Fundación Secretariado Gitano

Revulsion at the murder of a Roma man in Rociana (Huelva) [editar]

• Equal treatment

After the murder of a Roma man last 5 May in Rociana (Huelva), allegedly committed when he was caught stealing beans on property belonging to the suspect, the Fundación Secretariado Gitano[1] wishes to offer our sincere condolences both to the victim’s family and to the entire Roma community of Rociana and Huelva. In addition, we wish to make the following statement:

1. First, we condemn and express our revulsion at this murder, which cannot be justified under any circumstances. Even if it is true that the victim was found on property belonging to the suspect, there is no legal justification for such a response. We therefore hope that there will be a prompt investigation of the facts, leading to legal action in which, as well as the perpetrator being punished, the victim’s family will be compensated. We also call on the Hate Crimes and Discrimination Service at the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office of Huelva to take part in the criminal proceedings, in order to clarify whether there was an anti-gypsy motivation behind the murder.
2. Furthermore, we cannot ignore the current situation of social emergency, which has particularly severe effects on the Roma community which has suffered this latest tragedy. Recently, we learned that around 40% of Roma people are having problems accessing food supplies and that of this group, only 24% are receiving help from the local authorities. We deplore the fact that in these circumstances, emergency public aid is taking so long to arrive, and that it does not always reach those who need it most. For this reason, we repeat our call for urgent monetary aid while we await the implementation of the planned Minimum Living Income, and we demand that it should be sufficient to cover the basic needs of all citizens.
3. Apart from the serious social and economic situation currently affecting the Roma community, we are also concerned that this public health crisis is exacerbating anti-gypsyism and discriminatory attitudes towards Roma people. In particular, we are concerned that the media’s treatment of this news story has been inappropriate, and that the entire Roma community is being stigmatised. A clear and deplorable example was the news report broadcast yesterday by Telecinco on ‘El Programa de Ana Rosa’. We are also alarmed by the wave of hate speech which has appeared on social networks in the wake of this news. We therefore call upon the media to adhere more strictly to journalistic codes of conduct and to show greater awareness of the impact of this kind of reporting on the collective image of the Roma community.

 

[1] https://www.gitanos.org/quienes_somos/mision_estrategia.html.en

 

 

 

 

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