Recent RomNews postings
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Date: Sun, 4 Apr 1999 11:40:52 +0300 (EET DST)
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Subject: Recent RomNews postings
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Recent RomNews postings
MINORITIES DISADVANTAGED AT SCHOOL
London / UK (RNN Correspondent) March the 29th, 1999
Britain's schools standards watchdog, Ofsted, has published a report
which claims that some children of non-English ethnic origins
consistantly underachieve at school, highlighting a racist bias in the
curriculum and in the education system's structure as a whole. This
verdict mirrors recent charges of "institutional racism" in other
areas of public life in Britain, such as the police force.
Few local education authorities have coherent equal opportunites and
profile-raising schemes to aid children from Bangladeshi, Pakistani,
Afro-Carribean and Roma homes for example. As well as imparting basic
numeracy and literacy skills, schools must also combat racial
stereotyping and harrassment, according to the report.
Responses to such claims and to figures which show the relative
achievements of these children at GCSE (mid-level) exams have been
mixed. It was warned that such reports must be carefully worded so as
not to alienate teachers who feel themselves accused of racist
prejudices instead of understanding that the report was emphasising an
institutional feature. Some observers have claimed that poor teaching
standards alone are to blame.
----------------------------
SAKIC TRIAL - DEFENDANT PLEADS INNOCENT
Zagreb / CROATIA (RNN Correspondent) March the 30th, 1999
77 year-old Dinko Sakic has pleaded innocent to the murder of 2,000
inmates at Jasenovac concentration camp, nicknamed "the Balkan
Auschwitz", in 1944. After listening to the details of the charges on
Monday, March 15th, Sakic, deported last year from Argentina, claimed
that the deaths were all due to natural causes, such as typhus and
other diseases. The prosecution under Radovan Santek claims that Sakic
either know of or was directly responsible for the deaths of up to
2,000 Roma, Serb, Jewish and dissident Croat prisoners, who died as a
result of malnutrition and torture as well as overwork. According to
witnesses you could be shot if you were unable to work if you did not
actually die from exhaustion first. Some have also claimed to have
seen Sakis himself kill people, among them musicians murdered as a
reprisal for another's escape.
The trial started after 10 days' delay: Sakic passed out the night
before the trial was originally meant to begin but was soon well
enough again to be present as proceedings commenced under judge Drazen
Tripalo.
----------------------------
CROATIA PLANS TO RESTORE CAMP MEMORIAL
Zagreb / CROATIA (RNN Correspondent) March the 30th, 1999
The Croatian govenrment will restore a memorial at the site of the
WWII concentration camp Jasenovac after efforts to clear the area of
mines planted by Serb forces in the early 90s ended successfully.
Thousands of Jews, Roma, Serbs and dissident Croats were interned and
killed here, some 2,000 of them under the regime of Dinko Sakic, now
facing trial in Zagreb for war crimes. His trial and renewed interest
in the camp site are seen as Croatia's initial attempts to revise its
Ustashe-dominated WWII past.
----------------------------
DUAL CITIZENSHIP IN CZECH REPUBLIC
Prague / CZECH REP. (RNN Agency) March the 31st, 1999
Prague has finally given in to Western European pressure and
introduced legislature enabling Czech citizens to hold two passports.
Brussels has been especially concerned about the Republic's Roma
population, many of whom failed to apply for specifically Czech
citizenship after the demise of the Czechoslovakian state. It is
thought that the bureaucratic routes involved were too daunting and
that emotional ties to Slovakia (where many Roma orginally came from)
were too strong to persuade them to apply in time. Roma faced the
further obstacle, possibly intentional, that only people who had not
had "legal trouble" for five years prior to their application could be
granted citizenship. In this way Roma were deprived of all social
welfare benefits as of July 1994; Western pressure has since then
forced Prague to introduce aid but this applies only for those in dire
straits. The new legislation paves the way for Roma to be naturalised
along with 300,000 Slovaks and permit emmigrants returning to Bohemia
and Moravia to gain Czech citizenship while also retaining the
passport of the country they had until then been living in: this issue
plays a role in the reaquisition of land confiscated by the Communist
authorities because only people with full Czech citizenship had a
right to compensation. Asylum seekers will also benefit from Pragues
change of heart. Though the number of foreigners in the Republic is
minimal, surveys show that ordinary Czechs are doubtful about the new
legislation, fearing an influx of emmigrants.
----------------------------
APOLOGY TO ROMA
Prague / CZECH REP. (RNN Agency) April the 3rd, 1999
A Czech government human rights representative, Petr Uhl, has called
for the demolition of a pig farm built on the site of a concentration
camp for Roma. The money needed for the job should come from Prague,
he said in newspaper reports on Friday, March 5th. He went on to say
that the cabinent must, in its capacity as representative of the
state, acknowledge its responsibility to the Roma minority, almost
exterminated during the Nazi occupation. Czechs were responsible for
running and governing the Roma camp of Lety near the western Bohemian
town of Pisek.
----------------------------
HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS!
HELP THE NEW ALIKARNASSOS, CRETE, GREECE, GYPSIES!
New Alikarnassos is a small municipality adjoining the larger
municipality of Heraklion. It is notorious for its prison, which is
almost in the midst of the community.
