According to reports, French President Nicolas Sarkozy recently announced dismantling of three hundred Roma traveller camps and expelling them, while Germany plans to deport German-born Roma children to Kosovo; Sweden and Belgium have expelled Roma blaming them for something or the other. This is clearly a violation of human rights of Roma, Rajan Zed, noted Hindu statesman and Rabbi Jonathan B Freirich, prominent Jewish leader said in a statement in Nevada.

They also said that apartheid and racism was happening right under Pope’s nose in Europe and Pope’s silence and apparent unwillingness to take-up this issue was shocking, argued Zed, who is president of Universal Society of Hinduism and Rabbi Freirich. They have also appealed to the Pope in the past to openly embrace the Roma cause but without any success.

Europe’s most persecuted and discriminated community, Roma reportedly regularly encounters 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, Rajan Zed and Rabbi Freirich pointed out.