World

Germany: Untraditional theater production in Berlin plays with anti-migrant prejudice

21.6.2016 20:47 The Deutsches Theater in Berlin has prepared an interesting artistic performance that could be a big source of inspiration to us all. In response to last year's "special summer and fall", as the company calls the wave of immigrants and refugees who arrived in Germany last year, they have created a production called Wechselstube (Exchange Office).  full story

Petr Torák, Romani police officer, on Brexit: I believe we will remain

21.6.2016 7:41 Czech and Slovak citizens living in Peterborough, England have been discussing the EU referendum a lot in recent weeks, and many are concerned about what it will mean for them. That's according to Petr Torák, a Romani man from the Czech Republic who has been serving on the Peterborough police force for 10 years in a part of the country where, according to polls, proponents of Brexit may achieve a resounding victory.  full story

Germany: Immigrants do not commit more crime than anybody else

20.6.2016 7:48 On 10 June the German newspaper Die Welt reported that Germany's Federal Crime Bureau (BKA) has published its data on immigrant perpetrators of crime for the first time ever. During the first quarter of 2016, 69 000 felonies in the country were committed by migrants.  full story

Austria: Ultra-right extremists assault university rector during lecture

19.6.2016 10:27 A lecture at a university in the southern Austrian town of Klagenfurt was disrupted on 10 June by approximately 10 adherents of the ultra-right who burst into the lecture hall shouting with megaphones. Rector Oliver Vitouch told the Austrian Press Agency that one of them proceeded to strike him in the belly.  full story

Russia: Mass demolition of homes in one of the biggest Romani settlements

18.6.2016 9:24 The situation in the municipality of Plechanovo, one of the biggest Romani settlements in Russia, where mass street fighting occurred several weeks ago between local residents and police over efforts by the gas utility to cut Romani residents off from the gas lines, has deteriorated further. Starting in the first week of June, the illegal constructions in which local Romani people are living have been demolished.  full story

UK: MP Cox, who opposed "Brexit" and supported refugee reception, has been murdered

17.6.2016 7:18 British Labour MP Jo Cox, who strove to see Britain remain in the European Union, has been murdered in her electoral district. Police quickly arrested the man suspected of committing the attack.  full story

Czech Republic: Another TV Prima insider comes forward, says producers want "only negative voices" from interviews on refugees

16.6.2016 7:33 The decision last year by the management of TV Prima to depict refugees as a threat had its specific impacts on the work of their reporters in the central newsroom and in the regions. "I can confirm that I actually, several times, received the instruction to film 'man-on-the-street' interviews with people about refugees and to use only the negative reactions. Or I was instructed during the stand-up to say that people do not want refugees in their community and are afraid of them, without anybody verifying beforehand that it was actually true," says a woman who contacted investigative news server HlídacíPes.org ("Watchdog") with her testimony after reading their series of articles on the issue.  full story

EU Member States may not punish migrants for illegal entry by imprisoning them

15.6.2016 6:18 Migrants who illegally cross the borders of most EU Member States in the Schengen zone may not be punished with imprisonment for so doing. The European Court of Justice has decided that instead of that punishment, the Member State concerned should take advantage of the so-called "Return Directive" to deport the migrant, according to the conditions of the directive, back to the country from which the migrant performed the illegal crossing.  full story

Germany: Roma at risk of being returned to the Balkans continue to protest

11.6.2016 8:27 "Solidarity with Romani people expelled from the memorial dedicated to the Sinti and Roma murdered during Nazism" - under that slogan a demonstration was held on 3 June on the Alexanderplatz in Berlin. The plan was to occupy the memorial to the Roma Holocaust in the Tiergarten near the neighborhood in the German capital that houses all of the government offices.  full story

Austria: Arsonists set future asylum-seeker shelter on fire

9.6.2016 6:38 A wooden building in the north of Austria near the Czech and German borders that was supposed to become a shelter for asylum seekers was set on fire last week. According to representatives of the Red Cross, which owns the building, the fire was set by arsonists.  full story

