November 10, 2017

Support the Roma Anti-Discrimination Network!

tags:	#Sinti, #Roma, #RAN, #Roma Anti-Discrimination Network, #discrimination
located:	Germany, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Slovakia, Kosovo, Macedonia, The former Yugoslav Republic of, Romania
by:	Deniz Zehra Tavli

Resentments and xenophobic attitudes towards Roma and Sinti are present in Europe for centuries. Many Roma who have come as a result of the Balkan Wars to Germany as refugees, undergo multiple discrimination because they are Roma, Muslims and have applied for asylum in Germany.
Increased numbers of immigrants of Roma and other groups from Eastern Europe, whose stereotypical representation in the media, as well as deep-rooted resentment against the minority, reinforce the devaluation experiences of Roma. Discrimination determine the everyday lives of people at school, in relation to the neighborhood, with housing, at work, with authorities etc.

But also in their countries of origin, Sinti and Roma are targets of rassistic assaults, pogroms, structural discrimination. The range of discrimination ranging from social exclusion, visible on discrimination in education, the labor market market access, with housing and health care, to excessive and racist violence. A total of about 10 to 12 million Roma live in Europe.

The anti-racism policy of the EU is not or only partially implemented in some European countries. This passivity of governments endorses extremist violence against the minority. Extremists, neo-Nazis and neo-fascist groups in Czech Republic, Hungary, Bulgaria and Slovakia have repeatedly attack Roma in public spaces and even in their private homes. The acts of violence against Roma are not limited to these four countries. Attacks were also recorded in France, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, Romania and Serbia.

The Roma Anti-Discrimination Network (RAN) located in Göttingen/ Germany offers help to those who are or were discriminated in schools, government agencies, at work, in housing, in health care and in other places. RAN is based on an anti-discrimination network and supports the minority in their own interests on the spot. The organisation is monitoring cases of discrimination and violence against Roma and Sinti, publishes informations about reported cases and has established a legal fund for survivors of racistic attacks and discrimination for legal cases of dispute.

If you want to support this more than necessary project with a donation, you may donate into their legal fund. A donation helps affected Roma and Sinti in enforcing their rights and make a valuable contribution to the anti-discrimination work. The funds will cover the costs for translators, counseling processes, legal advice and other legal expenses.

In any case you can help RAN by spreading their news, share and like their contents, visit their events or report whitnessed cases of discrimination and racism against Roma and Sinti.