An attempt to mobilise Roma from the Transcarpathian Ukraine resulted in a riot that was dispersed by using gunfire.
Bad.
The Swiss minister in charge of refugees now stats that Ukrainian Roma with dual citizenship will have to leave Switzerland.
Only one little thing is not published: There are less than 10 cases that are officially acknowledged. And none on the Roma who are considered to be “problematic”.
Window dressing in politics. Shameful.
The story of a small village that set up a special class for 6 Roma children from Ukrainian Roma refugees, only to see that they left.
This happens, but generally doesn’t happen just because of school. There are other pressures that are applied to those Roma mostly coming from Transcarpathian Ukraine where they lived in very hard conditions, literally overwhelming them. Some prefer simply to leave.
Another article on the recent arrivals of Roma refugees from the Ukraine, mostly from the Transcarpathian region of the country. This follows the statements of the chief of the Bern refugee agency who made comments saying that Roma “abuse” the system, work in “clans” etc.
Bad.
Again, an article about the alleged “abuses” of the special status for Ukrainian Refugees by Roma in Switzerland. This time, it is via an interview of the head of the refugee department of the canton Bern. He panders the usual allegations, false papers, criminal clans, and all the same unproven junk.
He is lobbying against the special status for Ukrainians, and is using Roma for that purpose. Bad and racist.
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.
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 …
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.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Two articles in the Polish press about a Romni activist and Ukrainian refugee currently in Poland.
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.
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…
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.
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.
To counterbalance the accusations that Roma refugees from Ukraine abuse the system and are actually not Ukrainians, we did a Radio interview.
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 …
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