Amnesty criticizes Slovakia for constitutional amendment: Changes are part of a shift from democracy to authoritarianism.
In Slovenia, discrimination remains one of the key problems in ensuring human rights, Amnesty International Slovenia warns. The Roma population still faces it on a daily basis and at a systemic level all too often.
French news last week were dominated with a reportage from TF1, state TV about how minors are exploited by Roma networks to maximise gains. Again, this might be part of the reality, but how it is presented is simply pandering to sterotypes and extrapolating to all Roma. In brief, a racist narrative.
Other news, the usual: closure of a camp near Orange, in the Sotuh of France, and a fight between Roma (according to the extreme right Breizh info).
A police operation involving a 25-member Roma family at the University Hospital of Cologne has had repercussions: Police in Bonn are now investigating six Cologne officers on suspicion of incitement to hatred. Bodycam footage is to be reviewed.
In December 2025, a Roma family celebrated the birth of a child in the foyer of the University Hospital of Cologne, triggering a police operation. The result: A complaint against the university hospital from the Rom Association, which advocates for the rights of Sinti and Roma, as well as a criminal complaint and a formal complaint filed with the Cologne Police Headquarters. Now it is clear: The operation could have far-reaching consequences for six police officers
A new report about Roma in Belgium highlights the persistent racism and institutional discrimination they face in Belgium.
With a cross-media public awareness campaign, the social services authority of Hamburg, Germany, aims to send a message against anti-Gypsyism and for greater visibility of Roma and Sinti in Hamburg. Posters, flyers, short videos on screens in the S-Bahn and U-Bahn, and social media all call for respectful coexistence.
A recent survey on attitudes of Ukrainians towards others. Well Roma are behind afrticans, and barely before Byelorussians and Russians living in their respective countries.
Bad.
On Saturday 28th March, an estimated 1000 supporters of Mi Hazánk Mozgalom (Our Homeland Movement), and members of its affiliate paramilitary groups marched in the village of Kálló, in what the party’s chairman László Toroczkai billed as a ‘pro-order’ demonstration.
They had already done so on March 13th, but were prevented by the villagers. Now they were protected by the police.
And in another fact, the Minister of Construction and Transport, Kjanos Lázár, held a forum in Úrhida, Fejér County, where his usual arguments about protecting sovereignty eventually led to the conclusion that Fidesz should cooperate with Mi Hazánk in this regard.
Bad.
The Department of National Minorities under the Government of the Republic of Lithuania has appealed to the State Language Inspectorate, the Chancellery of the Government of the Republic of Lithuania, the Ministry of Culture, and the Main Commission on Official Ethics to evaluate the public statements made by the head of the State Language Inspectorate regarding the use of the words “Negro” and “Gypsy.”
Well, it’s about time …
As a contribution to the International Weeks Against Racism, the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site is offering the thematic tour “(Dis)Continuities of Racist Discrimination, Exclusion, and Persecution” on Saturday, March 28.
A blogger with around 52,000 followers posted on Twitter (now X) accusing a “large portion of the Sinti and Roma” of excluding themselves “from civilized society.” She listed accusations including welfare fraud, truancy, theft, littering, and “rental nomadism.”
The Higher Regional Court of Jena clarified that not every discriminatory statement violates human dignity. Describing Sinti and Roma as “rotating Europeans with a property-ownership disability” is grossly tasteless and defamatory—but not incitement to hatred.
An interview on Radio Romano in Sweden of a Romni who is afraid to say she is one when looking for work.
Minister of Culture Vaida Aleknavičienė says she disagrees with the statements of Audrius Valotka, head of the State Language Inspectorate, about “gypsies” and “negroes”, and invites him for a conversation.
The Roma issue in southeastern Slovenia remains one of the most pressing issues in the region, which has been causing social tensions, security incidents and differences in the development of individual areas for many years. That is why, before Sunday’s parliamentary elections, Social Democrats candidates from Dolenjska were asked about this issue and presented their views on the recently adopted Šutar’s law. Their answers show that they see the law as a necessary step, but they also warn of its limitations and risks.
Bad.
According to the ERRC, Salvini launched himself into a racist diatribe against Roma. Bad.
The extreme-right My Hazánk Mozgalom (Our Homeland Movement) party, together with their anti-Roma Bűnvadászok (Crime Hunters) vigilante group did an action in the small Nógrád village of Kálló. They were met by local Roma who peacefully told them they should leave.
The party represented this as having been aggressed, even though there are no records of people being wounded or of any police action.
Bad.
Michael Brand, the CDU politician and commissioner for combating anti-Gypsyism, sees a societal regression in the way minorities are treated. He wants to increase the positive visibility of Sinti and Roma.
The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) condemned North Macedonia for violating several provisions of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. The country had confiscated passports of Roma who were forced returned from Germany after they had lost their asylum case.
There are approximately 450,000 Roma living in Slovakia, yet we often know little about their everyday experiences. Discussions about Roma communities are often full of stereotypes, emotions, and simplifications that obscure the complex reality of the life of the Roma minority. This new episode of the SAS Scientific Podcast, welcomed social psychologist Barbara Lášticová from the Institute of Social Communication Research of the SAS, v. v. i., and anthropologist Andrej Belák from the Institute of Ethnology and Social Anthropology of the SAS, v. v. i. In an interview with Peter Boháč, they talk about anti-Roma racism, the everyday experiences of Roma in Slovakia, and why the integration of Roma communities is so difficult.
Another article about a Rom, his wife and child refused service in a restaurant in Novo Mesto, just because they were Roma.
Bad, and so far without consequences.
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