Internationale Roma-dag: Raad van Europa vraagt aandacht voor zigeuners (en)
Strasbourg, 07.04.2006 - “Silence has always been an accomplice of crime and persecution and in this respect Europe has a debt to its Roma and Travellers population” said Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe on the occasion of International Roma Day (8 April).
“We have a duty to educate. It would be difficult to find an example of more deeper rooted, more widespread and more persisting prejudice than the one against Roma which continues to blind so many of our fellow Europeans. The only way out is to teach – about Roma, about tolerance, about acceptance and about respect.
We have a duty to act and help the Roma community to free itself from the social and economic deprivation in which so many of its members continue to live in European countries. Prejudice and discrimination cannot only be talked down, they must be lived down.
We have a duty to protect Roma community from the systematic, regular and repetitive racism its members continue to be victims of across Europe on an almost daily basis. Sometimes this persecution takes the form of violent acts committed by deranged individuals or groups, which is terrible. Very often, it takes form of official acts, which is even worse.
Just recently, the Council of Europe hosted the first plenary of the European Roma and Travellers Forum that represent the populations of Roma, Sinti, Kalé, Travellers and related groups in Europe.
The objective of Council of Europe work is full emancipation of Roma and Travellers within the European society. This is not an easy task because it needs to overcome not only years, but generations of accumulated injustice and accumulated pain” concluded the Deputy Secretary General.
Council of Europe Press Division
Tel: +33 (0)3 88 41 25 60
Fax:+33 (0)3 88 41 39 11