Sinn Féin Senator Paul Gavan has called on Irish, European, and governments around the world to do more to recognise the genocide of the Roma people during the holocaust.

The Limerick based Senator’s comments follow his attendance of the European Holocaust Memorial Day for Roma and Sinti at Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Paul Gavan said:

“The holocaust is mostly associated with the Nazi cruelty and genocide of the Jewish people. Not so often do we hear of the 250,000 to 500,000 Roma women, men and children that were also rounded up and sent to the concentration camps to be used for experiments, slave labour, and mass murder.

“It is a dark part of human history that defines evil and we must make sure never happens again – to any nationality, religious, ethnic or minority group, anywhere in the world.

“Families of the Roma and Sinti victims continue to fight for recognition of their people who were murdered by the same cruel Nazi regime as the Jewish were.

“The continued marginalization of Roma in Europe means that it’s still a struggle to gain recognition what happened, and without that awareness, there is a genuine fear that it could happen again.

“The recent rise of the far-right in Europe has given Roma advocacy groups cause for a real concern that history may repeat itself.

“In Ireland and throughout Europe we see a huge amount of discrimination and hatred towards Roma people, and we must do more to tackle it at all levels.”