More government expenditure in Germany: Reporting office for antigypsy incidents begins to work

A newly established "Antiziganism Reporting and Information Center (MIA)" has started work.

Berlin - It will record and document discrimination and attacks against Sinti and Roma nationwide, the organization announced on Tuesday. Those affected could report incidents anonymously on the facility's website, it said. "There has been no systematic recording of antiziganism incidents so far and the number of unreported cases here is particularly large. With the new nationwide registration office, a structure has been created that provides us with important insights into the extent of antiziganism," said the antiziganism officer Federal Government Mehmet Daimagüler. The reporting office could show the need for legal assistance, advice and support, and prevention work could also be more targeted, "e.g. in the event of discrimination by administration and authorities," says Daimagüler. "In the fight against this recurring antiziganism, against right-wing extremism and against nationalist tendencies towards division, it is precisely such structures as the Reporting and Information Center for Antiziganism (MIA) that make an important contribution to defending our democracy and our rule of law," said Romani Rose, Chairwoman of the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma.

In 2020, the cabinet committee to combat right-wing extremism and racism included the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma’s call for the establishment of such a structure in its catalog of measures. Since 2021, MIA has been funded by the Ministry of the Interior as an independent civil society project. In doing so, the federal government followed one of the key recommendations of the Independent Commission on Antigypsyism, whose final report was presented in July 2020.

MIA will uniformly record, document and evaluate antigypsy incidents nationwide.

Source: Der Newsticker

Photo: ndr