World

MEP and OSCE/ODIHR call for evictions of Roma to end in Bulgaria

14.7.2015 19:01 Michael Georg Link, Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), called on Bulgarian authorities yesterday to immediately address inter-ethnic tension and halt evictions in Roma communities. On 29 June, Romani families were forcefully evicted from their homes in the municipality of Garmen.  full story

Bulgaria: European Court of Human Rights says Gov't must stop house demolition in Garmen

12.7.2015 21:45 The Equal Opportunities Inititative Association (EOIA) in Bulgaria reports that on 10 July the European Court of Human Rights issued "urgent interim measures" over the house demolitions planned for tomorrow in the town of Garmen. Under Rule 39 of the Rules of the Court, the measures urge the Bulgarian government to “stop the demolitions, until alternative housing is secured for the vulnerable claimants”.  full story

Portugal releases its first national Roma survey

11.7.2015 0:39 News server theportugalnews.com reports that the first-ever national study of the Roma in Portugal was published at the end of June. Its findings include the information that Portuguese Roma have little formal education, marry young, and mainly work in fairs.  full story

Poland: Roma Caravan commemorates Holocaust

10.7.2015 22:05 The unmarked graves of hundreds of Romani people murdered during WWII are scattered throughout Poland, according to Adam Bartosz, curator of the Regional Museum in Tarnów. One mass grave of Romani victims in Szczurowa village (Małopolska province) is probably the largest, containing 93 people, as almost the entire Romani settlement was killed and buried there.  full story

Pope Francis asks forgiveness for crimes against indigenous people and criticizes "new colonialism"

10.7.2015 18:30 "I humbly ask forgiveness, not just for the sins of the Church itself, but also for crimes committed committed against the indigenous inhabitants during the so-called settling of America," Pope Francis told an applauding crowd during a world meeting of movements representing impoverished people in the Bolivian town of Santa Cruz. The Pope acknowledged that "in the name of God", serious sins had been perpetrated against indigenous people.  full story

EU-28 ministers have not yet reached full agreement on refugee redistribution

10.7.2015 16:19 Interior Ministers of the Member States of the European Union were unable to fully reach agreement yesterday on how they will redistribute 40 000 asylum seekers currently in Greece and Italy throughout the EU over the next two years. Jean Asselborn, the Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of Luxembourg, which currently presides over the EU, is convinced that agreement will be reached at the next meeting on 20 July.  full story

Roma in Denmark, Norway and Sweden not being "run" by organized crime

9.7.2015 22:06 News server west-info.eu, which reports on European welfare policies, say a new report from Fafo, a Scandinavian social research foundation, has found no evidence that Romani people in Denmark, Norway and Sweden are being managed by organized crime. The report contradicts claims that Romani people are being trafficked into those countries.  full story

Hungary adopts law allowing construction of fence against immigrants

9.7.2015 19:53 Reuters reports that the Hungarian Parliament adopted a law on 6 July tightening conditions for granting asylum and allowing the construction of a fence on the border with Serbia to halt the influx of immigrants entering the country illegally. The new law shortens the time for evaluating asylum requests and facilitates the rejection of applications from immigrants who have passed through a so-called "safe country" where they were not in serious danger while fleeing, for example, Afghanistan, Iraq or Syria.  full story

ERRC publishes Roma Rights issue honoring the late Nicolae Gheorghe

9.7.2015 16:39 The current issue of Roma Rights, the journal of the European Roma Rights Centre, is dedicated to the life and work of the late Nicolae Gheorghe. Guest editor Nicoleta Bitu compiled the issue.  full story

Croatia: 500 stateless persons are mostly Roma

9.7.2015 4:12 News server dalje.com reports that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates there are approximately 500 stateless persons in Croatia and twice as many at risk of statelessness. They have no citizenship or personal identification and are therefore unable to exercise their rights, find jobs, get married or apply for health insurance.  full story

Canada accused of racially profiling Roma travellers from Hungary at European airport

