Tag Archives: War

Germany News Eastern Europe News Western Europe Ukraine

Germany and Roma Refugees

Published by:

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 Ukraine

Roma Refugees from the Ukraine

Published by:

A video in the Czech press about Roma refugees from the Ukraine, and a recognition that the Transcarpathian Roma are related to the Czech and Slovak ones (besides the fact that Uzhhorod was Czechoslovak between 1918 and 1945 …

Poland Ukraine

Poland: Ukrainian Roma Refugees Evicted

Published by:

Several hundred refugees from Ukraine – of Roma origin – were left homeless overnight. All because of the closure of the centre in Kidałowice in Podkarpacie. As we found out, the centre was closed due to sanitary problems.

We were alerted to this matter by the W Stron Dialogu Foundation. This is an organization supporting the Roma community in Poland, including refugees who came to our country in the face of a full-scale war in Ukraine. The Foundation knew that there was a centre in Kidałowice in Podkarpacie where several hundred people lived, including women, children and seniors. They told us that overnight they were “put out on the street.”

News Eastern Europe Poland Ukraine

Poland and Ukrainian Roma Refugees

Published by:

Several hundred refugees from Ukraine – of Roma origin from the Transcarpathian region- were left homeless overnight. All because of the closure of the centrer in Kidałowice in Podkarpacie. As we found out, the centre was closed due to sanitary problems. Some families decided to return to Ukraine, others are already taken care of in other centres.

A discussion with Dr. Joanna Talewicz.

News Eastern Europe Ukraine

Ukraine and Roma

Published by:

On March 7, 2024, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, in partnership with the European Union and the Council of Europe, held a conference “Outlining the challenges faced by Ukrainian Roma in wartime and overcoming obstacles through policy, advocacy and empowerment and opportunities”.

This conference was organized to engage civil society and the Ukrainian government in a constructive dialogue to solve the problems reported by the Roma during the last two years of the war. Representatives of state and regional authorities, Roma public organizations and intergovernmental organizations took part in the event.

News Eastern Europe Ukraine

Roma in the Ukraine

Published by:

A reportage in a Roma settlement in the Ukraine close to the Hungarian border. Recently, Roma residents have been afraid to leave the Roma camp in the Transcarpathian village of Berehove. “They are forcibly taking us away. Nobody wanted to go. If you don’t go, you’ll get something for it,” recounts a resident of the Stěpan settlement. At first glance, the camp looks empty, in the streets the CT staff met mainly women and children. Before the full-scale Russian invasion, the local community had five and a half thousand inhabitants, now only a few hundred remain.

The police of the administrative city of Uzhhorod stated that it had nothing to do with the mobilization activity. The military registration and recruitment office of the city of Berehove pointed out that everyone must register. “Everything must be according to the law. No one is taking anyone away by force,” he emphasized. The CT staff was not a witness to forced conscription, added Stomatová.

News Eastern Europe Poland Ukraine

Poland: Appeal for Roma Refugees

Published by:

The W Stron Dialogu  (Towards Dialogue ) Foundation works for the Roma community in Poland, writes that “Roma and Roma women from Ukraine who found shelter in Poland faced – and still face – discrimination, worse treatment and rejection.” The organization believes that Roma refugees from Ukraine have become “second-class refugees ignored by the current authorities, which turned a blind eye to segregation and the lack of access of Roma women and men to collective accommodation centres, thus allowing discrimination against this weakest group of refugees.”

They launched an appeal to the Polish Government.

Europe News Eastern Europe Ukraine

Two Years

Published by:

Two years have passed already since the beginning of the Russian aggression in the Ukraine. Two years of war, two years of mindless killings. Many refugees, and here, as we are a Romani page, let us pause to think about Roma in this war.

They were displaced, especially in the Eastern part of the country. They were killed by Russian troops in several occasions. They were deported by Russian authorities. They also fought on the Ukrainian side, with many Roma in the current army, even the normally not so accepted Roma from Transcarpathian Ukraine.

Roma refugees in Europe were confronted with racist stereotypes and had to fight there too.

Let’s hope we do not need to commemorate another year.

For those who died, may they rest in peace, and for those who live, may they do so for 100 years.

News Eastern Europe Poland Ukraine

Ukraine Roma Refugees

Published by:

Two articles in the Polish press about a Romni activist and Ukrainian refugee currently in Poland.

News Eastern Europe Poland Ukraine

Roma in the Ukraine

Published by:

An interview with Anzhelika Belova from Zaporozhye, now lives in Uzhgorod with her husband and daughter; activist, president of the Voice of Romni organization. She says that nobody should be ashamed of being Roma. We live in Ukraine and we are Ukrainians.

