Forgotten Voices Conference

The Forgotten Voices Conference, organised by the European Roma and Travellers Forum in cooperation with the Council of Europe took place from Wednesday 6 to Thursday 7 April 2016 in the Romanian Parliament in Bucharest, Romania.

The IHRA Chair had the oportunity to address the audience on 6 April to outline the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's acitivities in the area of remembrance and education on the genocide of the Roma. The conference was financial supported by the IHRA, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland and the Council of Europe.

Image gallery: Forgotten Voices Conference

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This two-day conference was dedicated to the Roma victims of the Holocaust and aimed to achieve both the official and international recognition of the genocide of the Roma, as well as to improve the knowledge and teaching of the genocide in schools and within the wider public. The conference sought to examine how the causes of that tragedy are reflected in the discrimination, marginalisation and persecution of the Roma today, to analyse the true nature of anti-Gypsyism as a specific form of discrimination and to explore how the relationship between the genocide of the Roma and today’s anti-Gypsyism can help us combat this phenomenon.

The European Roma and Travellers Forum believe that the official recognition of the genocide of the Roma, together with the establishment of an International Remembrance Day for the Roma victims, would be a step of utmost importance in combating anti-Gypsyism throughout Europe, as requested recently by the European Parliament in its resolution of 15 April 2015. As such, this conference serves both as a basis for advocating for this historical redress, as well as for promoting the teaching of the genocide of the Roma and changing of mentalities.

The participants were from International organisations, the media, Parliaments, Universities, high Scools, ministries and NGOs.