International Romani Union - History

History

In 1959, Ionel Rotaru founded The World Gypsy Community (CMG) in France. While members were mostly French, the organization made contacts in Poland, Canada, Turkey, and other countries. When the French government dissolved the CMG in 1965, a breakaway group formed the International Gypsy Committee (IGC) under the leadership of Vanko Rouda. When the 1971 World Romani Congress adopted the self-appellation of "Roma" rather than gypsy, the IGC was renamed the Komiteto Lumniako Romano (International Rom Committee or IRC), and Rouda was re-confirmed as president. The Committee became a member of the Council of Europe the following year. The Committee was changed again at the 1978 World Romani Congress and given its present name. It was given consultative status at the United Nations Economic and Social Council the following year. The Union became a registered NGO with UNICEF in 1986. In 1993, it was promoted to Category II, Special Consultative Status at the United Nations.

Read more about this topic:  International Romani Union

Famous quotes containing the word history:

    “It is remarkable how closely the history of the apple tree is connected with that of man.”
    —Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    “We are told that men protect us; that they are generous, even chivalric in their protection. Gentlemen, if your protectors were women, and they took all your property and your children, and paid you half as much for your work, though as well or better done than your own, would you think much of the chivalry which permitted you to sit in street-cars and picked up your pocket- handkerchief?”
    —Mary B. Clay, U.S. suffragist. As quoted in History of Woman Suffrage, vol. 4, ch. 3, by Susan B. Anthony and Ida Husted Harper (1902)

    “In the history of the human mind, these glowing and ruddy fables precede the noonday thoughts of men, as Aurora the sun’s rays. The matutine intellect of the poet, keeping in advance of the glare of philosophy, always dwells in this auroral atmosphere.”
    —Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)