Unstoppable Voices of Resilience | Exhibition Opening and Conversation with CoE Commissioner for Human Rights
An early evening with representatives of Roma Women and Youth organisations from Germany in conversation with the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights and the Deputy Director of the German Institute for Human Rights.
Join us on October 16, starting with 17.30 CET, at ERIAC’s Gallery Space in Berlin, for an inspiring and critical exchange on the struggles, achievements, and visions of Roma women and youth leaders in Germany. This event highlights their unstoppable voices of resilience and resistance against the multifaceted nature of antigypsyism, and their commitment to building a just and inclusive Europe.
The conversation takes place on the occasion of the visit of the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Michael O’Flaherty, to Germany. ERIAC is honored to be the first host outside Strasbourg of the travelling exhibition The Unheard 12 Million, based on the Commissioner’s personal book of the same title.
With the participation of:
Tayo Awosusi-Onutor – Board member of RomaniPhen feminist archive, author, publisher, singer
Violeta Balog – Vice Chair of the Board of Amaro Foro, Head of the Documentation Center on Antigypsyism (DOSTA/MIA Berlin)
Michael O’Flaherty – Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights
Michael Windfuhr – Deputy Director of the German Institute for Human Rights
Moderated by:
Dr. Anna Mirga-Kruszelnicka – Deputy Director of ERIAC, author, cultural anthropologist
Event Agenda
17:30-17:45 – Welcome and Opening of the exhibition: The Unheard 12 Million – A travelling exhibition, curated by ERIAC, based on the Book of Michael O’Flaherty, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights.
Presentation of the Book and Exhibition by Michael O’Flaherty, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights.
17:45-17:50 – Comments by Michael Windfuhr, Deputy Director of the German Institute for Human Rights
17:50-18:30 – Interactive discussion with representatives of Roma organisations based in Germany and the audience
18:30-20:00 – Reception with music
Michael O’Flaherty
Dr. Michael O’Flaherty was elected by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in January 2024. He is the fifth Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe. The Commissioner’s mandate lasts for six years and is non-renewable.
An Irish human rights lawyer, Commissioner O’Flaherty has served as the Director of the EU Fundamental Rights Agency (2015-2023), as a member of the United Nations Human Rights Committee (2004-2012), as Chief Commissioner of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (2011-2013), and in various posts at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, notably in setting up operations in conflict-affected countries such as Sierra Leone and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Commissioner O’Flaherty has held professorships of human rights at the Universities of Nottingham (U.K.) and Galway (Ireland), where he has also led their Human Rights Centres. He is currently Adjunct (Honorary) Full Professor at the University of Maynooth and at University College Dublin. He has published widely in the field of human rights.
Tayo Awosusi-Onutor
Tayo Awosusi-Onutor is a Berlin-based singer, author, director, and activist who describes herself as an Afro-Sintezza. Her music blends Soul, Jazz, R’n’B, and Romani Musica, performed in English, German, and Romanes. The daughter of civil rights activist, Tayo’s art reflects her multicultural roots. She has collaborated with artists such as Ferenc Snétberger, Mariah Carey, and Sarah Connor, and produced music for film soundtracks. A board member of RomaniPhen Roma feminist archive and member of IniRromnja, she directed the documentary “Phral mende – Wir über uns” (2017) and authored the first German children’s book featuring Romani and Sinti heroines, “JOKESI Club” (Vol. 1 and 2). Since 2023, she runs omobooks Verlag, a publishing house amplifying underrepresented voices.
Violeta Balog
Violeta Balog was born in Serbia, but grew up in Berlin after her family sought asylum in. She is a founding member and board member of Amaro Foro e.V. and Head of the Documentation Center on Antigypsyism (DOSTA/MIA Berlin), where she documents and analyses antigypsyist incidents in Berlin. Deeply engaged in youth and anti-discrimination work, she is also part of the national network Amaro Drom e.V., coordinating youth initiatives and mentoring the next generation of Roma activists. Her long-standing commitment to empowerment and equality continue to shape her activism and community work.
Michael Windfuhr
Michael Windfuhr is the Deputy Director of the German Institute for Human Rights and a member of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. He co-founded and led the international human rights organisation FIAN, contributing to the development of the UN Voluntary Guidelines on the Right to Food. His work has focused on economic, social, and cultural rights – including the rights to food, housing, water, and social security – as well as the protection of human rights defenders. He has been consulting on the implementation process of the National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights in Germany since 2014. He is also a member of the independent complaints mechanism of the development banks in Germany (DEG), France (Proparco) and the Netherlands (FMO).
Dr. Anna Mirga-Kruszelnicka
Dr. Anna Mirga-Kruszelnicka is an anthropologist and Roma activist, born in 1985 in Cracow/Poland. She earned her Ph.D. in Social and Cultural Anthropology at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) in 2016. She holds an MA in European Integration from UAB and an MA in Comparative Studies of Civilizations from the Jagiellonian University in Cracow (UJ). She is the author of policy evaluations, reports and articles, and is the co-editor of the book “Education for Remembrance of the Roma Genocide: Scholarship, Commemoration and the Role of Youth” (Libron, 2015). She has been an employee, member, founder and collaborator of numerous Roma organizations in Poland and Spain.
From 2008 to 2012 she was the European project coordinator at the Federation of Roma Associations in Catalonia (FAGIC). From 2013 to 2015 she was an Open Society Foundations Roma Initiatives Fellow, conducting a comparative study of the Roma associative movements in various countries of Latin America and Europe. From 2015 to 2017 she was the coordinator and curator of the Academic Section (aka. Roma Civil Rights Movement Section) in the RomArchive – Digital Archive of the Roma.
Download the book “The Unheard 12 Million”
Download the book HERE.
