Roma activists meet Peace Nobel Laureates in Rome
Young Roma and Sinti activists, attending a class in Human Rights promoted by Associazione 21 luglio and European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC), met the Peace Nobel Laureates gathered in Rome for the World Summit 2014 and delivered a letter to raise awareness about Roma and Sinti living conditions in Italy.
Dear Peace Nobel Laureates gathered here in Rome in occasion of the Summit 2014,
We are young Roma and Sinti coming from all over Italy, the majority of us is born and has grown up in this country and we are attending a course for activists organized by Associazione 21 luglio in this period.
Roma and Sinti represent the most numerous and most discriminated minority in Europe. And yet, we are the only people in the world that have never claimed a right to a land or fought a war. We are the “people of peace”. In Italy we are around 180 thousands and loads of us live in ethnic ghettoes, called “nomad camps”, where we are concentrated and excluded at the hands of institutions.
We are writing to you this message because we are tired of seeing our community strongly discriminated, marginalized and isolated in the outskirts of the Italian cities. Our hope is killed by difficult living conditions, our dreams stay pending and our expectations bump into a reality made of daily discrimination, denial and institutional racism.
We are under the attack of political messages that incite racial hate and of the mass media communication that too often forget that we are human beings with same rights and equal opportunities as set forth by the Universal Declaration of human rights with its article 1: “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood”.
We want to tell you, Peace Nobel Laureates, that our culture handed down orally for more than one thousand years, consists indeed of something else: a beautiful and very ancient language, a music that is one of the most ancient in the world, a craft that has unique elements, fascinating dances that are like “a ray of sun in a cloudy day”.
We, young Roma and Sinti, want to have the possibility of a better future when we will feel included in a society that we perceive as ours. We do not want to be anymore discriminated and marginalized by people that do not really know our culture, often described as pre-modern and criminal.
We, young Roma and Sinti, are requesting to you, Eminent Peace Nobel Laureates, to give voice and widespread our message of brotherhood, peace and mutual respect in order to build a better world.
Yours sincerely,
Roma and Sinti activists