We have a few news items today. All of these come to us via the Roma Virtual Network.
2011. September 29.
Roma should participate in creating national inclusion strategies
EPP Group MEP Lívia Járóka met activists of the European Roma Youth Conference in Strasbourg. On the occasion Járóka emphasized the responsibility of the new generation Roma leadership as well as urged the involvement of Roma civil society into the preparation of national inclusion strategies.
Hungarian MEP Lívia Járóka along with Andrey Kovatchev and Mariya Nedelcheva Bulgarian members of the European Parliament met activists of the Roma Youth Conference, a civil association supported by the Council of Europe. Járóka, the Rapporteur of the European Roma Strategy urged Roma NGOs to provide their suggestions to the European governments with regards national inclusion strategies that Member States are due to submit until the end of the year. "Without properly gathered and analysed statistical data disaggregated by ethnicity, it would be impossible to evaluate, monitor and update the programmes" - she highlighted. She also spoke about the empowerment of civil society and enhancing Roma participation in public life, noting that the basic prerequisite was to put forward credible and highly educated Roma leaders who work for the overall benefit of their communities and put community building and social mission in the forefront.
The day before, members of the Roma Youth Conference submitted a petition to the EP which expresses their concerns about the current rise of extremism, racism and anti-gypsyism in several European countries. Járóka set Hungary as an example where authorities managed to keep up the law and order in all the villages affected by the march of extremist groups and the parliament immediately passed a modification of the Penal Code according to which such behaviour can be punished up to three years in prison, thus eversince, this phenomena has stopped.
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Europe May Have Found A Common Enemy In Gypsy Travelers
Nick Jardine Sep. 28, 2011, 11:38 AM 839 9
Last year, the French government drew in controversy when it decided to deport several dozen Roma gypsies back to Romania despite the travelers' rights to move freely within the EU.
The move drew condemnation from Amnesty International and was branded by many as a despicable xenophobic act.
However, one curious element was that the Romanian president, Traian Basescu understood France's actions.
In fact, he even offered to help.
It signaled something; the Roma, and traveling gypsies in general, were becoming a common European enemy.
Fast forward to today. The New York Times has just reported that anti-Roma riots are spreading across Bulgaria. In response to the killing of a man by a minibus whose driver is linked to a Roma crime boss, rioting has spread to 20 cities nationwide.
Police are guarding the entrances to Roma villages and the Bulgarian government has issued orders to arrest anyone seen inciting racial hatred. Over 125 people were arrested during the weekend.
But, this is not an isolated incident of action against the Roma or travelers.
Far-right supporters have been embarking upon their own tirade against the Roma in the Czech Republic for several weeks. Spiegel Online reports that neo-Nazi's recently marched to the northern district of Šluknovský výbžek in Bohemia to confront the Roma. Bloody riots followed. Molotov cocktails were thrown at Roma homes, some of which were housing small children.
Not that the Roma were completely blameless. Spiegel also reported an uptake in crime during August following the Roma's arrival in the region. The publication also recalled an incident when a bar was robbed by machete wielding travelers.
Other recent episodes include the rounding up of Roma seen this week in France. The French government said once again that it would consider deporting those who could not demonstrate they had a means of supporting themselves.
Even in the UK, the recent action taken against the residents of Dale Farm (who are Irish, not Roma) appears to be part of a European-wide campaign to deal with a continent-spanning problem.
But, none of this is new, it just happens to be a time of mass action against the Roma and travelers.
Spiegel Online published a column today noting the lack of plans governments have in place for dealing with tensions emerging from a Roma presence. The lack of a consolidated plan means the problem of ghettoized Roma communities, surviving off a lifestyle where petty theft and crime plays a large part, continues to remain rife.
What it leads to? The acceptance of mainstream discrimination against the travelers, ultimately allowing citizens to take matters in to their own hands.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/europe-gypsies-bulgaria-2011-9#ixzz1ZjK1Lkos
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From Amnesty International:
Bulgaria: authorities must urgently act to stop the escalation of violence targeting the Roma community
Amnesty International urges Bulgarian authorities to effectively tackle the escalation of violence which is resulting in racially-motivated attacks against the Roma community in the country.
Following the killing of an ethnic Bulgarian youth, Angel Petrov, who was hit by a minibus driven by an ethnic Roma, Simeon Iosifov, on 23 September, protests sparked off in Katunitza (Plovdiv district). The driver was arrested the following day and an investigation is currently underway.