Alikarnassos is suffocating in an underprivileged area between the
port, the airport and the industrial zone of Heraklion. Apart from the
major problems which result from the previous situation the gypsy
campgrounds are within its administrative borders. This is considered
to be yet another problem. The encampment is situated between the
highway & the industrial zone, about 500 meters away from the last
house of the municipality. It is a shanty site with no water supply,
electricity, sewer system or organized garbage collection! Rubble and
rubbish is deposited illegally & uncontrollably by individuals. About
500 persons live in this nightmare location.
This site was formed about 15 years ago by a decision of the
prefecture & with the tolerance of the current municipal authority.
The Prefecture wished to collect all the scattered encampments into a
large one. It never provided the new site with the basic necessities
of human existence.
The municipality of Alikarnassos considers the site illegal & under
relocation. The authorities are doing their best to drive the gypsies
away. They refuse to have them registered in the municipal lists even
though most of the gypsies live there permanently & 200 children were
born there. The children were unable to attend a local school because
the encampment was not within the enrollment boundaries of any school.
Four years ago due to the actions of the prefecture a school of gypsy
children was founded away from the municipality of Alikarnassos as a
part of 34th Elementary School of Heraklion. Older children who do not
have the normal age for school & are therefore illiterate are its
students. Since last year some children who had attended this school
started going to regular schools in the municipality but most of them
drop out too soon. No child of the encampment has graduated from
elementary school.
Two years ago the municipality of Menemeni took the initiative to
create a multi-municipal project for "marginal" population groups. Its
purpose was to take advantage of certain EEC programs (ie. HORIZON) to
aid the gypsies by providing the encampments with the necessary means
for a decent living. Only two out of fifty municipalities with
registered gypsy campgrounds have refused to take advantage of this
program. The municipality of Alikarnasssos was one of them. The excuse
furnished was that the site was under
relocation!
Despite all the actions by the Prefecture no relocation area has been
found because no municipality wishes the campgrounds to be in its
district.
The appointed prefectural committee (art. 2 of the Sanitation Mandate
no. A5/696/25-4-83 F?? 243B/83) was unable to propose a relocation
site that was acceptable by the local community. Then a final effort
was made for the transfer of the site to an abandoned military camp in
the area of Karteros. This was also proposed by the Prefecture. The
previous city council of N.Alikarnassos rejected this solution, too,
even though the mayor of Alikarnassos had initially accepted it. The
explanation given was that the military camp was within the borders of
the municipality! The council decided to officially evict the gypsies
as thieves of the municipal property, remaining indifferent to where
they go to because nobody accepts them.
In this way the problem remains unsolved. The municipality of
Alikarnassos is mainly responsible as it does not accept any possible
area of settlement within its administrative borders. Thus it makes
every effort for finding a relocation area impossible. The
municipality presents the encampment as an insurmountable problem to
which it has no intention of providing a solution but rather
transferring the responsibility to a different municipality. On the
other hand the gypsies through their organization �HOPE� are
requesting the improvement of their living conditions either to their
present campgrounds or by moving to another one.
Lately the problem has become more acute. Mr. Paterakis, the mayor of
Alikarnassos, has decided to put to effect the decision (no. 329/97)
of the city council of Alikarnassos for the eviction of all gypsies.
On 13-3-99 102 gypsy families were served with a protocol of
administrative eviction. The activation of the decision of the city
council after two years coincides with the revision of the General
City Plan of the wider area & the efforts to develop the district
where the site is. A sports center and areas of recreation are
proposed to be made. Already people from the private sector have
purchased 50 acres from ???? (owner of the industrial zone) &
according to rumors they are going to build a shopping center there.
The decision to drive the gypsies away in thirty days without
providing them with a relocation area is a major social, moral & legal
issue of brutal violation of Human Rights.
We ask the organizations of social awareness & the media to help this
cause with their letters, articles, performances & any other means
possible.
THE GROUP OF INITIATIVE AGAINST RACISM & XENOPHOBIA OF HERAKLION
Please send your appeals to the following:
1) Mr. Vasilis Valasopoulos
Regional Secretary General of Crete
Koundourioti Ave.
712 02 Heraklion, Crete, GREECE
FAX 081-222506
2) Mr. John Garefalakis
Prefect of Crete
Eleftherias Ave.
712 01 Heraklion, Crete, GREECE
FAX 081-342587
3) Mr. John Paterakis
Mayor of N. Alikarnassos
13 Dionysiou St.
714 08 N. Alikarnassos, Crete, GREECE
FAX 081-241022
Send copies to:
1) Newspaper "PATRIS"
2 Thesalonikis St.
712 01 Heraklion, Crete, GREECE
FAX 081-258161
2) Newspaper "Mesogios"
20 Handakos St.
712 02 Heraklion, Crete, GREECE
FAX 081-282138
3) Newspaper "Allagi"
17 Arkoleondos St.
712 02 Heraklion, Crete, GREECE
FAX 081-243370
4) Newspaper "Tolmi"
51 Dikeosinis St.
712 02 Heraklion, Crete, GREECE
FAX 081-221332
----------------------------
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