Slovak President greets Romani people in Romanes for International Romani Day

Čaputová expressed her recognition of and support for the Romani community in both languages and pointed out the problems that Romani people face in Slovakia. She also expressed her wish that Slovakia would become the kind of home where Romani men and women are able to live as equals and where they will be judged according to what they do, not according to their origin or skin color.

“Many of you [Roma] are having a different experience even though you are doing your best to create such values in our society, more than anybody else,” the president said. “In my travels around the country I encounter creative people who are really on fire, through their diligent work they are creating these necessary transformations, whether they are field social workers, community workers, healthcare assistants, midwives, volunteers, teachers, mayors, people from the third sector or from firms.”

“These people are frequently a quiet force for humanity, which is all the more empathetic for being quiet, and that force needs much more support from the state and from people of good will. That force has to triumph over discrimination, hate, and exclusion, which are painful and harmful to all of us. Good luck and good health to all of you!” the president said.

International Romani Day was established at the fourth congress of the International Romani Union in Serock, Poland, near Warsaw, in 1990. The date of 8 April references the first World Romani Congress, which was held in 1971 in Orpington, England, near London, where the Romani anthem and flag were adopted and it was agreed that Romani people would insist on the use of the term “Roma” for themselves instead of the derogatory term “gypsy”.