The Genocide of the Roma in the Council of Europe

In Strasbourg from 11-12 June, the Council of Europe held a meeting entitled “Teaching Roma History and Holocaust Remembrance” with representatives of Roma communities, civil society, and other international actors. During the session dedicated to the Coalition for Education, Remembrance and Recognition of Crimes against Roma, the director of Terraforming, Miško Stanišić, spoke as the chair of the IHRA project for the development of Recommendations for Teaching and Learning about the persecution and genocide of the Roma during the Nazi Era.

In his presentation, Miško emphasized that, following the IHRA Ministerial Declaration of 2020. one of the key objectives of the Recommendations is to raise awareness of the consequences of non-recognition and misunderstanding of the genocide against Roma, which is directly related to contemporary racism and anti-Gypsyism. “This is one of the main tasks that we need to focus on in formal education, but also in the educational departments of museums and memorials, as well as when designing exhibitions and commemorative events,” Miško emphasized.

The meeting in Strasbourg brought together representatives of key civil society organizations and other actors in the field of education and commemoration of the Roma genocide from the member states of the Council of Europe