Tag Archives: Refugees

Ukrainian Roma Refugees in Poland

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About three to four hundred Ukrainian Roma refugees are housed in a recreation complex in Poręba Wielka, in Poland’s Gorce mountains. The recreation complex belongs to a controversial entrepreneur who is being accused of making money with the refugees.

The people in the regions complain about these Roma refugees and fear that they will be robbed.

Lviv and Roma

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Yet another article about the creation of a tent school in a Roma camp in Lviv. These Roma are IDPs and the catholic church created this school. Nice move but what about getting those people to live in decent quarters and also to go to regular schools?

Lviv: Tent School

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Another article in the Ukrainian press about the tent school set up in a Roma refugee camp by a catholic priest. There are quite a few photos that show the precarity of the camp. Maybe it would be better to lodge these IDPs correctly and send the children to a regular school…

Lviv, Roma, and the Church

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On October 9, the Roman Catholic Church organized a school where both children and adults can study in the Roma camp near the bypass road of Lviv.

This is good, but is also coupled with a strong push to convert, even though the vast majority of Roma there are Orthodox.

Poland and Roma Refugees

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Joanna Talewicz-Kwiatkowska, with her foundation, tried for several months to find an apartment for a family of Roma refugees from Ukraine. No chance. – I never thought I would see such a moment – says the activist with regret. And he emphasizes that the Roma are treated worse than others, even though they are also fleeing from the war.

Roma Refugees

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Apparently, there is a recent influx in Germany of Roma with brand new Ukrainian passports but who also have Hungarian passports asking for asylum. No one seems to know whether they are Ukrainian or Hungarian, and they speak Hungarian.

The most prosaic answer to this is that they are most probably from Transcarpathian Ukraine, and that thanks to the Hungarian Prime Minister, they were able to get a Hungarian passport as Hungarian speakers living abroad. Orban did grant Hungarian citizenship to Hungarian speakers outside of the country since quite a while.

Ukraine, War, and Minorities

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Roma displaced by the war still have problems with access to the labour market in the Ukraine. According to a study by an international charitable organization, which was conducted in May 2023 among Roma immigrants in the Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhya, Odesa, and Zakarpattia regions, the situation has improved.

However, there still are integration problems, discrimination, access to the labour market and ensuring the financial independence of immigrant families, information, and children’s access to education. The most difficult situation is in the Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia regions.

Czech Republic, Roma, and Ukrainians

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Some Czech Roma are protesting about the release of the Ukrainian who killed a Rom in Brno recently. He is no longer in jail but on bail. The release of the murderer from the Brno case is a slap in the face of the Roma. “One less gypsy, so what?” according to Romani leader Tancoš.

These confrontations between Ukrainian refugees and Roma have not been good. Some Roma sided with some extreme right parties to complain about Ukrainian refugees. Our attitude is: Let’s see what justice says about this case. It is definitively bad that the suspect was released on bail, with the judge expressing doubt about this being a murder.

Ukrainian Roma Refugees in Poland

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The Fundacja w Stronę Dialogu [Towards Dialogue Foundation] has published a monitoring report for 2022-2023 entitled “They are not refugees, but travelers” on the situation of Roma refugees in the Podkarpackie Voivodeship. The material presented in the report was collected by the foundation’s team during regular local visits in the Podkarpackie Voivodeship, mainly in Przemyśl, conducted from March 2022 to May 2023.

According to the report, in addition to unequal treatment, Roma face widespread anti-Gypsyism, and the challenges they face when fleeing are particularly acute. As a result of the outbreak of war, assistance for this group took on a new dimension: substandard support in reception points and places of collective accommodation.

Ukraine and IDPs

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The Uzhhorod City Council violates the right of internally displaced Roma to housing and social protection. The resettled Roma sent an appeal to the Office of the Ombudsman of Ukraine, claiming discrimination on the basis of ethnicity. In the appeal, representatives of the national minority complain that the Uzhhorod City Council violates their rights to housing and social protection.

The applicants with their families and minor children are internally displaced citizens, so they currently live in the premises of the local multidisciplinary lyceum in Uzhgorod, in the Zakarpattia region. One of the displaced women has a newborn baby.

Czech Republic: Roma and Ukrainian Refugees

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Manifestations of Roma against Ukrainian refugees continue in the Czech Republic. Not only due to the few incidents, but also because of the resentment of the Roma who feel that while nothing has been done in the country for them, the Ukrainians are helped more than they ever were.

Switzerland and Ukrainian Roma

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The extreme right weekly “Die Weltwoche” puts up a title stating “Fake Ukrainians flock to Switzerland: Roma with purchased passports demand protection status. A community in Bern raises the alarm. She feels let down by the State Secretariat for Migration”.

Well, there are not that many Roma refugees from the Ukraine here.  As usual, when this paper “reports” on Roma, they are all thieves, profiteers, and organised criminal beggars.

Germany and Roma Refugees from the Ukraine

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According to Daniel Strauss, chairman of the State Association of Sinti and Roma in Baden-Württemberg, Roma were discriminated against in Ukraine, a discrimination which continued after fleeing the war zone to Germany.

Switzerland, Ukrainian Refugees, and Roma

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An “article” about Roma refugees from the Ukraine in Switzerland, claiming they cash in the money and then leave again and come back after a while. The accusations are anonymous (diverse sources say …) or attributed to an Ukrainian.

When you know that the daily stipend of an adult refugee is less than 20 CHF per day and half that for children, this makes little financial sense but again, it portrays Roma as profiteers and liars.

Bad.

Czech Republic, Roma, and Ukrainian Refugees

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Another incident in a run-down housing estate in Krupka, Czech Republic. About 500 Roma manifested in the estate, claiming children had been sexually harassed by foreigners. According to Romea, initially the manifestation was not against Ukrainians, many protested against them.

The parents deposited a formal complaint with the police.

Interestingly enough, the news in the Czech Press do not mention sexual harassment, but rather that the children had been locked up in the cellar by drunk people.

Bad in any case.

Czech, Roma, and Ukrainian Refugees

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An article about the recent attacks against Roma by Ukrainian refugees and the Roma protests that followed, protests that were supported by extremists. On controversial Roma activist, David Mezei, got close to nationalist movements, who, by the way do not want Roma ion the country.

Bad for all.

Czech Protests

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In his speech at today’s demonstration in front of the Government Office, pro-Roma activist from Ústí nad Labem Marcel Packert criticized the so-called patriots, who are actually extremists, xenophobes and anti-Semites. Packert warned against the dangers of associating these people with Roma.

Czech Republic, Roma, and Ukrainians

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This week in the Czech Republic, the police has been investigating several reports of other alleged attacks by Ukrainians on Roma. They were supposed to be in Sokolov and Přerov. The police have not yet fully completed their investigation and have not confirmed that all of the attacks actually occurred. There is a lot of misinformation being spread among the Roma, and the police have already charged one person for spreading an alarmist message.

This issue is being misused on purpose.

Czech Republic and Ukraine’s Refugees

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The Czech government passed a law stating that from July 1st, Ukrainian refugees who have been in the country for more than 150 days will no longer receive allowances for housing and will have to find their own accommodation. Exempt are a few categories (single women with small children etc.).

Jan Husák from from the association Romodromo stated that this so-called Lex Ukraine will have the hardest impact, among others, on Roma refugees and will increase homelessness.

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