Commemoration Of Roma Genocide
- February 6th, 2011
- Posted by EUEditor
A full plenary meeting of the European Parliament has held a commemoration (2.2.11) of the “gypsy holocaustâ€, the Porrajmos, or Roma genocide, during the second World War.
It took place in conjunction with the parliament’s marking of the International Remembrance Day of the Holocaust, recalling the murder of millions of Jewish people and very many from other persecuted minorities, in the Nazi German interregnum.
A statement from the European Parliament says that by conservative estimates, 220,000 Roma were killed during the war.
“They were citizens of Hungary, Bohemia, Romania, France, Germany, Poland, Serbia and many other countries: men, women, elderly people and children.
“If they were alive today, they would be European citizensâ€, it says.
The statement quotes the Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán, speaking earlier at the Parliament, that “Europe will only have a heart if it creates the conditions of social integration for the most under-privileged groups.â€
Mr Orban’s centre-right government has declared an integration policy for Roma people, who are among the poorest in Hungary, with very high levels of joblessness — and also at times the subject of social friction and campaigns against crimes ascribed to “nomads†in society.
The government has outlined plans in education, social and family support, and job creation, and, while holding the current Presidency of the EU Council, wants to sponsor a general European program for integration.
Some 500000 Roma live within Hungary’s 10-million population.
Reference
BBC News, London, “Hungary puts Roma high up EU agendaâ€, 17.1.11.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12205904, (5.2.11).
EU, “Commemoration of Roma genocideâ€, EU Delegation to Australia, 4.2.11. http://www.delaus.ec.europa.eu/, (5.2.11).