“Anti-Gypsyism continues to be one of the most widespread forms of racism in Europe. Millions of Roma in many European countries are facing discrimination and hate speech in their everyday lives. The dimension can vary from experiencing derogatory clichés about the Romani culture up to violent riots” stated John WARMISHAM (United-Kingdom, SOC), Congress Spokesperson on Roma and Travellers.
Referring to the “Declaration of Mayors and Elected Local and Regional Representatives of Council of Europe Member States against anti-Gypsyism” which the Congress adopted during its 32nd Congress Session in March 2017, Mr Warmisham stressed the importance of keeping up the fight anti-Gypsyism at the local and regional level: “The Declaration is a political statement. By signing it, mayors and councillors express their will to reject all forms of discrimination, violence, harassment and incitement to hatred against Roma and Travellers in their municipalities or regions. They commit themselves to refrain from any political alliance building or co-operation with political parties or authorities that incite racial or ethnic prejudices. Rather they undertake to encourage members of these communities to become themselves active in political representation” he stated.
Until now, 83 representatives from 32 member states have signed the declaration against anti-Gypsyism, with the municipalities of Şişli (Turkey), Volos (Greece) and Gliwice (Poland) being among the latest signatories. At present, apart from the two official languages (English and French), the Declaration against anti-Gypsyism is available in 21 non-official languages: Albanian, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Finnish, Georgian, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Latvian, Macedonian, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Spanish, Turkish and Ukrainian.
