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Porto, Portugal: Portuguese shopkeepers using ceramic frogs to ‘scare away’ Roma

Surrounded by baskets of oranges and tangerines, a bright green ceramic frog stands at the entrance of Helena Conceicao’s grocery shop.
“Everybody has frogs here,” she said. “It’s to scare away Gypsies because they are afraid of frogs.” Similar ornaments have been placed at the entrance of shops, cafes and restaurants all over Portugal.  “No one likes to have Gypsies around,” said Conceicao. 
She explained that she is aware that the Portuguese law forbids discrimination, “but I’m not forced to put up with people who steal and cause trouble”.
Ten shopkeepers in Porto admitted to using ceramic frogs to dissuade Roma from entering their shops. Only Conceicao agreed to go on record.  Others secretly recorded by Al Jazeera explained that the frogs were meant to show Roma people that “Gypsies are not welcome”, using language with deeply ingrained prejudice and racial slurs.  Roma communities arrived in Portugal in the 15th century but were only recognised as citizens in 1822. 
Persecuted for centuries and subjected to repressive laws, they remain one of the most discriminated-against minorities in the country.  A survey conducted by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) in 2016 found that 71 percent of Portuguese Roma had suffered an episode of discrimination within the previous five years. 
According to the study, Roma continue to face “intolerable levels of discrimination” and unequal access to services. 
Also in 2016, Gil was one of 18 Roma from different parts of the country who participated in a campaign aimed at raising awareness of the discriminatory frogs. 

Link: https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2019/2/4/portuguese-shopkeepers-using-ceramic-frogs-to-scare-away-roma

Contact points for the Roma Ombudsman was supported at the High Level Roma Strategic Conference on 12 October

On 12 October 2020, Germany hosted a high-level EC Presidency digital conference on "An EU Strategic Framework for Roma Equality, Inclusion and Participation until 2030". The conference was attended by some European and national organizations.
Helena Dalli, EC Commissioner for Equality, highlighted the key role of equal education for Roma, business and minimum commitments, which was also supported in other speeches.
All three Roma MEPs spoke at the conference: Peter Pollák, Romeo Franz and Lívia Járóka. Lívia Járóka emphasized equality, education, minimum standards, employment and housing, and solidarity. He also reminded that Roma leaders need to be listened to.
Many speakers raised the issue of Roma surveys by the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA). FRA Director Michael O’Flaherty said each country’s own strategy is important, as are the countries' monitoring indicators.
Birgit Van Hout, Regional Representative for Europe of UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR), mentioned UN reports, human rights, international processes, implementation, independent monitoring and highlighted the countries of the Western Balkans. The countries of the Western Balkans received much-deserved attention in many speeches of the conference.
Katarína Mathernová, EC Deputy Director-General for Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, emphasized the importance of the funds and, in particular, the difficult situation in the Western Balkans. She highlighted the empowerment of Roma communities, the policy making process, Roma women and the functioning of the labor market. He missed concrete politics, especially for the Roma in the Western Balkans.

ROMA NATIONAL CONTACT POINTS

In both concluding speeches of the conference, the initiative taken by the International Romani Union IRU on 29 June 2019 to establish national Roma contact points was supported. At the IRU Regular Plenary Session in the year 2019, IRU President Zoran Dimov presented his idea of Roma Ombudsman and it was accepted.
In his closing remarks at the EC Conference, Věra Jourová, Vice-President of the EC Commission for Values and Transparency, and Michael Roth, Minister of State for Europe of the Federal Foreign Office in Germany, both mentioned Roma national contact points. Věra Jourová also brought out a minimum commitments and Michael Roth the lack of children's computer equipment.


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EU Roma Strategic Framework documents:
https://ec.europa.eu/info/publications/new-eu-roma-strategic-framework-equality-inclusion-and-participation-full-package_en

The Council of Europe has called on Bulgaria to end attacks and discrimination against Roma

Bulgaria has made progress in implementing the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, strengthened its anti-discrimination legislation, supported the education of Roma children and defended religious rights, according to Council of Europe experts. However, according to them, the legal framework regarding the realization of cultural, linguistic and participatory rights of minorities remains narrow, so the problems regarding secondary education for Roma and the quality of education remain, hate speech in public discourse often goes unpunished, the media report. .
Unfortunately, the situation with the right of persons from national minorities to participate in public affairs has deteriorated. Organizations representing the Turkish minority and many organizations working with and for Roma have ceased their activities with the National Council for Co-operation on Ethnic and Integrative Issues, deeming it ineffective. Authorities seek to promote tolerance, but their activities are regularly undermined by xenophobic, anti-Gypsy, Islamophobic, and anti-Semitic statements by senior politicians, to which authorities often fail to respond. Hate speech sanctions remain isolated cases, say Council of Europe experts.
Roma continue to suffer from severe socio-economic inequality in education, housing and employment; they are still exposed to a high level of discrimination. There are problems with the transition of Roma children to secondary education and the quality of education for these children. Despite the legal framework prohibiting forced segregation, de facto segregation remains widespread and the actions of the authorities to remedy this situation are not sufficient, the Advisory Committee is of the opinion.
The Committee makes several recommendations for urgent action to the Bulgarian authorities: develop and implement a new comprehensive strategy for Roma inclusion by 2021, continue to focus on prioritizing Roma children 's access to education, expand the mediation program and combat against segregation. Expulsion of Roma from illegally occupied homes should be a last resort and in accordance with the principles of non-discrimination and proportionality. Authorities need to ensure that attacks and discrimination based on ethnic minority are indeed investigated and those brought to justice brought to justice.

Roma national heroes: Anton Facuna

Anton Facuna was born in 1920 in Sklabica, Slovakia and died in 1980 in Bratislava. He was trained by the US Strategic Services (OSS), which would be the embryo of what we now know as the CIA.
In 1941 he was sent as a Slovak soldier to fight in the Soviet Union, and then, in 1944, in Italy.
He often joined the enemy ranks as a spy, even though he knew that his true identity could be revealed.
Once, with a group of Slovak colleagues, they were captured by the Nazis and subjected to intense torture that caused them to admit what the group's hiding place was. Which caused the arrest of 4 members, but Fatsuna manages to save and continues as a partisan. According to several sources, he arrives in Budapest, Hungary, where he starts working as a musician to hide his identity and where he is said to have carried out a bomb attack.
He traveled as a "Lone Wolf" to the OSS base in Yugoslavia where he showed off his decoration for the killing of 25 German soldiers.
At the end of the war, the state government awarded him a Medal of Honor
From 1968-1972 he was the director of the Boutique company which is responsible for employing the Roma population and training them for better job training. The company closed the state.
In 1968, Facuna was the first president of the Slovak Roma Association and worked very hard to make a Roma-Slovak dictionary, but unfortunately did not finish it after picnic in 1980.

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