As Economic Turmoil Mounts, So Do Attacks on Hungary’s Gypsies

NYT
By NICHOLAS KULISH
Published: April 26, 2009

TISZALOK, Hungary — Jeno Koka was a doting grandfather and dedicated worker on his way to his night-shift job at a chemical plant last week when he was shot dead at his doorstep. To his killer, he was just a Gypsy, and that seems to have been reason enough.

Prejudice against Roma — widely known as Gypsies and long among Europe’s most oppressed minority groups — has swelled into a wave of violence. Over the past year, at least seven Roma have been killed in Hungary, and Roma leaders have counted some 30 Molotov cocktail attacks against Roma homes, often accompanied by sprays of gunfire.

But the police have focused their attention on three fatal attacks since November that they say are linked. The authorities say the attacks may have been carried out by police officers or military personnel, based on the stealth and accuracy with which the victims were killed.

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Czech Gypsies to protest across country

PRAGUE, Czech Republic, April 24 (UPI) -- Activists of the Romany, or Gypsy, minority in the Czech Republic said they plan countrywide protests against rising extremism and discrimination.

Leaders of the minority, estimated at 300,000 members by Czech authorities, said the protests will be organized in some 15 towns and cities on Sunday, May 3, Prague Radio said Friday.

The protests are coming amidst increased political tensions sparked by the last week's neo-Nazi march in the northern Czech town of Usti nad Labem and the firebombing of a Romany family's home in the villlage of Vitkov, in the northeast region of Opava.

A 2-year-old girl was in critical condition with burns on 80 percent of her body after a petrol bomb was thrown into her parents' home. Her parents were also hospitalized with serious injuries.

The Romany activists have offered a reward for information on those responsible for the Vitkov attack, Prague Radio said.

Packed gypsy meeting in Risborough attended by 350 residents

Published Date: 24 April 2009

A MEETING to discuss the arrival of gypsies near Princes Risborough held last night was so well attended that around 150 could not get in.

The 200 people who did manage to cram into The Royal British Legion Hall on Thursday heard from police, councillors, planning officers and the secretary of the Gypsy Council regarding the arrival of the gypsies at Hemley Hill off of Shootacre Lane.

Residents were angry that the gypsies had not asked for planning permission before starting development on the site, which they have bought.

Wycombe District Council is now preventing development through a stop notice.

Alistair Nicholson, development control manager at WDC, said the council was currently gathering information on the site and was visiting on a regular basis to make sure further development was not taking place.

However, he said that the erection of fences around the site was permitted.

He added that in his experience these type of planning issues last for 'months rather than weeks'- he cited one example where because of appeals, it had taken two years to resolve.

Joseph Jones, secretary of the Gypsy Council and based in Bucks, said the extended gypsy family had no where else to go- but if the council could find them a more suitable site, then it might be possible for them to move there.

Neighbourhood inspector for Wycombe Rural district, Insp Ray Wilks, said: "At the end of the day we have a little addition to the community and they will be policed the same way as the rest of you.

"We will deal with any reported crime and make sure no one is harassed on either side."

He added that there was an 'awful lot of rumours going around' but that crime had not gone up since their arrival.

At the end of the evening, deputy leader of WDC, Cllr David Carroll, who chaired the meeting, praised the behaviour of those who attended:

"I thought it would be a very difficult meeting to be honest but you made it very easy for me so my thanks to you. We are all up front and being honest."

Gypsies 'won't be a bother to anyone'

Published Date: 22 April 2009

THE backlash to the arrival of gypsies on a site near Princes Risborough is 'nothing new,' the secretary of The Gypsy Council has said.

Joseph Jones, who runs the floating support service for the gypsy and traveller community in Bucks, and who has visited the family at Hemley Hill, said: "There's bound to be people who are concerned, it is fear of the unknown and it is the bad press which the gypsy-traveller community always gets."

He blamed local councils in Buckinghamshire for not doing enough to identify sites where gypsies and travellers could settle, adding that he expected any planning application to go to appeal, where 'two out three cases are successful'.

A local resident who spoke to The Bucks Herald, who asked not to be identified, said locals feared an increase in crime and anti-social behaviour, which Mr Jones denied would be the case.

"There is crime and there are criminals but there is no such thing as gypsy crime," he said. "Criminals come from any community."

Speaking at the site, gypsy Eileen Cash said she was positive about the welcome they had received from nearby residents.

"So far the people have been very nice from what we know of them but we don't know what they're saying behind our backs," she said.

She said the nine families who will live on nine pitches were all extended family.

They include a 22-year-old blind woman who needs a permament home in order to be able to get a guide dog, and an 'old lady who is very very ill' who also needs a permament base for medical reasons.

"We will keep ourselves to ourselves, no noise and we wont bother anybody," she said. "Residents would not bother us so we wont bother them.

She said that they want to tidy up the site, install a play area for children and exchange caravans on the site for mobile homes. "It will be nice and respectable, a very pemament site. I want to spend the rest of my life here," she said.

Councillor censured after row with gypsy

9:30am Thursday 23rd April 2009

By Phil Hill

A COUNCILLOR has been censured and ordered to undergo training following a run-in with a Romany gypsy over a planning issue.

The standards committee at Taunton Deane Council upheld a complaint against Conservative Cllr Denise Webber and ruled that she breached the Code of Conduct.

The committee heard that during a planning meeting Ms Webber said words to the effect: “I’ve heard some excuses for a gypsy applying for planning, but this is the worst.”

The complainant, Sally Tucker Woodbury, chairman of the Romany Gypsy Advisory Group, also alleged that Ms Webber was abusive to her during a phone conversation.

The standards committee said that Ms Webber, who was not at the hearing, failed to treat Mrs Tucker Woodbury with respect and her behaviour fell short of what people expect of councillors.

She was ordered to undertake training in equalities and diversity.

Speaking afterwards, Ms Webber said: “I don’t think I’ve shown any disrespect to any person, but I don’t know anything about the hearing so can’t comment until I find out exactly what I’ve been accused of.”

Conservative leader Cllr John Williams said: “I regret the standards board found it necessary to take this action - let’s hope we can move on from here.”

Mrs Tucker Woodbury welcomed the decision – she said: “Being a Romany gypsy, the feeling you always get is, ‘Why should I bother? Nobody will believe me as I’m only a gypsy’.

