World

William Lazarus Bila: Roma joining the bandwagon on anti-refugee campaigns

6.10.2016 10:27 I am angry and disappointed. Despite the recent Hungarian Migrant Quota Referendum being deemed invalid and not succeeding in obtaining enough voter participation to have any significant meaning, the Hungarian Prime Minister and his followers have already begun spinning this failure into a success story for the delusional and uninformed. We need to stop this, for Europe.  full story

Amnesty International: Just 10 countries handle most of the world's refugees, wealthiest doing the least

4.10.2016 13:47 According to a report published today by the human rights organization Amnesty International, the burden of the global refugee crisis on various countries is disproportionately distributed, with most of the world's refugees living in just 10 states. The report called on wealthy states to increase the aid they are providing and to receive the number of refugees that corresponds to their capacity to provide protection.  full story

Germany: Two bombs exploded in Dresden, one in front of a mosque, no physical injuries

29.9.2016 14:36 Reuters reports that German Police announced on 27 September that two improvised explosive devices were detonated in Dresden, in the eastern part of Germany, on the evening of 26 September. One was planted in front of a mosque and the other in front of an international conference center.  full story

videoLIVE WEBCAST: OSCE conference reviews the rights of the child today and will touch on the discrimination of Romani children in education

29.9.2016 10:13 Today the OSCE human rights conference continues in Warsaw. The morning session is dedicated to the rights of the child and will also touch on discrimination against Romani people in education. The opening remarks will be given by Beáta Oláhová of the Budapest-based Roma Education Fund. The Human Dimension Implementation Meeting - HDIM is regularly held by the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the OSCE. You can follow the live webstream on Romea.cz.  full story

videoOSCE meeting on human rights includes session on Roma and Sinti

28.9.2016 12:28, (UPDATED 17:25) The Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights has been holding its traditional Human Dimension Implementation Meeting (HDIM) of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) will focus on Roma and Sinti today. You can follow the session live on news server Romea.cz.  full story

First-ever European Roma Spirit 2016 award nominations include news server Romea.cz

28.9.2016 7:02 This year for the first time the European Roma Spirit Award (ERSA) will be given to express appreciation for activities, individuals and projects supporting the integration of Romani people in Europe and contributing effective, functional solutions to the problems the Romani community faces. The award is administered by the Association for Culture, Education and Communication (ACEC) together with the Open Society Foundation under the auspices of the Slovak Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs and Family Ján Richter and the Slovak Government Council on the Romani Community.  full story

Germany: Racist assaults increasing

27.9.2016 10:56 The number of violent attacks with a racist subtext has increased in Germany. From January until mid-September, police recorded 507 such assaults, almost double the number for the same period last year, according to the magazine Spiegel.  full story

Czech right-wing extremists arguing over why racist from USA didn't speak at anti-EU demo

22.9.2016 11:10 Last weekend's demonstration on Saturday, 17 September 2016 on Wenceslas Square in Prague, entitled "Together for Leaving the EU", was supposed to feature an appearance by American racist Matthew-John Heimbach, who was invited by the Workers Social Justice Party (DSSS). Heimbach is linked to the Ku-Klux-Klan (KKK) and "White Power" organizations in the USA.  full story

Analysis: Refugee curfew relaxed in German town of Bautzen, opponents of racism assemble undisturbed

22.9.2016 7:54 One week ago the long-term tensions in the town of Bautzen in the German region of Lausitz, located just north of the border with the Czech Republic, escalated. The clash between neo-Nazis, police officers, and a small group of young refugees resulted in the refugees being chased throughout the entire town and was reported on by news server Romea.cz in detail here.  full story

Turkey: Dom refugees from Syria find refuge in the Tarlabaşi neighborhood of Istanbul

21.9.2016 20:38 The British newspaper The Guardian has reported that children from a community known in Syria as the Dom can be seen these days selling bottled water to drivers passing through the northwestern part of Istanbul in the area around Taksim Square. Due to the crisis in the Middle East, an estimated 26 000 members of that community are now homeless.  full story

