News

Romania: Self-appointed king of the Roma announces virtual currency

Sibiu, Romania, 16.6.2014 16:59, (ROMEA) Dorin Cioaba, the self-appointed king of the Roma, announced last week in the Romanian city of Sibiu that Roma throughout 37 countries will soon have their own virtual currency, the "lov", which will be exchanged at a 1:1 rate with the euro. "We will begin with one lov valued at one euro and then we will see over time whether its value rises or falls," Cioaba said in an interview with the Agerpres press agency.  full story

Czech Republic: Police assistants were supposed to be hired, now they're unemployed

Sokolov, 16.6.2014 16:39, (ROMEA) Recently they were a model for the whole country. For two years the Western Bohemian town of Sokolov has been successfully using so-called crime prevention assistants to maintain order in troubled localities.  full story

European Grassroots Antiracist Movement holds Roma conference in Czech Republic

Prague, 16.6.2014 16:02, (ROMEA) From 12 - 15 June 2014 a preparatory meeting of activists with the European Grassroots Antiracist Movement (EGAM) took place in Prague to work on the upcoming European Roma Pride celebrations. The meeting was organized by the Konexe association together with the EGAM network.  full story

From Siberia to Jerusalem: Israel's first Gypsy police officer

Jerusalem, 15.6.2014 22:21, (ROMEA) After spending her childhood in a Gypsy tribe on the frozen plains of Siberia, Tania Leontieff discovered that her mother had Jewish roots. She immigrated to Israel alone and converted, and is about to become a policewoman in Jerusalem.  full story

London: Roma Protest As Fascists Gather

London, 15.6.2014 22:16, (ROMEA) Even as Roma speakers addressed an audience at the United Against Fascism conference in London yesterday [14 June] on the rising frequency of attacks by neo-Nazi groups across Europe, members of the English Defence League were gathering in a menacing crowd outside TUC Congress Hall.  full story

UN Human Rights Commissioner disturbed by rising xenophobia in Europe

Geneva, 14.6.2014 20:36, (ROMEA) On 10 June the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, expressed concern over rising racism and xenophobia in Europe. In her remarks opening the 26th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Pillay referenced the results of May's elections to the European Parliament, in which ultra-right parties scored gains.  full story

Patrolling the Streets with Hungary’s Roma Police

Budapest, 14.6.2014 13:18, (ROMEA) I was born into a poor family in central Hungary, in an environment with little opportunities. Thankfully I was supported by the Open Society Foundations with financial aid to complete my high school diploma. If I hadn’t managed this, I don’t know where I would be today. At the age of 21, I enrolled at a police academy in Budapest and immediately declared my Roma heritage.  full story

Romanian Court Judgment Affirms the Responsibility of Authorities to Provide Adequate Housing to Evicted Romani Community

Bucharest, 14.6.2014 8:55, (ROMEA) The European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) welcomes the judgment of the Constanţa Court of Appeal in southern Romania which found that the Tulcea municipality is liable for inadequate housing conditions it had provided to a previously evicted Romani community. The court awarded financial compensation to the plaintiffs for the moral damage they suffered. The ERRC supported the evicted Romani community in taking the case before the national courts.  full story

Racism in Northern Ireland: 'They called our children monkeys'

Belfast, 14.6.2014 8:46, (The Guardian) Mixed-race couple tell of daily abuse they faced for six years in Belfast as statistics show a sharp rise in racist incidents  full story

Czech residential hotel issues remain unresolved

Varnsdorf, 14.6.2014 0:38, (ROMEA) All of the Czech Republic was shocked three years ago by the footage of otherwise honorable citizens marching side by side with ultra-right radicals and chanting "Gypsies to the gas chambers" in the town of Varnsdorf. Residential hotels for socially vulnerable people were the thorn in their side.  full story

Young Roma demand UN representation

Sri Lanka, 13.6.2014 23:53, (ROMEA) During the World Conference on Youth in Sri Lanka last month a declaration was issued by young Roma demanding representation for the Romani nation at the United Nations. News server Romea.cz publishes the declaration in full:  full story

Ukrainian Roma: The government treats us like stepchildren

Kiev, 13.6.2014 23:21, (ROMEA) Ukrainians are enduring a serious hangover after the euphoria of Maidan. Romani people in Ukraine are also being most painfully affected by the current crisis.  full story

Slovak court awards compensation to Roma refused service

Bratislava, 13.6.2014 21:13, (ROMEA) A Slovak court has awarded compensation of EUR 600 to a Romani couple who were refused service by a bar in the east of the country five years ago. The non-governmental organization Counseling Center for Civil and Human Rights (Poradna pro občanská a lidská práva), which represented the Romani clients before the court, has issued a press release about the verdict.  full story

Commentary: Slovakia's Fascist governor and racist beauty queen

Bánská Bystrica/Bratislava, 13.6.2014 20:31, (ROMEA) Racist calls for the isolation, deportation and even the shooting of Romani people, as well as fake reports of fabulously high amounts of welfare being drawn by them, are turning up in both public and virtual spaces in Slovakia more and more frequently. The center of this Fascist ideology, inciting a war by "decent citizens" on "social parasites", has become the Bánská Bystrica Region ever since the election of ultra-nationalist Marián Kotleba as governor there, but other parts of the country are not immune.  full story

Czech Republic: False rumor spreading that Roma access local pool for free

Most, 13.6.2014 19:56, (ROMEA) As happens every summer in the Czech Republic, various towns are having to issue statements refuting the rumors that Romani people get free entry to local swimming pools because of their nationality. This year the lie is spreading in the town of Most.  full story

Slovak Academy of Sciences: No need to fear growth of Romani population

Bratislava, 12.6.2014 22:17, (ROMEA) Romani population predictions were one aim of a recent monograph produced in Slovakia entitled "Reproduction of the Romani population in Slovakia and prognoses for Romani population developments to 2030". The research was presented by the Forecasting Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava last month.  full story

Scotland as a model for social housing legislation

Prague, 12.6.2014 19:57, (ROMEA) Robert Aldridge is the executive director of Homeless Action Scotland, an umbrella organization bringing together service providers involved in the problem of homelessness. He has also been a member of the City of Edinburgh Council for 22 years  full story

videoFamous Romani players in world football

Prague, 27.5.2013 22:32, (ROMEA/HATTRICK) Just a few notes by way of introduction: The first famous Romani man or Gypsy to join his country's football team was Rab Howell of England. The small center-half for Sheffield United (height 165 cm, weight 57 kg) first wore the famous uniform with the three lions on 9 March 1895 in a match between England and Scotland that was played at Derby. It was a victorious debut. The English won 9:0 and Howell scored a goal. He was always proud of his Romani heritage. By the way, the first Black player did not join the English national team until 83 years later (Viv Anderson in 1978).  full story

Holocaust survivors want Poland to arrange more school trips to Auschwitz

Warsaw, 12.6.2014 16:58, (ROMEA) The International Auschwitz Committee (IAC), which brings together Holocaust survivors worldwide, has called on the Polish government to financially support excursions by schoolchildren to the memorial at the former Nazi extermination camp at Auschwitz. Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA) reports that the number of Polish visitors to Auschwitz has sharply fallen in recent years.  full story

Commentary: Deadline for adopting Czech social housing concept is unrealistic

Prague, 12.6.2014 1:48, (ROMEA) Three months have elapsed since the Czech Government approved its program declaration stating that social housing is a priority. We have heard from many government politicians that work is underway on the Social Housing Concept and how important it is.  full story