August, 2008

In Their Own Words

Interviews with Roma throughout the region highlight the range of different Roma experiences and living conditions, across and within countries. Snapshots from around the region provide a window into this diversity and underscore the various challenges they face.

Education

Many Roma children do not attend school. Some parents are unable to send their children to school because of lack of basic supplies, or even clothes. In other cases, barriers include social and cultural factors, such as language.

Important Issues

Europe's Largest Minority Roma and Sinti Demand Equal Rights

Posted Thu, 08/28/2008 - 10:47pm

By Romani Rose

Querida Europa

Posted Thu, 08/28/2008 - 8:02pm

At 12, Rebecca Covaciu - big eyes, white teeth, beautiful smile – has lived through and seen so much, that if she could write, she would write a good book of memoirs. Rebecca is a Romanian girl of the Roma ethnic group and she has spent half of her life out on the street. She has slept in a van, in a makeshift shelter and on the floor. On some days she has begged on the streets of Spain and Italy with her parents. At other times she has seen her makeshift shelter destroyed; she has been attacked by Italian police officers; she listened (hiding under a blanket) as her father was beaten up after he attempted to defend her; she has seen babies and children die due to a lack of medicines; she shared the fear of the Roma people fleeing from Ponticelli (Naples) when their camp was set fire to. But Rebecca held out. And she moved Italy with her story. A letter in which she sums up her dreams: a job for her father and the chance to go to school.

Rebecca revealed her talent in her simple letter entitled “Dear Europe” and a series of drawings, “The Mice and the Stars”, innocent and floating, but really special, just like Rebecca herself. That’s how Rebecca is: instead of letting this “life of sadness” get her down, she herself shouted out to the world her Dickensian story, transforming it into a concentration of justice and hope. To her secret dreams of going to school and finding jobs for her parents “so we don’t have to beg any more”, she adds another, even greater dream: “for Europe to help children who live on the street”.

Slovakia urged to end segregation of Romani children

Posted Sun, 08/24/2008 - 8:15pm

In Slovakia, huge numbers of Romani children are inappropriately placed in "special schools" for children with mental disabilities, where they receive a substandard education, and have very limited opportunities for employment and further education. Independent studies suggest that as many as 80 per cent of children placed in special schools in Slovakia are Roma.

Once children are assigned to special schools, the door leading back to mainstream education for children of average or above-average ability remains shut.

Pavlovce nad Uhom is a town in eastern Slovakia, 10km from the borders with Ukraine. More than 50 per cent of its 4,500 inhabitants are Roma. There are two elementary schools in the town: a mainstream school and a special school for children with mental disabilities.

Location

Site of Roma Special SchoolPavlovce nad Uhom
Slovakia
48° 36' 26.964" N, 22° 3' 57.744" E

The Resurgence of Fascism

Posted Sun, 08/24/2008 - 8:11pm

This summer, a rash of anti-Romani legislation and proposels have swept Europe, most notably in Italy and the Czech Republic. This wave began as a ripple, gaining momentum as neither the European Union or the governments of which it encompasses raised any alarm. However, the scapegoating espoused by neo-fascists will have farther reaching implications than merely the Roma community.

In April, Silvio Berlusconi was elected Prime Minister of Italy over his center-left rival Walter Veltroni. Playing to what the BBC called a “deep suspicion throughout the country of the Roma community”, Berlusconi focused on the Roma – and immigrants in general – pinning them as the root cause of many of Italy’s problems and vowing a security crack down. The crackdown came in the form of a scheme to fingerprint Italy’s entire Roma population, including children. This plan has received widespread condemnation in the human rights community, most notably from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

Italy: The Red Cross describes the conditions the Roma people are living in as “worse than those in Uganda”

Posted Sun, 08/24/2008 - 8:06pm

Rome - The hot weather has had drastic effects on the Roma settlements in Italy, encouraging the spread of mycotic and bacterial infections, and aggravating diseases of the respiratory and digestive tracts, and creating heart and neurological problems. Health care for the Roma people is practically non-existent, they are denied essential medicines - which only in some cases are prescribed by doctors, but which the Roma have to pay for.

To relieve the symptoms of certain pathologies it is necessary to increase water consumption, but no measures have been taken by the authorities to supply the camps with sufficient drinking water. On the contrary, the Roma families are subjected to camp clearances from micro-settlements almost daily, which only makes the lack of clean water even more serious. And without water, and food and medicines, the children, elderly and the weakest members of the community often fall seriously ill and even die.

Location

Rome
Italy
41° 53' 9.3156" N, 12° 28' 49.6884" E

Roma Myths

Terminology

Most of these terms were compiled by Will Strain and Angela Ba'Tal Libal at:
http://www.geocities.com/soho/3698/rom.htm

Antiziganism - (or Anti-Romanyism) is hostility, prejudice or racism directed at the Roma people, commonly (but pejoratively) called Gypsies.

Ashkali - (Aschkali, Hashkali, Aškalije (Ашкалије), Haškalije (Хашкалије)) are an Albanian language speaking ethnic minority of Kosovo and Albania. Their origin is disputed. Ashkali are often regarded as Albanized Roma, but some think they are descendants of Turks or Egyptians. Ashkali have similar culture to both Roma and Albanians. There is a theory that Ashkali are descendants of Roma who are said to have come to the Balkans from Palestine (their name deriving from Ashkelon, a city in Israel).

Assimilation - when one ethnic group absorbs another, so that the cultural traits of the assimilated group become indistinguishable.

Videos

Europe's Forgotten Citizens: Defending Roma Rights in the Eu


Italy 2008 - stop the violence against Roma


Historia Romani


BBC on the European Roma and Travellers Forum