The European Civil Rights Prize of the Sinti and Roma will be awarded this year to German Chancellor Angela Merkel by the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma together with the Manfred Lautenschläger Foundation. A speech will be given on this occasion by Andrej Kiska, the former President of Slovakia who won the award in 2019. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the ceremony will be held online will be livestreaming it at April 28 this year.
Merkel is being given the award because, after taking office for the first time in 2005, she has constantly advocated for more awareness of minority rights and, on various occasions, has commemorated the Holocaust against the Sinti and Roma in Europe during the Second World War. "The German Chancellor has taken up Germany's historical responsibility, especially against the background of the Nazi crimes during the Holocaust against the European Sinti and Roma, and has based her political steps on that responsibility," said Romani Rose, the chair of the Central Council of Sinti and Roma.
