The 8th of April marked International Roma Day.
The Roma remain among the poorest, unhealthiest, least educated and most marginalised European citizens. The data are devastating: Across Central and Southeast Europe, 90 percent of Roma live in poverty. Fewer than one third of adults have paid employment. Only 15 percent of young Roma have completed secondary or vocational school. Nearly 45 percent of Roma live in housing that lacks basic amenities. Life expectancy in Roma communities is 10-15 years less than in non-Roma communities, with many Roma lacking access to insurance and health care.
In early April, the European Commission convened a "Roma Summit" and issued a report assessing how member states are doing in addressing the interconnected problems of poverty and discrimination which the Roma are facing. The report noted "the persistence of segregation" in education, a large and in some cases widening employment gap between Roma and non-Roma, big differences between Roma and non-Roma in health insurance coverage, and an "absence of progress" in addressing the need for housing. Finally, the report noted that discrimination remains "widespread".
In Italy and France, illegal evictions of Roma and destruction of their homes and property is a matter of state policy and practice. In September, 2013, then French Interior Minister (now Prime Minister) Manuel Valls stated the goal of such policies succinctly: "The majority [of Roma] should be delivered back to the borders. We are not here to welcome these people."
In France, over 21,000 evictions were recorded by the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) in 2013. This number is remarkable, considering how few Roma have actually migrated to France: An estimated 20,000 Roma migrants in a country of 65.5 million people. (The number of evictions is higher than the estimate because some Roma were subject to multiple evictions.)
In Italy, the ERRC recorded 14 separate forced evictions in Milan alone in 2013; the true number no doubt is higher. In March, a spate of evictions took place there without the legally required written notice or chance to challenge an eviction decision in court. As a result, hundreds of Roma have been left homeless, chased from place to place. Some have been housed, and become ill, in temporary shelters. Many children are among the homeless. They have to stop attending school, often because they are too sick, embarrassed or exhausted to make it to class.
In Sweden, news emerged in 2013 of a police database of 4741 "travellers", most of them Roma or persons linked to Roma, ostensibly compiled as a crime prevention practice but a government commission found the database to be illegal.
Despite these depredations, some Roma still see life in France, Italy, Sweden or other countries in Western or Northern Europe as preferable to their lives in their countries of origin, where they face rampant discrimination, frequent violence and a hostile majority population.
In Hungary, an extremist party that just won 21 percent of the votes in recent parliamentary elections makes the fight against "Gypsy criminality" a keystone of its political platform. With European elections just around the corner, an influx of anti-EU and extremist politicians into the European Parliament is predicted by many pollsters.
In Slovakia, the intentional murder of three Roma by an off-duty police officer in 2012 was not investigated as a hate crime; the defendant received a sentence of nine years in prison when the normal sentence for such an offense is 25 years.
In Serbia, Macedonia and the Czech Republic, Roma children continue to be segregated in schools for children with disabilities, six years after the practice was declared illegal by the European Court of Human Rights. Interestingly, Roma children considered by the Czech state to be disabled did just fine in mainstream schools after they emigrated to the UK, despite the fact that they had to learn a completely new language.
In Romania, more than 1,500 Roma are consigned to living at the edge of a garbage dump in Pata Rat that the EU has made clear does not comply with international safety regulations. Some of these families were moved there by the Cluj municipality after forcibly evicting them from their homes in the city centre with no notice on a cold winter's day.
Most of us have heard the word anti-semitism, anti-ziganism refers to hostility, prejudice, discrimination or racism directed at the Romani people. Look the term up in Wikipedia for a bit of Romani history and a summary of the discrimination against them.
From Al Jazeera
Meanwhile, concern about another minority grows in another part of the world. The United Nations’ human rights envoy to the country, Tomas Ojea Quintana, says that persecution of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar could amount to crimes against humanity and also urged authorities in Myanmar to allow the return of aid groups which were forced to flee due to attacks against them in the western state of Rakhine.
Recent developments in Rakhine State are the latest in a long history of discrimination and persecution against the Rohingya community which could amount to crimes against humanity,” he said in a statement.
Aid groups’ departure could have severe consequences for displaced Muslims who are reliant on international medical relief. He added that water shortages could reach critical levels within a week in some refugee camps.
The Muslims have been sheltering in camps to avoid deadly attacks by extremist Buddhists. Some 140,000 Rohingya Muslims are living in camps as a result of the sectarian conflict since 2012. Another 700,000 Rohingya Muslims are in dire conditions in isolated villages. More than 800,000 Rohingyas in Rakhine are deprived of citizenship rights due to the policy of discrimination that has denied them the right of citizenship and made them vulnerable to acts of violence and persecution, expulsion, and displacement. Hundreds of Rohingyas are believed to have been killed.