“But thankfully the truth stood and she was brought to justice.”

Gypsies suffer widespread racism in European Union

Ian Traynor in Brussels
The Guardian
Thursday 23 April 2009

Racism and discrimination across the EU is far more widespread than previously thought, with Europe's estimated 12 million Roma, or Gypsy, population, being a special target, an EU agency warns.

In what is claimed to be the most comprehensive survey of victimisation suffered by Europe's minority and immigrant communities, the EU's Fundamental Rights Agency said "racially motivated crime is an everyday experience".

While all minorities reported disturbing levels of harassment, the Roma, scattered mainly across central Europe and the Balkans, and black people, were particularly singled out for abuse, the survey said.

Based on detailed questioning of almost 30,000 people in all 27 EU states, the survey found that 55% of immigrant or minority populations believed racism was rife in their countries, with more than one in three having suffered racist conduct, 12% being victims of racist crime and 4% being physically assaulted or threatened.

One in four Roma respondents said they had been assaulted, threatened, or harassed four times on average in a 12-month period. "They emerge as the group most vulnerable to discrimination," said Morten Kjaerum, director of the Vienna-based agency.

Levels of racism and discrimination were not reflected in police or official statistics, the report said, because of the victims' lack of confidence in the authorities.

From beggar to Big Brother: Italy's Gypsy celebrity

John Hooper in Rome
The Guardian,
Wednesday 22 April 2009

A 22-year-old Gypsy who as a child begged on the streets of Italy has been voted winner of the latest Italian Big Brother reality show on Silvio Berlusconi's Mediaset network.

Ferdi Berisa's victory, which had echoes of the movie Slumdog Millionaire and Susan Boyle's appearance on Britain's Got Talent, won him €300,000 (£265,000) and the prospect of fame as a celebrity.

But he told a press conference in Rome yesterday he would spend the money on a house and "then go back to my job as a sous-chef" while studying for a place at university. Berisa, from Montenegro, entered Italy 13 years ago as a clandestine migrant after a night-time dash across the Adriatic in a high-powered launch. He said his father made him beg and take part in staged fights with other boys.

Aged 11, the young Roma was put into care in the town of Fano near Rimini and spent two years with foster parents.

He said he thought he had won because of "my diplomacy and my always keeping out of stupid argument". Critics agreed. The website of the daily Corriere della Sera speculated that the eight million viewers had been won over by "the sense of normality that, despite his stormy past, the mild-mannered Ferdi was able to convey".

His victory came as other Gypsies were under unprecedented pressure from the authorities who, in several parts of Italy, have demolished their settlements. Politicians in Berlusconi's Freedom People party routinely talk of a "Roma emergency".

The Big Brother producers delivered Berisa video messages from his estranged mother and sister, both of whom live outside Italy. He said he was ready for a family reconciliation, but added that now, "We live in different worlds".

Hungarian Neo-Nazi lead war on gypsies

22 April, 2009, 09:30

In Hungary, fascist groups are targeting Roma gypsies, but the government seems to turn a blind eye on the problem of ethnic minorities, and offers no protection for them.

A cold and brutal crime has torn a young family apart. Robert and his five-year-old son were shot dead, and his two other children seriously injured when their home was attacked. A homemade bomb was thrown through the front door and immediately sent the entire house up in flames. The young family had just finished building their small but modern house.

Their only crime was being Roma gypsies.

Robert’s family lives next door, and are reminded daily of the terror of the tragedy, but what haunts them more is the way the criminal investigation is being carried out.

“They pretended not to see 18 bullet holes in the small boy’s body. How is it possible that an experienced police official could not see this? Then it was reported that the fire was electrical. But there are remnants of a bomb everywhere,” says Robert’s mother Erzsebet Csorba.

The European Roma rights centre strongly supports the family’s claims.

“The police were not acknowledging that a murder had taken place. I’m not aware that there has been any progress,” said Rob Kushen from the European Roma Rights Centre in the Hungarian capital of Budapest.

Fighting for their rights, activists also fear that the economic crisis will lead to an increase in hate crimes against Roma in poorer EU countries.

“So far they have done a good job in keeping the peace – which is a recipe for disaster,” Kushen believes.

Attacks on Roma haven’t only increased since the onset of the crisis, but a neo-Nazi trend is also growing in Hungary. The far-right Jobbik party, said to be affiliated with a banned fascist group called the Magyar Guarda, is growing in popularity. They often hold protests against Roma, insisting they are criminals.

Bela Kovacs, President of the Jobbik Party for a Better Hungary is unequivocal in his views:

“Gypsy crimes are growing every day, and it's getting so bad that people are afraid to go out at night,” he said.

But the party refused to comment on its connection with the extremist group which often attends their protests.

Robert’s family believes the Magyar Guarda brutally attacked their loved ones, and will never be punished, especially under the wing of a growing political party.

In the past year alone in Hungary, there have been 18 attacks on Roma homes, and six people have been killed. No one has been caught.

Should India Speak Up for the European Romani?

April 20, 2009
Vinod Joseph

I heard of the Romani for the first time over a dozen years ago when I was still in college. Term was about to get over and we were all preparing to go home. A friend of mine was packing his bags to leave for Prague where his father, a diplomat, was posted. While we would catch a train or bus to get to our destinations, this chap would fly to Prague. Naturally we were all very jealous and it came as a surprise when my friend told me that Prague is not the nicest places on earth, for an Indian that is.

‘Why is that?’ I asked him.

‘Because Indians tend to get mistaken for Gypsies.’

‘Gypsies?’

‘That’s right. There are Gypsies in Prague who look like us.’

‘Really?’

‘Yeah! And the Czechs don’t like the Gypsies.’

Apparently my friend was advised carry a book and wear glasses to show that he was educated and not a gypsy.

I didn’t give that conversation further thought till I came to the UK. Gypsies or Travellers are news items in the UK and they routinely hit the front pages, usually for the wrong reasons.

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PRINCES AMONGST MEN: THE GYPSY FILM FESTIVAL!

