Alliance against Antigypsyism launched

The Alliance against Antigypsyism today published a reference paper on antigypsyism, the specific racism against Roma, Sinti, Travellers and other groups who are stigmatized as ‘gypsies’ in the public domain. The reference paper proposes a working definition of antigypsyism. “This is necessary: the term antigypsyism is increasingly used, but there is no common understanding of its scope, depth and implications. This hinders the formulation of effective answers to tackle it,” said Gabriela Hrabanova of ERGO Network, one of the initiators of the Alliance against Antigypsyism. The Federal Union of European Nationalities (FUEN), the largest organization of the autochthonous, national minorities in Europe supports the alliance as part of its efforts to combat discrimination and antigypsyism.

President Loránt Vincze said about FUEN’s involvement in the Alliance: “FUEN has repeatedly urged national authorities, international institutions and the people at large to undertake stronger efforts to adopt concrete measures to combat discrimination and antigypsyism. Several years ago the EU seemed to be ready to tackle the Roma situation, but the EU Framework for National Roma Integration failed to provide significant improvement in combatting discrimination and hate speech against Roma people. Numerous studies have shown the high level of discrimination and hate crime faced by Roma throughout Europe, with every second Roma reporting having been discriminated against over the previous year and a fifth having been victims of racist assault, threat or serious harassment. This intolerable situation needs to be addressed urgently and therefore we need to better understand the root causes of this unacceptable behaviour against our fellow citizens.”

The Alliance against Antigypsyism is an occasional coalition of organizations that promote equality of rights for Roma, to advance a better understanding of antigypsyism. The Alliance counts more seventy members from across Europe and more are still joining.  An up-to-date members list, as well as the reference paper can be found on www.antigypsyism.eu. The reference paper stirs debate about the nature and implications of antigypsyism. It wants to raise awareness of its characteristics and scope, among a wider circle of policy and decision makers and aims to help them formulate effective answers to it.

In response to today’s release of the reference paper, Rita Izsák-Ndiaye, Independent Expert on minority issues for the UN Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights, said:  “A compelling contribution to the debate; international organizations, including the UN and the European Union will have to take note of this call to shift their perspective on Roma inclusion.”

Ciprian Necula, State secretary, Ministry of European Funds, Contact Point for Roma of Romanian Government, said, “European racism against Roma is relying mostly on ignorance. We need to practice our citizenship in our countries and work for equity and solidarity. The reference paper convincingly defines antigypsyism as a major obstacle for equal citizenship.”

More information:
Homepage of the Alliance
Reference paper