intolerance

Hungary: Radicals protest "Romani crime", Romani people and their allies stand up to them

23.5.2019 16:28  full story

Romani NGOs around Europe ask why the OSCE is researching alleged radicalization of their communities in Serbia

18.7.2018 15:16 Representatives of Romani organizations from around Europe have contacted the head of the OSCE's mission to Serbia to express their alarm over the 10 July 2018 announcement of a search for a “Researcher on Radicalization among the Roma Community in Serbia”. The Romani representatives say they are deeply concerned about the growing insecurity of Roma in Europe as a result of extremist antigypsyism in a number of OSCE participating States.


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BBC Three Documentary Exposes Human Rights Abuses In Hungary’s State-Care Homes

21.4.2018 10:40 In a new special on BBC Three, Stacey Dooley investigates the Roma situation in Hungary, exposing the abuse committed by state-run care homes into which Romani children are being placed. The state repeatedly removes Romani children from their homes because their families are too poor to care for them.

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Czech MEP responds to antigypsyism at the European Parliament: Roma are underrepresented and positive examples should be highlighted

18.4.2017 8:28 According to a Member of the European Parliament (EP) from the Czech Republic, Tomáš Zdechovský, the commemoration of International Romani Day is very necessary. The
MEP made his remarks during a debate about International Romani Day that took place at the EP on Thursday, 6 April 2017.  full story

Roma in Jihlava, Czech Republic prevented from renting space for International Romani Day, celebrations proceeding anyway

7.4.2017 12:37 This year's celebrations of International Romani Day (8 April) are taking place in Brno, Chomutov, České Budějovice, Jihlava, Nový Jičín, Ostrava, and Prague. The main theme of these celebrations is coexistence and collaboration between non-Roma and Roma.
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Czech Television reports hundreds of Romani people to become homeless in the New Year

15.11.2016 8:39 Hundreds of impoverished people in Brno, the second-largest city in the Czech Republic, may end up homeless after 1 January 2017. The Dolfin Real Estate company is selling as many as eight apartment buildings in the neighborhood around Cejl Street where dozens of mainly Romani families with small children currently live.  full story

Slovak President: Politicians should not play with fire and go as far as populism

18.10.2016 21:29 Yesterday Slovak President Andrej Kiska gave a speech opening the Forum 2000 conference at which he said politicians should be aware of their responsibilities at this complex time. They should not play with fire or use words to spark emotions among people that might have far-reaching consequences, he said.  full story

Anti-immigrant Czech MP's opinions publicly criticized by his own brothers

27.7.2016 19:38 The opinions of Czech MP Tomio Okamura have been publicly rejected by members of his family in the media recently. First his brother Osama Okamura and now his brother Hayato, a theologian, have made public statements against Tomio's opinions through interviews with news server iDNES.cz.  full story

British educator, ashamed of his country's vote on remaining in EU, calls for referendum on exit terms

26.6.2016 10:13 Mark Penfold, an educator and founding member of the Roma Education Support Trust, has written the following letter in response to the results of the referendum on Brexit. News server Romea.cz republishes it here in full.  full story

Czech Republic: International Romani Day marred by conflict at Prague restaurant

9.4.2016 7:50 The third annual celebration of International Romani Day in the Černý Most area of Prague, intended to support intercultural coexistence, was marred by an unpleasant incident yesterday. Josef Baláž, a co-organizer of the event, alleges that a waiter employed at the restaurant visited by concert-goers after the performance told him and the restaurant owner that he and his colleagues would not serve Romani customers.  full story

Hungarian Justice Minister says Europe's Roma could "join the terrorists"

23.10.2015 9:06 The EU Observer reported on 20 October that Hungarian Justice Minister László Trócsányi told a conference on “criminal justice in response to radicalization” in Brussels that Europe's 12 million Romani people "could be a target of radicalizatoin" and there is a risk they will travel to Syria as foreign fighters to join the jihadists or other radical groups. When asked why Romani people, most of whom are Roma Catholic, would choose to fight alongside jihadists in the Syrian war, a spokesperson for the Hungarian Government told euobserver.com that the Roma are "deprived people and they are usually more exposed to radical views.”  full story

Anti-immigrant arson, violence mark 80th anniversary of Nazi race laws, German civil society and leaders respond

6.10.2015 8:09 The month of September saw more arson attacks on prospective asylum-seeker facilities in western Germany. A former school in Gersheim meant to shelter several dozen people was intentionally set ablaze on 10 September, according to the Saarland State Police Presidium.  full story

Hungary: Roma forcibly displaced in Miskolc as Budapest markets Roma neighborhood to tourists

19.8.2015 18:14 The news server www.neweasterneurope.eu reports that members of the Romani community in Hungary are still being evicted in the eastern city of Miskolc despite international pressure and a Supreme Court ruling against the process. The news server likened the local authorities' policy to "ethnic cleansing" and said it sets a dangerous precedent.  full story

Gallup poll shows Roma isolation from Bulgarian society has intensified over the last 20 years

2.8.2015 20:58 Radio Bulgaria reports that as the Decade of Roma Inclusion comes to a close, Roma are still permanently excluded from Bulgarian society, according to a representative Gallup International poll. Researcher Dimitar Ganev said the poll was conducted in response to inter-ethnic tensions in May and June of this year.  full story

Czech town's chamber of commerce wants to deploy the Army against Roma

22.6.2015 19:57 The District Chamber of Commerce (Okresní hospodářská komora - OHK) in the Czech town of Ústí nad Labem has published an "Open Call to Local Politicians and Citizens" that reads as follows: "In Ústí nad Labem and other towns we are threatened by a demographic catastrophe that may already be unavoidable. We must have the courage to describe this problem and propose solutions."  full story

Hungary faces harsh criticism for anti-democratic developments, including anti-Gypsyism and anti-Semitism

16.6.2015 0:09 On 9 June the Council of Europe’s expert group on racism and intolerance (ECRI) called for action to fight prejudice in Hungary as it released a report condemning the country. The report finds that “a radical right-wing populist party openly engages in anti-Roma, antisemitic, homophobic and xenophobic hate speech”.  full story

German minister says arsonists of refugee facilities are "cowardly and repulsive"

6.4.2015 19:11 A fire was intentionally set in the eastern German municipality of Tröglitz in the early morning hours of 4 April at a planned residential hotel facility for refugees. No one was physically injured.  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

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

Germany: Jewish community calls for more progress against anti-Semitism

Berlin, 16.9.2014 15:57, (ROMEA) The Central Council of Jews in Germany has called on police to more thoroughly combat manifestations of anti-Semitism online. Speaking in an interview for the Bavarian newspaper Passauer Neue Presse, Dieter Graumann, the head of the Jewish organization, said many authors of anti-Semitic content use their real names online.  full story