Eyes Wide Shut: Collective Punishment of Roma in 21st Century Europe Collective punishment lies at the heart of antigypsyism. The systems of discrimination which persecute Roma in our society do so by collectivising them into a homogenous group. This imagined group is called the Gypsies, and they pay for this stereotype in a thousand different ways as a result of collective punishment by those with power. Whether it is punitive forced evictions of entire Romani neighbourhoods, violent and indiscriminate police raids, deadly pogroms by murderous race mobs, or segregated education of Romani children; the persecution of the Gypsies has always been carried out through collective punishment for the crimes, imagined or real, of the few.

Today we launch the 20th anniversary archive issue of Roma Rights, looking back at two decades of the struggle for justice and emancipation, with scores of highlights and excerpts from a distinguished array of contributors. We hope you find it to be compelling stuff – after all, it’s twenty years of history in the making 

The impact of conflict on minority populations merits special attention, especially if those minorities have long been marginalized, viewed by the warring parties with a mixture of ambivalence and contempt, and deemed to be communities of little consequence in the peace-building processes that follow the conclusion of hostilities. This issue of Roma Rights Journal takes a look at the fate of Roma during and after conflicts. Sometimes Roma have been the direct targets of murderous aggression or subject to reprisals. Then there have been the many times where individual Roma actively took a side, but too often the roles played by Roma, Travellers and other minorities were elided from the dominant national narratives that followed.

The new journal issue focuses on the development of Roma civil society and Roma participation in policy-making and knowledge-production processes. It has grown out of a unique three-day gathering of Roma and pro-Roma activists and thinkers held in Budapest in October 2014. Following the structure of the workshop, the journal issue contains critical papers by established and emerging activists and scholars in three sections: (1) activism and civil society; (2) knowledge production; (3) alliances with gender and LGBT movements.

This issue of Roma Rights is a special issue dedicated to the life and work of Nicolae Gheorghe, and was produced under the auspices of guest editor Nicoleta Bitu. As his colleague and friend Dezideriu Gergely outlines in the introduction, Nicolae Gheorghe was an outstanding driving force in the Roma movement. Among his many achievements he founded Romani CRISS, helped establish the Working Group of Roma Associations in 1998 – 1999, and was head of the Contact Point for Roma and Sinti Issues in the Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights at the OSCE. He was an activist and human rights defender, a diplomat and an intellectual.

This issue of Roma Rights draws attention to Roma from the Western Balkans and EU visa liberalisation. Migration of Roma from the Western Balkans has attracted significant attention, which at times amounts to hysteria. It has had an impact on migration policy both in countries of origin and target countries for migration. Romani migration has also become a common topic in public discourse, often framed in negatively by media and by public figures. The articles in this issue assess the motivations for Romani migration, the impact of migration policies on Roma, and the experience of Romani migrants.

This issue of Roma Rights focuses on National Roma Integration Strategies and the objectives, challenges and shortcomings of the EC Framework which aim to improve the situation and status of Roma across Europe. The articles assess the existing national strategies and also look to the future to consider what needs to be done to increase the prospects of success.