News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia and Forced Sterilisations

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The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) of the Slovak Republic wants to establish a working group that would prepare a legislative proposal for compensation for women sterilized in violation of the law. The Department informed about this in connection with the meeting of its State Secretary Katarína Roskoványi with the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, Michael O’Flaherty.

It is about time. The practice continued even after the fall of the iron curtain.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia and Roma

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The situation is not getting better in Slovenia, especially in the South East of the country. The article starts with “After the municipal councilors met in an extraordinary meeting last Wednesday due to the increasing insolence, violence and crime of individual Roma or groups of Roma in the municipality of Škocjan, another meeting was also organized last night by the village community of Grmovlje, which in addition to Grmovlje also includes Hudenje, Dobruško village and Doljno Staro village, and also invited villagers from the village communities of Dobrava pri Škocjan and Tomažja village.”

In brief, bridges are burnt. And this is bad.

News Americas

Ethel Brooks

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Ethel Brooks is now a professor at Rutgers University in New Jersey. People of Roma origin often face racist prejudices that make it impossible for them to rise in the professional hierarchy. Ethel also had such problems. “It very often happened to me that some of my classmates told me: “Gypsy, your place is in the corner!”, she says. When she tells the story, there is no anger in her voice, but the sadness is palpable.

Well done.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

EU, Slovakia, and Roma

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The State Secretary of the Ministry of Justice of the Slovak Republic, Katarína Roskoványi, met today with the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, Michael O’Flaherty. The subject of the meeting was the human rights of the Roma.

Commissioner O’Flaherty informed about his visit to Slovakia. During the initial days, he visited eastern Slovakia, where he met with representatives of the Roma community and held interviews about their situation, access to housing and other rights.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia, Roma, and Work

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There are many Roma in Slovakia under the long term unemployed. Many of them retrained, but employers do not want to hire them… And now the minister wants to stop the benefits if they refuse a job. The fear is that the jobs they will propose are menial work with 19th century technology like the Hungarian közmunka (public work).

Moldova News Eastern Europe

Moldova: Flash Mob

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A flash mob took place in the center of Chisinau on July 7. The mostly Roma participants chanted slogans such as “Stop ethnic discrimination!” or “Stop the hate speech. Yes! Stop inciting hatred against Roma. Yes! Stop inciting hatred towards anyone. Yes!”

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czechia and Illegal Sterilisations

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A decision of the Supreme Administrative Court says that the Ministry of Health must now actively verify whether an applicant for compensation was subjected to illegal sterilization in the past.

The impetus for changing the system was the request of a woman whose request for compensation was rejected by the Ministry of Health in the spring of 2022. The decision was mainly justified by the fact that the applicant’s medical records had already been shredded and she herself had not proven the illegality of her sterilization.

News Eastern Europe Poland

The Unending Story

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The Roma settlement in Koszary, located in the Limanowa region, are to be demolished as they were built without permits. A company has been contracted to demolish the houses. But they are not empty, as nothing has been done to re-locate the Roma families living there.

Bad.

News Eastern Europe Poland

Papuša

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Bronisława Wajs (Papusza) is one of the best know Romani poets. She owes part of the fame to Jerzy Ficowski, a Polish poet and ethnographer who published her poetry. In the article here,  Emilia Kledzik, a professor in the university of Poznan, claims that the poetry were largely constructed by Jerzy Ficowski.

She even uses the word “forgeries”.

News Western Europe Sweden

Swedish Kale

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More and more of Sweden’s Finnish Roma, who are also called Kalé Roma, are moving to Finland, even though many have grown up in Sweden and spend their lives here. Above all, it is the fear of increasing gang crime but also poorer educational opportunities in Sweden that make the neighboring country attractive.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czechia, Roma, and Ukrainians

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The Pilsen club Pixla mainly cares for underprivileged children from nearby hostels, having many Roma among its clients. Ukrainian refugees were added to this recently. For its work, the club won the second prize in a national competition for social services in May.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia, Roma, and an Opinion

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An Interview with Igor Andre, a Slovcak from Bratislava who worked in the office for the plenipotentiary of the Roma and moved 10 years ago in Eastern Slovakia and taught in a Roma school.

Well, his view of Roma is stereotypical. He states: “The debate about the Roma in our country is influenced by the woke ideology”; that the debate is “automatically based on the principle that the majority is the oppressor and the Roma are the victims.” He continues and says that Roma are gifted in crafts… In brief, he knows and sees only a part of the Roma community and thinks he knows it all.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia, Roma, and Unemployment

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Another Slovak article about the latest measures from  Minister of Labor Erik Tomáš to reduce unemployment and prevent abuse of the social system.

“We want to employ and get to work as many Roma as possible,” said the minister at the beginning of the press conference. How will it work in practice? If an unemployed person rejects a job offer, the material need benefit will be withdrawn or reduced for 12 months. According to the law, it still applies that it must be such an offer that is suitable for the person in question and corresponds to his abilities.

Well, how will it work with Roma? Since most companies do not want to employ them, how is this supposed to work? This is just another of those populists measures that bring nothing.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czech Republic and Social Housing

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The premiere of a short documentary film “Domov západ života” [Home, the basis of life], dedicated to the innovative practice of guaranteed housing, was held in Prague on June 28, 2024.

The guaranteed housing system, as presented in the document, plays a key role in providing affordable housing. A key role in this process is played by the guarantor, which can be a municipality or a non-profit organization. In the slide you can see how the system works, its benefits for all stakeholders and the real impacts.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia: Extorsion

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An article that highlights the issues in Slovenia: In Šentjernej – A group of underage Roma – two girls and a boy – are extorting drivers at parking lots, forcibly opening car doors and inspecting the interior and making it impossible to start the vehicle, demanding money from drivers violently and with threats. Many women no longer dare to go to the store, bank, or church alone without the accompaniment of men, nor do the elderly and children.

This is bad for all.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia and the Roma “Problem”

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The government should immediately ensure the safety of the citizens of the municipality of Škocjan and inform them within one month of the already adopted or promised measures and systemic plans for solving the Roma problem. This is what the Škocjan municipal council decided at yesterday’s extraordinary meeting, which was called by mayor Jože Kapler due to the increase in violence and crime by individual Roma or groups of Roma in their municipality in recent weeks.

Not good.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia, Schools, and Roma

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An emergency meeting of the Slovenian Commission for Petitions, Human Rights and Equal Opportunities was held in the National Assembly yesterday on the role of the Parents’ Council of the Velika Dolina Elementary School in connection with the attack on a student at the Velika Dolina Primary School.

According to the mayor of the town where the attack occurred, the government does not want to talk about Roma issues. The session was also not attended by members of the commission from the left parties. They said they estimate that it is indecent and inappropriate for the Commission to serve as a platform for spreading intolerance and pointing fingers by convening the meeting.

France News Western Europe

French Chronicle …

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More news this week on Roma in France, and not all good. First, a man shot and wounded several Roma in a camp near Montpellier. Most probably another racist attack. In Marseilles, three Roma were wounded in a knife attack following a collision. The motive there is unclear.  In Nantes, in Western France, planning has started for the closure of a large Roma camp.  Then, several articles about a catalytic converter theft and traffic network which was dismantled in Romania after a theft committed in Calvados in Western France. This organized criminal group is said to have transported more than 900 catalytic converters through Roma camps in the Paris region.

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