Roma

Treated like waste

vero — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 15:18:40 +0000

Serbia: Roma children and pregnant women left homeless after forcible eviction in Belgrade

Vashka — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 12:56:00 +0100

Amnesty International has urged the Belgrade authorities to stop forced evictions after Roma families, including 17 children and one pregnant woman, were evicted from their homes in the city.

The 36 people were forcibly evicted from their houses at 15 Vojvodjanska Street, where most of them had been living since 2003 after previously being forcibly evicted from another site in Belgrade. Amnesty International learnt that the forced eviction was carried out in order to make way for the building of a new road and an apartment building.

Source: Serbia: Roma children and pregnant women left homeless after forcible eviction in Belgrade

Stop the forced returns of Roma to Kosovo

Vashka — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 12:11:31 +0100

Roma people and other members of minority communities are at risk of being forcibly returned from Germany to Kosovo. Act now

Source: Stop the forced returns of Roma to Kosovo

Roma forcibly returned to kosovo from EU counties to face discrimination says new Amnesty report

Vashka — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 13:53:10 +0100

Posted: 28 September 2010

European Union (EU) countries should end the forcible return of Roma and other minorities to Kosovo, Amnesty International said in a report published today (28 September).

“No welcome anywhere: Stop the forcible return of Roma to Kosovo”, details how Roma and members of other minority communities, including children, are forcibly returned to Kosovo, often in the early hours of the morning with nothing but the clothes they are wearing, to face the possibility of continuing discrimination and violence.

Sian Jones, Amnesty International’s expert on Kosovo, said:

Source: Roma forcibly returned to kosovo from EU counties to face discrimination says new Amnesty report

'We want to be with the white kids'

vero — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 08:42:44 +0100

Roma's housings under threat

vero — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 13:45:52 +0000

Slovak PM: boarding schools only way to help Roma

The Darkhorse — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 21:20:13 +0000

BRATISLAVA, March 8 (Reuters) - Slovakia's prime minister said on Monday children of the European Union member's large Roma minority must be taken from their impoverished settlements and put into boarding schools to hasten integration.

Source: Slovak PM: boarding schools only way to help Roma

Slovakia plans to remove Romani children from their families

The Darkhorse — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 21:17:21 +0000

Amnesty International has warned that establishing boarding schools for Romani children “and gradually detach[ing] them from the way of living they currently experience in the settlements“ is discriminatory and a blatant attack on the Roma way of living.

Source: Slovakia plans to remove Romani children from their families

New Amnest Report Reveals Roma family forced to live in metal cabins behind sewage works

Vashka — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 10:23:04 +0000

“We are gypsies and that is why they don’t listen to us” - Monika, May 2009

More than 100 Roma people – including families with children – are living in metal cabins next to a sewage works in Romania after they were forcibly evicted from their homes, according to a new Amnesty report launching today.

The report, Treated like waste: Roma homes destroyed and health at risk in Romania, tells how the Roma people were forcibly evicted by municipal authorities from a building in the centre of Miercurea Ciuc – the capital city of Harghita County in central Romania. Most were resettled by the authorities in metal cabins on the outskirts of the town, behind a sewage plant

Source: New Amnest Report Reveals Roma family forced to live in metal cabins behind sewage works

Racial segregation of school children still happening within the EU,says new report on Czech Republi

Vashka — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 10:14:19 +0000

Racial segregation of school children still happening within the EU, says new report on Czech Republic
Posted: 13 January 2010

Czech School system still condemns Roma kids to education for children with mental disabilities despite court ruling

A new Amnesty International report on the Czech Republic (13 January) reveals that Roma children continue to be largely segregated in inferior schools and classes teaching the curriculum for pupils with 'mild mental disabilities' or in segregated mainstream schools or classes providing education of a lower standard, despite legal and policy changes introduced by the Czech government.

Source: Racial segregation of school children still happening within the EU,says new report on Czech Republi

Irish Roma attack caught on film

Vashka — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 10:25:05 +0100

Source: Anthony Cronin

A racially motivated attack against a Roma mother and her baby in Ireland was caught on film by professional photographer, Anthony Cronin, he describes what took place:

A group of Roma Gypsy women some with children, bustling down the footpath in a hurried fashion passed me by. Then my ears caught the sound of Irish teenage girls behind me, four of them shouting the likes of “dirty bastards” “filthy fuckers” “fuck of back to where you came from” at the Gypsies and chasing them. I turned to observe the scene and seconds later over my head started to fly rotten fruit the Irish had picked off the ground.

