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From 50,000 to 60,000 Gypsies currently live in Belarus, mostly in the provinces of Homel (Gomel) and Mahilau (Mogilyov), and especially in the towns and cities of Bobruisk, Zhlobin, Gomel, Kalinkovichi, Zhitkovichi, Mogilyov, Vitebsk, Minsk, and Turov.
In 1999, The Roma Association of Belarusian Gypsies was admitted to the Internationale Romani Union representing Gypsies' associations in Europe and Australia.
Advisor for National Issues: Aleksandr Bosyatsky
" 'Most of the Gypsies in Belarus drag out a miserable and some just terrible existence,' Aleksandr Bosyatsky, Roma's advisor for national issues, told BelaPAN. He appealed to the Belarusian and international community for help to Belarusian Gypsies."
"Mr. Bosyatsky said that the Belarusian Gypsies, especially youths and children, have difficulties finding a job or receiving education. 'We will work together with the state to create jobs and national schools,' Mr. Bosyatsky said."
"He pointed out that Romany children living in areas radioactively contaminated as a result of the Chernobyl accident have had no opportunity to travel to clean areas for recuperation. 'We have sent no child for rehabilitation,' Mr. Bosyatsky said. He expressed hope that the government will address the Gypsies' problems."
"Mr. Bosyatsky said that Roma is ready to work together with the Belarusian Jews to prevent manifestations of chauvinism. 'When Gypsies see manifestations of anti-Semitism, they know well what can follow,' he noted. The genocide of Gypsies and Jews during World War II reminds all peoples about the need to fight together against the ideology of chauvinism, he said."
"Roma was founded on January 14, 1998. It has about 1,500 members. From 50,000 to 60,000 Gypsies currently live in Belarus, mostly in the Gomel and Mogilyov regions, the towns of Bobruisk, Zhlobin, Gomel, Kalinkovichi, Zhitkovichi, Mogilyov, Vitebsk, Minsk and Turov."
"In 1999, Roma was admitted to the Internationale Romani Union representing Gypsies' associations in Europe and Australia."
Source: BelaPAN, BelaPAN; No. 53; Monday, January 17, 2000; 5:40 p.m.
"According to Aleksandr Bosyatsky, Roma advisor for national issues, Europe's only Romany concentration camp was in Belarus, and more than 800 prisoners were slaughtered there in 1942 and 1943. In addition, according to Mr. Bosyatsky, 830 Gypsies were massacred in Uzda, the Minsk region, and about a thousand in Glubokoye, the Vitebsk region."
"According to Mr. Bosyatsky, Belarusian Gypsies who suffered from the Nazis currently receive humanitarian aid from Belarus' Understanding and Reconciliation Fund and Switzerland's Holocaust victims fund. Compensations to Gypsy victims of Nazism will be discussed at a congress of the Internationale Romani Union in Rotterdam on April 8, 2000, said Mr. Bosyatsky."
Source: BelaPAN, BelaPAN; No. 58; Tuesday, January 18, 2000; 3:40 p.m.
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