The Fourth International Conference of Roma Women organized by the Council of Europe and the Finnish Government in Helsinki, Finland, on 16-17 September 2013, gathered more than 100 Roma women from different countries.
Press Release: August 2nd - ternYpe International Roma Youth Network
On the Day of Commemoration of the Roma Genocide on August 2, ternYpe International Roma Youth Network calls for a European wide political recognition of the persecution and genocide of Roma and Sinti in Europe by the Nazi regime, and for a greater awareness in our societies of the danger of antigypsyism, hate speech and stigmatization, which continuously cause social exclusion and marginalization of Roma in most European countries.
On the 2nd of August 1944, 2897 elderly people, women and children, the remaining Sinti and Roma of the so-called "gypsy camp" (“Zigeunerlager”) at Auschwitz-Birkenau, were murdered in the gas chambers. Knowledge and official recognition of the extermination of Roma during the Second World War is still very limited - especially among young Europeans including the Roma. Unlike the genocide of Jews, the wartime fate of Roma people is still a blank page in historiography, the Roma Genocide during the Nazi regime; tens of thousands of Roma murdered in the occupied Eastern territories and thousands of them killed in extermination camps has still not entered the canon of modern history curricula. The ignorance of the majority of society concerning Roma history contributes complexly to the prejudice Roma people suffer from, and it also represents an obstacle to their inclusion within the European Union.
In the period of 26-30 September 2011 over 50 young Roma and non-Roma representatives from 18 countries came together in Strasbourg to contribute to the Council of Europe’s Roma Youth Action Plan within the Roma Youth Conference.
The objectives of the Roma Youth Conference were to
- share and explore the situation of Roma young people in Europe
- identify youth policy responses to the situation of Roma young people today, particularly on a European level
- develop proposals and priorities for activities involving Roma young people and youth organisations in the Council of Europe’s youth sector and beyond.
OSCE human rights chief welcomes declaration of official Roma genocide remembrance day in Poland
WARSAW, 29 July 2011 – Ambassador Janez Lenarčič, the Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), welcomed today’s decision by the Polish parliament to declare 2 August as the official Roma and Sinti Genocide Remembrance Day.
“This is a historic step forward in the official recognition of the persecution and extermination of Roma and Sinti during World War II,” Lenarčič said.
ODIHR Director Ambassador Janez Lenarcic
at the Sejm, Poland's parliament, in Warsaw
on 16 November 2010. (OSCE/Curtis Budden)
He encouraged other OSCE participating States to follow Poland’s example in recognizing and commemorating the deportation and killing of Roma and Sinti under Nazi rule.
The life of Roma in Hungary became very hard in the last 3 years. I wonder what should happen to see and feel some change. The reaction of the police in the case of Putnok is again not too convincing... ternYpe tries to do everything to do as much as possible for a better living together, but it’s not easy.
Let me express here my proudness of the Hungarian ternYpe campaign team... They are brave and pure. Thank you, guys.
Below I translated an article of index.hu
20th July, Wednesday at about 7 pm shots penetrated through two houses inhabited by Roma in the common court of the gate. One ball whistled under the hit. The attack has not damaged anybody. The spokesman of the Police in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County, said that the gate is swollen and since it is from chipboard, it cannot be determined if the holes on the gate are from the bullets whether original, and when they have been formed will examine experts.
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The life of Roma in Hungary became very hard in the last 3 years. I wonder what should happen to see and feel some change. The reaction of the police in the case of Putnok is again not too convincing... ternYpe tries to do everything to do as much as possible for a better living together, but it’s not easy. 