Tackling Antigypsyism in Germany

Awareness raising on anti-Roma motivated incidents and on efficient counter strategies 

Funded by the Open Society Foundations, Budapest, this project is coordinated by Amaro Foro e.V. in cooperation with Sozialfabrik e.V.

The main purpose of this project is to raise awareness on the rise of Antigypsyist motivated discrimination and exclusion currently taking place in Germany. 

Further objectives are

• identifying and advocating for legal and non-legal instruments combating these practices while promoting equality and solidarity, and 
• fostering synergies between the stakeholders engaged in the fight for equal treatment and social inclusion of Sinti and Roma.

In order to achieve these goals and objectives, a network to fight antigypsyism will be set up aimed to develop capacities among Sinti and Roma organisations and NGOs working in the anti-discrimination field. The organisations involved will be enabled to more efficiently counteract antigypsyism and to advocate for a stronger commitment of policy makers with regards to the fight against antigypsyism. Within this network, antigypsyist incidents will be registered and the dimension of racism and discrimination faced by Sinti and Roma will be documented.

Setting up an efficient and sustainable network demands much more working time and financial resources than those envisaged for this project - this project is hence to be understood as a pilot. Identifying additional financial resources in order to continue the work after the end of the project is hence another indirect objective.  

In order to gain knowledge about specific characteristics of antigypsyism and to support advocacy purposes, a study focusing on discrimination faced by Roma migrants will be carried out. A study focus will be Roma migrants from Bulgaria and Romania, since they are one of the most vulnerable groups among Sinti and Roma. Specific attention will be given to discrimination in and via public administration and the German school system.       

Project period: 15th December 2014 - 14th December 2015