World

Finland: 15 000 people demonstrate for multiculturalism

29.7.2015 23:18 Agence France-Presse reports that approximately 15 000 people assembled yesterday in the center of the Finnish capital, Helsinki, to express their support for a multicultural society and protest against remarks made by MPs for the governing eurosceptic, populist Party of the Finns. Organizers convened the demonstration to protest remarks made by MP Olli Immonen, who called for "combating the nightmare of multiculturalism" over the weekend on Facebook.  full story

Czech NGO: We either rescue refugees from hell or they will die

29.7.2015 21:01 The Generace 21 (Generation 21) Foundation wants to bring 152 Christian refugees from Iraq to the Czech Republic who have been persecuted by radicals from the self-declared Islamic State organization. Representatives of the foundation gave a list of the refugees' names to the Office of the Government last Thursday and are now waiting for the Government and Interior Ministry to agree to receive them.  full story

Hungary: Ultra-right experiment in Ozd uses systematic oppression to drive Roma out

29.7.2015 3:49 The Associated Press reports that the Hungarian town of Ozd has become a kind of living "laboratory" where the ultra-right Jobbik party is testing the impact of its political decisions at local level. That at least is the warning of Peter Kreko, director of the Political Capital Institute organization, which has long monitored Jobbik's activities.  full story

RomArchive showcases the cultural contributions of Romani people

27.7.2015 23:19 On 26 June, the Advisory Group for RomArchive, the Digital Archive of the Roma, was established. The Archive has now launched operations, according to a press release issued by the Advisory Group.  full story

European Roma and Travellers Forum launches website for Roma Holocaust commemorations

27.7.2015 20:39 To mark the 71st anniversary of the Holocaust of the Roma (Pharrajimos) during WWII, the European Roma and Travellers Forum (ERTF) has launched a website, www.2august.ertf.org. The NGO is calling for collaboration on establishing a "centralized information point" about this history.  full story

Andrzej Mirga, Roma Education Fund's new chair, on the European Roma Institute and more

25.7.2015 19:40 Andrzej Mirga, previously Senior Adviser on Roma and Sinti Issues at the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the OSCE, has recently been appointed chair of the Roma Education Fund. Mr Mirga has a long record as a civic and human rights activist, having co-founded Poland's first Romani association after the fall of communism.  full story

Macedonia: BUVERO Camp for young Romani women underway

25.7.2015 0:21 The National Roma Centrum of Macedonia is running a BUVERO camp at Etno Selo in Kumanovo. Together with mentors from Hungary's Romedia Foundation, they have been instructing Romani women aged 18-25 in "citizen journalism".  full story

Austria bans hidden Islamist and Nazi codes on license plates

24.7.2015 20:15 The daily Kleine Zeitung reports that yesterday an amendment came into effect in Austria banning the use of hidden Nazi codes on personalized license plates. The original list of banned abbreviations such as HJ (for the youth organization Hitlerjugend), NSDAP (for the Nazi party) and SS (for the elite Nazi fighting unit) was expanded to include, for example, the number 420, referencing 20 April, Hitler's birthday.  full story

Bulgaria: Nationalists exert political pressure to override suspension of Romani home demolitions

22.7.2015 21:59 The BBC reports that nationalist parties in Bulgaria are pressuring for the continuation of the demolition of two Romani settlements which has temporarily been suspended by the European Court of Human Rights. Non-Romani residents of the town at issue, Garmen, also marched in the capital over the weekend to demand the demolitions go forward.  full story

Ireland: Roma immigrant challenges state's refusal to award her welfare

22.7.2015 0:35 The Irish Times reports that a Roma citizen of Romania with two young children is suing Ireland's Department of Social Protection for refusing to award her various welfare benefits, claiming the refusal is a violation of EU law. Her counsel, Derek Shorthall, told the High Court that the case raises "very weighty legal issues".  full story

Germany: Hundreds of Roma protest their deportation

21.7.2015 22:46 According to a press release from the alle-bleiben.info organization, on Saturday, 18 July, 600 people assembled in Hamburg, Germany to protest the deportation of Roma refugees back to their home countries. Demonstrators demanded an end to the deportations of all Roma, the right to remain in Germany, interpreters who speak Romanes to be provided during official interactions, unrestricted work permits for detainees, earlier opportunities to move out of detention centers, and that officials pay attention to refugees' medical reports.  full story