European Commission agrees with social media companies on a common approach against online hate

5.6.2016 13:22 On 31 May the European Commission together with firms such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube published a Code of Conduct to aid in the fight against the dissemination of hate speech through the Internet. According to the code, the firms will attempt to investigate whether content is objectionable within 24 hours of being warned about it.  full story

Soraya Post: Roma deportations increasing due to Syrian refugee crisis

2.6.2016 18:16 The deportation of Roma refugees in Europe is increasing because of the influx of Syrian refugees in Europe, according to Soraya Post, a Swedish member of the European Parliament.
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OSCE/ODIHR Event to Focus on Justice and Redress to Roma Victims of Forced Sterilization in the Czech Republic

30.5.2016 18:50 On Wednesday, 1 June, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) will convene an international conference on providing justice and compensation to Romani women who have been subjected to forced sterilization in the Czech Republic. Those attending will be representatives of the Czech Government, survivors of forced sterilization, civil society organizations including Roma community organizations, international experts, and representatives of the Council of Europe, the OSCE/ODIHR, and the United Nations.  full story

Russia: Romani residents of Tula rebel over gas supplies

29.5.2016 11:35 In one of the biggest Romani settlements in Russia a mass battle took place several weeks ago between local residents and police. The cause was the efforts of gas technicians to cut the Romani residents off from a gas pipe they had illegally been tapping.  full story

Germany: Romani refugees occupy Berlin memorial to Roma murdered during Nazism, police intervene

29.5.2016 9:55 Last Sunday afternoon approximately 100 people occupied Berlin's memorial to the Romani and Sinti people who were murdered by the Nazis. The protest was held under the slogan "We Are Here".  full story

Cyprus: Orthodox Church leader welcomes election of neo-Nazi MPs

28.5.2016 10:21 The leader of the Cypriot Orthodox Church, Archbishop Chrysostomos, has expressed satisfaction over the fact that neo-Nazis from the "National-People's Front" (ELAM) party made it into Parliament for the first time ever after Sunday's elections. Chrysostomos supports the deep conservatism of the Orthodox Church, which takes a hard line against the secularizing efforts of modern society and supports hate speech against minorities such as the LGBT community.  full story

European Commission launches infringement proceedings against Hungary over discrimination of Romani children

28.5.2016 9:50 On 26 May the European Commission (EC) called on Hungary to stop discriminating against Romani children in education and to adjust its laws accordingly. The Commission made the announcement within the framework of its regular review of transgressions committed by Member States against EU legislation.  full story

Germany: British neo-Nazis tweet photo of themselves giving the Nazi salute at Buchenwald

28.5.2016 8:36 Two members of a British neo-Nazi group have tweeted a photo of themselves giving the Nazi salute during a visit to the site of the former Nazi concentration camp at Buchenwald. German media drew attention to the case on 26 May and report that authorities are investigating.  full story

Timea Junghaus: Roma art as an act of resistance

27.5.2016 21:27 On May 16, Europe’s Roma commemorated the 1944 uprising in the so-called Zigeunerlager (“Gypsy Camp”) in Auschwitz-Birkenau. Today, the idea of Roma resistance is understood as the Roma people’s perseverance in fighting different forms of oppressions, now and in the past.  full story

European Roma and Travellers Forum expresses support for Czech NGOs seeking to fly the rainbow and Roma flags at Terezín

18.5.2016 16:47 The European Roma and Travellers Forum (ERTF) has sent Jan Munk, the director of the Terezín Memorial who also chairs the Commission for the Preparation of the Terezín Commemoration, a letter expressing its agreement with the 14 nonprofit organizations who asked that both the LGBT community's rainbow flag and the international Romani flag be flown during the commemorative ceremony at Terezín this year. Munk rejected the request at the beginning of May for the flags to be included alongside state flags during the 15 May event.
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