MINELRES: ERIO Newsletter, September 2005

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Original sender: ERIO <office@erionet.org>


EUROPEAN ROMA INFORMATION OFFICE (ERIO)

Newsletter

EU Commission PROGRESS program meant to combat social exclusion could
ignore the new realities of Europe and has an ambiguous budget and an
unclear ending. 

Very promising for combating gender and disability discrimination the
Communication which went trough the Parliament unfortunately fails to
mention some of the most pressing issues. Despite its utmost importance
in shaping the social inclusion in Europe and combating discrimination
the document fails short of clearly mentioning Roma, anti-Semitism or
the issues facing the Muslim minorities in Europe. For the last years
issues related to the ethnic discrimination of Roma, Jews and Muslims
were the main sources of social unrest. Arguably the social upheaval in
the Roma dominated areas in Slovakia at the beginning of 2004 was the
worst. The return to normality in parts of Eastern Slovakia needed the
largest deployment of Slovak troops since the Second World War. (see a
full analyze of PROGRESS at http://www.erionet.org/EU.htm)


UEFA really means it! 

UEFA suspends for the first time in history a stadium for racist
incidents (see http://www.erionet.org/UEFA.htm)


A chilling position of the Slovak government � reported by Beata Olahova 

It shouldn�t be a dilemma when facing hate speech and the cult of war
criminals but the Slovak government seems to prefer an easy escape
avoiding taking action on hate speech against Roma.
(http://www.erionet.org/Slovakia.html) 


Is anti-Gypsyism a type o racism or an ideology? 

There is a conceptual inflation of racism but anti-Gypsyism is more than
that. Read a full article here
(http://www.erionet.org/Antigypsyism.html)


News 

Bulgaria 
At the beginning of September in Haskovo, Southern Bulgaria about 90
Romani students were refused needed documents to move away from
segregated schools and substandard education. The local Tolerance and
Mutual Aid Foundation which runs a project for desegregation of Roma
students reported that that the pupils of two schools  "N. Vaptsarov"
and "G.S. Rakovski" were denied their rights. The requests of the
parents of some 90 students disappointed by the substandard educational
process were refused by the two principals. In blatant breach of the
Bulgarian School Law, the Decree for Desegregation of Minorities in
education and the Anti-discrimination act and the official position
against segregation of the Bulgarian government  the decision of the
school principals is a step back in the process of achieving equal
opportunities for Roma.(article to follow)

OSCE  
The report produced by ERIO anti-Gypsyism in European Mass Media will be
soon available.
For more information please contact valeriu.nicolae@erionet.org 
 
Capacity Building.
The Roma Diplomacy Course has entered its second stage. For more
information please check http://www.erionet.org/Fresh.html for more
details.
 

Valeriu Nicolae Deputy Director
European Roma Information Office 
Av.Eduard Lacomble 17, Brussels
Tel + 32 27333462 
Fax +32 27333875
Mob +32
476538194

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