Source: Irish Roma attack caught on film

Roma housing destroyed in Belgrade

Vashka — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 09:03:09 +0100

Three months before the opening of the Universiade, Belgrade's City Secretariat for Inspections decided to destroy the Roma slum settlement located right next to the athlete's village "Belleville". On April the 3rd 2009 all of a sudden a couple of bulldozers showed up at the settlement and demolished 40 houses. As the demolition was carried out without any prior notice to the residents, the people did not even have time to save their belongings from being buried under the ruins. A few of them were practically rescued from their houses in the very moment when the bulldozers were demolishing them.

Source: Roma housing destroyed in Belgrade

On the road: Centuries of Roma history

DrPot — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 00:45:28 +0100

Beginning a series on the modern-day plight of Roma Gypsies in Europe, by BBC Russian for the World Service, Delia Radu traces the ethnic group's nomadic history back to northern India.
"Who are these people?" asks the man behind the counter in the photo store in Southall, an area also known as London's Little India.
He is handing over my order: a hefty pile of colour photographs, of which a picture of two Roma women and their children (above) is the first.
"They look just like the Banjara in Rajasthan - that's where I come from," he says.
He points to a beautiful print on the wall, showing a glamorous group of female Banjara dancers.
The similarity is striking.

Source: On the road: Centuries of Roma history

Enough is enough petition

Vashka — Mon, 04 May 2009 10:13:57 +0100

On April 18, 2009, Molotov cocktails were thrown into Robert Kudrik’s home in the village of Vítkov. Robert lived with his partner, four children and three more family members. The fire destroyed their home and seriously injured the parents. Their two-year-old daughter, Natálka, is in a coma with burns covering 80 per cent of her body.

Violent attacks by far-right groups against the Romani community have intensified in some areas of the Czech Republic. An increasing number of marches and statements by some Czech far-right groups include incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence against the Romani community. Many Roma in the country say they fear for their lives.

Source: Enough is enough petition

Czech Romany to stage nationwide protest on May 3

Vashka — Fri, 01 May 2009 09:05:43 +0100

While Czech MPs are busy coming up with new policies to prevent the growth of extremism, Czech Roma organizations are planning to stage a protest in about ten Czech cities.

It is for the first time when the Roma community gets mobilized nationwide. The majority society is there to help, too.

"I think it is high time to say No to the neo-Nazis. We fear for our children," Marie Gailová, one of the organizers, said about the upcoming massive protest.

Source: Czech Romany to stage nationwide protest on May 3

Slovakia police brutality leaked online

Vashka — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 14:01:59 +0100

Police brutality in Slovakia has sparked outrage after several police officers were accused of brutality against six young Romas. The policemen recorded “humiliating scenes” with their mobile phones and cameras, laughing and encouraging the children to punch each other. The disturbing video has now been leaked online:

Source: Slovakia police brutality leaked online

Slovakia unlawfully denied romani women the access to their medical records

Vashka — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 13:51:46 +0100

Today, the European Court of Human Rights found Slovakia in violation of Article 8 and Article 6 para 1 of the European Convention for denying the full access to medical records of eight Romani women who suspected they were forcibly sterilized in Presov and Spisska Nova Ves Hospitals.

Source: Slovakia unlawfully denied romani women the access to their medical records

Hate and Violence Against Roma spreads to South America

Vashka — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 13:13:36 +0100

Hate spreads in Chile Residents of Puerto Montt, Chile, burned tents and camping vehicles on local Roma residents, in apparent case of mob revenge. According to villagers, a member of the Roma community was involved in a hit and run, leading to death of one or more individuals. Although the accusation is unsubstantiated, villagers took the law into their own hands and attacked the local Roma.

Source: Hate and Violence Against Roma spreads to South America

March through Czech Town puts Roma community in fear

Vashka — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 09:44:30 +0100

Far-right groups organized a march through the Roma-populated area in Prerov in the Czech Republic on Saturday. Days before the rally, the organizations were calling through their websites on members and sympathizers to join the march against what they termed "gypsy terrorism", and referring to "gypsy ethnicity" as "parasitic".

Source: March through Czech Town puts Roma community in fear

Compensation Now: Campaign on Coerced Sterilisation

Vashka — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 10:44:46 +0000

Compensation Now: Campaign on Coerced Sterilisation

This section of the ERRC’s website contains relevant information and links related to the coerced sterilisation of Romani women in Central Europe. Materials for this section have been prepared around a lobbying campaign commencing on 3 July by the Ostrava-based Group of Women Harmed by Sterilisation, the ERRC and the Peacework Development Fund at the 2008 Women’s Worlds Congress in Madrid, Spain. The campaign is supported by the Open Society Institute’s Public Health Program and the Heinrich Boll Stiftung Warsaw.