FEATURE FILMS AND DOCUMENTARIES
ALONGSIDE A PHOTO EXHIBITION, LIVE MUSIC & DJS OVER TWO WEEK-ENDS!

www.myspace.com/princesamongstmen2007

April 24-25-26 @ The Ritzy, Brixton

May 1-2-3 @ The Picture House, Greenwich

This festival was conceived by Garth Cartwright after his book, Princes Amongst Men: Journeys With Gypsy Musicians (Serpents Tail) was published in 2005 and readers’ began enquiring as to how they could get to see the various feature films and documentaries he described. Since then lost classic feature films, brand new feature films and many documentaries have been screened. Directors, cinephiles and Roma rights activists have participated and the Ritzy’s upstairs bar has been transformed into a Gypsy-flavoured party across the weekend.

For 2009 the Festival continues with a rich offering of past classics and brilliant new material. The Ritzy also hosts FREE live music on Saturday and Sunday night in the upstairs bar and a PHOTOGRAPHIC EXHIBITION of an Albanian Roma community by Australian photojournalist Rob Hackman.

=======================================================
THE RITZY BRIXTON Friday 24th, Saturday 25th, Sunday 26th APRIL
=======================================================

FRIDAY 9pm: LATCHO DROM (film)
Directed by Tony Gatlif, this beautiful 1993 feature follows the musical migration of the Romany people from Rajasthan to Andalucia. Celebrated as a classic of world cinema, Latcho Drom is a haunting, visionary film.

+ post-screening Princes Amongst Men DJ event @ Ritzy upstairs Bar

SATURDAY afternoon 4.10pm: GYPSY MUSIC EXTRAVAGANZA (vintage live footage)
Vintage TV (Esma Redzepova, Gabby Lunca) live performances (Fanfare Ciocarlia), Guca festival footage and Bulgaria's Azis. Ranges from the ‘60s to ‘00s: a variety of short documentaries including 1960s footage of Esma Redzepova, 1970s Romanian TV footage of Bygone Age stars, contemporary footage from Serbia’s Guca festival, Bulgaria’s gay Gypsy pop-folk icon Azis and other footage; most never before screened in the UK before.

SATURDAY evening 6.45pm: PRETTY DYANA: A GYPSY RECYCLING SAGA & CYMBALOM LEGACY (documentaries)

Roma documentaries Pretty Dyana: A Gypsy Recycling Saga (Serbia) & Cymbalom Legacy (Holland-Hungary 45 mins) are acclaimed, brilliant award winning documentaries! Pretty Dyana finds director Boris Mitic investigating how Roma families that fled ethnic cleansing in Kosovo have built Mad Max-like vehicles from old Yugoslav Dyana cars and employ them to recycle Belgrade’s trash. It is both hilarious and life-affirming – a Balkan Slumdog! Cymbalom Legacy focuses on virtuoso Hungarian cymbalom player Miklos Lukacs. Beautifully shot and recorded by director Mano Camon, Cymbalom Legacy offers up both a history of the cymbalom and the life story of Lukacs, a young Roma musician dedicated to crossing boundaries.

+ post-screenings live music @ Ritzy upstairs Bar with French singer-guitarist FLORENCE JOELLE, accompanied by accordionist-keyboard LUCIE REJCHRTOVA, performing a blend of jazz, blues and Romany songs (Princes Amongst Men DJ support).

SUNDAY afternoon 4.30pm: ROMA HUMAN RIGHTS EVENT (documentaries)
A variety of short documentaries from Turkey, Kosovo, Serbia, Bulgaria and the UK celebrating ROMA HUMAN RIGHTS.

**** British Gypsy activist and film maker Jake Bowers will present several shorts he has directed on the UK Gypsy-Traveller community*****

SUNDAY evening 7.00pm: I EVEN MET HAPPY GYPSIES + CHILDREN OF THE BRASS BAND (film)

A very rare screening of the classic 1960s Yugoslav film I EVEN MET HAPPY GYPSIES. This brilliant, disturbing feature is rated as one of the great European films of the 1960s, helped launch Yugoslavia's "black cinema" movement and inspired Kusturica’s Gypsy epics. Supported by THE CHILDREN OF THE BRASS BAND VILLAGE, a witty and engaging 15-minute documentary that shows how ancient musical traditions continue to exist in southern Serbia.

+ post-film screenings live music @ Ritzy upstairs Bar with klezmer duo THE MATZOH BOYS (PAM DJ support).

RITZY PHOTOGRAPHIC EXHIBITION

A photographic exhibition of an Albanian Roma community by Australian photojournalist Rob Hackman will hang in the Ritzy's downstairs bar across April.

Hackman writes, “After emerging from 50 years of isolated communist rule the people of Albania were encouraged to invest their savings and houses in a huge pyramid scheme. An estimated $2 billion was lost when these government endorsed schemes collapsed in 1997. Today many in Albaniastruggle to rebuild their lives.

This collection of images depict the lives of a small group of Roma living in the wake of this huge financial crash.” All prints will be for sale with profit going back to this Roma community.

============================================================================
THE PICTURE HOUSE GREENWICH Friday 1st, Saturday 2nd, Sunday 3rd MAY
============================================================================
FRIDAY 6.45pm: LATCHO DROM (film)
Directed by Tony Gatlif, this beautiful 1993 feature follows the musical migration of the Romany people from Rajasthan to Andalucia. Celebrated as a classic of world cinema, Latcho Drom is a haunting, visionary film.

SATURDAY evening 6.45pm: PRETTY DYANA: A GYPSY RECYCLING SAGA & CYMBALOM LEGACY (documentaries)

Roma documentaries Pretty Dyana: A Gypsy Recycling Saga (Serbia) & Cymbalom Legacy (Holland-Hungary 45 mins) are acclaimed, brilliant award winning documentaries! Pretty Dyana finds director Boris Mitic investigating how Roma families that fled ethnic cleansing in Kosovo have built Mad Max-like vehicles from old Yugoslav Dyana cars and employ them to recycle Belgrade’s trash. It is both hilarious and life-affirming – a Balkan Slumdog! Cymbalom Legacy focuses on virtuoso Hungarian cymbalom player Miklos Lukacs. Beautifully shot and recorded by director Mano Camon, Cymbalom Legacy offers up both a history of the cymbalom and the life story of Lukacs, a young Roma musician dedicated to crossing boundaries.

