Heidelberg / Germany (RNC Agency) 15.01.1998

The Central Council of the Sinti and Roma has sent in complaints against 47 newspaper articles of the past 12 months to the German Press Committee in Bonn. According to the Central Council on Monday all these articles designating culprits as Sinti, Roma, g ypsies or other synonyms have infringed the guidelines of the Press Committee which, however, does not bother about the observance of these guidelines. Because of the non functioning self control of many media the Central Council wants to achieve a ban on discirimination accepted in the press laws of the federal states and in the civil servant law.

The Central Council complains that in almost all these cases the police, legal and other authorities were the triggers of a prejudice-fomenting designation. The description of culprits as Sinti or similar terms agrees with the spirit of the decree issued i n the year 1935 by the minister of the interior of the Third Reich. This decree stipulated that ‘‘in all reports to the press about criminial offences of Jews the racial affiliation has to be emphasized’’.

The Central Council criticized the fact that out of 34 complaints of the past year given to the Press Committee only in 5 cases the designation as Sinti or Roma was condemned as an act of offence against the guidelines of the Press Committee.