World

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

Denmark marks 25th anniversary of becoming the first country to permit registered partnerships

Copenhagen/Prague, 29.9.2014 21:48, (ROMEA) Laws legalizing same-sex marriages are being commonly introduced today and famous figures are openly revealing their same-sex orientation. Liberal societies have grown accustomed to seeing the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community as a minority whose rights must be defended.  full story

Sweden: Neo-Nazis double their gains compared to last election

Stockholm, 21.9.2014 19:59, (ROMEA) Parliamentary elections were held in Sweden recently and their outcome is evidently the end to the eight-year-long government by the center-right coalition led by Prime Mnister Fredrik Reinfeldt. Almost one-third of the votes were won by the opposition Swedish Social Democratic Party.  full story

Ukrainian soldiers wearing helmets with Nazi symbols

Ukraine, 20.9.2014 17:36, (ROMEA) The German television station ZDF has broadcast footage showing members of the Ukrainian Army with Nazi symbols on their helmets such as a swastika and the symbol of Hitler's special SS units. News server Echo24.cz cited NBC News as reporting that ZDF broadcast the footage as part of its reporting on the situation in Ukraine earlier this month.  full story

Slovakia: International conference on the Romani issue

Bratislava, Slovakia, 18.9.2014 19:49, (ROMEA) Roughly 130 experts from several continents have come to Bratislava to discuss the Romani issue. Those invited include guests from Argentina, Brazil and the USA.  full story

Norway: Terrorist Breivik establishing Fascist Party, wants to run for Parliament

Oslo, 8.9.2014 19:04, (ROMEA) Imprisoned Norwegian terrorist Anders Behring Breivik, who killed 77 people in 2011 in attacks in Oslo and on the island of Utöya, is trying to create an ultra-right Fascist political party in Norway and to become an MP. He is charging the authorities with intentionally preventing him from doing so and is threatening to sue.  full story

French citizen charged with murders at Jewish Museum committed torture in Syria

Paris, 8.9.2014 17:33, (ROMEA) The French citizen charged with murdering four people at the Jewish Museum in Brussels this May tortured people captured by Islamists in Syria. French journalist Nicolas Henin, who was one of those hostages released in April of this year, has made the claim in the magazine Le Point.  full story

Ostalinda Maya Ovalle: The Myth of the Spanish Model of Roma Inclusion

Madrid, 29.8.2014 10:42, (ROMEA) “Things are different in Spain.” This is a common refrain when discussing Roma integration in Europe. Spain is held up as a model, and not just by media or government officials. Even some Roma activists point to programs in the country as a way forward. But this rosy picture ignores the historical and economic environment, as well as the vital role of Romani families. As Spain’s economic crisis and its effects take root, it’s time to break this myth.  full story

UN: Pro-Russian separatists, Ukrainian forces violating human rights

Geneva, 27.8.2014 15:35, (ROMEA) Reuters reports that both pro-Russian rebels and Ukrainian Government forces are violating human rights during the current conflict in eastern Ukraine. According to a UN report, kidnapping, murder and torture are taking place there.  full story

Norway: Thousands of young Muslims protest Islamist terrorists from ISIS

Oslo, 26.8.2014 13:46, (ROMEA) Yesterday young Muslims in the Norwegian capital Oslo held a meeting with representatives of other religions to express their opposition to religious extremists and the crimes committed by the radical Islamist terrorist organization ISIS in Iraq and Syria. News server The Nordic Page reports that thousands of people attended the assembly on Grønland Square.  full story

Britain planning stricter measures against Islamist radicals

London, 25.8.2014 15:58, (ROMEA) Great Britain is planning harsher laws against British Islamist radicals. Home Secretary Theresa May has announced the plans through the British media.  full story

Ian Hancock: 500 000 Romani Holocaust victims? There could have been twice that.

Prague, 22.8.2014 17:38, (ROMEA) The repeated number of 500 000 Romani deaths in the Porrajmos is becoming the conventional, accepted total. But we do not know this for a fact. The documentation has not been completely located nor analyzed. We must guard against this figure becoming the accepted total, appearing in the (small number of) books that even acknowledge the genocide of our people. Is it a move to diminish the extent of the mass murder, the samudaripen, in the eyes of the world? If this low estimate can be shown to be true, this is surely a cause for gladness. But the number, in reality, was in fact much higher.  full story

Allison Brown: Understanding Ferguson

New York, 20.8.2014 15:10, (ROMEA) The fire in Ferguson, Missouri continues to burn. More than a week after an unarmed black teenager was fatally shot in the street by a white police officer, the situation in the suburban St. Louis community remains tense. Attempts to mourn the passing of Michael Brown and protest his death have been complicated by looters and the presence of a militarized police force, outfitted with tear gas and rubber bullets. Local law enforcement has been supplanted by state troopers; early Monday morning, Gov. Jay Nixon called in the Missouri National Guard, even as the Justice Department and the FBI moved in to further investigate the shooting. By day’s end, President Obama had weighed in, and dispatched Attorney General Eric Holder to the scene.  full story

Markus Pape: What brings Europe's Roma together

Auschwitz/Prague, 18.8.2014 19:54, (ROMEA) The annual assemblies of Romani people that are Europe-wide in scope can be counted on the fingers of one hand. One such gathering is for the commemoration of the largest single massacre of Romani people during the Nazi era.  full story

Ukraine: Neo-Nazis from Right Sector threaten armed march on Kiev

Kiev, 18.8.2014 16:17, (ROMEA) A sharp conflict has broken out between the leadership of the Ukrainian Interior Ministry and the commander of the neo-Nazi group Right Sector, Dmytro Yarosh. The Ukrainian press reports that Yarosh has accused Interior Minister Arsen Avakov of "counter-revolution" and has threatened an armed march on Kiev.  full story

Interview with Romani American William Bila about the Roma Holocaust

Kraków, Poland, 17.8.2014 20:11, (ROMEA) Slovak news server SME.sk published an interview on 12 August with William Bila, a Romani man living in New York whose parents fled Slovakia after Warsaw Pact troops invaded Czechoslovakia in 1968. Bila (45) studied management and has worked for auditing companies.  full story