SUNDAY afternoon 4pm: ROMA HUMAN RIGHTS EVENT (documentaries)
A variety of short documentaries from Turkey, Kosovo, Serbia, Bulgaria and the UK celebrating ROMA HUMAN RIGHTS.

==============================================================

THE RITZY, BRIXTON Box Office: 08707 550
Coldharbour Lane, London, SW2 1JG
Nearest tube: Brixton (Victoria Line), 3 minutes walk
www.picturehouses.co.uk/site/cinemas/ritzy/local.htm

GREENWICH PICTURE HOUSE Box Office: 08707 55 00 65
180 Greenwich High Road , Greenwich, London, SE10 8NN
British Rail is five minutes walk
www.picturehouses.co.uk/site/cinemas/Greenwich/local.html

Roma group addresses prejudice through cingeneyiz.org Web site

"I am a gypsy. One thousand years ago, Byzantines called my people 'athinganoi,' which means 'untouchable.' They were so afraid that they avoided touching us. ... Every country labeled us with expressions in their own languages:

Zigeuner, Cigani and Çingene. They thought we were different. Yes, we are different; we are poorer and freer than other people. But, we are also humans like anyone else," reads the welcome message of a Web site recently launched by a group of gypsies residing in different Turkish cities. The organizers of the Web site -- cingeneyiz.org -- said they set up the site to introduce themselves to the world and to overcome the strong prejudice people feel in their minds and hearts against gypsies. Gypsies in Turkey, or Roma as they are more commonly referred to, were back on the agenda around two weeks ago as they were celebrating the International Day of the Roma.

The celebrations were subdued in İstanbul, however, as they recently lost the battle to save their neighborhood, Sulukule, from a renovation project being carried out by the Fatih Municipality and the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality.

The İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality plans to construct 620 new houses, a hotel and a culture and entertainment center in Sulukule and is gradually demolishing the unregistered houses of Roma people in the area.

The Roma people now wish to make their voices heard through the newly launched Web site, which has a moving message: "We know that we are really different from others. We are free, strong, humanistic and creative. We have been the most peaceful people throughout history. There is no reason to make us feel ashamed. Yes, we are untouchable; evil, treachery and humiliation cannot touch us. ... I am proud of what I am. I am a Gypsy."

Editor of the Web site, Ali Mezarcı, stated that the main reason behind the launch of cingeneyiz.org is to help solve the problem of misunderstanding between gypsies and the people of the countries they reside in. "The most common source of problems we experience with other people is a lack of understanding. People are afraid of ‘the different' and ‘the incomprehensible' and prefer to keep away from them. Many tragic events have built walls between gypsies and other people. However, all people are equal and this reality disregards ethnic background. When we fully understand one another, we will see that we are same," he remarked.

Gypsies all around the world have been subjected to various forms of discrimination throughout history. They have been regarded as work-shy people or social parasites. A major study, carried out in 2004 by a rights group in Britain, revealed that gypsies are the group of people who receive the most hostility from white people in Britain. Hostility toward gypsies is called anti-gypsy racism and is very deep rooted, according to the study.

‘We aren’t a minority; we don't ask for rights'

The cingeneyiz.org team believes that specific and distinctive rights granted to groups of people will not help overcome the troubles they have faced so far.

"Minority rights given to ethnic groups or communities will not solve problems. We consider ourselves as equal citizens of this country rather than as a minority," the team stated, adding that they don't pursue the aim of voicing their demands for cultural or ethnic rights over the Web site.

The Web site shows that gypsies living in Turkey are proud of the names given to them in different countries and cultures as they believe that makes them a trans-racial and universal culture. "We are happy to be a component of different countries and to stand as a peaceful element of humanity. We will be happier if we manage to solve the problems we are facing today," remarked the team.

Sulukule tragedy: a major blow to Roma culture

One of the major topics heatedly debated on the Web site is the demolition of houses belonging to the Roma people in Sulukule as part of the renovation project in the area. Cingeneyiz.org provides up-to-date information to its visitors on the ongoing demolition works and informs them about the struggle against the destruction of a longstanding culture in the area.

The demolition of houses in Sulukule and the relocation of its inhabitants have drawn the indignation of residents and that of the international community as Sulukule is considered a significant historical site that needs to be protected.

A UNESCO progress report on İstanbul prepared last year by a four-member delegation from UNESCO's World Heritage Center pointed out that the planned urban renewal program in Sulukule would result in the destruction of the area and the relocation of its inhabitants. The report also warned İstanbul that if it failed to take the necessary precautions to protect its historical sites, it would be relegated to the UNESCO List of World Heritage in Danger.

Similarly, the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (Helsinki Commission), an independent government agency created by the US Congress, stated last year that it was disturbed by developments in an urban development project threatening the homes of some 3,500 ethnic Roma in İstanbul's Sulukule area and called on the Turkish government to find a solution to the problems facing the Roma.

Ombudsman in firestorm over ‘gypsy crime’ comments

Written by Attila Leitner
Thursday, 16 April 2009

Although civil rights ombudsman Máté Szabó clarified his comments on “gypsy crime”, human rights associations continued to demand his resignation last week.

President László Sólyom met with Szabó, reportedly telling him that his remarks had endangered the public’s trust in his office and warned that the protection of rights can only be effective if the four ombudsmen work together.

The president expressed his hope that Szabó will manage to get the trust of the people back by continuing his civil rights work, which has already revealed numerous irregularities. A statement from the ombudsman’s office said Szabó felt the meeting had been instructive.

In an interview with the news weekly Figyelő, Szabó said that Hungarian society needs to be warned about “gypsy crimes”. According to the ombudsman “gypsy crime” is a special type of “livelihood delinquency”, often carried out in groups. “This is a collectivist, nearly tribal society, which stands in sharp contrast with the Hungarian society’s individualist approach”, Szabó said, adding that the state has a crime prevention role and “if a criminal profile is seen, then society needs to be warned, and it has to be called what it is”.

“I am glad that the ombudsmen for data protection and minority rights would like to solve this problem, but without the majority commissioner, myself, this is not possible”, said Szabó adding again it is in the best interest of society to be warned if it is threatened by a specific group of criminals.

The Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (TASZ) said that such comments coming from one of the most important persons in human rights protection were unacceptable and requested that the ombudsman put out a statement making it clear that his words were improper and offensive, instead of trying to blame the press.

