Fernand des Varennes

Statement on the occasion of 2 August 2021, Holocaust Memorial Day for Sinti and Roma

And-i rǎt kotar o dùjto k-o trìto Avgust 1944, paśpaśe 3000 murśa, ʒuvlǎ aj tikne Sìnte ta Rroma sas mudarde kotar o nazìstǎ k-o livnǎ e gazosqe and-o Auschwitz. Patǎl pes kaj maśkar 25 thaj 50 % kotar o miliòno ja trujal o miliòno ʒene so sas i sintikani aj rromani populàcia and-i Evròpa śajovel sas nićhǎrdi. Ake so ondipe serel pes akale Evroptne Diveseça e Hoolokaustesqe Memorialesqo vaś o Sìnte aj o Rroma avdives. No ćaćimasθe si but maj but sar akava. Avdives mo mandàti kotar o Unisarde Thema p-o minoritetenqe pućhimàta inkalel jekh deklaràcia vaś i prèsa ande savi ʒanavel griźaça kaj sa kadia sar o Ʒuta ta o Sìnte aj o Rroma sas sikavde sar minoritète avrutne e naciaqe aj vi pretinel o molǎ aj i kultùra and-i nazìsto Germània, o Sinte ta o Rroma palpalem avdives malavdǒn jekhe vakeripnaça savi sofòra maj but ulavel len e averenθar. Śajovel amen bistras kaj o Samudaripen na śirdia e gazosqe livněnça, ov śirdias e xirǎqe vakeripnaça mamuj o minoritète. O nazìstǎ ćaćes labǎrde i propagànda te xutren o dipe dumo kotar miliònǎ Germànǎ kaj te keren i persekùcia, o maripe aj agoral o genocìdi śeral e Ʒutenqo, e Sintenqo aj e Rromenqo. Pe bibaxt avdives, o platfòrme e socialone medienqe palpalem barǎren i intolerànca aj o anglapatǎpe aj mukhen mìje tikne Joseph Goebbels te buxlǎren i propagànda e xirǎqe vakeripnasqi aj racizmesqi paśpase imediat but baro gin manuśenqo savo kerel ćaćo ziand, aj akava literàlo anel kaj pe sa o sundal verver manuśa si laʒakerde, sikavde najeça, avrićhudine, marde aj masakrome odolesqe so on si k-i kategorìa e minoritetenqi dikhle aćaral sar absolut aver, na dikhle sar manuśa. Ake sosqe akharav avdives kaj akava dives kaj serel pes o genocìdi e Sintenqo aj e Rromenqo te ovel jekh okàzia vaś maj baro prinʒanipe e genocidesqo p-o Sìnte ta Rroma vaś te las amen urgent e intolerancaça savi barǒl, e vakeripnaça savo sikavel e Rromen sar benga ta ćhivel xoli p-o Rroma ta aver minoritète and-o sundal. O Thema trebul te keren maj but buti te maren pen proaktivo mamuj o sèmne e intoleranciaqe aj o atàkǎ mamuj o Rroma ta aver minoritète, particular and-o sociàlo mèdie ta and-o krìme e xirǎqe. Dinom vi akaja alàrma kaj o minoritète nakhen signifikànto xirǎqo vakeripe savo barǒl no vi kotar o politikànǎ ta o avera kana on si sikavde banges sar daravne ‘avera’. O Thema trebul te na bistren o holokaust e Sintenqo aj e Rromenqo. On si te den godi aj te keren buti te adresonen o avrićhudipe aj i diskriminàcia so cìrden but ʒene maśkar lenθe avdives, aj so cirden vi but aver minoritète ta te len vi konkrèto àkcie te adresonen o uće nivèle e xirǎqe vakeripnasqe savo barǒl k-o sociàlo mèdie sar mediùmǎ e propagandaqe p-i intolerànca aj vi labne vaś i incitàcia te kerel pes violènca aj diskriminàcie… Madikh o ćaćo progrèsi so kerdilo kotar but sintikane ta rromane minoritètǎ and-i Evròpa, akaja virtuàlo komemoraciaqi ceremònia pal o Evroputno Dives e Holokaustesqe Memorialesqo vaś o Sìnte ta o Rroma si jekh signifikànto ondipe odoesqe so oj na nùmaj prinʒanel so ondilo and-o nakhlipe, no śaj te ovel vi sikavel maj miśto mamuj save butǎ musaj te maras amen aj vaś sosqe, aj akava si o pherdo respèkti e manuśikane hakajenqo e Sintenqe aj e Rromenqe, aj vi te dikhas so śaj te keras maj but, aj musaj te keras maj but, vaś te prinʒanas o kontinuàlo, aj śajovel extrèmo, sure e racismesqe, intoleranciaqe aj avrićhudimasqe so cirden o Sìnte, o Rroma ta aver minoritète. Akava si esenciàlo odolesqe so śajoven o racìzmo aj i diskriminàcia ka aresel maj zorali te na avile proaktìvo o raimàta mamuj o vakeripe e xirǎqo mamuj o Rroma aj aver minoritète. Te seraves o genocìdi, te seraves i història mandavel te ʒives i responsabilitèta vaś o akanutnipe ta o avindipe. Aj akava mandavel te keres buti te brakhes o hakaja aj o ʒivimàta e maj azbandǒverenqe aj e maj avrićhudinenqe and-o dostipe. Akaja komemoràcia kotar o Centràlo Sombeś e Germanikane Sintenqo aj Rromenqo aj i Asociàcia e Rromenqi and-i Polònia k-o sombutipe e Statosqe muzeumoça Auschwitz-Birkenau si jekh vasno kotor and-o trebutno seravipe odolesqo so ondilo, aj savo serel amen savorren kaj si te ovas vigilènto kaj te na maj ovel palpalem. Oven saste. Bràvo tumenqe, naisarav tumen aj mangav tumenqe laćhe decìzie.

