Antigypsyism

UN Decries ‘Structural Discrimination’ Facing Serbs and Roma in Croatia

The nine-member family had found a home to buy in the village of Hlebine in northern Croatia. There was only one problem: they were Roma.

In August, villagers in Hlebine threatened to protest outside the house of the mayor of the neighbouring municipality, Novigrad Podravski, convinced that he had persuaded the family to vacate the municipality in favour of Hlebine.

The owner of the family’s prospective new home came to the mayor’s aid, announcing that he would tear up the sale agreement. Everyone was happy, except for the Roma.

Such situations are not unusual in Medjimurje, a northern county that is home to the biggest population of Roma in Croatia.

Earlier in August, after the River Drava burst its banks, several families who had evacuated their homes returned to find them raised. But not by the floods. The police have still to find out who was responsible.

I fear a repeat of the same scenario from four years ago when a young family bought a house and someone wrote on it, ‘We don’t want Gypsies’. Their barn was set on fire.

This is the reality for Croatia’s Roma community, a situation underscored by a United Nations report issued at the end of August that also highlighted the plight of minority Serbs.

Both are stigmatised and their right to education and employment undermined, it said. The Roma are also ghettoised.

The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination called on Croatia to adopt “special measures necessary to eliminate the existing structural discrimination that affects the Roma and the Serb minority groups and remove all obstacles that prevent the enjoyment of their economic, social and cultural rights”.

According to Natalija Havelka, executive director of the Osijek-based Centre for Peace, Nonviolence and Human Rights, which contributed to the UN report, 92.3 percent of Roma in Croatia are classified as poor and about 70 percent of Roma families live in extreme poverty.

“The state is obliged to fulfil its obligations in order to protect its citizens, individuals and groups,” Havelka told BIRN.

Link: https://balkaninsight.com/2023/09/18/un-decries-structural-discrimination-facing-serbs-and-roma-in-croatia/

 

 

Discrimination against Roma is still widespread in Germany

Germany's leading Roma and Sinti group recorded hundreds of cases of discrimination and racism against the minority community in the past year, a report said, warning that rising nationalism and right-wing extremism are contributing to violence against minorities in Germany.

The Central Council of German Sinti and Roma said that of the 621 incidents recorded, the majority were cases of discrimination and "verbal stereotyping". 11 cases of threats, 17 attacks and one case of "extreme violence" were also recorded, the group stated, adding that racism against Roma and Sinti is probably much higher because many cases are not reported.

Roma and Sinti are recognized minorities in Germany. About 60,000 Sinti and 10,000 Roma live in Germany, according to data from the German Federal Agency for Civic Education.

The report "clearly shows the dangers of growing nationalism and right-wing extremism, which in turn leads to aggression and violence against Sinti and Roma and other minorities," Romani Rose, head of the group, told reporters in Berlin.

The report also stated that around half of the recorded cases of discrimination occurred "at the institutional level", meaning that Roma and Sinti were discriminated against by employees of state institutions such as the police, social welfare offices, employment centers or municipal administrations responsible for taking care of refugees.

"The state must finally take responsibility and guarantee the protection of Sinti and Roma from violence, exclusion and discrimination," said Mehmet Daimagueler, the German government's commissioner for combating anti-Gypsyism.

During Nazi Germany between 220,000 and 500,000 European Sinti and Roma were deported and killed

Link: https://www.slobodnaevropa.org/a/njemacka-diskriminacija-romi-sinti-/32598075.html

 

 

A student (11) in the elementary school in Pukovac – Nish, brought a knife in his school bag with the intention of hurting Roma children

On Tuesday, September 5, a post was posted on the FB social network by the parents of Danijel MIlanović from Pukovac, in which it is written that an eleven-year-old school student from this place carried a knife in his school bag with the intention of seriously injuring the Roma children who go to school with him, which his son also attends.