In his statement the commissioner said an “unfortunate, but not malicious” headline was the cause of the outrage, adding that, just as before, he condemns racism in all its manifestations, whether in words or in actions.

A joint statement by a number of Roma and human rights organisations said that the interview and statement afterwards made it clear that the ombudsman cannot properly fulfil this high office.

The Eötvös Károly Institute noted that, besides the fact that the ombudsman’s comments were unacceptable, they make it clear that he believes the office is there to protect the majority against the minority, which shows that the ombudsman has no clear idea of what the protection of civil rights means.

In order to remove an ombudsman from office, the commissioner needs to resign or must be dismissed by a two-thirds parliamentary majority.

Gov promises action on sea gypsy issues

PHUKET: Phuket Governor Wichai Phraisa-ngop has promised to investigate and clear up issues faced by the impoverished sea gypsy community in Rawai.

The announcement came following a protest at Phuket Provincial Hall on April 7 by members of the ‘30 Communities Network’ who demanded the Governor take swift action to solve disputes over land ownership and issues over access to utilities.

About 300 sea gypsy families who currently occupy 200 rai of beachfront land in Rawai claim the right to occupy the area, saying the community has been established there for several generations.
However, a number of other people have come forward claiming ownership of different sections of the land around Rawai Pier.

The boundaries between private and state land in the area are yet to be clearly delineated.

As head of a newly-established committee on issues facing sea gypsy communities, Governor Wichai is scheduled to meet with provincial and municipal officers on April 21 in order to come up with solutions for the issue of access to electricity and water supply.

Those solutions will be announced soon after the April 21 meeting, it was reported.

Gypsies relocated by UN remain on toxic land

Refugees from Kosovo conflict have developed severe health problems after decade on contaminated land.

By J. Malcolm Garcia - Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting
Published: April 14, 2009 21:02 ET
Updated: April 14, 2009 22:21 ET-A

NORTH MITROVICA, Kosovo — Displaced by conflict and stranded by bureaucratic inertia, dozens of Roma families remain on toxic land 10 years after they were relocated there by the United Nations following the Kosovo war.

Osterrode Camp and Chesmin Lug Camp were established by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in 1999 as a temporary measure, when the 9,000-member Roma or gypsy neighborhood on the southern shore of the Ibar River was burnt down by Albanians in the dying days of the Kosovo conflict. The Albanians had accused the Roma of collaborating with the Serb army, a charge the Roma dismiss as unfounded.

Whatever the truth behind the charges and denials, almost everyone agrees that moving Roma families near the now closed Trepca mining and smelting complex, onto land highly contaminated with lead, zinc, arsenic and other metals, has resulted in severe health problems in the community.

When the World Health Organization tested the Roma's blood for lead in 2004, the readings for 90 percent of the children were off the scale, higher than the medical equipment was capable of measuring. Such children fall into the category of "acute medical emergency" and require immediate hospitalization.

Instead they have remained in the camps, ingesting lead through the air, the dirt they play in and through their clothes dusted with lead tailings while drying on laundry lines. Even before their birth, lead enters their bodies from drinking water consumed by their mothers.

According to internationally accepted benchmarks drawn up by the United States Center for Disease Control, 10 micrograms of lead per deciliter causes the beginning of brain damage.

The measurements from the camps were much higher than in the surrounding population and at levels that exceeded any region WHO had previously studied. Twelve children had exceptionally high blood lead levels, greater than 45 micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood, more than four times the amount that causes brain damage.

"The Roma are victimized by lead," said Thomas Hammarberg, European commissioner for human rights. "It is sad the international community has not found a solution 10 years later. It is the single most major environmental disaster in Europe."

Zoran Savich, a pediatrician with the Health Center of Kosovo Mitrovica, saw more than 300 patients in Osterrode and Chesmin Lug between 2005 and 2008.

In that time, Savich said, 77 people died of lead poisoning, many of them children.

"I treated as many I could but they were living in the same conditions and absorbing lead,” Savich said. “When the treatments stopped, their levels went back up. It was useless."

Kosovo has been administered by the United Nations since June 1999, after the NATO bombing campaign on the troops of then-president Slobodan Milosevic, aimed at halting Belgrade's repression of the majority ethnic Albanian population seeking independence.

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MOB ATTACKS GYPSY CAMP IN SOUTHERN CHILE

Written by Cathal Sheerin
Monday, 13 April 2009

A mob of more than 100 people attacked a gypsy encampment near southern Chile's Puerto Montt (Region X) last Friday. The attackers reportedly sought to avenge the death of a local resident, whom they wrongly believed was killed by a gypsy.

The crowd of locals used fire and stones as weapons against what authorities called a peaceful gypsy community that had been there since November 2008.

The crowd had been acting in the belief that a gypsy was responsible for the recent hit-and run accident which killed a local man, Juan Alvarado, 29. Police maintain there is no gypsy connection to the accident.

Four cars were set on fire, and tents and other property were destroyed as the gypsies fled to safety. During the assault, the mob tried to stop the gypsies from escaping. The police tried to help the gypsies, but the crowd turned on them.

When a local fire-fighting unit arrived at the site to put out the flames, it, too, was attacked by locals throwing stones.

District Attorney Sergio Coronado emphasized there was no connection between the gypsies and the car-death case. “The line of investigation does not lead to the gypsies. They were ruled out at the very start. The investigation is leading in another direction, and the family of the victim is aware of this,” he said. Local officials said the gypsy community was a victim of “prejudices” on the part of the locals who attacked them.

Francisco Estevez, the director of the Region X Division of Social Organizations, said he hoped to meet with Regional Governor Sergio Galilea in the next few days to discuss the matter. Estevez said the anti-discrimination initiative currently under discussion in a Senate committee will offer victims of discrimination special recourse in law and will provide special sanctions for those convicted of discrimination crimes.

The gypsies did not formally complain to the police after the attack, but did abandon their site.

Gypsy camp spokesperson Juan Carlos Farias said his group will travel to Santiago to meet with the “King of the Gypsies” in order to discuss the matter and consider what legal action they might pursue.

Locals have asked that the gypsies never be allowed back into Puerto Montt. Octavio Alvarado, head of a local neighborhood association, asked for concrete measures to be taken against the gypsies returning. “This place has been converted into a dump, full of waste and rats. The owner of the land should come and take a look,” he said.