Source: Compensation Now: Campaign on Coerced Sterilisation

With an emergency decree italy authorizes racism spying and ethnic persection

Vashka — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 09:37:17 +0000

The “Padane” patrols are the equivalent of the Blackshirts whose aim is racial persecution. Extreme Right ideology prompted by racial hatred triumphs, while we are amazed at the insubstantiality of the protests coming from the democratic parties against such injustice. It is no longer a matter of politics, it is endless horror that mainly affects women, children and the most vulnerable. Urgent and determined intervention from the international institutions has now become necessary”.

Source: With an emergency decree italy authorizes racism spying and ethnic persection

"time bomb" ticks in Hungary as Roma tension rises

Vashka — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 11:55:37 +0000

Hungary is contending with rising resentment toward its Roma, or Gypsy, population as the economy sinks and unrest grows.

A police chief who last month blamed Roma for crime in his city was fired by the government, then reinstated after more than 1,000 people protested. Anti-Roma demonstrations also erupted in western Hungary last weekend after media reports that Roma men were responsible for the murder of a local athlete. A court in December banned a two-year-old uniformed nationalist group sworn to tackle what it called “Roma crime.”

Source: "time bomb" ticks in Hungary as Roma tension rises

Roma in Palestine need your help

Vashka — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 14:29:14 +0000

As the missiles rain down upon Gaza and the West Bank, we would like to bring to your attention the more then one thousand Roma that are living in the region and have been living there for more than 100 years.

Many still live without electricity, many do not have indoor plumbing, and many cannot read or write. If a Roma child is able to go to school, they are discriminated against in school by the teachers and classmates. Currently there is no health care available for the Roma community in Palestine.

Source: Roma in Palestine need your help

Stop the raids against the Roma

Vashka — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 11:02:04 +0000

Thursday 15th January 2009, 30 policemen in four police vans hunted
Roma throughout the city of Geneva. They arrested 27 people: 15 men,
7 women and 5 Children. This operation was driven by both police forces
and the state department of population. After a hearing at the police
station, the Roma were sent out of Switzerland by bus and condemned to
two years of interdiction of territory. This operation was undertaken
with the purpose of cleaning up Geneva's streets from beggars and
musicians.

Source: Stop the raids against the Roma

The roma series

Vashka — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 15:49:13 +0000

A short walk from the spectacularly wasted complex at Gazi, a hop skip and a jump from the trendy bars down those back streets, is a place I can guarantee you have never been to and probably do not know it exists. It is a Roma settlement in the centre of Athens. After the trendy bars, you cross the train tracks (the wrong side of the tracks sprang to mind) Suddenly the road becomes dusty. There are no pavements. Dogs jump suddenly out of alleyways and bark at you until you make friends . Hidden behind a warehouse is a dirt track that leads to hell.

Source: The roma series

Dosta

Vashka — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 17:47:23 +0000

"Dosta", a Romani word meaning "enough", is an awareness raising campaign which aims at bringing non-Roma closer to Roma citizens.

"Dosta" means that we want to stop prejudices and stereotypes not by denouncing them but by breaking them, showing who the Roma really are. They are not perfect, of course, but "who is?". What is sure is that Roma are European citizens: they form a group of about 10 million people and can be found in almost all Council of Europe member states; in some Central and Eastern European countries, they represent over 5% of the population.

Source: Dosta

Roma Council Outraged by attacks against roma in hungary

Vashka — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 17:30:21 +0000

The Roma Communities Non-Governmental Organisations Council (RMORK) is shocked and outraged over the recent attacks against Roma in Hungary, RMORK chairman Ladislav Richter said at a press conference on Thursday in Bratislava.

Source: Roma Council Outraged by attacks against roma in hungary

Ethnic riot erupts in Czech town

Niluccio — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 18:15:47 +0000

Riot police in the northern Czech town of Litvinov have waged a bloody battle with far-right protesters trying to reach a Roma (Gypsy) suburb.

Police, some mounted on horses, tried to force back rioters from a 500-strong crowd with batons and tear gas as youths hurled petrol bombs and stones.

Seven demonstrators and seven police officers were injured in the clashes.

Source: Ethnic riot erupts in Czech town

'Why do the Italians hate us?' | Life and style | The Observer

damianrafferty — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 16:40:05 +0100

It is an image that shocked the world: two young Gypsy children lie dead for three hours on an Italian beach while, feet away, a carefree couple enjoy a leisurely picnic. Dan McDougall travels to the Roma camps of Naples to meet the dead girls' mother and finds fear and bitterness - and a country in danger of forgetting its far-Right past

Source: 'Why do the Italians hate us?' | Life and style | The Observer

History repeating

Niluccio — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:51:34 +0100

This is an article my father would rather I didn't write. "You want to watch it, you know," he has said to me, more than once. "If you're not careful, you'll get a brick through your window." In the working-class area of Peterborough where my father grew up during the 20s and 30s, it probably wasn't wise to mention that you had Romany blood, however distant.

Source: History repeating