World

Young Roma at OSCE conference: We must increase our participation in public life

Belgrade, 8.1.2015 22:45, (ROMEA) More than 40 young activists across the OSCE region gathered on 8 and 9 December 2014 in Belgrade for a Conference on Roma and Sinti Youth. The meeting was organized by the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and reviewed the opportunities for mobilizing and strengthening communities and galvanizing their participation in politics and decision-making processes.  full story

"Je suis Charlie" and "I like moderate Muslims"

Paris, 8.1.2015 18:19, (ROMEA) Some in France have responded to yesterday's mass murder in Paris by carring signs reading "Je suis Charlie" and "I like moderate Muslims". Islamist terrorists broke into the editorial offices of the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, shooting 12 people dead and wounding others yesterday.  full story

Roma wanted: Apply for unique cultural management training – Khamoro Shares its Experience

Prague, 2.1.2015 20:37, (ROMEA) The NGO Slovo 21, based in the Czech Republic, has issued the following press release:
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Parallel worlds: The life of Romani people in Norway

Prague, 29.12.2014 21:59, (ROMEA) "There probably does not exist any other group against which Norwegians harbor more prejudice," says Balder Hasvoll, the Romani Minority Adviser to the Norwegian capital of Oslo. News server Romea.cz is interviewing him in Czech, as he has both studied and worked in the Czech Republic.  full story

videoRomani singer sues Beyoncé, claiming she used her music without permission

Budapest/New York, 29.12.2014 2:34, (ROMEA) Agence France-Presse reports that Mónika Juhász Miczura, a Romani singer from Hungary, is suing Beyoncé because she is convinced the American superstar stole a musical motif of hers and used it in her song "Drunk in Love". According to the Romani singer, the music was used without permission.
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Czech Senate distances itself from former Senator's lies about "gypsies" in Switzerland

Prague, 19.12.2014 21:24, (ROMEA) "Geneva used to be a friendly, open city, but several hundred Balkan gypsies were drawn there and now the town is completely paralyzed. The Swiss are afraid to let their children walk down the street. Gypsy children are robbing stores where security measures are weak like magpies," former Czech Senator Pavel Lebeda said this past summer in an interview with the Czech tabloid news server ParlamentníListy.cz.  full story

Russia: Neo-Nazi gang connected to Kremlin murdered anti-Fascists, immigrants and judges

Moscow, 1.12.2014 2:09, (ROMEA) The Moscow Regional Court has been the venue recently for a closely watched trial in the BORN (Bojové organizace ruských nacionalistů - Combat Organization of Russian Nationalists) case. Members of the group have been charged with murdering several anti-Fascists, attorneys, immigrants from the Caucasus and Central Asia, a journalist and judges.  full story

UK: Muslim leader says Islamists' first victims are moderate Muslims

London, 19.11.2014 20:31, (ROMEA) Representatives of the Anglican Church have for the first time invited a Muslim representative to address their general synod who has condemned the violence perpetrated by Islamists in the Middle East and the suffering that religious minorities, especially Christians, are subjected to there. Agence France-Presse reports that the Muslim representative has pointed out that the first victims of Islamist extremists have been and continue to be moderate Muslims.  full story

Commentary: No detente in sight for Israel-Palestine

Israel, 19.11.2014 15:10, (ROMEA) One week in solitary confinement and a fine of EUR 60 euros is the punishment that Marwan Barghouti, a leading member of the secular movement Fatah, has received for urging the Palestinian Authority to immediately end its security cooperation with Israel in a letter released on the 10th anniversary of Yasser Arafat's death. AFP reported that the 55-year-old militant, who is serving a life sentence on five counts of murder related to the second intifada in 2000, called for Palestinians to put up an "overall and armed resistance" against Israel.  full story