EU interior ministers offer 8 000 fewer places than needed for refugee redistribution

20.7.2015 23:32 EU-28 interior ministers did not manage to fully agree today on the redistribution of 40 000 asylum seekers currently located in Greece and Italy. Czech Interior Minister Milan Chovanec said the EU-28 states have offered to redistribute only 32 000 people during the next two years.  full story

Hungary: Demonstration against fence on Serbian border says "Jesus was a refugee too"

20.7.2015 19:57 Reuters reports that approximately 1 000 people demonstrated on 14 July in the center of Budapest against the construction of a fence on the border with Serbia that is supposed to prevent immigrants from entering Hungary. The declaration of the civic initiatives who organized the demonstration reads as follows: "As far as the construction of the wall goes, the Hungarian Government seems to exceptionally competent. The Government is erecting ever-newer walls between the various layers of society... It is blowing up bridges between politics and society... After so many symbolic walls it has now, at the height of its own cynicism, arrived at an actual wall... There have been enough walls - let's instead build hospitals, houses and schools for Hungarians and immigrants! Asylum seekers are neither angels nor devils but human beings, and as such they have a right to humane treatment and a dignified reception procedure... The money allocated to build this wall is already, at this phase of design planning, the equivalent of the entire budget of the Hungarian state for refugee matters for the last 11 years."  full story

European Roma Information Office publishes fact sheet on anti-Roma hate speech in European media

19.7.2015 3:29 The European Roma Information Office, a Brussels-based international advocacy organization promoting discussion of Romani issues, has published a fact sheet to raise awareness about hate speech against Romani people in the European media. The fact sheet defines hate speech against Roma as any public conduct that "wilfully expresses intense hostility towards Roma on the basis of their ethnicity".  full story

Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner: Romani migrants' rights are being violated

18.7.2015 23:00 Nils Muiznieks, Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, published a commentary on 16 July calling for myths about Romani migration in Europe to be debunked. In the commentary, Muiznieks asserts that media in Germany, Italy, Switzerland and the UK have "often put forward unfounded figures about actual or potential arrivals of Roma."  full story

European Court of Justice finds Czech utility discriminates against Roma in Bulgaria

18.7.2015 19:32 Deutsche Presse-Agentur reports that yesterday the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg ruled that the decision by the Bulgarian division of the Czech power company ČEZ to install electricity meters in the predominantly Romani-occupied quarter of the town of Dupnica at a greater height than in other parts of town constitutes discrimination. ČEZ spokesperson Barbora Půlpánová, however, told the Czech News Agency that the meters were installed prior to ČEZ entering the Bulgarian market.  full story

Commentary: A hijacked ceremony and the moral power of the Mothers of Srebrenica

16.7.2015 19:24 When Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić set out last Saturday for the ceremony commemorating the 20th anniversary of the genocide near the eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica, he probably did not expect to be received with applause, but he probably did not suspect he would have to quickly leave the memorial to the victims at the former UN base in Srebrenica-Potočari in a stampede under a hail of curses, plastic bottles and rocks. On a day that was supposed to honor the memory of the more than 8 000 ethnic Muslims massacred by Bosnian Serbian military units in July 1995 near Srebrenic the victims instead became yet again a target of hypocritical political games at truth and reconciliation.  full story

Germany: Arsonists set another refugee facility on fire, shooting also reported

16.7.2015 18:09 Deutsche Presse-Agentur reports that unidentified arsonists in Germany have set yet another building on fire that had been prepared to accommodate refugees. Last night arsonists attacked the still-empty complex in the Bavarian town of Reichertshofen.
 full story

Slovakia: Romani pharmacy student attacked, her father claims it was racism

16.7.2015 16:00 An unidentified assailant used a wooden stick to attack Tereza Berkyová, a young Romani woman who is a gifted violinist and pharmacy student, after she performed with a folklore ensemble at a festival last weekend in the town of Detva. Her father told the Slovak TV station Markíza that he believes the attack was racially motivated.  full story

Slovak ombud says police raid on Roma settlement was unnecessary

15.7.2015 0:29 The SITA agency reports that the Slovak Public Defender of Rights (the ombud), Jana Dubovcová, says the police raid on the village of Vrbnica in Slovakia this past April was not necessary and should never have happened. She has completed her investigation of the intervention.  full story