A
four-day conference of the World Union of the Roma people has
wrapped up in Prague. The objective of the meeting was improvement
of the life of the Roma, also known as Gypsies.
Many face
discrimination and hostility in their home countries.
Delegates discussed raising Roma living conditions, securing
human rights and further developing their organization, which claims
to represent millions of the world's Roma.
The Roma union estimates that up to 15 million Roma live in
Europe with a similar number spread over the rest of the world. Roma
are believed to have emerged from India about 1,000 years ago.
How to respond to violent attacks on Roma in several European
countries was a major theme of the conference. It also addressed
compensation demands by Roma victims of the Nazis, and a move to
standardize the Roma language.
Delegates also discussed the plight of Roma living in Kosovo,
where many have been attacked by ethnic Albanians who accuse them of
siding with the Serbs during last year's war.
The congress called on the world media to devote more coverage to
the attacks.
The host country, the Czech Republic, has itself witnessed
numerous attacks on Gypsies over the last decade, since the fall of
communism.
