推进罗姆人融入社会

80^th Anniversary of the Roma Holocaust Commemoration Year

Launch Announcement

Romani Memory Map in the Americas

8 April 2024

Today, on the occasion of International Roma Day 2024, a coalition of partners launched the Romani Memory Map for the Americas. The Romani Memory Map for the Americas is a crowd-sourced initiative mapping Romani community memory points. The Map is available on the following links:

• English-language version
• Portuguese-language version
• Spanish-language version

The Romani Memory Map for the Americas is hosted on the website of Gonzaga University Center for Global Engagement (English-language version), the Institute of Anthropological Sciences of the University of Buenos Aires (Spanish-language version) and the Associação International Mayle Sara Kali (Portuguese language version). The UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) coordinates this crowd-sourced initiative.

Also on 8 April, the Call for Inputs to submit materials for the map was relaunched, with a new deadline for submissions of 15 July 2024.

Background

The Romani Memory Map for the Americas builds on OHCHR’s work on memorialization and antigypsyism, and was a specific commitment of the May 2023 roundtable on memorialization as a strategy to tackle antigypsyism in the Americas. OHCHR’s work on Roma rights – including addressing antigypsyism, the specific form of racism facing Roma -- is underpinned by the 2015 report by the UN Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues. This work also builds on the insights of the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence, who noted, in a 2020 report:

“… the crucial role played by memorialization processes in the context of transitional justice, which is fully recognized by the rules and standards of contemporary international law. The work carried out on these past violations serves as a basis for reflection on the present and identification of contemporary issues related to exclusion, discrimination, marginalization and abuses of power, which are often linked to toxic political cultures. Positive work in the area of memory not only helps to build democratic cultures in which human rights are respected but also fulfils the legal obligation of States to guarantee human rights.”

Process

In July 2023, a call for inputs to the Romani Memory Map for the Americas was launched.

Two independent review bodies – an Expert Panel and a Review Board -- involving Roma human rights defenders from the Americas and academic institutions have been convened to review the materials submitted in response to the call for inputs.  The review bodies carried out detailed consultations, assessing inputs and carefully vetting materials according to criteria including appropriateness, historical accuracy, to ensure a human rights-basis and to review according to the principle of do-no-harm.

On the basis of this review, 29 Romani Memory Points from throughout the Americas have been included in this first iteration of the Map. A full process summary is available at link.

Note on terminology

Disclaimer

Contacts

Inquiries please to: aline.miklos@un.org and/or claude.cahn@un.org.

Roundtable

Memorialization as a Strategy to Tackle Anti-Gypsyism in the Americas

17-18 May 2023
UPEACE, Costa Rica

The Indigenous Peoples and Minorities Section (IPMS) of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the University for Peace (UPEACE) is organizing the international roundtable event on "Memorialization as a Strategy to tackle Anti-Gypsyism in the Americas" on May 17-18, 2023. The event will be held in San José, Costa Rica, and in hybrid format (in person and online).

The roundtable is done with the involvement of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues and in partnership with civil society organizations.

The roundtable aims to follow up on the UN's global efforts to consolidate the rights of Roma people and combat antigypsyism, its historical roots and its impact on the present. The event also aims to take stock of the current state of Roma inclusion policies in the Americas and to encourage the processes of construction and valorization of the memory of this people in public and private spaces.

The online aspect of the roundtable will take place via ZOOM and is free and open to the public, but registration is mandatory. Once registered, you will receive instructions on how to join this event.

Interpretation to and from Spanish and English is provided.

The event will be public and the online meeting will be broadcast on UPEACE Youtube Channel.

To attend the event, please kindly register below.

For further information, please see: Concept Note (PDF)

For any questions related to registrations please contact Aline Miklos: fellow.miklos@un.org

The organizers look forward to your questions and active participation.