Romani people

Czech Republic: KHAMORO World Roma Festival features discussion on Romani literature, presentation of RomArchive

31.5.2017 9:20 The KHAMORO World Roma Festival, which began Sunday night with a concert on Shooter's Island (Střeleckém ostrový), has continued with a series of side events in Prague. Yesterday the Václav Havel Library in Prague presented a discussion seminar as part of the festival's "Gavoro" ("Village") cycle on "Romani Characters in (Non)Romani Literature", featuring the authors Ilona Ferková, Jana Hejkrlíková, Kateřina Sidonová and Jáchym Topol, who is also a journalist.  full story

Slovak Police President defends intervention against Roma, says batons were brandished but nobody was struck

29.5.2017 10:19 The President of the Police Corps of the Slovak Republic, Tibor Gašpar, gave a press conference on 25 May about the recent police intervention in Zborov and, contradicting his first statements about the video of the incident, said the only behavior he now assessed as disproportionate was when an officer pushed an older woman who then fell to the ground. The Police President said he believed the officers had had no choice but to behave as they did and that they used their batons just to threaten people, not to actually strike them.  full story

Slovak Interior Minister, Police President agree filmed intervention against Romani residents must be investigated

29.5.2017 8:42 Speaking on 25 May, Slovak Interior Minister Robert Kaliňák said he did not yet want to assess the intervention undertaken by police officers in Zborov recently during which they were filmed assaulting young children. The minister explained that there is no video footage available capturing the conflict among the Romani people there prior to the police arriving at the scene because officers forced some eyewitnesses to their intervention to erase the video footage from their mobile phones. The Interior Minister said he considers the only correct step to be for the Police Inspectorate to investigate the incident, which Slovak Police President Tibor Gašpar said would begin immediately. "I have no opinion because half of the video is missing," the Interior Minister told the Slovak press.  full story

Stano Daniel: Will a renovated nursery school have to close in Romania? Support for Romani child development is crucial

29.5.2017 7:22 The creation of the Ready Set Go! project in Romania has supported over a thousand young Romani children and their families. However, as the funding is ending, the future of the project is in doubt. On the occasion of the International Roma Day on April 8, 2017, the Romani Early Years Network (REYN), the European Public Health Alliance (EPHA) organized a roundtable discussion in Brussels to discuss the future of similar projects. The event hosted by the European Foundation Centre’s (EFC) Forum for Roma Inclusion highlighted the benefits of pilot actions and identified additional ways to bring European Union policies closer to Romani children, to make the changes more sustainable.PARA  full story

Slovak President Kiska visits anti-extremist event and Romani settlement on the same day

28.5.2017 12:12 "The failure to resolve Romani issues means it's smooth sailing for extremism, and that is the worst thing that can happen," Slovak President Andrej Kiska said according to news server aktuálně.atlas.sk during a visit to Spišské Podhradí on 22 May where, besides meeting with the town leadership, he also met with staffers of the education center Nano Nagle, which aids Romani children, and visited a Romani settlement in Roškovce. "Modern Slovakia is almost 25 years old and during that time we have not done enough about Romani issues."  full story

Slovak Rapporteur for Roma on police brutality in Zborov: The intervention was inadequate

27.5.2017 19:00 Ábel Ravasz, the Rapporteur to the Government of the Slovak Republic on the Romani Community, issued a statement on 25 May about the brutal police intervention in Zborov last month. Among other matters, he said "police officer interventions at the scene of the conflict were inadequate and targeted children and elderly people"; news server Romea.cz is publishing his statement below in full translation.
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Slovakia: Romani youth successfully fundraises online for study trip to Japan

26.5.2017 9:47 Crowdsourcing to fund various activities these days are making many dreams come true. A 17-year-old Romani student from Slovakia was recently convinced of that when his successful collection online aided him in taking his dream trip across the ocean.  full story

Czech Republic: Project gets Non-Roma to visit Roma in their homes

24.5.2017 6:33 Residents in the Hradec Králové Region of the Czech Republic are inviting their neighbors far and near into their homes for coffee. Thanks to a project called "Come to our place for coffee!" run by nonprofit organizations and the Regional Authority, families with different customs, origins and roots are visiting each other's homes, primarily Non-Romani and Romani ones.  full story

Czech Republic: Museum of Romani Culture opens retrospective of photographer Nihad Nino Pušija

