Hindus term "European Year for Combating Poverty" a "total failure" to check Roma apartheid

Nevada (US), Jan 2 (ANI): Hindus have termed "European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion 2010" as a total failure in combating Roma (Gypsy) apartheid in Europe.

Well known Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, said that even in 2011 European Roma faced the same (or rather worse) poverty and social exclusion as they faced in 2009 despite the claims that this campaign, launched with big fanfare and a budged of 17 million Euros, would have "real effect on poverty and social exclusion".

Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, pointed out that Roma apartheid was continuing as before and Roma reportedly regularly faced social exclusion, racism, substandard education, hostility, joblessness, rampant illness, inadequate housing, lower life expectancy, unrest, living on desperate margins, language barriers, stereotypes, mistrust, rights violations, discrimination, marginalization, appalling living conditions, prejudice, human rights abuse, racist slogans on Internet, etc.

Alarming condition of Roma people, numbering around 15-million in Europe, was a social blight for Europe and the rest of the world and something needed to be urgently done to end their sufferings continuing for many centuries, Rajan Zed argued.

The "European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion" was the initiative of European Parliament and the Council of Ministers with a leading role of European Commission. Jerzy Buzek, Herman Van Rompuy, and Jose Manuel Barroso are Presidents of European Parliament, European Council, and European Commission respectively. (ANI)