On April 8, 2024, the Romani Memory Map for the Americas was launched in English, Portuguese and Spanish. The Romani Memory Map for the Americas is a crowd-sourced initiative mapping Romani community memory points. The Map is available on the following links:
Background
The Romani Memory Maps for the Americas builds on OHCHR’s work on memorialization and antigypsyism, and was a specific commitment of the May 2023 roundtable on memorialization as a strategy to tackle antigypsyism in the Americas. OHCHR’s work on Roma rights – including addressing antigypsyism, the specific form of racism facing Roma -- is underpinned by the 2015 report by the UN Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues. This work also builds on the insights of the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence, who noted, in a 2020 report:
“… the crucial role played by memorialization processes in the context of transitional justice, which is fully recognized by the rules and standards of contemporary international law. The work carried out on these past violations serves as a basis for reflection on the present and identification of contemporary issues related to exclusion, discrimination, marginalization and abuses of power, which are often linked to toxic political cultures. Positive work in the area of memory not only helps to build democratic cultures in which human rights are respected but also fulfils the legal obligation of States to guarantee human rights.”
Process
In July 2023, a call for inputs to the Romani Memory Map for the Americas was launched.
Two independent review bodies – an Expert Panel and a Review Board -- involving Roma human rights defenders from the Americas and academic institutions have been convened to review the materials submitted in response to the call for inputs. The review bodies carried out detailed consultations, assessing inputs and carefully vetting materials according to criteria including appropriateness, historical accuracy, to ensure a human rights-basis and to review according to the principle of do-no-harm. A summary of process, review and consultations is available at this link.
On the basis of this review, 29 Romani Memory Points from throughout the Americas have been included in this first iteration of the Map.
The call for inputs will be re-issued in the first quarter of 2024, to open a next round of inputs into the Map.
Information related to terminology used on the Map is available at this link.
Disclaimer
The materials included in the Romani Memory Map for the Americas are not the property of OHCHR nor of any entity of the United Nations. The United Nations is not legally responsible for the contents of the Romani Memory Map for the Americas. Unless otherwise specified, material included in the Romani Memory Map for the Americas remains the property of those to whom it is attributed, with all rights retained.
Inquiries please to: aline.miklos@un.org and/or claude.cahn@un.org.