World

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

Council of Europe chief says discrimination against Romani people continues to be ignored

7.9.2016 11:02 The Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjörn Jagland, criticized the deterioration in the situation of Roma and Sinti people in Europe today. Jagland believes discrimination against members of these minority groups is frequently ignored or overlooked.  full story

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights criticizes populists, including Czech President

7.9.2016 6:55 The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, has criticized populist and ultra-right politicians, comparing their rhetoric to that of the radical movement of the so-called Islamic State. Among those he called "clever cheats" and political demagogues were the Dutch critic of Islam, Geert Wilders; the head of the French National Front, Marine Le Pen; Republican candidate for the President of the United States, Donald Trump; Czech President Miloš Zeman; and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico.  full story

Analysis from Bulgaria: Anti-Gypsyism is the enemy at the gates

6.9.2016 8:24 How are mobs organized? How do they gather so fast to dispense "justice"?
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German detectives say AfD party promotes extremism even as it places second in Merkel's home state

5.9.2016 18:01 The Berlin-based daily Tagesspiegel reports that Holger Münch, head of Germany's Federal Criminal Bureau (BKA), says the "Alternative for Germany" party (AfD) is contributing through its anti-immigration rhetoric to the bolstering of extremism throughout the country. Münch says racially motivated crime is on the rise in Germany, especially attacks on asylum-seeker accommodation.  full story

Slovak rail system issues new rules to prevent ultra-right party from abusing it for propaganda purposes

1.9.2016 7:28 The Czech daily Právo reports that the Railway Company of Slovakia has decided to prevent patrols run by the nationalist People's Party (LSNS) of Marian Kotleba from monitoring the wagons under its control. New transport regulations now ban the performance of political agitation in Slovak Rail wagons.  full story

German Chancellor says everybody must contribute to addressing asylum-seeker issue

31.8.2016 16:49 Speaking last Sunday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel criticized EU Member States who do not want to accept Muslim asylum-seekers. The Czech Republic is one of them.  full story

International Romani Union president calls for aid to the mother of deceased journalist

31.8.2016 15:28 On 26 August, Normunds Rudevičs, President of the International Romani Union (IRU), called on all who knew the late Romani activist and founder of Roma Virtual Network, Mr Valery Novoselsky, and who have the opportunity to send aid, to support Mr Novoselsky's mother, Klavdie Novoselsky. "During these tragic days we are calling on all who can provide aid, even the smallest possible amount, to do so and support his mother, who has been left without any other relatives in the town of Kirat Shamone in Israel and is combating cancer," Rudevičs wrote.  full story

videoUkrainian villagers collectively blame Roma for murder, destroy their homes, revoke their residency

30.8.2016 8:34 Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported yesterday that local authorities and media in Ukraine say a village there has decided to expel dozens of Romani families because of suspicions that a member of their community may have been responsible for the murder of a child. Police have arrested a 20-year-old Romani man on suspicion of murder.  full story

Valery Novoselsky, Romani activist and founder of the Roma Virtual Network, has passed away

22.8.2016 19:17 The Roma Times news server cites a report published by the Romani editors of Swedish Radio that Romani activist Valery Novoselsky of Israel, who founded Roma Virtual Network, passed away on 20 August 2016 at the age of 46. Mr Novoselsky passed away while attending a Romani music festival in Riga, Latvia.   full story