Stereotypes and prejudice – challenges for all (round table)

Today, the European institutions are committed to correcting historical injustices against the Roma. In relation to this, we have already adopted international documents and legal acts in which they condemned racism, intolerance and hostility towards the Roma community. Although cultural diversity and pluralism are declared as part of a shared vision of modern societies, based on the respect for human rights, ethnic identity, and personal dignity of every individual, the stereotypes and prejudices against the Roma still create conflicts and opposition in almost all European countries, and they even lead to violent racist attacks against the Roma. In everyday life, the Roma are discriminated and stigmatized on the basis of their ethnicity. Despite the progress in many areas of social life and in the field of the protection of human rights in general, we have often witnessed the emergence and strengthening of the special phenomenon of anti-Gypsyism or romophobia in modern times. More in-depth knowledge of the historical circumstances is, therefore, necessary to raise public awareness about the extreme consequences of hatred towards the Roma, which were demonstrated in the subversive plans of Nazism during the World War II., whose objective was physical destruction of the Roma. Knowing the historical circumstances will contribute to the further development and emancipation of the Roma people in Europe.

At the round table we will discuss prejudices against the Roma and the manifestations of racism in the modern society and we will try, together with other participants, to indicate the potential for the elimination of prejudices and racism, and the prevention and elimination of contemporary forms of racism, intolerance and xenophobia.