Harry's Place

Amnesty International has just released a report stating that the EU is not doing enough to combat discrimination against the Roma across its member states. Here is a summary of the situation in just one state, Slovakia:
Public schools remain segregated into Roma and non-Roma classrooms, in spite of a 2012 court decision that ended overt [...]

Even though this video is produced in the Hungarian language, it is worth a glance for a reminder that while the Roma population in Eastern Europe remains largely trapped in poverty, a new generation of urban, educated and politically aware young Roma are emerging. Thankfully.
They will need the solidarity and assistance of friends internationally if [...]

“A significant portion of the Gypsies are unfit for coexistence. Not fit to live among human beings. These people are animals and behave like animals. … From his animal skull only inarticulate sounds come out and the only thing he understands is brute force… This must be solved, immediately and in any way.”
Zsolt [...]

It is often claimed that historical inequities or cultural barriers (such as language) faced by the Roma are compounded by the school system.  This was confirmed by a recent Slovak court ruling that schools had been unlawfully segregating children on the basis of ethnicity:
“This landmark judgment is a signal to the authorities, including the Ministry [...]

The extremists in Hungary have, yet again, been stirring up trouble for Roma communities.  This time the disruption took place in Cegled. The precise sequence of events is, as is usual, both complex and contested.  Here is an extract from one of the fullest reports over on Hungarian Spectrum:
The police estimated that there were at [...]

This is a press release
From the Wiesenthal Centre to the 47 Member-States Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner“On the 68th Anniversary of “the ‘Porrajmos’ Gypsy Genocide – Focus Priority is Eastern Europe”.
Paris, 6 August 2012
In a letter to the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Nils Muiznieks, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre’s Director [...]

The asylum status of European Roma is a contentious issue, and has been the topic of particular discussion in Canada, where Conservatives have been pressing for countries to be designated ‘safe’, meaning Roma refugees from those countries can have their claims more easily rejected.  Three EU countries, Bulgaria, Latvia and Romania, are thought unlikely to [...]

Last year I posted about a young girl in Italy who pretended she had been assaulted by Roma because she was frightened of how her parents would react if they found out about her relationship with her boyfriend. A similar story has recently surfaced in the Czech republic.  A 15 year old boy suffered  serious [...]

Recently concerns have been aired over Tunisia’s new constitution which disbars non-Muslims from the Presidency. But it was only a few days ago that I first learnt about a comparable example of discrimination much closer to home.  In Bosnia, Jews and Roma are debarred from high office:
The [1995] constitution bars anyone who is not one [...]

Although much has been written about Roma facing deportation from countries such as France, perhaps rather more worrying are stories about Roma being refused permission to leave their own countries.  Here is a recent example from Macedonia:
The European Roma Rights Centre sent a letter to Macedonian authorities today, raising concerns over the freedom of movement [...]