Roma rights

Available as

Online

Summary

The Roma have an exotic image: musicians, actors, artists, and sometimes beggars. Europeans called them "Gypsies" because they thought they came from Egypt. But Romani people have lived in Europe f...

The Roma have an exotic image: musicians, actors, artists, and sometimes beggars. Europeans called them "Gypsies" because they thought they came from Egypt. But Romani people have lived in Europe for over a thousand years, and they originally came from India, not Egypt. Roma communities in Europe have been subjected to centuries of persecution and racism. They are one of the most excluded groups in the world. They are denied the chance to work, proper housing, healthcare and their children refused a decent education. A new initiative--the Decade of Roma Inclusion--was launched in 2005 in a concerted attempt to help break the desperate cycle of poverty in which so many Roma live.

Show More