For immediate release Hindus urge adequate protection for Roma in Czech floods
Hindus are urging Czech Republic to offer adequate
protection to their Roma (Gypsy) and other vulnerable populations during the
current floods, which have reportedly claimed over seven lives.
According to reports, severe floods have hit central
Europe; including Czech Republic, Austria (where two died and several are
missing) and Germany. In Central Europe, many main roads have been closed, many
rail services cut and shipping in many parts has been halted. Many homes and
other establishments are without power and many people have been evacuated.
Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA)
today, said that prejudice, maltreatment, exclusion and apartheid conditions
faced by Roma population in Europe for centuries should not come in the way to
protect them in the floods. Roma needed dignity and respect like other
Europeans and they were not getting it, Zed added.
Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism,
also urged leaders of various religions and denominations, including His
Holiness Pope Francis, to come to the support of those affected as religion
told us to help the helpless.
Rajan Zed, strongly condemning Europe’s continuing
maltreatment of Roma, stressed that it was time for Europe to wake-up and do
something concrete to end Roma apartheid. European politicians needed to
exhibit a strong will, commitment, intention and responsibility to bring
concrete and lasting results on the reality of the Roma population, instead of
just weaving dreams in capital boardrooms.
Europe needed to clarify to the world where it stood on
the issue of Roma and how long it would let the clearly visible Roma apartheid
continue throughout almost every European locale, Zed asked.
Alarming condition of Roma was a social blight for Europe
and the rest of the world as they reportedly regularly faced social exclusion,
racism, substandard education, hostility, joblessness, rampant illness,
inadequate housing, lower life expectancy, unrest, living on desperate margins,
language barriers, stereotypes, mistrust, rights violations, discrimination,
marginalization, appalling living conditions, prejudice, human rights abuse,
racist slogans on Internet, unusually high unemployment rates, etc., Rajan Zed
argued.