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News > EEB: ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM AGAINST ROMA IN THE TIME OF COVID-19

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  • 8th April 2020 - 16:28 UTC

EEB: ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM AGAINST ROMA IN THE TIME OF COVID-19

Released on International Romani Day, a new report highlights the severe and systemic environmental racism which Roma communities across Europe face.

Instead of recognising that this neglect leaves the Roma more vulnerable to COVID-19, communities are being blamed and punished for the pandemic.

On the occasion of International Romani Day on 8 April, the European Environmental Bureau (EEB) and European Roma Grassroots Organisations (ERGO) network released, in collaboration with ICTA-UAB, a landmark report on a long-neglected and under-studied issue: the environmentalism racism targeting Roma communities in Europe.

Pushed to the Wastelands’ – which partly draws on the Environmental Justice Atlas, the world’s largest database of ecological conflicts, and its map of cases of environmental racism against Roma communities – reveals how numerous Roma communities in Central and Eastern Europe experience systematic and systemic environmental racism.

Given the lockdowns and movement restrictions that have accompanied the COVID-19 pandemic, the report was launched via a virtual event. Despite this, the e-room was heaving, with around 75 participants, including researchers, campaigners, policymakers and journalists.

Released on International Romani Day, a new report highlights the severe and systemic environmental racism which Roma communities across Europe face.

Instead of recognising that this neglect leaves the Roma more vulnerable to COVID-19, communities are being blamed and punished for the pandemic.

On the occasion of International Romani Day on 8 April, the European Environmental Bureau (EEB) and European Roma Grassroots Organisations (ERGO) network released, in collaboration with ICTA-UAB, a landmark report on a long-neglected and under-studied issue: the environmentalism racism targeting Roma communities in Europe.

Pushed to the Wastelands’ – which partly draws on the Environmental Justice Atlas, the world’s largest database of ecological conflicts, and its map of cases of environmental racism against Roma communities – reveals how numerous Roma communities in Central and Eastern Europe experience systematic and systemic environmental racism.

Given the lockdowns and movement restrictions that have accompanied the COVID-19 pandemic, the report was launched via a virtual event. Despite this, the e-room was heaving, with around 75 participants, including researchers, campaigners, policymakers and journalists.

“People are more familiar with the social, cultural and political discrimination facing Roma communities in Europe. However, few are aware of the environmental racism these communities are confronted with,” explains one of the co-authors of the report, Patrizia Heidegger, the European Environmental Bureau’s Director of Global Policies and Sustainability.

The report seeks to rectify this lack of awareness by placing the issue of environmental racism against Roma communities clearly on the political map. Even before its official release, the report was discussed with MEPs at the European Parliament and was previewed in the Guardian newspaper.

Read the full article here.

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