10.5.2017 7:01 Tomorrow at 17:00 the Museum of Romani Culture will open the exhibition "Parno Gras" by Nihad Nino Pušija, the renowned photographer from Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Pušija lives in Berlin, Germany and wanders between different cultures and states as an intercultural migrant.  full story

Czech nursery school registrations have opened - five-year-olds must enroll or their parents face a fine

5.5.2017 10:12 The compulsory enrollment of children into nursery schools in the Czech Republic began on 2 May. Children who will be five years old this autumn, even those who have never attended preschool before, are legally obliged to enroll.  full story

Czech poll finds respondents like Romani people least of any group - 76 % dislike them

28.4.2017 9:01 Of the national groups living in the Czech Republic, people like Czechs, Slovaks and Poles the most, while Romani people and Arabs are the most disliked. With the exception of Arab people, the degree of sympathy felt towards various national groups has not changed much over time.  full story

France: Journalist sentenced to six months for racist articles about immigrants from the Maghreb and Romani people

25.4.2017 8:46 The website France Bleu reports that an unusually harsh verdict has been handed down in France in the matter of two racist articles published in August 2015 by the Petit Journal Catalan weekly. Journalist Rodolphe Crevelle, who is known for his extreme right-wing positions, attempted to obliterate the reputation of North African immigrants from the Maghreb and members of the Romani community (specifically, the Catalan Gitanos) through his pieces.  full story

Romani finalist one of several to withdraw from Miss Czech Republic competition

21.4.2017 10:22 Mirka Pikolová, a finalist in the Miss Czech Republic contest, has announced on her Facebook profile that she has withdrawn. She has not communicated any specific reasons for her decision.  full story

Oksana Marafioti: Writing is a constant discovery for me

2.4.2017 10:28 The author Oksana Marafioti considers the creative process to be one of discovery. For me it was a discovery to meet her - she is a beautiful, charismatic woman who is resolute in her opinions and thoughtful as well.  full story

Czech Cardinal on International Romani Day: We are all members of the same Christian family

2.4.2017 8:31 News server Romea.cz has asked Cardinal Dominik Duka about his motivation for accepting a request to celebrate Mass on International Romani Day in Prague. His entire
response is presented in translation below.  full story

Are dogs being abused in Romani settlements in Slovakia? Romea.cz asks the authorities and experts

9.3.2017 14:06 A group called the Animal Rights Association (Sdružení za práva zvířat) in Bratislava, Slovakia, recently posted information to the Facebook profile of its "Czechoslovak Spay-and-Neuter Program" about its activity in Romani settlements there. The association is doing its best to aid dogs who, as they have documented through photographs, are frequently to be found in an underfed state in those localities.  full story

Slovak TV program focuses on Romani girl who studies despite living without electricity

23.2.2017 7:26 The most recent episode of the Slovak program "Seventh Heaven" (Sedmé nebe), which is broadcast by the JOJ television channel, focuses on a 13-year-old Romani girl
named Anna Mária who lives in a settlement in eastern Slovakia. Despite the difficulties of living her life in poverty, without electricity or gas, she is working hard on herself and learning four foreign languages.  full story

Czech Republic's Fulbright Commission opens course preparing Romani students for study in the USA

11.2.2017 16:09 The Fulbright Commission, in collaboration with the Department of Social Pedagogy at the Pedagogical Faculty of Masaryk University in Brno, will open a preparatory course this spring for Romani students interested in possibly studying in the USA. The aim of the course is to familiarize students with what it is like to study in the USA and prepare them to overcome the barriers and fear that deter disadvantaged and minority students from studying abroad.  full story

Together We Can: Patrik Grundza

7.2.2017 7:37 Last month, Romea.cz began publishing interviews on a weekly basis with people who are doing interesting things to aid all of us in getting along here. When we were looking for a name for this column, the motto of this year's International Romani Day, "Together We Can", inspired me, so the organizers and I have decided to call this column "Together We Can" as well.  full story

Jozef Miker: It irritates me when Workers Party supporters recruit Roma against migrants

21.1.2017 16:17 Romani activist and volunteer Jozek Miker has given an interview to news server Romea.cz in which he explains why he has supported the Civil March for Aleppo, which is attempting to draw attention to the wartime conflict in Syria and the issue of refugee reception on the European continent. "The Roma have to see that when even we Roma are perceived as foreigners here, even after 700 years of coexistence, then [migrants] will logically be perceived as a foreign element here also," Miker said when explaining why he does not comprehend how some Romani people can reject migrants.  full story