GYPSY VICTIMS OF TR Y RAFFI HUM IC MAN

All ac cross Eur rope from the 130 on, a m 00's anti-gyps laws sp sy prung up p. Many were meant to expel them from o sover y m one reign cou untry onl to ly be ens slaved by the nex Hitler''s genoci of the Gypsies an estimated y xt. ide e s, 400,000 brutally murd dered, the culmina e ation of y years of mistrust a m and prejud agai the G dice inst Gypsies. T There ha even been stat sanctio ave te oned sterili ization pr rograms aimed at the Gyp t psies as la as the 1960's. ate e

Gypsies in Hi itler's de eath cam An e mps. estimate 400,00 men, ed 00 woma and children murdered. an c

Thoug the Gy gh ypsies ar found all over t world they ar still a re the d re nation n-less peo ople, the history shroude in rom eir y ed mance an myster nd ry. Some say they are Indi e y ians, forc from the Nor West Indian ced m rth contin or wandered from the artisa follo nent w d ere, ans owing military regim mines.

Other have sa Persia or Turk becau of th linguis rs aid key use he stic syncre etism.

But ca them Rroma, o Dom, or Sinti, or tigany citani, or zigeu all or y, , uner or one of the m e many oth usuall deroga her ly atory nam the fact rema mes f ains,

wheth it is b her borne or f forced in them, they are Gypsies and Gypsies nto e s are wanderers.

Today the great forests where the Gyps roam have been y s t sies med bulldo ozed, the sprawlin steppe paved and the wild-hearted e ng es d, e wande erlust of the Gypsies is he emmed in on all sides, ma n s aking the em, once a again an easy targ for ex get xploitatio on. The st tatistics on the nu o umber of Gypsy v f victims of traffick o king is as hard s to pin down as the Gyp n s psies them mselves. .

When so many gypsies still live in a cit n y s tizenship limbo, w when the is ere centur of ba blood between them an author ries ad n nd rities, wh many in hen y power would be glad t be rid o the "p r b to of plague" of the Gyp psies; it i is easy t see wh Gypsies would repor the crim or when they do, to hy dn't rt mes, w y not ge the full coopera et ation of p police. A always the chi As s, ildren suf ffer most.... Bel low, bea autiful G Gypsy chi ildren fr rom Alba ania to M Macedon nia.

The tr rafficking of Gyp childr rarely makes the front pages u g psy ren y t unless it of s such a sca that c ale cannot be ignored Roma g e d. gangs, an even s nd some Roma parents were inv a volved in this massive ring in the U n UK. And t story out of S this y Scotland w mak your b will ke blood boil. Thoug the gh childr involved were not exp ren e pressly ca alled Gyp psies, Bu ulgarian a and Roma anian Gypsy child dren are a among so of th poorest and m ome he most suscep ptible to being tra afficked and man indicat sugg that a ny tors gest at least s some of t child the dren were Roman and i particu Buch e. nia, in ular harest, is one of the key travel destinat e k l tions in E Europe fo pedop or philes. Th he street-children are freq n quently v victims.

It is estimated that five per cen of the h d e nt homeless children in Rom s n mania are fo orced into sexual e o exploitat tion and m many of these are orphaned e Gypsi ies.

The tr rafficking of child g dren to G Greece fo beggin and forced labo is or ng our no les alarmin Ther are 100 mainly Albani gypsy children in ss ng. re 00 y ian y n the cit of The ty essalonik alone. ki

They tell stori of vio ies olence an exploit nd tation at the hand of their ds traffic ckers. Ye the Alb et banian Ministry o Public Order cl M of laims to have no evidence an the ge nd eneral pu ublic appe to be largely i ear e indiffere ent.

Accor rding to the Coun of Eu t ncil urope, Gy ypsy chil ldren are smuggle e ed into It from the form Yugo taly m mer oslavia to work as forced labourer in o a rs gangs where th are t s hey trained an then s nd sold into crime rin in lar ngs rge cities. . Simila pheno ar omena oc ccurs all o over Europe wher Gypsy children are re y n traffic cked and sold into organiz crime rings an traine to pick d o zed e nd ed k pocke or worse. Publ reaction has been tepid in the U It see ets lic d UK. ems that m many are more concerned with the rising cr rime rate attribute to e ed the in nflux of th hese kids s.

But o outra our respons to the trafficki of ch our age, se ing hildren m must alway be the same, n matte if the c ys e no er children involved are fro a n om transient grou with an embr up roiled hi istory, we must d w demand justic for the We must act as if th are our kids. And if ce em. t hey you'r like m and you suffer a bit fr re me, rom wan nderlust yourself and f, if you ever been fo of th gypsie as I ha join the figh u've r ond he es ave, ht again the tr nst rafficking of hum mans. Th here is no greater cause. o By: C Chiara.