News

Council of Europe: Handbook Launched on Remembrance Day of the Roma Holocaust

Strasbourg, 2.8.2014 20:54, (ROMEA) Even in 2014 many people have never heard of the Roma genocide or porrajmos in which at least half a million Roma died. A new handbook, launched on August 2 – Roma and Sinti Genocide Remembrance Day – is designed to change that.  full story

European Roma and Sinti commemorate 70th anniversary of the gassing of 3 000 Roma and Sinti at Auschwitz

Oswiecim, Poland, 2.8.2014 18:00, (ROMEA) Former concentration camp prisoners, representatives of Romani organizations, and young Romani people all commemorated the 70th anniversary of the liquidation of the so-called "gypsy camp" in the Nazi extermination camp of Auschwitz. During the night of 2 August and the morning of 3 August 1944, the last 3 000 Romani and Sinti children and women left in the camp were murdered in the gas chambers there.  full story

Ahead of 70th anniversary of “Gypsy camp” liquidation at Auschwitz-Birkenau, ODIHR Director urges leaders to speak out against anti-Roma rhetoric

Warsaw, 2.8.2014 15:49, (ROMEA) Michael Georg Link, Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), speaking ahead of Saturday’s 70th anniversary of the liquidation of the “Zigeunerlager”, or “Gypsy Camp”, at Auschwitz-Birkenau called today on political leaders not only to refrain from scapegoating Roma and Sinti communities, but also to speak out against racist rhetoric in public discourse that can fuel anti-Roma sentiment in society.  full story

Czech NGO wants to buy buildings from which Romani tenants were evicted

Ostrava, 2.8.2014 2:07, (ROMEA) The Life Together (Vzájemné soužití) NGO, led by Kumar Vishwanathan, wants to buy buildings on Přednádraží Street in Ostrava which are now going up for auction. News server Lidovky.cz reports that the NGO's aim is to make it possible for the Romani tenants who were evicted from the properties to return to their homes.  full story

ERTF commemorates the 70th anniversary of the Genocide on Roma

Brussels, 1.8.2014 23:58, (ROMEA) With a minute of silence at noon beside the Holocaust memorial stone in front of the Palais de l'Europe in Strasbourg, the European Forum for Roma and Travellers (ERTF) remembered more than 3,000 Roma exterminated by the German Nazis during the night of 2-3 August 1944 in the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau.  full story

UN: Ensuring the right to remembrance and dignity for the Roma people

geneva/New York, 1.8.2014 23:53, (ROMEA) On the 70th anniversary of the Roma Holocaust –‘Porrajmos’ or ‘Pharrajimos’– two United Nations human rights experts urge all governments around the world to ensure the right to remembrance for the Roma people.  full story

Czech Helsinki Committee, Human Rights Minister draft law to compensate forced sterilization victims

Prague, 1.8.2014 23:32, (ROMEA) The Czech Helsinki Committee and Czech Human Rights Minister Jiří Dienstbier (Czech Social Democratic Party - ČSSD) are preparing a draft law on compensating people who have been forcibly sterilized. The victims would reportedly receive anywhere between CZK 100 000 and CZK 150 000 (EUR 3 600 and EUR 5 400).  full story

Czech Culture Minister wants to solve the problem of the pig farm at Lety

Lety u Písku, 1.8.2014 22:48, (ROMEA) Paying his respects to Romani Holocaust victims while commemorating the former "gypsy camp" at Lety by Písek, Czech Culture Minister Daniel Herman (Christian Democrats - KDU-ČSL) said there must be zero tolerance for hatred, racism and xenophobia in the Czech Republic. The minister said he believes such sentiments should not be taken lightly.  full story

Czech MP apologizes for insulting children in state care

Prague, 1.8.2014 16:43, (ROMEA) Czech MP Marek Benda (Civic Democrats - ODS), speaking on a Czech Television program, insulted children who are wards of the state by saying they are "of no use". The MP made the insulting remarks during a debate with Czech Human Rights Minister Jiří Dienstbier (Czech Social Democratic Party - ČSSD) when the conversation turned to adopting children in state care.  full story