Francisco Nicolich, a gypsy who fled the site on Friday said, “Gypsies have never killed anyone. Every time that something happens, gypsies are blamed.”

SOURCES: LA TERCERA, EL LLANQUIHUE
By Cathal Sheerin

Invercargill bad for abuse, gypsies say

12:21PM Tuesday Apr 14, 2009

A group of about 60 gypsies say Invercargill is among the worst places in New Zealand for abuse after visiting the city over Easter weekend for the annual Gypsy Fair.

About 60 gypsies travel throughout the country in mobile homes with their families for eight months each year.

A group of them told the Southland Times they had things thrown at them and were verbally abused during their weekend in Invercargill, as had been the case in past years.

"This is the worst town in New Zealand. We dread coming here, it's that bad," fortune teller Helena Beissel said.

They said people had been driving past their camp next to Queens Park hurling abuse, throwing eggs and bottles at their mobile homes and tooting their car horns throughout each night of their stay.

They had also wandered into their camp and banged against their mobile homes in the early hours, and a bike had also been stolen, the gypsies said.

The abuse was an annual occurrence in the city, they said, with the only city that compared being Palmerston North.

Gypsy Fair field manager Gavin Mackenzie said he believed there were about "10 to 20 bloody idiots".

"If they are not throwing eggs it's beer bottles," he said.

He also made mention of past bad behaviour in Gore.

"If you go to Gore it's dead rabbits they throw at you."

Gypsy Fair merry-go-round owner Cam Taylor said Invercargill residents were marvellous and some abuse was to be expected when you were a gypsy.

"The reality is we aren't all drug-smoking idiots."

- NZPA

Gypsy families squat in abandoned Mijas urbanisation

By h.b. - Apr 14, 2009 - 8:31 AM

The police are waiting for a judge's order to evict the 150 or so people in the Golden Hills development

Gypsy families have started squatting in an embargoed urbanisation in Mijas where they have justified the abandonment of the flats, said to be in a very poor condition, for their occupation saying otherwise they would be on the streets.

Some 150 people started to occupy the Golden Hills development of 34 apartments on Sunday. The building is owned by the bank after being embargoed from the developer, and there has been no work at the site for the past two years.

Most of those now occupying the abandoned building are young couples with children who have moved from social housing in Molino de Viento.

Local police and the Guardia Civil are now waiting for a decision from a judge regarding a possible eviction of the families.

Serbia: Gypsies' Houses Torn Down in Belgrade

Sunday, April 12th, 2009 @ 00:00 UTC
by Sinisa Boljanovic

This July, Belgrade will be the host of the 25th World University Games. Participants will stay in the newly-built University Village. There used to be some 350 Gypsy houses near that place, the majority of which were built illegally 30 years ago. Following an order of the City Department of Inspections, about 50 houses were torn down on April 3. A few dozen children, women, old and sick Gypsies spent the night without shelter.

Gypsies protested and asked city council for other lodging in Belgrade. Instead, the authorities offered them to be moved in temporary containers to Boljevci, a small settlement about 20 kilometers from the center of Belgrade.

But residents of Boljevci protested as well. They didn’t want to give shelter to Gypsies: they threatened that they would set fire to them and their containers.

Because of this, many NGOs, which supported the Gypsies, talked about racism.

(MORE)

Slovak police exposed over gypsy abuse

Published: April 8 2009 13:22 Last updated: April 8 2009 13:22

Wednesday may be International Roma Day, but Slovakia will not be celebrating any improvement in the status of its gypsies.

Instead, police inspectors will be poring over tapes depicting their colleagues humiliating Roma children in scenes reminiscent of Abu Ghraib.

Half a dozen videos apparently shot by police on March 21 at a local station in Kosice, eastern Slovakia show six Roma children being forced to strip naked, kiss each other on the cheek and then strike each other in the face.

In one shot, six young Roma boys standing in a tiny room begin pulling their clothes off. A voice from above shouts at them to be quick, that the last to disrobe will be punished. One thin boy hesitates to pull off his white underwear. “Take it all off!” a voice shouts. “Hands behind your heads!” The camera that is filming this humiliating scene closes in on the boys’ genitals and then pans out to capture one of them looking up at his tormentors.

In another scene, police in uniform are restraining dogs that are barking at the same six boys. One of them is hiding behind a desk. The sound of crying can be heard. “Shut up, stop crying!” shouts a voice. “Bunch of fucking gypsies.”

In still another, the boys are made to kiss each other on the cheek and then slap each other in the face. “Give him a good one! And now you, hit him back! Now kiss each other,” says the hidden cameraman. “Hit him and shut up. I’ll tell you when to stop. If he ducks, I’ll kick him.”

Uniformed police officers can be seen filming the action on their cameras and mobile phones. The police spectators laugh as the boys, uncertain, keep looking around for instructions. “What kind of a punch was that? Hit him as hard as he hit you!”

Contacted at home in Kosice, Ivan Kroscen, 13, said that he and his friends had stolen a purse at a Kosice shopping mall, and after being arrested had been taken by the police to a downtown precinct. Their parents were not called until after their interrogation, he said. They are all in their early to mid teens.

“They kept laughing at us, and told us not to be afraid of the dogs because they were young ones,” he said. “But one bit me on the leg and in the bum.”

At a press conference on April 7 after the videos surfaced, the country’s top policeman, Jan Packa, said that up to eight policemen would be fired as a result, and that they would be charged with abuse of power. “These individuals have seriously harmed the good name of the Slovak police corps,” he said.

This is not the first time the Slovak police have been accused of abusing members of the country’s second-largest ethnic minority. In 2001, a 51-year-old Roma man was beaten to death while handcuffed to a radiator at a police station in eastern Slovakia. Seven of his police attackers were found guilty of torture last year.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009

Ban the Gas Chamber for Animals in Michigan!

Target: Michigan House
Sponsored by: American Humane Association


Michigan House Bill 4263, the Humane Euthanasia of Shelter Animals Act, would ensure that when the state's unwanted, sick or unadoptable shelter animals have to be euthanized, the procedure will only be done by injection of sodium pentobarbital. This method is called euthanasia by injection.

The American Humane Association considers euthanasia by injection to be the only acceptable and humane means of euthanasia for animals in animal shelters.