"Today, in the school in Pukovac, a minor child from Doljevac I.Š brought a knife in his bag, with the intention of seriously injuring the Roma children who go to school with him. The reason for this is the hatred towards Roma children, regardless of age and gender. Unfortunately, there are numerous reports, lawsuits and complaints from girls, boys, teachers, principals and even pedagogues against that boy, who is only 10-11 years old. nothing about that, to provide the necessary help to that little one who attends the 5th grade, so that the child can recover as soon as possible from that disorder in his head. I hope that today's attempt to injure children, among whom was my son, is the last warning to all competent institutions to take seriously that they have a serious problem with a child, who in a few years will grow into a BONE and do something that can never be returned." , writes Milanović in the published post.

"Will I.Š. to become one of the future bullies, or a member of some gang, sect, ... we don't know, but we know that it is time to provide this child with professional help so that tomorrow is not too late," writes media portal RomaWorld.

The journalist of this portal talked to Mr. Daniel, and according to him, all this took place on September 5, 2023, in the elementary school "Vuk Karadžić" in Pukovac, unfortunately the reaction of the school was absent, at least it was possible to talk to the child, as in every class to talk with children about violence against peers, discrimination, prejudice... According to this media, they will soon publish an interview with Mr. Danijela Milanović from Doljevac.

RomaWorld appealed to the employees of the "VUk Karadžić" elementary school, the social service and the MUP to respond to this event as soon as possible and solve the problem in the right way.

Link: https://rominfomedia.rs/2023/09/08/ucenik11u-osnovnoj-skoli-u-pukovcu-poneo-noz-u-skolskoj-torbi-u-nameri-da-povredi-romsku-decu/?fbclid=IwAR219h0L1e-Lf87nyjjeT2q1fm0erKVFuhehFoSHTWCt5hd2BiZgkNA1JE8

 

Roma protest in Gračanica due to the brutality of members of the Kosovo police towards their compatriots, they demand punishment of the policemen

Several hundred Roma protested in front of the police station in Gračanica, due to, as they say, the brutality of members of the Kosovo Police Service during the arrest of their compatriot Burhan Ibrahimović, reports the RTS portal. .

The Roma at the protest asked the Police Inspectorate for a fair investigation and punishment of a group of police officers who, as they claim, used excessive force and brutally beat Ibrahimovic, who in the meantime received several calls from the Police Inspectorate for questioning.

The crowd carried banners that read 'Stop Brutality', 'Justice Now', 'We Are Not Your Punching Bag', 'Stop Violence'.

Afrim Salihi, a relative of the beaten Roma, claims that Ibrahimovic was brought to the police station to give a statement about an argument with a resident of Gracanica. He adds that, because he was punished, Ibrahimovic threatened to file a lawsuit and hire a lawyer. After that, as Salihi claims, he was beaten by several policemen at the police station.

Ibrahimović from Gračanica grew up in Germany, and now lives again in his hometown. "Thank you all for coming. We live in a democracy, but there are many people who had the same problems and were not allowed to speak. At first I was afraid and I was not allowed to share this case with others, but I decided to report this case", Ibrahimovic told the crowd in front of the police station.

Dritan Berisha, one of the organizers of the protest, said that this is a rally not only against the brutality of the police that happened on August 19 in the police station in Gračanica, but also resistance to other brutalities that members of the Roma community go through in other places in Kosovo. and Metochia.

The protest in front of the police station in Gračanica was controlled by police officers in uniforms and civilian clothes, but the journalists were directed to the police administration in Pristina just in case.

At the end of the protest, the gathered left banners on the steps of the entrance to the police station and dispersed peacefully.

Link - video: https://www.rts.rs/vesti/politika/5263470/protest-roma-u-gracanici-zbog-torture-policije-prema-njihovom-sunarodniku.html

 

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Од 5 Ноември 2022 достапен документарниот филм на СП БТР „Небо, Точак, Земја„ на Max TV и Max TV GO со пребарување –Видеотека

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