On 24 September further protests with a more prominent anti-Roma character were staged; three houses belonging to a Roma local leader, Kiril Rashkov, were set alight. Football fan club members from Plovdiv joined the protests, slogans inciting hatred and violence against Roma and Turks were shouted. Law enforcement forces reportedly did not stop the protesters from entering the village of Katunitza, nor were the arson attacks on properties prevented. However, no one was injured on that day and the families living in the properties attacked were evacuated by law enforcement forces.
On 25, 26 and 27 September rallies were organised in other cities by local groups, football fan clubs and Neo-Nazi groups, supported by far-right and nationalist parties such as ATAKA and VMRO. Roma neighbourhoods and Roma citizens were threatened or actually violently attacked. Figures on the overall number of injured are not available. However, Roma are reportedly afraid to leave their homes in some areas due to panic about the widespread insecurity. Around 400 people were arrested for taking part into the attacks. Some of them have been already fined for hooliganism.
Bulgarian authorities have the obligation under international human rights law to ensure the security and the physical integrity of everyone, without any discrimination. They have to exercise due diligence to prevent, investigate, punish and provide redress for racially motivated crimes by private individuals or groups. Amnesty International is monitoring the situation and urges the Bulgarian authorities to put in place all the necessary measures to stop racially-motivated attacks against Roma and to duly investigate the racial motivation in attacks against Roma neighbourhoods and individuals. Allegations that law enforcement officers made no attempt to prevent the violence on 24 September should also be subject to a full and effective investigation, with the results made public and anyone found responsible brought to justice.
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Saturday, 01 October 2011 22:29 .SOFIA, Oct 1, 2011 (AFP) - Hundreds of Bulgarian nationalists staged a large anti-Roma rally Saturday as political leaders and security chiefs sought to douse tensions after a week of nationwide demonstrations and sporadic violence.
The demonstrators, numbering close to 2,000 according to AFP estimates, marched through central Sofia carrying the national flag and chanted nationalist and anti-Roma slogans. Around 15 people were arrested.
Several hundred supporters of the far-right Ataka party gathered in front of the presidential palace in T-shirts that read “I don't want to live in a Gypsy state” and with a banner saying “Gypsy criminality is a danger to the state.”Party leader Volen Siderov, who is running for president on October 23, called for the death penalty to be brought back, for Roma “ghettos to be dismantled” and for the formation of militias.
The protest came as the prime minister and president, Boyko Borisov and Georgy Parvanov, convened a meeting of the national security council to discuss ways of reducing tensions.
Parvanov after the talks called on the media and politicians to “put an end to the language of hatred pushed to the extreme” and vowed that the government would probe the finances of people who lived “a life of luxury.”The latest unrest was originally sparked by the killing a week ago of a youth hit by a van driven by relatives of “King Kiro”, a Roma clan boss in the southern village of Katunitsa.
After locals and people from the surrounding area went on the rampage on Sunday, rallies with anti-minority and even Nazi slogans have taken place across the southern European country on a nightly basis.
Police have this week briefly detained several hundred nationalist demonstrators, many armed with knives and batons, who chanted racist slogans and tried to infiltrate Roma areas, notably in Varna in the east.
Planned peaceful “Roma Pride” marches this weekend were called off for fear of violence, although young Roma and non-Roma on Saturday handed out flowers to passers-by to express their desire for closer integration.
Bulgaria's 700,000-strong Roma minority, nine percent of the population, lives mostly in depressed areas with even higher rates of poverty and unemployment and lower levels of education than the national average.
Public frustration against corruption, a yawning gap between rich and poor and the weakness of the justice system, has helped to turn people against them, as well as against Bulgaria's Turkish minority, experts say.
What hasn't helped is that many figures like “King Kiro” throughout the ex-communist country are seen by many people as being outside the law.
A hoped-for improvement since Hungary joined the European Union in 2007 in tackling corruption and improving the lot of the country's Roma minority has not materialised.
“Tolerance isn't taught at school, nor at home,” said Krassimir Kanev from rights group the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, saying people in the EU's poorest country “are easily manipulated. Those behind the social unrest are young people frustrated by the lack of opportunities resorting to aggression and nationalism as somewhere to belong,” analyst Antonina Jeliazkova told the Capital weekly.
The outbreak of tensions amid campaigning for presidential and local elections on October 23.
Several organisations including Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and Amnesty International have called for the Bulgarian government to take urgent action.
The disturbances “underline the urgency of combating racially-motivated extremism and making progress with the integration of Europe's Roma populations,” the OSCE said.
Patriarch Maxim, head the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, on Friday appealed to Bulgarians “to not let anger drag them into violence.”
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