EU - HINDUS AND Jews have expressed shock at the results of a recent European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights survey which has concluded that every second Roma was discriminated against in Europe.
Rajan Zed, a Hindu statesman and Rabbi Jonathan B Freirich, Jewish leader in Nevada and California in USA; in a joint statement in Nevada on Friday, December 11, said that it was almost 2010 and Roma apartheid in Europe was still continuing openly and blatantly in full view of the world with no end in sight.
This European Union Survey on Roma also found out that each discriminated Roma experienced about 11 incidents of discrimination yearly, 66-92 per cent of Roma did not report discrimination because they felt that “nothing would happen or change” by reporting, about 86 per cent could not name an organisation that could assist them in case of discrimination and about 69 per cent of Roma consider ethnic/immigrant discrimination was widespread.
The survey pointed out that one in five Roma was a victim of a racially motivated crime. Each crime victim Roma experienced about four incidents in a year, 81 per cent crime victim Roma considered victimisation racially motivated, 65-100 per cent Roma did not report personal victimisation to the police because “they were not confident that the police would be able to do anything”, one in three Roma were stopped by police and half of Roma thought they were stopped because they were Roma.
The alarming condition of the Roma people was a social blight for Europe and the rest of the world as they reportedly regularly faced social exclusion, racism, substandard education, hostility, joblessness, rampant illness, inadequate housing, lower life expectancy, unrest, living on desperate margins, language barriers, stereotypes, mistrust, rights violations, discrimination, marginalisation, appalling living conditions, prejudice, human rights abuse, racist slogans on Internet and the like.
Zed and Freirich urged the European Union and the United Nations not to stay apathetic and a silent spectator when fellow Roma brothers/sisters were facing blatant injustice and discrimination in Europe. He urged them to show strong political will, courage and commitment in support of Roma cause.
References to Roma people in Europe, who numbered around 15 million, reportedly went as far back as ninth century AD. How many more centuries Roma had to reside in Europe to prove that they were “real and equal” Europeans like any other, Zed and Freirich asked.