But it’s actually much more than that. Today my United Nations mandate on minority issues is issuing a press release which warns that just as members of the Jewish and Sinti and Roma minorities were portrayed as alien to the nation and even threats to the values and culture in Nazi Germany, Sinti and Roma again today are facing a backdrop of increasingly divisive rhetoric. We forget perhaps that the Holocaust did not begin with gas chambers, it started with hate speech against minorities. The Nazis effectively used propaganda to win the support of millions of Germans to facilitate persecution, war, and ultimately genocide of mainly the Jewish, Sinti and Roma minorities.

Unfortunately today, social media platforms are again amplifying intolerance and prejudice and allowing thousands of little Joseph Goebbels to spew propaganda of hate and racism reaching almost immediately huge numbers of people causing real harm, literally leading to individuals around the world being vilified, pointed out, lined up, lynched and massacred because they belong to dehumanised others, usually, overwhelmingly targeted minorities.

I therefore called for on this day marking the Sinti and Roma Genocide be used as an opportunity for greater acknowledgment of the Sinti and Roma genocide in order to address as a matter of urgency the increasing intolerance, demonizing and hate speech targeting of Roma and other minorities around the world. 

States must do more to proactively combat rising signs of intolerance and attacks against Romani and other minorities, particularly in social media and in hate crimes. I also gave this warning that “Minorities, are experiencing significant increased in hate speech but also targeting by politicians and others where they are stigmatised as threatening ‘others’.

States must not forget the holocaust of the Sinti and Roma. They need to reflect and act to address the exclusion and discrimination too many face today, also experienced by many other minorities as well as to take concrete steps to address the increasing high levels of hate speech in social media as propaganda mediums of intolerance and even tools of incitement to violence and discirminations..

Despite the real progress that has been made by many Sinti and Roma minorities in Europe, this virtual commemoration ceremony of the European Holocaust Memorial Day for Sinti and Roma is a significant event because it not only acknowledges what has occurred in the past, it can also serve to highlight what must continue to be fought for and protected, and that is the full respect of the human rights of Sinti and Roma minorities, as well as that more can be done, more must be done, to recognise the continuing, and perhaps exacerbating, instances of racism, intolerance and exclusion experienced by Sinti, Roma and other minorities. This is essential because of the very real possibility that racism and discrimination will get worse unless governments are more pro active against hate speech against Roma and other minorities. Remembering the genocide, remembering history means living responsibility for the present and the future. And that means taking steps to defend the rights and lives of society’s most vulnerable and marginalised. This commemoration by the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma and the Association of Roma in Poland in cooperation with the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum is an important part in the necessary remembrance of what has occurred, and in reminding all of us that we need to be vigilant so it never happens again.

Merci, thanks.

So congratulations, Thank you, merci et bonnes délibérations.