The Presidency of the International Romany Union met in Prague on November 5th-7th, 1993. A delegation headed by the President, Dr.Rajko Djuric, and the General Secretary, Dr.Emil Scuka, was accepted by Dr.Igor Nemec, a Minister of the Czech Government who is also the head of the Council of Nationalities. The representatives of the IRU expressed their concern about the conditions in which Romanies (Gypsies) are living in the countries of Eastern Europe. Mr.Djuric commented that Romanies are often becoming scapegoats of the changes now occurring in Eastern and Central Europe, and that their social conditions have in fact deteriorated since the collapse of Communism. Romanies have not invented Communism, and they have not benefited from it, said Djuric - therefore it is absurd that they are somehow being made responsible for it. (It should also be stated that perhaps more than 50% of all Romanies living in the Czech Republic are in danger of having to live in this country as "foreigners", even if they were born here, because they do not meet the requirements of the discriminatory Citizenship Law.)
At a press conference, Mr.Djuric said that the conditions for Romanies were propably best in Spain and in the Scandinavian countries.
In his speech to the Presidium, Paolo Pietrosanti - a member of the Secretariat of the Radical Party - expressed his belief that in the long run, the IRU could go beyond its present status in the United Nations (i.e., the category II among NGO's) and become a full representative of a nation, albeit without a territory. Thus it could also play a significant role in the expected transformation of the United Nations.
Czech TV and newspapers brought short reports from the IRU meeting.
