A crude article pandering to st3ereotypes about Roma in a Canadian publication. Bad. Even if yes, there are indeed some Roma who are begging …
Quite a few articles about two Romanian Roma families who were condemned for having forced their children to beg. Other than that, in Nantes, Roma are voting to try to influence their fate in that city. Finally, in central France, two Serbian and two Romanian Roma were condemned for a series of burglaries.
A study on poverty driven migration examines the topic of poverty migration from a sociological perspective in order to understand the situation of those affected from a scientific perspective. ITts focus is on the everyday lives of those in need and how they deal with potential stigmatization. Using key question-based interviews with Slovak and Romanian citizens, the living conditions of those in need were examined. The results show that those in need lack vital basic necessities in their countries of origin, which is why commuter migration to Western Europe is the only option.
The beggars who challenged the law forbidding begging in the canton of Vaud have lost their appeal. The Constitutional Court rejected the petition of nine plaintiffs, including four Roma, a homeless person, and a pastor. Their fundamental rights were not be violated.
The canton of Vaud will not attempt a pilot experiment for Roma integration, which was supposed to provide housing for a limited period of time to around fifteen families. On Tuesday, members of the Grand Council rejected the proposal to this effect.
The story of Romanian beggars who have been in Neuchâtel since end of last year. And now, they are not part of a criminal beggar gang, as the Swiss press often claims.
Very soon, begging in the streets of Lausanne, Vevey or Yverdon will no longer be a good idea. On October 1st, the Grand Council of Vaud adopted a new law on begging that is stricter than the draft of the Council of State, which prohibits the persons concerned from begging in a large number of places, such as markets, near public buildings, daycare centres, schools, playgrounds, banks, post offices, cash machines and parking meters, shops, medical and care facilities, museums, theatres and cinemas.
While the law was originally thought against Roma beggars, it affects many drug addicts who are Swiss too…
Due to the presence of s few Roma beggars from Bulgaria in Bern, members of the police in charge of foreigners went to Burgas, Bulgaria, together with journalists from the Tages-Anzeiger.
They do report on the poverty, precarity, and dreadful living conditions, but also speak (rather lest someone speak) about Roma chiefs, who, when owed money that is not repaid, “forces” people to work, “for example as a beggar” in Switzerland. They also say that begging is an important source of income.
Not when the average income of a beggar is less than 20 francs. There are other means that are way more lucrative.
A reportage on Roma beggars in Lausanne. Now, there are also Bulgarian Roma.
A worrying article about an increase of beggars in the town of Trnava in central Slovakia. Most of these beggars are local Roma, and according to the article, people feel threatened by them.
Bad.
Another one of those articles in the Bulgarian press. This time, it is reporting on the increase of Roma due to the Orthodox Easter festivities.
Again, bad for all…
This tiny country doesn’t often make the headlines in terms of Roma. Now Simone Beissel, a member of the municipal executive board of the city of Luxembourg is facing criticisms and demands for resignation after having made what many deem racists comments on Roma in the context of begging.
Ann article in the Swiss boulevard press about organized beggars due to the condemnation of several Roma for having abused people and forced them to beg in Switzerland. When one thinks that the average money made by a beggar in Switzerland is around 20 CHF per day and person, this is really not the most lucrative criminal operation. Such articles generalizing from a single case are really bad.
An article about a scam in Zurich, whereby a person asks for food near an automatic distributor, and when a person is kind enough to pay, the scammer selects a charger instead, for a higher sum, which can be returned for deposit at a later stage. According to the victim, a reporter for a local newspaper, she was asked by a “young woman who I would classify as Sinti or Roma”…
This is the text that is presented in this article: Mirabela, Bobi and Ilie live in Geneva and sleep on the streets, in their cars or in emergency shelters. Due to lack of work, these Roma sometimes beg. However, begging is prohibited in strategic places in Geneva’s public space. Roma are therefore regularly arrested and fined by the police. Their debt can reach astronomical sums and risks being converted into days in prison.
It is true that begging is forbidden. But, there is a whiff of generalisation here… And that is bad.
The President of the Montenegro Roma Council, Mensur Šalaj, warned that the problem of child begging is widespread throughout the country. According to the council, there are no systemic measures to fight child begging, and often only the consequences, and not the causes, of this phenomenon are dealt with.
Poznań residents report that people of Roma origin appear on the streets and in shopping centers asking for money. They are often children, sometimes without parents. Some, seeing a few-year-old with a hand outstretched for money, want to act. So they call the police or the city guard. It doesn’t work though.
Polish law clearly states that beggars can be arrested and fined, as begging is forbidden. But it does not solve the poverty issue.
Two people were sentenced recently in Bosnia Hercegovina for human trafficking. They had forced people to beg and steal in Paris by threatening them and their families back home. Apparently, they managed to earn around 1.5 mio EUR between 2012 and 2015.
The threats were recorded, which provided the evidence and they were sentenced to 12 years each.
The canton of Vaud is debating on the extension of the begging interdiction that was issued by the city of Lausanne. The city and its police chief are strongly for it while the canton seems to be sceptical. In any case, begging interdictions are inefficient at best. They have been tried in many places without success and are actually aimed at very few people: In Lausanne, a scientific study that followed all beggars in the city for one year showed that there were less than 30 at any given point in time, and that each beggar has on average less than 25 CHF per day which is not much in Switzerland.
According to the police, Roma families constitute the bulk of begging with children in the capital. Five years ago, the police identified ten to fifteen active families near the Grand-Place and Rue Neuve. At the beginning of 2022, it counted six times more.
Begging with minors was forbidden, then the law was suspended, and if finally again forbidden, with fines of up to 350 EUR. The discussion whether this interdiction is the right solution are ongoing.
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