Analysis: The phenomenon of the Alternative for Germany party

21.9.2016 16:20 Last weekend in Germany, the state of Berlin elected new representatives to the state legislature and to local municipal councils. The results of the elections once again demonstrate that the distribution of political forces in the various states is unique in each location.  full story

International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance met with Czech Government about removing the pig farm at Lety concentration camp site

18.9.2016 14:16 On 12 July an International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) delegation including the IHRA Chair, Ambassador Mihnea Constantinescu, attended high level meetings in the Czech Republic to discuss the future of the former concentration camp site of Lety u Pisku where a pig farm currently stands. Martina Maschke, Chair of the IHRA Committee on the Genocide of the Roma and Mirjam Karoly, ODIHR's Senior Adviser on Roma and Sinti Issues formed part of the delegation and reflect below on their visit to the site.
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Germany: Neo-Nazis in Lausitz region chase refugee youth through town, besiege their accommodation until 3 AM

18.9.2016 7:00 Neo-Nazis in Germany have launched a new offensive against refugees. The situation is escalating in the eastern town of Bautzen, where in February still-unidentified perpetrators set fire to a facility in the town center that was supposed to house refugees.  full story

EU: Juncker and Verhofstadt warn against nationalists and populists

15.9.2016 13:55 Belgian MEP Guy Verhofstadt, chair of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) at the European Parliament (EP), said yesterday that the solution to uncontrolled globalization and virulent nationalism and populism on the old continent is a new, reformed, stronger European Union. His remarks were made in response to the speech on the state of the union given by the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker.  full story

Russia: Massacre of Romani people in the Urals, two dead, six injured, media reporting is biased

14.9.2016 7:56 A tragic exchange of gunfire in Russia between a group of Romani people and three local non-Romani businessmen on Saturday, 3 September has resulted in the deaths of two Romani people and the injury of six. Some media outlets in Russia are reporting the incident as an assault perpetrated by a group of armed Roma on some unsuspecting local entrepreneurs who had no choice but to defend their own lives and protect their family members.  full story

Slovak web portals change their background color to light brown to commemorate Holocaust victims

12.9.2016 20:05 On 9 September, news server Pravda.sk and three other Slovak web portals changed the background color of their web pages to light brown. The gesture was meant to remind their readers of the Memorial Day to the Victims of the Holocaust and Racial Violence, as well as to draw attention to the radicalization of the Slovak public - and not just in anonymous online debates.  full story

Commentary: Polish reporter will discuss her book about Roma this week in Prague and Plzeň

11.9.2016 17:15 Polish reporters are known even beyond the country's borders, and currently their readership is growing more and more. Their success consists, among other things, in their imaginative use of the wide range of material that this particular genre, which lies on the border between journalism and literature, undoubtedly offers.  full story

Slovak MP says the Holocaust is a "fairy tale and a lie", police will not prosecute

8.9.2016 16:12 Milan Mazurek, an MP for Kotleba's People's Party Our Slovakia (ĽSNS) and chair of the party's regional club in Prešov, will not be prosecuted for saying that the Holocaust is a "fairy tale and a lie". "I am not advocating for any regime, but we only know fairy tales and lies about the Third Reich, and six million, and soap made from Jews. What we are taught about Hitler is all lies," Mazurek posted to his Facebook profile.  full story

Hungarian Prosecutor charges camerawoman who kicked asylum-seekers with rioting

8.9.2016 14:42 Yesterday in Budapest the Hungarian camerawoman who allegedly tripped one refugee carrying a child and kicked others a year ago at the border between Hungary and Serbia was charged with rioting by a local prosecutor. Petra László, who lost her job over the incident, has both apologized for assaulting the asylum seekers and repeatedly attempted to defend what she did.  full story

UNICEF: 28 million children worldwide are fleeing war, most are in Turkey

8.9.2016 6:54 Yesterday the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) announced that there are 28 million children who have had to leave their homes due to wartime conflicts, while another 20 million have had to leave their homes due to criminal violence or poverty. In a document called "Uprooted", the organization states that 45 % of child refugees come from two countries, Afghanistan and Syria.  full story