Roma, Sinti, Travellers

Background

Who are the Roma?

• “Roma” is used to describe a number of sub-groups, such as Sinti, Kalé, and Gitano, who live in several European countries. Formerly nomadic, the majority are now sedentary.
• Roma have been described as "the world's most populous marginalized community". They have been persecuted for hundreds of years and, during the Second World War, hundreds of thousands were murdered by the Nazi regime.
• Roma Holocaust Remembrance Day is marked annually on 2 August. In 2020, Fernand de Varennes, UN Special Rapporteur on minority issues, issued a reminder: "It’s been nearly eight decades after the Nazis killed hundreds of thousands of Roma, who all too frequently have been victims of massacres and other grave human rights violations. Unfortunately, hatred, exclusion and vilification of the Roma still persist today in many parts of the world".

Widespread denial

Roma, Sinti and Travellers face widespread discrimination (and often segregation) in many areas of life including as concerns policing, justice systems and areas such as housing, education, employment and health. In some countries, Roma are dramatically overrepresented among children taken into state care. There is widespread denial that discrimination and racism against Roma exists.

UN Exhibition: Forgotten Victims

The Nazi Genocide of the Roma and the Sinti

The exhibition examines the Nazi genocide against the Roma and Sinti by uncovering stories of some of the affected by the genocide. It explores the struggle that Roma have had in gaining recognition and compensation for the oppression they experienced as a result of this little-known aspect of Nazi persecution. UN Exhibition organized by the Wiener Holocaust Library with support from The Holocaust and the United Nations Outreach Programme.

Photos: UN Exhibits/© Wiener Holocaust Library Collections, Liverpool University Library, Landesarchiv Berlin, Bundesarchiv, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

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Left: Margarete Kraus, Czech Roma. Right: Roma man, thought to be Jozef Kwiek.

Obstacles to successful social inclusion

Pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution A/HRC/RES/26/4, in 2015, the UN Human Rights Office supported the Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues in producing a global study on the human rights situation of Roma worldwide.

The Human Rights Council resolution and the study recognise that — the specific form of racism facing Roma — constitutes a major obstacle to the successful social inclusion of Roma and the full respect of their human rights.