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= Roma Routes =

Roma Routes was established in 2007 and ended in 2013 and Roma Routes is a cultural project established by the European Union.

Brief
Roma Routes connected scattered the Roma (Gypsies) or Roma communities and outside world across the whole world. The European Union established this cultural project to publicize Roman heritage and culture; develop the culture of Roman heritage to the world; resonate and create dialogue between Roman culture and external culture; improve Roman image and help break the cultural barrier between Roma and non-Roma. Before this cultural project, Roman culture and the outside world have been at a fault stage. The main reason for the cultural gap is racial discrimination, resulting in the Roma and the outside world do not know each other's culture.

Principal
Project manager: Lalage Grundy

Roma representative: Ann Wilson

Roma
The Roma (also called Gypsies) are one of the largest European ethnic minorities who have migrated in Europe for over 1,000 years. According to The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), nearly 12 million to 15 million (70% of the Roma) still live in Eastern Europe. According to the data of the Time, there are 1 million the Roma living in the United States. Roma community is a relatively diverse nation, which has different populations, including Roma of England, the Beases of Croatia, the kale of Wales and Finland, Roma of Turkey, the Dolma of Palestine and Egypt.

Belief
The Roma does not have a unified belief, because they think they are "many stars scattered in the sight of God". The Roma are scattered throughout the world, their religious beliefs depend mainly on the religious beliefs of their country. But the Roma has his own rules of life, which is called "Rromamo." The Roma believes that "Rromamo" represents their world view.

Language and Culture
Roma not only have their own rules of life, but also have their own unique language and culture, and "Roma" is a word created by the Roma themselves. The language of Roma belongs to the Indo-Aryan, which is a branch of the Indo-European languages. Since Roma live in various parts of the world, they also have different dialects.

Prejudice about Roma
"Gypsies" is another name for Europeans, because the European think "Gypsies" is the "Egyptian" sound. But the Roma believed that "Gypsies" had the meaning of discrimination and they did not recognize the word. But because of the unique culture of the Roma, they are subject to discrimination and persecution by other cultures. Many Europeans believe that the crime rate of the Roma is too high, they do not like the Roma. The Roma also believe that Europeans discriminate against them and they are not willing to make friends with Europeans.

Roma Support Group (RSG)
The Roma Support Group was founded in 1998, which is a non-profit organization that helps Roma. In the past, the Roma were always discriminated against by people from other regions, resulting in the life of the Roma has always been in a dark state. In order to help the Roma’ life, some Roma decided to set up the Roma Support Group.

Prospect
Ms. Lívia Járóka was appointed by Hungary as the second Roma (but the first Roma woman) of the European Parliament in June 2004.

In 2005, nine countries (the Republic of Bulgaria, the Republic of Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, the Republic of North Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia and Slovakia) launched the “Decade of Roma Inclusion” to eliminating the prejudice against the Roma and improving the lives of the Roma. Both events are the prospects for the formation of Roma Routes.

Early-stage preparations
The best leader in spreading Roma culture is the Roma. But before the launch of this cultural project, the Roma did not intend to share their own culture with the outside world. Because they believe that people of other races have always discriminated against them and they don't want to interact with the outside world. Through the European Union's continuous efforts and a series of cultural activities, the Roma agreed to participate in this cultural project.

Cultural activities about the Roma
The Byzantine Museum hosted a series of events that attracted members of the Roma communities to the museum. The art form of this cultural project is mainly film screenings, cultural conferences, educational exhibitions and training young Roma as informal “mediators” between communities and museums. In the end, the Roma were willing to share their culture with others.

Partners
As of the end of this project, the European Union has jointly developed a project to develop Roman culture with five countries. The initiator is the European Union and the assisting party is the Roman communities. The cultural project partners are mainly Germany, Greece, The Republic of Slovenia, Romania and the United Kingdom.

German and Roma Routes
Documentation and Cultural Centre of German Sinti and Roma were established in Germany in the 1980s and officially opened to the public in 1997. Documentation and Cultural Centre of German Sinti and Roma record stories about the Roma and the persecution crimes of Roman by Nazi. Germany is committed to focusing on the propaganda of Documentation and Cultural Centre of German Sinti and Roma in order to support Roma Routes, allowing more Germans to understand and learn about the Roman culture.

Slovenia and Roma Routes
The Republic of Slovenia considers Roma culture to be an important part of the diverse composition of European culture. However, this fact is rarely recognized. The Republic of Slovenia believes that they have a responsibility to contribute to the project of Roma Routes. In order to realize the project of Roma Routes, the Republic of Slovenia decided to strengthen the human rights education of the Roma. The Republic of Slovenia hosted two meetings for the Roma Routes. The first meeting was "The Round Table on the Situation of Minorities in Slovenia and Slovenians Living Abroad" on 16 June 2009 in Brdo pri Kranju. The second meeting was "the Launch and Partnership Meeting of the “European Route of Roma Culture and Heritage” Project" on 7 and 8 October 2009 in Lendava and Kamenci.

The final conference
On March 15th 2012, Documentation and Cultural Centre of German Sinti and Roma (Chairman of the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma: Romani Rose) held the last meeting of this cultural project.

At the meeting, cooperating countries and the European Union published the benefits of this project and celebrated the success of the development of the culture and heritage of Rome. For example: a successful youth summer camp helps Roma and non-Roma to break the cultural barrier.

They believe that this cultural event has been very successful with the Roman community and they have successfully developed the culture beyond Athens and Attica. Leaders of the cultural project of Roma Routes and the European Union hope to continue to pass the cultural coverage to other parts of Greece through subsequent projects.