Even though a majority of the shelters in the state use euthanasia by injection, 12 still use outdated, inhumane gas chambers. Shelter workers overwhelmingly wish to hold and comfort a frightened animal in its final moments of life. That act may be the only kindness the animal has ever known.

In contrast, even with vigilant oversight, euthanizing any animal by means of a carbon monoxide or dioxide gas chamber is both severely inhumane to medium and large animals, and demoralizing to the workers who have to euthanize. Such outdated practices also create public outcry and demean the purpose of an animal shelter.


HB 4263 is sponsored by Rep. Rick Jones and was drafted by American Humane and the State Bar of Michigan Animal Law Section. Please sign today to support this bill.

Councillor faces action over 'anti-gypsy' remark

john.downing@cambridge-news.co.uk

A COUNCILLOR could face disciplinary action for saying travellers should be left to stew in raw sewage.

Cllr Deborah Roberts is alleged to have made an offensive remark to Dale Robinson, a South Cambridgeshire District Council officer.

They met when the council was about to use its default powers to clear raw sewage from an area near where children played at the Smithy Fen travellers' site.

Mr Robinson, who said he had previously had a "very good" working relationship with the "rather challenging" Cllr Roberts, was asked by her about the cost of the Smithy Fen work.

After she said money should not be spent on "them", Mr Robinson's note of the meeting says:

"She said: 'Let them stew in their own ****'."

Cllr Roberts later said her comment was: "Let them stew in it."

An investigation by the Standards Board for England has been referred to the local hearings panel - and it meets at the council's offices on Wednesday, April 15 to decide if Cllr Roberts breached its code of conduct.

A report from the council's ethical standards officer reveals that Cllr Roberts contacted the Standards Board to deny Mr Robinson's "outrageous" claims and complain that she was the victim of a "witch hunt".

After she met Greg Harlock, the council's chief executive, about the issue, he recalled that she was "very worked up" and "her emotions were all over the place". He said: "At no time did Cllr Roberts deny having said it. What she went into was to provide background information."

But when interviewed by an internal investigator on July 25 last year, Cllr Roberts said: "No I didn't (say that). I'm sure I did say: 'Let them stew in it'."

The council's ethical standards officer said Mr Robinson's account was written soon after the meeting on January 31 last year and he had "no difficulties" in hearing Cllr Roberts' words.

Cllr Roberts said the officer's report took a "selective approach" to evidence, but the officer said all relevant evidence was used in the investigation into whether Cllr Roberts breached the code of conduct, which states: "You must treat others with respect."

If found to have broken the code, Cllr Roberts would face disciplinary action, with the ultimate sanction of three months' suspension from the council.

Cllr Roberts, who was last night unavailable for comment, is no stranger to controversy. In 2007 she escaped punishment from the Standards Board despite saying that, if she had cancer, she would launch a suicide bomb attack on travellers in Cottenham.

She was thrown out of the council's cabinet and later apologised.

Serbia Gypsies moved to sleep in the open

BELGRADE, Serbia, April 7 (UPI) -- The eviction of a small Romany community from their shanties Tuesday triggered outcries against Gypsy discrimination by Serbian officials, observers said.

About 40 Romanies have been sleeping in the open for four nights between Belgrade's high-rise apartment blocs after officials pulled down their sheds, the Serbian news agency Beta said Tuesday.

Belgrade officials evicted the Romany families from 28 tin-and-cardboard shanties erected on state land close to a newly built housing blocks in the New Belgrade district.

The authorities tried to move the Romany families to prefabricated apartments on the outskirts of Belgrade but local residents blocked the area, keeping the Romanies from settling in. Many of the Romanies returned to the New Belgrade district.

More than 43 non-governmental organizations asked the Serbian and Belgrade officials to provide proper housing for the Gypsy families that were forced out from their shanties.

On the eve of April 8, the International Day of the Romany, a number of European organizations warned that strong opposition to foreigners is on the rise amid the current economic crisis in some countries. These organizations said they are concerned over discriminatory attitudes towards the Romanies, particularly over recent escalation of incidents motivated by hatred and racial rhetoric.

International Day of the Romany

The International Day of the Roma (April 8) is a day to celebrate Romani culture and raise awareness of the issues facing Romani people.

The day was officially declared in 1990 in Serock, Poland, the site of the fourth World Romani Congress of the International Romani Union (IRU), in honour of the first major international meeting of Romani representatives, 7-12 of April, 1971 in Chelsfieldnear London.

(MORE)

Defining The Gypsy Issue Correctly

A German author recently published a study which lists all the wrong the Romanian society inflicts upon its Gypsy population.

It is not the first time a foreigner comes to Romania and finds it guilty for deeds his or her own country is found guilty of by the international community. The German author goes that far as to state that Romania is to blame for abiding by the policy of deportation of Gypsies to Germany's death camps, which was enforced upon it by the regime in Berlin.

It is high time, however, for a list of the wrong the Gypsies inflict upon the majority population in Romania. For, while we do have a Gypsy population and a Gypsy problem to solve, we also have, for instance, an Armenian population and no Armenian problem to solve.

The key phrase is, therefore, integration to the majority population lifestyle - or not.

The problems the Gypsies have in Romania does not result from an innate discriminatory attitude Romanians have, as the German author claims, but from the innate inability of Gypsies to integrate.

One cannot solve a problem unless it properly identifies it.
I recall being seated at a wedding party next to a Gypsy man dressed in a smart white suit. When he accidentally spilled coffee on his trousers, I exclaimed: "Oh, what a pity to have smeared your trousers!" But, he said "not at all, this is not dirt, it is coffee ..."

There, in a nutshell, stayed the collision of two different takes on what dirt is made of.

One can notice the same different take from the pitiful status social dwellings were brought to by their Gypsy inhabitants. What was the Romanian state giving them houses to do: clean their rooms and empty their night pots?

After 1990 a lot on nongovernmental organizations with shady sources of income took upon themselves to elevate the status of Gypsies in Romania, strictly monitoring the Romanians' behavior towards the Gypsies.

While the real issue is to monitor the behavior of Gypsies towards the majority population, who resist the cultural integration to the majority population, where ever that majority may be located in Europe.

