The Roma in Medjumurie arrive after the abolition of slavery in present-day Romania in 1855 and 1856, when the first Roma "corridors" settled on the territory between Medjumurie and Podravina. They are of Catholic faith and in the municipal acts of Mala Subotica the first Roma is mentioned September 1, 1865. Otherwise spatially they are supplied by the majority of the Croatian population, which generates one key problem in education - ignorance of the Croatian language.

Benjamin Ignac, 28, a young intellectual studying public policy in Oxford, came to Blavatnik School of Government as a scholar to spend his entire childhood in the Roma district of Orahovica.

After excellent results at the Josip Slavenski Gymnasium in Cakovec, he continued his education abroad, including at United World College in Norway and graduated in 2016 in Oklahoma, USA, worked for a NASA project, and after returning to Europe he was employed in European Roma Rights Center in Budapest.

He thinks the proposed measures to address the problems in Medjumurje are not good.

Most media are biased and have used irrational fear and distrust or manipulative confusion tactics to counter-rhetoric where the role of the victim is being used in decision making.

They are not considered criminals, parasites or burdens to the people, and the majority are bitter about collective punishment or elimination. This narrative is detrimental to the status of Roma in Croatia, and with a particular perception of the Roma individual.

It is necessary to treat Roma who violate the law individually, not on a collective level, with rehabilitation, not punishment - noted Ignac

Link: https://www.vecernji.hr/vijesti/ispovijest-roma-iz-medimurja-za-mnoge-sam-kriminalac-iako-studiram-na-oxfordu-1382507

fShare

Tweet