Press Releases

10/28/2015

“No place to live” – Roma in and from Kosovo

PRESS INVITATION - The situation after new laws on accelerated asylum procedures

© Charles Roffey via Flickr (Symbolbild)

In cooperation with the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) and the Documentation and Cultural Centre of the German Sinti and Roma (DoKuZ), the Central Council of the German Sinti and Roma would like to invite to an expert conference

“No place to live” – Roma in and from Kosovo - The situation after new laws on accelerated asylum procedures

Featuring, among others, Kujtim Paqaku (Roma-Representative in the Parliament of Kosovo), human rights activists from Kosovo, Claudia Roth and Volker Beck of the “green party” Bündnis 90, and other members of parliament

Thursday, November 5, 2015

from 3.30 pm to 6.30 pm

at the Documentation and Cultural Centre of the German Sinti and Roma (DoKuZ) in Berlin,

“Aufbauhaus” near Moritzplatz, Prinzenstraße 84 in 10969 Berlin

Experts from Germany and Kosovo will give detailed reports on the situation of the Roma inside and outside of Kosovo following the new German laws on accelerated asylum procedures. Additionally, there will be statements by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, the Federal Ministry of the Interior and of individual members of parliament of all political parties.

The Society for Threatened Peoples will also present its new human rights report which – on more than 60 pages – examines the fate of Roma returnees to Kosovo over a longer period of time.

The Central Council and the Society for Threatened Peoples criticize that the debate about safe countries of origin hardly addresses evidence (provided by human rights groups and refugee organizations) concerning the unbearable “cumulative discrimination” against the Roma, the Ashkali and Balkan Egyptians. From the viewpoint of the Central Council and the STP, Kosovo can only be classified as a safe country of origin if the responsible politicians close their eyes to reality.

ATTENTION EDITORS: We would be glad to organize interviews or discussions, also before the event, with: Mr. Kujtim Paqaku, Roma-Representativein the Parliament Kosovo; Mr. Bashkim Ibishi, Kosovo Agency for Advocacy and Development; Mr. Dzafer Buzoli, GfbV Kosovo; Mrs. Nizaqete Bislimi, lawyer; Romani Rose, Chairman of the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma, and Tilman Zülch, Secretary General of the Society for Threatened Peoples Germany.


Header Photo: Charles Roffey via Flickr