Translated by Anca Păduraru

Civil groups demand resignation of ombudsman over remarks on "Gypsy crime"

Saturday, 04 April 2009

Civil groups on Friday demanded the resignation of Hungary's ombudsman Mate Szabo, in the wake of his remarks that some crimes can be associated with the Gypsies. The ombudsman has withdrawn his statements.

The Hungarian Helsinki Committee, the Roma Civil Rights Foundation and the European Roma Rights Center protested in a joint statement against the ombudsman's remarks, and said Szabo could not fulfill his post credibly in the future.

In a Thursday interview, Szabo said that he could see "the profile of Gypsy crime" as a form of criminal activities to make a living by members of "an almost tribal group as opposed to the highly individual nature of Hungarian society."

"When we see this profile, we must warn the people and we must also give it a name," Szabo added in the interview.

The ombudsman has violated the constitution and should withdraw his remarks, the Society for Civil Liberties (TASZ) said in a statement, adding that an official airing such views was not suitable for the position.

"Szabo stigmatises groups of people and does not have a clear view of the general ombudsman's function to protect fundamental rights," said another NGO, the Eotvos Institute, founded by former Ombudsman Laszlo Majtenyi, in a statement.

The ombudsman withdrew his statements, saying that "I have surely composed my words wrongly... and I apologise if I had offended anybody".

"I withdraw all my statements that can lead to conclusions that I'd ethnicise delinquency," Szabo said on commercial television ATV on Friday evening.

However, he also said he would only resign if organisations authorised by the constitution called him to do so.

Hungary's Roma minority is estimated at 800,000. They live mostly in dire poverty and are hit by unemployment. They are also threatened by a recent surge of attacks that claimed several lives during the past year.

Meanwhile, the paramilitary Hungarian Guard has staged demonstrative marches in villages with a significant Roma population to protest against an assumed increase in crimes which they attribute to the Roma minority.

Country’s first gypsy festival hits Lahore

Festival to display gypsies’ products, stage theatrical performances

By Ali Usman

LAHORE: The first gypsy festival of the country, in which gypsies from far-flung areas of the country will participate, will commence at the Children’s Library Complex on Friday.

The festival will contain stalls and handicrafts depicting the true culture of gypsies. Around 800 gypsies are expected to attend the festival that is organised by Grass-root Organisation for Human Development (GOHD).

Meeting: Civil society representatives, lawyers, and elders of gypsies will hold a conference to discuss various problems facing the gypsies. The role of government departments in bringing the gypsies to the mainstream population will also be discussed. Government officials from various departments will attend the meeting.

Festival: The festival will put on display the products associated with the traditions and culture of gypsies. Apart from advertising their products, gypsy performers will show their art at the festival.

GODH Project Director Ahmad Bin Tariq told Daily Times at least 300 children of gypsies would attend the festival. He said gypsies from Multan, interior Sindh, and other parts of the country would depict their indigenous cultural traditions.

Tariq said gypsies from the city’s slums had confirmed their participation in the festival. He said food stalls, puppetry performances, folk singing, and theatrical performances would amuse the audience at the festival. “Many characters of gypsies like Behrupia are dying. We aim to preserve these characters along with other traditions of gypsies,” Tariq said. He said it would also help in bridging the gap between the public and gypsies.

Channel 4 doc slate to lift veil on Gypsy weddings

Published: 02 April 2009 09:39 Author: Robin Parker

Firecracker Films is to lift the lid on extravagant Gypsy weddings in a Channel 4 documentary.
The indie is filming several Romany weddings, which typically cost £100,000 – five times the UK average – for the Cutting Edge film.

The weddings often feature lavish decorations, horse-drawn carriages, extravagant fireworks, and a teenage bride in a 20-stone wedding dress.

C4 commissioning editor for factual entertainment Alistair Pegg ordered the film. He said that it would reveal a "moral world of traditional values" among the Gypsy community.

Pegg has also commissioned The World's Oldest Mums (working title), a Cutting Edge doc from Blast! Films. It will meet two Indian women who made headlines last year by giving birth in their early 70s.

Director Amanda Blue, who previously made Prescott: The Class System and Me, will explore the taboo of women over 50 who have a baby. In the UK, 100 women over 50 have IVF each year, and 20 of them give birth.

"As a nation we still have a kneejerk opinion, rooted in disgust, on this issue, but the film will show how science is way ahead of us," said Pegg.

The commissioner has also greenlit a third series of Dragonfly Film and Television's The World's… and Me, in which Mark Dolan meets people with extreme claims to fame. The 4 x 60-minute series will include the world's richest teenager, the world's closest twins and the world's fattest family. Series one has already covered the hairiest man and fattest pet.

Catholic bishops in US ban Japanese reiki

Riazat Butt, religious affairs correspondent
The Guardian, Tuesday 31 March 2009

Reiki, an alternative Japanese therapy with a growing band of followers in the west, is "unscientific" and "inappropriate" for use in Catholic institutions, according to America's bishops.

Guidelines issued by the committee on doctrine at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops warn healthcare workers and chaplains that the therapy "lacks scientific credibility" and could expose people to "malevolent forces".

The document also claims that for a Catholic to believe in reiki presents "insurmountable problems".

Reiki means "universal life energy" and was developed by the theology professor Dr Mikao Usui at the turn of the 20th century, from Buddhist beliefs and Sanskrit teachings. The client lies on a couch, clothed and relaxing, while the therapist's hands rest lightly on the body in a special sequence. Clients often report heat and tingling sensations.

The church's guidelines state: "A Catholic who puts his or her trust in reiki would be operating in the realm of superstition, the no man's land that is neither faith nor science. Superstition corrupts one's worship of God by turning one's religious feeling and practice in a false direction."

The document goes on to state that since reiki therapy is incompatible with Christian teaching and scientific evidence, "it would be inappropriate" for Catholic institutions, such as healthcare facilities and retreat centres, or people representing the church, such as chaplains, to promote or provide support for it.

Reiki master Judith White, who is a Christian, said the bishops had misunderstood the therapy. "There is so much bad information about reiki, anti-Christian information, on the internet," she said. "It says we channel spirits and that's not true. Reiki balances energy in the same way as acupuncture or reflexology. I know of two nuns in the Philadelphia area, one who runs a retreat centre, who have done wonderful work. The bishops weren't talking to women like that."