News Eastern Europe News Switzerland Ukraine

Switzerland and Roma Refugees

Published by:

As usual with some delays, a 1-1 translation of an article published last week in the Tages Anzeiger about Roma refugees from the Ukraine and the suspicions that they are not quite what they claim to be.

This of course without a shred of any evidence…

News Eastern Europe Ukraine

Ukraine on the Transcarpathian Roma Refugees

Published by:

Another article, this time in the Ukrainian press about the fact that there are more and more Roma refugees from Transcarpathian Ukraine arriving in Germany (and Switzerland), especially from the region of Berehove very close to the Hungarian border. Here they say these refugees hide their dual citizenship (i.e. the fact that they also have a Hungarian passport).

While Hungarian speakers can get a Hungarian passport (thanks to the current Prime Minister Viktor Orban), in order to do so, they need to read and write, which is generally not the case there (thanks to the total disregard of those Roma from the Ukrainian authorities). In fact, if citizen of the Ukraine do not speak Ukrainian because they live in remote settlements, it is actually the fault of the Ukrainian government.

  • У Німеччині виявляють все більше біженців з угорськими паспортами із Закарпаття, а саме з Берегова. In: Mukachevo.net. 16.02.2024. http://www.mukachevo.net/ua/news/view/6041721
News Eastern Europe News Switzerland Ukraine

Switzerland and Roma Refugees – 2

Published by:

To counterbalance the accusations that Roma refugees from Ukraine abuse the system and are actually not Ukrainians, we did an interview in one of the leading newspapers in German speaking Swiss press.

News Eastern Europe News Switzerland Ukraine

Switzerland and Roma

Published by:

Another two articles in the Swiss press about Roma refugees from the Ukraine who “abuse” the system and are “most probably” not from the Ukraine. All because the Swiss seem to be oblivious that Western Ukraine is Hungarian speaking …

News Switzerland

Switzerland, Roma, and Ukrainian Refugees

Published by:

Two really bad articles in a formerly good newspaper, the Neue Zürcher Zeitung. Here, the use the fact that there are several Roma families from the Transcarpathian Ukraine asking for refugee status in Switzerland, to ask for the blanket approval of Ukrainian refugees to be revoked.

They make statements about false passports etc.

Proofs are not there…

News Eastern Europe News Switzerland Ukraine

Switzerland and Ukrainian Roma Refugees

Published by:

In Switzerland, there is currently an influx of Roma refugees from the Ukraine, mostly from the Transcarpathian region. We have seen many cases, and they unfortunately come from segregated settlements, often as large families (8 children etc.). They mostly speak only Hungarian and a limited amount of Ukrainian, and seldom Romanes.

The article in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung is totally unacceptable. They effectively say they are not really Ukrainian, without any proof, and even put up a picture of Uzhgorod, maybe part of Greater Hungary for the editors of this paper. They insinuate that they have all Hungarian passports, which could be the case, as Hungarian speakers from outside Hungary have been granted passports by Viktor Orban, the Hungarian prime minister. However, one of the pre-requisite is to be able to read and write (and not to be Roma), which does not apply in most of the cases here in Switzerland.

In addition, these Roma, even though they are not fluent, speak Russian and Ukrainian. Which cannot be said of Hungarians.

News Eastern Europe Ukraine

Ukraine on Minorities and Foreigners

Published by:

A newly released statistic shows that the Ukrainians are definitively no longer Russian friendly. They are at the bottom of the list of people they willing to deal with. They are even less popular than Africans and Roma…

News Eastern Europe Ukraine

Ukraine: Shattered Dreams

Published by:

The story of a Romano ethnographer and researcher, Janusz Panchenko from Kakhovka, the initiator of the creation of a Roma space in Kakhovka. Before the full-scale invasion, Janusz was writing a dissertation, documenting the memories of elderly Holocaust survivors, and teaching at a school for Roma children.

Even though he was pro-Ukrainian, he remained in the occupied territories. Until the Russian started looking at NGOs.

Sad.

News Eastern Europe Poland Ukraine

Ukrainian Roma Refugees

Published by:

Natalia Yuzypchuk, a Ukrainian Romni, fled to Warsaw from Lutsk, Ukraine, seeking safety for her grandchildren. A year and a half later, Natalia is the driving force behind the Roma Community Centre in Warsaw, run by the W Stroną Dialogu Foundation and supported by UNICEF.

Since the first months of the war, the situation of Roma refugees has been much worse than that of other groups of refugees from Ukraine. Roma refugee families face many barriers in accessing basic services due to administrative obstacles and lack of documents. This leads to bigger obstacles, including: in access to financial support, health care, education, housing and the labour market. Many people also tell us that they have faced overt discrimination as a result of prejudice and stereotypes.

rroma.org
en_GBEN
de_DEDE fr_FRFR en_GBEN