Czech Human Rights Minister: A pig farm on a site of human suffering disrespects both survivors and victims

Prague, 1.8.2014 15:55, (ROMEA) Czech Human Rights Minister Jiří Dienstbier has indicated that he would like to attempt to remove the pig farm in Lety by Písek from the site of a former WWII-era camp for Romani people there. "Given that there was a concentration camp in Lety where many people suffered, the fact that a pig farm is on that site disrespects both the survivors and the victims," he told news server iDNES.cz.  full story

videoVIDEO: 1.000 young Europeans remember the 70th anniversary of the Roma Genocide

Krakow, 31.7.2014 10:07, (ROMEA) This coming August 2 marks the 70th anniversary of the Roma Genocide. On this date in 1944, 2,897 elderly men and women, as well as children were murdered in the gas chambers of the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau. TernYpe – International Roma Youth Network and its partners organize an international conference and youth event gathering 1.000 people from 25 countries to both honour the past and to ensure a future where the rights and dignity of Roma communities are respected.  full story

Slovakia: Wall erected to keep Romani residents separate

Košice, 31.7.2014 19:44, (ROMEA) An unusual wall has been connecting two residential buildings in the Západ quarter of the industrial city of Košice in eastern Slovakia for the last year and a half. It took 18 concrete slabs and several hours of work to erect the gray fence, which is several dozen meters long.  full story

Czech Gov't Agency for Social Inclusion presents 2013 report to cabinet

Prague, 31.7.2014 18:40, (ROMEA) The following is a press release from the Czech Government Agency for Social Inclusion:  full story

Social Watch criticizes Czech Republic over anti-Romani protests, residential hotels

Prague, 30.7.2014 18:28, (ROMEA) The international NGO coalition Social Watch has criticized the Czech Republic in its annual report for last year over the rise in overpriced, substandard residential hotels housing the indigent and the ongoing anti-Romani demonstrations in the country. The report also reiterates that there are too few women in Czech politics.  full story

Czech Republic: Local officials reiterate intention to collect on bad debts

Most, 30.7.2014 17:40, (ROMEA) Distorted information is being spread through the Czech media and social networking sites about the town of Most, claiming that officials there have forgiven the debts owed the municipality by residents of the Chanov housing estate. "That is not true," Deputy Mayor Hana Jeníčková says of this misinterpretation of the facts.  full story

ERRC: No Place in School for Roma Children in France?

Budapest/Paris, 30.7.2014 11:13, (ROMEA) According to research conducted by the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) in the beginning of 2014, children of many Roma in France have restricted access to primary education. More than half of those surveyed are out of school. The ERRC calls on French authorities to provide the children of Roma EU citizens with access to education.  full story

New book describes the fates of Czechoslovaks executed by Soviets

Moscow/Prague, 29.7.2014 23:31, (ROMEA) The fates of more than 100 Czechoslovak citizens and members of the Czech minority executed by the Soviet regime in Moscow have been described for the first time in a newly-published book entitled Moskevská pohřebiště (Moscow's Burial Grounds). The author is historian Mečislav Borák  full story

German Constitutional Court won't release intelligence files on Eichmann

Berlin, 29.7.2014 18:14, (ROMEA) The German Constitutional Court has rejected a request from the daily Bild to have the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) publish the complete file it has on Adolf Eichmann, one of the architects of the Holocaust. The publisher of Germany's most-read newspaper reported the rejection on 25 July and said it was considering filing suit with the European Court of Human Rights to gain access to the file.  full story

Kosovo: Evidence found that hostages were killed for their organs

Brussels, 29.7.2014 17:16, (ROMEA) Investigators commissioned by the European Union have gathered convincing evidence that hostages were murdered so their organs could be harvested and sold during the 1990s war in Kosovo. American prosecutor Clint Williamson, who has been entrusted with investigating crimes in Kosovo, has arrived at that conclusion.  full story

Slovakia: Members of the Czech Philharmonic to perform in Romani settlements

Prague, 29.7.2014 16:42, (ROMEA) The following is a press release from the Czech Philharmonic:  full story