9.7.2015 0:28 In an echo of the approach taken by the UK toward Romani air passengers from the Czech Republic in 2001, Romani citizens of Hungary say Canadian border officials are stopping them in Europe from boarding flights to Canada, according to thestar.com. Romani author Eva Kalla (age 60), a citizen of Hungary, was stopped at the airport in Vienna and referred to a Canadian border official who refused to let her fly to Toronto - even though EU citizens need no visas to do so.  full story

Bulgarian NGO to sue over ongoing forced demolition of Romani homes in Garmen

8.7.2015 20:49 News server novinite.com reports that the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee (BHC) has issued a press release stating its objections to the ongoing forced demolition of buildings in the "Kremikovtsi" Romani quarter of the village of Garmen. The 29 June demolition rendered four families with a total of 15 children homeless and more demolitions are scheduled for 13 July, according to the Amalipe Center for Interethnic Dialogue and Tolerance, which also reports that 124 of the quarter's 134 houses are slated for demolition.  full story

Council of Europe issues report on Roma in preschool in the Czech Republic

7.7.2015 23:21 The Council of Europe's Ad Hoc Committee of Experts on Roma Issues (CAHROM) has just issued a report on its November 2014 visit to the Czech Republic. The visit included experts from Hungary, Latvia, Poland and “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”, who have authored the report.  full story

European Roma and Travellers Forum: Anti-Gypsyism afoot in Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy and elsewhere

7.7.2015 20:52 The European Roma and Travellers Forum has issued the following press release:  full story

Roma instructor at Harvard calls for an end to injustice

6.7.2015 18:17 Recent European Roma integration policies have failed, and we need to find out why, according to Margareta Matache, Roma rights activist and instructor at Harvard University, speaking at Central European University’s Roma Graduate Preparation Program End-of-Year Student Seminar on June 15.  full story

Bulgaria: Switzerland investing in Roma integration there

5.7.2015 22:13 Focus-fen.net reported on 23 June that the Bulgarian Minister of Labor and Social Policy signed agreements with the municipalities of Burgas, Ruse and Sliven and Swiss Ambassador Denis Knobel on financing social inclusion of Roma, according to the ministry. The Bulgarian-Swiss Cooperation Program is to be jointly implemented by the Bulgarian Ministry of Education and Science, Ministry of Health and Minister of Labor and Social Policy.  full story

Macedonia: Local council votes to dislocate Roma from settlement

27.6.2015 2:24 The website utrinski.mk reported on 12 June that the Kavadarci local council has voted to provide container housing to the inhabitants of a Romani settlement who have permanent residency in the town while requiring the rest to "return to their place of origin". The settlement, called the "Teneke maalo", is said to have been inhabited illegally.  full story

USA criticizes Czech Republic, Slovakia over Roma in human rights report

26.6.2015 0:14 The Czech Republic continues to discriminate against the Romani minority in many areas, and political representatives of the country have been contributing to this recently to an increasing degree. Those are the results of the report published today by the U.S. State Department evaluating the approach toward human rights that has been taken by various countries during 2014.  full story

UN Special Rapporteur on minority issues: The so-called “Roma issue” is not merely a poverty question

25.6.2015 20:23 All Independent Experts of the UN are required by the Human Rights Council (HRC) to present annual reports on their work during one of the HRC's regular sessions in Geneva. Based on an HRC resolution adopted in 2014, the Special Rapporteur on minority issues, Dr Rita Izsák, was invited to present an additional study on the human rights situation of Roma worldwide, with a particular focus on the phenomenon of anti-Gypsyism.  full story

European Roma Grassroots Organizations Network calls on EU to fund Romani "watchdog" groups

25.6.2015 17:49 In an open letter to EU officials, the ERGO Network has welcomed the European Commission's annual communication on Roma Integration and is calling for a "targeted funding strand" for Roma NGOs engaged in "watchdog" work. ERGO thanked the officials for acknowledging the need to combat anti-Gypsyism.  full story