the police intervened and wanted to detain one of the suspects, residents of the local settlement threw stones at the police car.

The former Director General of the Police, Anton Olaj, believes that “the government’s lack of readiness to systematically regulate the Roma issue is reflected in the escalation of violence”. At the same time, he calls on the government to “present the promised softer and “better” solutions to the public after the rejection of the legal initiative of the eleven mayors of SE Slovenia”.

This is a recurring theme in Slovenia and of course populists are on the forefront.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Pre-kindergarten in Ostrava

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A class for Roma children recently opened in Ostrava. Its goal is to make it easier for them to start kindergarten. According to the Ostrava organization Vzájemne sožižití, up to a quarter of Roma children do not go to kindergartens. Therefore, in one of the local community centres, they started operating a product called Brouček, which children can go to before starting kindergarten.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

IHRA’s Definition of Antitziganism

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The Czech Senate, like the government, adopted the definition of anti-Roma racismn, i.e. so-called anti-Tziganism. However, when compared to the government’s proposal, the senate modified its version of the non-legally binding definition to be more in line with the English original, which was established in 2020 by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA).

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia and a Kindergarten

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Less than a month ago, the Roma settlement of Dobruška Vas in the municipality of Škocjan was left without a kindergarten. It was set on fire by a stranger, and the fire completely destroyed the structure. Fires are apparently common in the mentioned settlement, but the the municipality nevertheless decided to build a new kindergarten. According to the mayor Jože Kapler, they hope that it will be in ready in May.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Role Models

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Nikolas Petik, a successful Rom, is part of a program that goes into schools to tell the story of successful Roma to motivate younger Roma to study.

The event is intended to motivate children and their parents for personal development and education, and at the same time introduce the general public to inspiring Roma personalities who overcame a number of obstacles on their way to success. Lucie Fuková, the government commissioner for the affairs of the Roma minority and a native of Pardubice, will also be present.

Europe

ODHIR and Roma Vote

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With Roma and Sinti political participation still marginal in many places and elections taking place this year in almost half of OSCE countries, it is more important than ever that Roma and Sinti have the opportunity to participate in elections and help shape their societies for the better, stated the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) on the occasion of International Roma Day.

Bulgaria News Eastern Europe

Bulgaria: Fight

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An argument between Roma in the centre of Silistra, Bulgaria escalated in a fight and in a much larger gathering once the police intervened.

Always bad when the main reporting about Roma is due to fights and brawls.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia Housing Estate

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 A housing estate on Dúžavská cesta in Rimavská Sobota, Slovakia, has about 1’000 residents. The kindergarten has only space for 26 children …

The town wants to do something about it and build a new one.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Lety Portraits

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The stories and faces of Roma and Sinti survivors of the Holocaust will be presented in Prague at the Clam-Gallas Palace. The exhibition wants to avoid the depersonalized language of numbers and photographs of impoverished people taken by the Nazis. Instead, it presents the concrete human destinies of six prisoners from the Lety u Písek concentration camp, for example through authentic family photos and audio recordings of memories. For the first time, the original diary of Josef Serink, who escaped from the camp and became a partisan, and other personal items associated with the survivors will be exhibited. The exhibition, which was presented to journalists on Monday by representatives of the Museum of Roma Culture, will be open until June 30.

News Eastern Europe Poland

Poland and Roma

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Władysław Kwiatkowski, director of the Centre for Roma History and Culture in Oświęcim, will talk about the history and present day of the Roma this Tuesday (April 16). There will also be a performance by Józef Merstein Jochymczyk – the bard of Romani music, performing songs and ballads in the Sinti Manousche style and Gipsy jazz. It all starts at 17:00 at the Documentation and Exhibition Centre of Germans in Poland at ul. Szpitalna 11 in Opole.

News Eastern Europe Ukraine

Kalderaša Kitsch

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A series of photographs of Kalderaša interiors and families taken in Transcarpathian Ukraine.

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