Giving a Voice to the Roma Community
Who we are
Roma Voice Centre is a Community Interest Company which acts as a trustful platform for information and communication for and about Roma, other minority ethnic groups and immigrants in the UK.
Our Mission
Roma Voice Centre is here to voice the concerns of the Roma community, migrant and minority ethnic groups in the UK.
Hear Us, See Us – Understand Us!
Our Vision
We aim to build and actively sustain an equal and inclusive society, where the cultural and ethnic diversity is empowered and appreciated.
The Community is our priority!
Important date: May 16 – Roma Resistance Day
On 15 May 1944, the 6000 Roma in the camp were warned that the Nazis were planning their execution. On 16 May 1944, more than 600 Roma prisoners did not show up for the usual morning roll call but barricaded themselves into their barracks. They had broken into an equipment warehouse and armed themselves with hammers, pickaxes and shovels, and taken apart the wooden sections of the bunks they slept on to make weapons. As a result of their defiance, no Roma or Sinti died in the gas chambers on that day. This act of resistance troubled the Nazi Regime. Fearing a camp-wide revolt, 3000 Roma were transferred to other camps. On 2 August 1944, the Nazis gassed the remaining 3000 Roma prisoners in the Blle camp.
Source: https://www.coe.int/en/web/roma-genocide/-/16-may-1944-a-day-to-remember
The courageous revolt of 16 May 1944 – a fight for the right to life and humanity – is widely referred to as Romani Resistance Day.
What we do
We are happy to assist the Roma Community members with everyday queries.
We believe that every little help makes their life easier.
Communications
Speaking the Roma language (in its different dialects) enables us to equip the Roma community with pivotal information in accessible to them way – audio-visual. Our informative videos on various topics are stored in our YouTube channel, but you can also find them on this website.
An informed community is safe in times of concern, and is able to sustain a decent life daily.
Translations is another type of communications assistance we provide for the Roma. Being a medical appointment, a court hearing or a simple letter from HMRC – we are there to translate in English-Romanes.
Tackling racial injustice
We are committed to fight antigypsyism with all means. However as most of our activity is online – the internet platform is our battlefield.
In 2021 we produced a film for the European Parliament’s Roma Week, where we gather opinions of Roma and non-Roma Human Rights professionals about a public racial statement by comedian Jimmy Carr about Gypsies being killed in WW2. We made aware the fact of racial discrimination and requested public apologies from the comedian.
Roma Voice Matters
Yes, it does! As residents of the UK we do have a voice in this country, especially when it comes to choose our decision makers.
Our organisation helped raise awareness on social media platforms about the importance of voting and the necessary steps to vote!
From the times of the WW2 Roma people fear providing the government information related to their ethnicity. Last year we helped the Roma beneficiaries get over this barrier and participate in Census data collection, identifying as Roma.
Roma inclusion and integration through partnership
We believe that productive partnership is a key to successful inclusion and integration of a community. That is why we work towards building and maintaining flourishing collaborations with other civil society organisations and national institutes.
Roma Voice Centre became a member of the Moving for Change Network, where other Gypsy, Roma and Traveller organisations can exchange experience and good practices.
We are also members of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) forum, where we can make the voice of Roma count when it comes to healthcare data.
Roma image online
Our videos are meant for only to inform the Roma community about their rights and opportunities in the UK, but also to inform the mainstream public about the Roma. We aim to change the image of Roma, Gypsy and Travellers in media for a better one, providing truthful information. Roma Voice Centre considers that providing realistic information in media will change people’s opinions about us.
We are also constantly communicating with such online media platforms as Facebook, WhatsApp and Viber to add Roma visibility in chats via adding a Roma flag to all other existing flags.
Empowering Roma Children and Youth
Children and Youth are our tomorrow – they are our future leaders and decisionmakers. To rely on them we have to invest in them first.
Due to the fact of racial injustice towards Roma, the Roma children frequently lack self-esteem and pride for their ethnicity. That is why we endeavour to help them grasp the beauty of their culture and language and share this experience with non-Roma peers in a playful way.
We hold cultural awareness activities for children and youth all over UK, in partnership with other GRT organisations.
Roma Holocaust information
The topic of Roma Holocaust is silently hidden from the general public. According to our recent street poll, conducted in London, Nottingham and Glasgow – more than 90% of respondents are unaware of the Roma Holocaust. We aim to bring this information to public attention and advocate for its inclusion into the school curricula.
Building bridges
We endeavour to build bridges between the Roma community and the mainstream society through sharing adequate information. Moreover, we aim to facilitate productive dialogue between the community and the Authorities, to promote Roma inclusion on the highest level.
Our organisation is a member of DfE Gypsy Roma and Travellers Stakeholders Group, where we have a chance to raise questions about Roma education on the governmental level.
Supporting Roma Women
A Roma women is double discriminated – for being of her ethnicity and of her gender. Moreover, a Roma women who is a migrant, who does not speak the language of the country she is in, and who is pregnant – should be on the top of the intersectionality issues priorities.
We, at Roma Voice Centre, tend to hold meetings with young and pregnant Roma women, conducting talking session and providing pivotal information about NHS services, vaccination, documentation, free support and all necessary for pregnancy and child delivery in the UK.
Roma Voice Centre 