Romania

Pope Francis apologizes to Romani people, asks forgiveness for discrimination, mistreatment and segregation

3.6.2019 13:10  full story

Romania loses at the European Court of Human Rights, must compensate Roma family for police brutality

28.4.2019 14:30  full story

Romania: 900 protest recent violence against Roma in Italy and Ukraine, more demonstrations in other European countries to follow

29.7.2018 13:34 As many as 900 people assembled on Saturday, 28 July 2018 in Bucharest, Romani in front of the Italian and Ukrainian embassies to express their disagreement with many violent anti-Romani crimes and to protest antigypsyism in Europe. The assemblies were the first in a series of protests that are being realized in nine European countries.  full story

Feminist Roma theater company celebrates the abolition of Roma slavery in Romania

5.3.2018 11:34 February 20th marks the liberation of the Roma population from slavery in Romania. For 500 years, most of the Roma in Romania were enslaved by Orthodox Monasteries and the boyars, who were the Romanian aristocracy. In commemoration of this event the feminist Roma theater company, Giuvlipen, presented Cine a omorât-o pe Szomna Grancsa? (Who killed Szomna Grancsa?) on February 23rd in Bucharest as a reminder that racism against the Romani people continues to persist.  full story

Romania: Romani Actresses Shine a Spotlight on Feminism

20.7.2017 23:50 Giuvlipen Theatre Company is a Roma feminist theatre company based in Bucharest, Romania. The company was established in 2014 by several professional Romani actresses in Bucharest.  full story

Slovakia: Romani women protest discrimination in maternity hospital with a petition

6.5.2017 19:28 In Prešov, Slovakia, Romani mothers are grappling with being discriminated against by health care staff in the obstetrics and gynecological department of a particular hospital. Romani women do not receive the same health care as Slovak women, are separated from other expectant mothers in the ward, are insulted by staff and other patients, and are not informed enough about the state of their health and the procedures of the hospital facility.  full story

Romania: Ethnic Hungarian mob commits arson against Romani children accused of stealing

18.4.2017 7:14 The European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) reports that on the last Friday in March an arson attack was committed in the small town of Gheorgheni, Romania against a Romani-occupied home. Agricultural storage buildings, an annex to the home, the home itself and other outbuildings were burned to the ground.  full story

European Roma and Travellers Forum condemns offer made by self-appointed "king" to US President

13.2.2017 19:44 The European Roma and Travellers Forum (ERTF) has indicated its dismay and outrage over the letter sent recently by Dorin Cioabă of Romania to US President Donald Trump suggesting that Romani people in particular should build a proposed wall between Mexico and the USA. The ERTF condemns ideas that foster segregation and discrimination in any form.  full story

International Romani Union says offer to help Trump came from Rom facing traditional community justice procedure in Romania

8.2.2017 8:35 Dorin Cioabă, the self-declared "King of all Roma", has sent a letter to US President Donald Trump promising to aid him with building the controversial wall on the border between Mexico and the USA. This news, which in the Czech Republic would usually only be fit for the tabloid media, was instead reported here by public broadcaster Czech Radio.  full story

Austria: Arson attacks against Romani families from Romania

11.3.2016 20:38 Unidentified perpetrators set fire to the tents of Romani families from Romania in the Upper Austrian city of Linz at the beginning of March. Fortunately, no one was injured in that incident.  full story

Romanian film "Aferim!", set during era of Roma slavery, discusses various forms of honor

11.10.2015 0:27 A gendarme and his sidekick, a father and son looking for a runaway Gypsy slave, ride through the breathtaking landscape of Wallachia. On the way they encounter various characters almost always representing some sort of social type, whether a psychopathic Orthodox priest, a band of local mercenaries, Gypsy serfs and their only slightly more well-off masters from the impoverished peasant class, or drunkards and whores at a traveller's tavern.  full story

Central European artists and politicians call for solidarity with migrants

18.9.2015 20:51 Agence France-Presse (AFP) and the Associated Press (AP) report that Czech film director Jiří Menzel and former Czech Prime Minister Petr Pithart are among hundreds of artists and politicians from Central Europe who have called on the citizens and representatives of their countries to demonstrate solidarity with asylum-seekers. The AFP reports that Central European citizens frequently are antagonistic and sometimes hostile towards migrants coming to Europe.  full story

Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005-2015 holds its closing meeting in Sarajevo

11.9.2015 2:49 On 10 and 11 September the 28th and final International Steering Committee Meeting of the Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005-2015 is being held in Sarajevo. The meeting is being attended by the national coordinators of the countries involved as well as many collaborating individuals and institutional partners and aims to draw attention to the lessons learned and successes achieved during the past decade.  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

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

New York Times editorial says France is failing immigrants, including Roma

21.6.2015 1:23 An editorial in the New York Times published online on 17 June says that France has failed to come up with a "humane" plan for handling immigrants from Africa and the Middle East as well as Romani people from Bulgaria and Romania. While highlighting that the main victims of this failure are migrants, the paper warns that "another casualty may be a sense of unity in the European Union."  full story

Irish man acquitted of Romani girl's 2008 murder, case unresolved

Ireland, 3.11.2014 18:51, (ROMEA) Irish media have reported that Alan Wilson, a Dublin resident charged with murdering Mariora Rostas, a Romani 18-year-old, in 2008, was found not guilty by a unanimous jury verdict this summer. Wilson's defense attorneys told the jury they were being asked to rely on the evidence of an unreliable witness who had benefited from immunity from prosecution for his own involvement in the matter.  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

Romania: Yet another vulnerable Roma community evicted in the capital

Bucharest, Romania, 26.9.2014 21:41, (ROMEA) On 15 September 2014, over 100 Roma women, men, and children were evicted from their homes on Vulturilor Street in Bucharest. Demolition of the buildings began that same day.  full story

Czech documentary by Roma about Roma celebrates success at French Institute

Prague, 22.5.2014 2:33, (ROMEA) On Monday 12 May about 100 people gathered in the cinema at the French Institute in Prague for the premiere of three documentary films created as part of a project called Europe: A Roma Homeland, which will result in a five-part feature length film called "Our Dream". One of the films screened was a Czech documentary called "Because There Is Hope" (Protože je naděje), which tells the story of Jožka Miker, an activist with the Konexe organization, and a group of Romani youth from Krupka whom he took under his wing.  full story