Rajan Zed, acclaimed Hindu statesman; and Rabbi Jonathan B Freirich, prominent Jewish leader in Nevada and California in United States of America; in a statement in Nevada, pointed out that references to Roma people reportedly went as far back as ninth century CE. How many more centuries Roma had to reside in Europe to prove that they were ‘real and equal’ Europeans like any other, they asked.

Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, and Rabbi Freirich, argued that instead of apologising for centuries of maltreatment to Roma people; Council of Europe, European Parliament, and other European Union bodies were looking the other way to these deportations of Roma people, openly ignoring their moral obligation to take care of their largest and most disadvantaged minority.

According to reports, French President Nicolas Sarkozy recently announced dismantling of 300 Roma and travellers camps and expelling them; Germany deporting German-born Roma children to Kosovo; Sweden and Belgium expelled Roma blaming them for something or the other; forcible mass deportations of Roma from Denmark—this was openly a violation of human rights of Roma, who number around 15 million, Rajan Zed and Jonathan Freirich stressed.

Europe’s most persecuted and discriminated community, Roma reportedly regularly encountered social exclusion, racism, substandard education, hostility, joblessness, rampant illness, inadequate housing, lower life expectancy, unrest, living on desperate margins, stereotypes, mistrust, rights violations, discrimination, marginalisation, appalling living conditions, prejudice, human rights abuse, etc, Zed and Freirich said.

Thomas Hammarberg, Commissioner for Human Rights of Council of Europe, said sometime back: “Anti-Gypsyism continues to be a major human rights problem in Europe – governments must start taking serious action against both official and inter-personal discrimination of Roma.”