Gypsies' plight emphasized on Roma Holocaust Day
BUDAPEST-- Europe's top human right official drew attention to the abuses and discrimination faced by the Roma minority as Europe commemorated the tens of thousands of Gypsies killed during World War II.
The European Parliament has designated Aug. 2 as Roma Holocaust Memorial Day, remembering the approximately 220,000 Roma killed by Nazi Germany and its allies. About a quarter of the victims were Hungarian Roma.
Nils Muiznieks, the Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights, said in a statement that "knowledge of Roma history in Europe is crucial to understanding their current situation," listing forced sterilization of Roma women, ethnic profiling by police and the large number of Roma children in state care among the problems afflicting them across the continent.
