20.07.2016Upcoming: EGAM is holding a Roma Empowerment meeting in Sofia
The event will take place between the 21st - 24th of July in the Central Hotel in Sofia.
The event will gather the top leaders from Roma and Non Roma organisations from across Europe, and is the annual opportunity to discuss the state of racism against Roma communities in Europe today, in addition to planning and coordinating the 2016 Roma Pride and discussing the next steps of the Lety Initiative.
The meeting will be attended by the president of EGAM Benjamin Abtan, Krassimir Kanev from the Bulgarian Helsinski Committee, Deyan Kolev and Teodora Krumova from Center Amalipe, Boyan Zahariev from the Open society institute Sofia.
On July 22nd , leaders of top European Antiracist, Human Rights and Roma NGO’s will be holding a press conference in BTA, Sofia to denounce the persistently high levels of hate crimes and hate speech against Roma communities in Bulgaria and elsewhere in Europe. The conference will be lead by Benjamin Abtan, President of the European Grassroots Antiracist Movement – EGAM, which represents top organisations in over 30 countries in Europe and beyond. Among the participants will be Krassimir Kanev (Bulgarian Helsinki Committee) and Deyan Kolev (AMALIPE Center for Interethnic Dialogue and Tolerance)
Whilst the landmark ruling on July 11th by the District Court of Pazardhik judged Angel Kaleev guilty of ethnically motivated violence against a person in regards to the case of Mitko Jonkov, such incidents are widespread in Bulgaria and often go unaddressed.
It is for this reason that EGAM representatives will come together to ensure that this ruling is not the last of its kind, and to ensure the presence of a true European solidarity is felt in Bulgaria.
During the press-conference results from survey about hate speech will be presented, analysis of European Commission report about the progress of Roma integration policy,, etc.
On July 23rd participants in the meeting will visit the Roma community in Elin Pelin and the village of Lesnovo, where the community coordinators to Center Amalipe Anelia Dudinova and Ivan Todorov will introduce the real situation of Roma in this area. The participants will also hold a meeting with the local Roma activists on the theme I am a Roma leader.
Contact Person :
Christopher Metz
Project Manager of EGAM – European Grassroots Antiracist Movement
+33 7 83 31 28 47 // Christopher.Metz@egam.eu
