Annual Report 2014 - Discrimination and the Roma community

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Discrimination and the Roma Community 2014
There have been numerous cases of romaphobia and anti-gypsyism in nearly all European countries in 2013 and 2014. Fo-
24. France. Other. Anti-Roma discourse by Minister Valls and forced evictions of Roma families. In September
2013, six months before municipal and European elections, France stepped up its offensive against the Roma
population. The Minister of the Interior, Manuel Valls, was interviewed on television where he associated the Roma
minority with “street begging and crime”, further pointing out that “these groups have a lifestyle that is radically
different from ours” and stressed that the “only solution is the dismantling of camps and expulsions” of Romanian
and Bulgarian Roma. These anti-Roma declarations were strongly criticised by human rights organisations in all
of Europe.
Also in 2013, many Roma were forcibly evicted from settlements in different French Cities (20,000 people ac-
cording to NGO reports. As denounced by Amnesty International, these evictions did not comply with French
law and failed to respect the circular that the French police sent out to local authorities.
The suit filed by the French association called La Voix des Roms (Voice of the Roma) resulted in the current
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls being called to testify for these statements. The association claims that these
declarations could constitute a crime of incitement to racial hatred against the Roma people.
25. Romania. Other. Forced eviction of Roma families in Eforie Sud. More than 20 Roma families who lived on
Agricola street in the Romanian town of Eforie Sud in Southeast Romania were forcible evicted twice over a
span of two weeks.
On 27 September 2013, after receiving an eviction notice seven days prior, more than 100 Roma who lived on
Agricola street, half of whom were children, were evicted from their homes where they had been living for over
20 years. The houses did not have a building permit but the local authorities had partially acknowledged that the
families had some sort of property rights. Some of the residents were registered at the town hall, had ID cards
where their address clearly indicated Agricola Street and their homes had electricity and water.
More than 20 homes were torn down in less than an hour and the residents lost most of their possessions. On
30 September, several of the evicted families were told to temporarily move to a school in ruins. The rest of
the families were forcibly evicted for a second time on 11 October when the local authorities and the police
demolished the improvised shelters they were living in ever since the first eviction.
26. Hungary. Other. Anti-Roma hate speech delivered by a political leader. On 5 January 2013 the Hungarian
newspaper called Magyar Hírlap published an opinion article by Zsolt Bayer, journalist and co-founder of the
governing party called Fidesz. The article contained the following passage regarding Roma:
“A large percentage of Roma are not fit for co-existence; they are unable to live among human beings. These
people are animals and they behave as such. If they come up against resistance, they kill. They want whatever
they see. If they can’t have it, they take it and kill for it. Their animal brains are only capable of producing unintelli-
gible sounds and they only understood brute force. These animals should not exist. Absolutely not. This situation
must be resolved immediately, no matter what it takes.”
This type of hate speech is especially dangerous in Hungary. Six Roma were assassinated in a series of violent
racial attacks just a few years ago. Extreme right-wing groups regularly organise racist marches to intimidate
and harass Roma. There is a general climate of prejudice and hatred against the Roma population and hate speech
has become accepted in public discourse. The situation is so serious that the ultra right-wing anti-Roma party
called Jobbik managed to get 20% of the votes in the most recent elections.
27. Slovakia. Other. Excessive police force against Roma citizens. According to media reports and non-gover-
nmental organisations, on the afternoon of 19 June 2013, 63 police officers entered the settlement on Budulovská
Street (in the city of Moldavanad Bodou in eastern Slovakia) to carry out an investigation into a “rise in criminal