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On the night of 2 August 1944, the last 4,300 Roma and Sinti in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp were murdered by the Nazi forces, despite their fierce resistance. That marked the killing of more than 500,000 members of the community, representing at least a quarter of their total population at the time.

The Nazis’s genocidal campaign also claimed the lives of six million Jews and targeted LGBTIQ+ individuals, persons with disabilities, political dissidents and other minorities.  

Prejudice remains today

In a message marking the European Holocaust Memorial Day for Roma and Sinti, UN Secretary-General António Guterres also honoured the survivors and commended the courage of their resistance.

He warned, however, that the prejudice that fuelled the Nazis’s atrocities did not end with their downfall.

“It remains today. The sad reality is that Roma people face rampant discrimination in all areas of life and all parts of the world, not least in Europe,” he said.

“Extremist and xenophobic groups are spreading hate speech, scapegoating marginalised communities and sowing fear and division.”

Stand together

Mr. Guterres urged everyone around the world to stand together and fight bigotry in all its forms.

“We must stand together…to protect and promote the human rights of Roma and to build a world in which all people live in dignity, peace and freedom,” he added, renewing the United Nations’s commitment as an “unwavering ally in that cause”.

Learn from history

In a separate message, Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, cautioned against the “unimaginable horrors” that can flow from hatred and dehumanisation.

“We must heed the lessons of history,” he told, via video, participants at the Passing on Memory for the Future of Holocaust Remembrance and Education Conference in Kraków, Poland.

“Discrimination, exclusion, marginalisation. This is centuries old, but persisting today against a backdrop of escalating hate speech against minorities more generally, including on social media and by some populist leaders.”

Mr. Türk shared personal recollections of the consequences of anti-gypsyism in the immediate aftermath of the Kosovo conflict, where he was involved in establishing a human rights monitoring initiative to address the discrimination and violence faced by Roma, Egyptian and Ashkali communities.

Do more

He added that the Roma in Europe continue to face severe difficulties, as revealed in a 2021 European Union human rights survey. It found that 17 per cent had endured some form of hate-based harassment in the past 12 months and that almost 80 per cent were at risk of poverty.

The UN rights chief welcomed some positive steps, noting that Sweden’s efforts on public memorialisation and Germany’s appointment of a Federal Commissioner on anti-gypsyism.

“Much more needs to be done, though, to ensure all these communities are able to access their rights to education, work, housing, health, public services and more,” he urged.