The Roma remain among the poorest, unhealthiest, least educated and most marginalised European citizens. The data are devastating: Across Central and Southeast Europe, 90 percent of Roma live in poverty. Fewer than one third of adults have paid employment. Only 15 percent of young Roma have completed secondary or vocational school. Nearly 45 percent of Roma live in housing that lacks basic amenities. Life expectancy in Roma communities is 10-15 years less than in non-Roma communities, with many Roma lacking access to insurance and health care.
In early April, the European Commission convened a "Roma Summit" and issued a report assessing how member states are doing in addressing the interconnected problems of poverty and discrimination which the Roma are facing. The report noted "the persistence of segregation" in education, a large and in some cases widening employment gap between Roma and non-Roma, big differences between Roma and non-Roma in health insurance coverage, and an "absence of progress" in addressing the need for housing. Finally, the report noted that discrimination remains "widespread".
In Italy and France, illegal evictions of Roma and destruction of their homes and property is a matter of state policy and practice. In September, 2013, then French Interior Minister (now Prime Minister) Manuel Valls stated the goal of such policies succinctly: "The majority [of Roma] should be delivered back to the borders. We are not here to welcome these people."
In France, over 21,000 evictions were recorded by the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) in 2013. This number is remarkable, considering how few Roma have actually migrated to France: An estimated 20,000 Roma migrants in a country of 65.5 million people. (The number of evictions is higher than the estimate because some Roma were subject to multiple evictions.)
In Italy, the ERRC recorded 14 separate forced evictions in Milan alone in 2013; the true number no doubt is higher. In March, a spate of evictions took place there without the legally required written notice or chance to challenge an eviction decision in court. As a result, hundreds of Roma have been left homeless, chased from place to place. Some have been housed, and become ill, in temporary shelters. Many children are among the homeless. They have to stop attending school, often because they are too sick, embarrassed or exhausted to make it to class.
In Sweden, news emerged in 2013 of a police database of 4741 "travellers", most of them Roma or persons linked to Roma, ostensibly compiled as a crime prevention practice but a government commission found the database to be illegal.
Despite these depredations, some Roma still see life in France, Italy, Sweden or other countries in Western or Northern Europe as preferable to their lives in their countries of origin, where they face rampant discrimination, frequent violence and a hostile majority population.
In Hungary, an extremist party that just won 21 percent of the votes in recent parliamentary elections makes the fight against "Gypsy criminality" a keystone of its political platform. With European elections just around the corner, an influx of anti-EU and extremist politicians into the European Parliament is predicted by many pollsters.
In Slovakia, the intentional murder of three Roma by an off-duty police officer in 2012 was not investigated as a hate crime; the defendant received a sentence of nine years in prison when the normal sentence for such an offense is 25 years.
In Serbia, Macedonia and the Czech Republic, Roma children continue to be segregated in schools for children with disabilities, six years after the practice was declared illegal by the European Court of Human Rights. Interestingly, Roma children considered by the Czech state to be disabled did just fine in mainstream schools after they emigrated to the UK, despite the fact that they had to learn a completely new language.
In Romania, more than 1,500 Roma are consigned to living at the edge of a garbage dump in Pata Rat that the EU has made clear does not comply with international safety regulations. Some of these families were moved there by the Cluj municipality after forcibly evicting them from their homes in the city centre with no notice on a cold winter's day.
Most of us have heard the word anti-semitism, anti-ziganism refers to hostility, prejudice, discrimination or racism directed at the Romani people. Look the term up in Wikipedia for a bit of Romani history and a summary of the discrimination against them.
From Al Jazeera
Meanwhile, concern about another minority grows in another part of the world. The United Nations’ human rights envoy to the country, Tomas Ojea Quintana, says that persecution of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar could amount to crimes against humanity and also urged authorities in Myanmar to allow the return of aid groups which were forced to flee due to attacks against them in the western state of Rakhine.
Recent developments in Rakhine State are the latest in a long history of discrimination and persecution against the Rohingya community which could amount to crimes against humanity,” he said in a statement.
Aid groups’ departure could have severe consequences for displaced Muslims who are reliant on international medical relief. He added that water shortages could reach critical levels within a week in some refugee camps.
The Muslims have been sheltering in camps to avoid deadly attacks by extremist Buddhists. Some 140,000 Rohingya Muslims are living in camps as a result of the sectarian conflict since 2012. Another 700,000 Rohingya Muslims are in dire conditions in isolated villages. More than 800,000 Rohingyas in Rakhine are deprived of citizenship rights due to the policy of discrimination that has denied them the right of citizenship and made them vulnerable to acts of violence and persecution, expulsion, and displacement. Hundreds of Rohingyas are believed to have been killed.
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