Swiss traveller groups want official acknowledgement of ‘cultural genocide’

Organisations representing the Swiss traveller community have called for the forced placement of children to be recognised as ‘cultural genocide’. Under the “Charity for the Children of the Road” project, Swiss charitable organisation Pro Juventute took hundreds of Yenish and Sinti children away from their families. Members of these minorities were also sterilised and interned. It is estimated that 2,000 children were affected, but the exact number is not known, Yenish organisations said in an open letter to Justice Minister Elisabeth Baume-Schneider published on Monday. The government has also persecuted the Yenish and Sinti in other ways, notably by interning them for "vagrancy", the letter adds. Despite the apology offered and the compensation paid, the government must now recognise the “Charity for the Children of the Road” campaign as cultural genocide if it intends to take responsibility for its actions. The victims are not only the people directly involved, but also...