LGBTIQ Roma – an invisible minority? Report Organisation ARA ART has recently produced an report on the position of the LGBTIQ Roma with respect to multiple or intersectional discrimination. By Lucie Fremlova and Andrea Bučková
Thirty Years on from the Velvet Revolution: Minorities and Changes We are bringing closer to your attention personal testimonies of six exceptional people who are publicly active in the Czech Republic: A woman from a Romani family (Jana Horváthová), a Jewish man from Slovakia (Fedor Gál), a female representative of the queer community (Adéla Horáková), a Syrian Arab woman of Czech origin (Samira Sibai), a homeless man living with a disability (Slavko Ševčík), and a man who is a vicar (Vladimír Volráb). All of these six people have had to define their attitudes, identities and values vis-à-vis the majority society after 1989. Let us explore how have they managed. By Barbora Latečková
Forced Sterilization: The Hidden Human Rights Abuse As the second decade of this new millennium pushes toward its completion, it may come as a surprise to readers to learn that the sterilization of women without their consent remains a persistent problem for public health systems worldwide. Recent efforts in Europe to address these abuses have revealed how public health administrators and justice systems have yet to learn the lessons of these abuses.
To Reach Agreement and Never Forget Proceedings from the seminar “Minority Policy in Member States of the EU 25 regarding the Roma and Sinti Minority” pdf
Anti-Roma Sentiment on the Rise in the Czech Republic The Czech Republic is showing signs of a new wave of agitation against Roma. For months now, hardly a week has gone by in which neo-Nazi groups have not marched somewhere in the country and – actively supported by “normal citizens” – chanted slogans like “black pigs”, “against multiculti” and “Gypsies to work”. Such demonstrations with this frequency, geographical extent and above all with the participation of the population are unprecedented in the Czech Republic.
Remembering the victims of the Roma Holocaust and the more recent wave of ’Roma murders’ in Hungary While Roma and Sinti living in Western Europe mainly face the painful task of coming to terms with the extermination of forefathers and relatives during World War II, physical persecution is very much a risk to be faced in the present for many Roma communities living in Central and Eastern Europe.
Far right mobilization and the roots of anti-Roma sentiment in Hungary “Those who are not willing to integrate into Hungarian society and live by the values we stand for should leave the country” – declared Gábor Vona, the leader of the far right party Jobbik, at the demonstration organized on the 6th of March in the village of Gyöngyöspata. It was obvious who he had in mind, given the fact that members of the Civil Guard Association for a Better Future had been patrolling the area around the Roma settlement for a week, with the aim of preventing “Gypsy-criminals” from stealing and harassing “hard-working citizens”.
