Europe UNICEF film fosters prejudices against Roma, Roma NGOs say

24 May 2009 |

• The ‘UN Observer’ reports that Roma organisations have sent a protest note to UNICEF, the World Food Programme, and the Italian Development Cooperation, to express their grave concern regarding the film “Blue Gypsy” by the filmmaker Emir Kusturica. The film is to be presented among six other films in the context of the celebration of the sixtieth anniversary of the declaration of the rights of the child, highlighting the violation of children’s rights around the world. The organisations express their disagreement with the fact that Roma child petty crime has come to dominate the public representation and discourse about Roma. They say that this is also the consequence of awareness raising campaigns led by international organisations and NGOs, which have excessively focused on the phenomenon of child begging and trafficking within Roma communities, “while diverting attention from the root causes, i.e., the abject poverty and marginalisation of Roma families.”

- Read also: The protest letter of Chachipe

Related documents: "":http://romarights.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/letter-blue-gypsy-260509.pdf

Source : UN Observer