"Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor dark of night shall stay the courrier from his appointed rounds." - Herodotus
Roma Virtual Network: overview and perspectives
Roma Virtual Network (RVN) is a public, non-partisan, non-profit grass-roots initiative currently under the auspices of International Romani Union (IRU) and European Roma Information Office (ERIO). It is aimed to provide the international Romani community and friendly non-Roma organizations and individuals with useful information on Roma issues in variety of languages via the Internet.
Date of establishment: 19 July 1999.
It has been started as a private initiative and gained the recognition of many national and international, governmental and non-governmental NGOs dealing with Roma issues, especially in Europe. It contains 31 electronic mailing list in 15 European languages with a total membership over 22 000 e-mail addresses.
The activity of RVN is actively helping to facilitate the cooperation and exchange of information within Roma organizations and individuals, between Roma and non-Roma organizations and individuals and also between Roma NGOs and official institutions. It relates with the variety of Roma-related political, cultural, economic and social issues on local and international levels. It is aimed to support the improvement of the Romani situation in Europe and other regions of the world.
Current information projects:
- Net support to The Society of Domari Gypsies in Israel (based in Jerusalem, Israel). Since 21.10.1999 till today.
- Net support to International Romani Union (IRU). Since 27.07.2000 till today.
- Net support to RomNews Network (based in Hamburg, Germany). Since 01.07.2002 till today.
- Net support to European Roma Information Office (ERIO). Since 18.03.2003 till today.
- Net support to International Debate Education Association (IDEA) via http://www.idebate.org/roma/. Since 01.03.2006 till today.
- Net support to Minority Rights Group International (MRG). Since 01.08.2007 till today.
1. In-depth monitoring and assistance to the research of the situation in Roma communities in the countries of the Decade of Roma Inclusion (2005-2015).
2. Strong media response to the growing challenge of anti-Gypsism in European countries.
3. Contribution to formation of all-Romani database with video-archive and library as an integral part of Studii Romani`s structure.
4. Further development of RVN as a tool for electronic communication between Roma in ex-USSR and Roma in other parts of the world.
5. Establishment of international Romani media corporation on a basis of already existing RVN`s structure.
On 20 August 2007 Roma Virtual Network (RVN) had been officially recognized and registered as public organization (No. 580478410) according to decision of Certification Organizations Registry within the Israeli Ministry of Justice.
Until spring 2006 the activities of RVN were financially supported with occasional donations by friendly individuals, churches and NGOs. Since March 2006 RVN is in contract relations with the Open Society Institute (OSI), Minority Rights Group International (MRG), European Roma Information Office (ERIO) and European Roma Rights Center (ERRC).
Roma Virtual Network[1] is a public, non-partisan, non-profit grass-roots organization [2] under the umbrella of ERIO[3] and of IRU. It provides the international Romany community and friendly non-Romany organizations and individuals with useful information on Roma issues in a variety of languages via the Internet. Established on 19 July1999, by Valery Novoselsky, member of IRU [4], it has been started as a private initiative and gained the recognition of national and international, governmental and non-governmental NGOs dealing with Roma issues, especially in Europe. It contains 31 electronic mailing lists in 14 languages with a total membership of over 7000 e-mail addresses.
RVN aims to help the cooperation and exchange of information within Roma organizations and individuals, between Roma and non-Roma organizations and individuals and also between Roma NGOs and official institutions. It relates with the variety of Roma-related political, cultural, economic and social issues on local and international levels, aiming to support the improvement of the Roma situation in Europe and other regions of the world. It offers also on-line support, besides for IRU, also for various other Roma organizations, like Domari: The Society of Gypsies in Israel, RomNews Network.
