Rudko Kawczynski
”Rudko Kawczynski, who was also the first interim president of the European Roma and Travellers Forum, has been elected unanimously by the Forum's first plenary assembly in December.
Mr. Kawczynski was born in Krakow, Poland, on 26 November 1954. In 1956, he escaped to Austria and later to Germany where he and his family applied for asylum.
After first contacts with the peace and civil rights movement in the early 1970s, Mr. Kawczynski became a co-founder of the Rom & Cinti Union which was created in Hamburg in 1975 and has been reelected as its president since.
Since the early 1990s, Mr. Kawczynski has been active in the international Roma rights movement: Following several international protests for the compensation of Romani Holocaust victims and against the repatriation of Romani refugees from the former Yugoslavia, he together with other activists from different countries, co-founded the Roma National Congress (RNC), which soon became one of the main international Roma organisations.
As a programme director with the Open Society Institute, Mr. Kawczynski initiated many activities such as the Roma Participation Programme. He also initiated the creation of the European Roma Rights Centre and of the Contact Point for Sinti and Roma Issues of the OSCE. He was board member of the European Roma Information Office in Brussels.
Mr. Kawczynski has been a founding member of the European Roma and Travellers Forum and pushed forward its development. As a representative of the Forum, he has taken part in many national and international events including conferences and parliament hearings.
Mr. Kawczynski was reelected for his second term of office by the Fifth Plenary Assembly of the European Roma and Travellers Forum on 25 February 2010.”
”Rudko Kawczynski, who was also the first interim president of the European Roma and Travellers Forum, has been elected unanimously by the Forum's first plenary assembly in December.
Mr. Kawczynski was born in Krakow, Poland, on 26 November 1954. In 1956, he escaped to Austria and later to Germany where he and his family applied for asylum.
After first contacts with the peace and civil rights movement in the early 1970s, Mr. Kawczynski became a co-founder of the Rom & Cinti Union which was created in Hamburg in 1975 and has been reelected as its president since.
Since the early 1990s, Mr. Kawczynski has been active in the international Roma rights movement: Following several international protests for the compensation of Romani Holocaust victims and against the repatriation of Romani refugees from the former Yugoslavia, he together with other activists from different countries, co-founded the Roma National Congress (RNC), which soon became one of the main international Roma organisations.
As a programme director with the Open Society Institute, Mr. Kawczynski initiated many activities such as the Roma Participation Programme. He also initiated the creation of the European Roma Rights Centre and of the Contact Point for Sinti and Roma Issues of the OSCE. He was board member of the European Roma Information Office in Brussels.
Mr. Kawczynski has been a founding member of the European Roma and Travellers Forum and pushed forward its development. As a representative of the Forum, he has taken part in many national and international events including conferences and parliament hearings.
Mr. Kawczynski was reelected for his second term of office by the Fifth Plenary Assembly of the European Roma and Travellers Forum on 25 February 2010.”