Czech President offends brave Russians who stood up for Czechoslovakia in 1968

Prague, 14.11.2014 23:16, (ROMEA) It seems that Czech President Miloš Zeman is striving so hard for the favor of the Chinese communists and the Putin supporters that he has no hesitation about insulting those who stood up for Czechoslovakia during her darkest hour. He may not have intended it that way, but part of what he said in his now world-famous radio program of 2 November has offended the sons of Natalya Gorbanevskaya as well as Russian dissident Victor Fainberg.  full story

Amnesty International issues Urgent Action over death sentence for blasphemy

Lahore, Pakistan, 12.11.2014 11:49, (ROMEA) Amnesty International reports that on 16 October, the High Court of Appeal in Lahore declined an appeal against the 2010 conviction of Asia Bibi, a Christian Pakistan woman sentenced to death under Section 295C of Pakistan’s Penal Code for allegedly insulting the Prophet Muhammad during an argument with a Muslim woman. There are very serious doubts as to the fairness of the entire trial.  full story

EU takeover of Italian mission a catastrophe for Mediterranean migration

11.11.2014 17:26 After a year of operation, the Mare Nostrum humanitarian and military mission promoted by the Italian government to increase patrols in the Mediterranean Sea in order to prevent migrant shipwrecks came to an end on 1 November.  full story

Iranian woman gets two years for protesting ban on women attending sports matches

Teheran, Iran, 6.11.2014 12:29, (ROMEA) Ghoncheh Ghavami, age 25, is an English-Iranian woman arrested in Tehran this past June for trying to attend a volleyball match together with men. A court has now sentenced her to two years in prison.  full story

Canadian Muslims condemn Islamist radical violence, now face increased aggression themselves

Ottawa, 4.11.2014 1:29, (ROMEA) After two recent attacks reportedly committed by Islamists in Canada, the number of attempted attacks against members of the Muslim community has risen sharply. The National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) announced the increase last Thursday.  full story

Amnesty International: Court must consider hate motive behind attack on Romani woman

Messolonghy/Greece, 3.11.2014 12:23, (ROMEA) The court in Messolonghy, Western Greece, recognizes racial motivations in the brutal attack that two Romani people, Paraskevi Kokoni and her nephew Kostas, who has a learning disability, have been subjected to in October 2012.  full story

Czech Govt tells UN that law to compensate forced sterilization will be ready in one year

Prague, 20.10.2014 17:15, (ROMEA) The Czech Government is planning to submit a law to compensate the victims of illegal sterilizations by the end of 2015. It expects to have the outlines of the legislation ready by the end of this year.  full story

ERTF reproaches Czech Republic for being too restrained in combating racism

Paris, 11.10.2014 22:22, (ROMEA) The European Roma and Travellers Forum (ERTF) is reproaching several European states, the Czech Republic included, for their "restraint" in combating anti-Romani racism and improving everyday life for Romani people. Agence France-Presse reports that the ERTF named the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and four other countries in a report published yesterday as examples.  full story

Ukraine: Neo-Nazi Right Sector fighters attack pro-Russian MP

Kiev, 3.10.2014 18:39, (ROMEA) Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov addressed an emphatic warning to neo-Nazis from the Right Sector organization on 1 October. In response to an attack committed Tuesday by right-wing radicals against a pro-Russian MP, Avakov declared that America and Europe could turn away from supporting Ukraine if similar incidents persist.  full story

Serbia: Police protect LGBT Pride parade, PM's brother is injured

Belgrade, Serbia, 1.10.2014 16:08, (ROMEA) In the center of Belgrade, after a four-year hiatus, an LGBT Pride parade has been allowed to take place. The authorities mobilized large numbers of security forces to prevent violence of the kind sparked by radical nationalists during the event in 2010.  full story

Norway: Reconstruction of government offices damaged by ultra-right terrorism

Oslo, Norway, 30.9.2014 21:31, (ROMEA) News server The Local reports that yesterday work began in the center of Oslo on demolishing and rebuilding a new headquarters for the Norwegian Government. The government buildings were extensively damaged in July 2011 during a terrorist attack committed by ultra-right terrorist Anders Behring Breivik.  full story