2005 Photo Contest, Daily Life, 1st prize
Photographer

Jan Grarup

Politiken / Rapho for Geo

01 May, 2004

Original caption from World Press Photo (2005)

Hundreds of Roma live in dilapidated housing complexes and makeshift settlements in eastern Slovakia. The Roma form the second largest minority group in Slovakia, yet as a group tend to suffer disproportionately high rates of unemployment, poverty and disease. Most live in extremely deprived conditions, often in camps in marginal or devastated zones, with few facilities. Improved social welfare and human rights legislation, passed by the Slovak government on the eve of the country's joining the European Union in May 2004, does not appear to have reached the ground. Slovak prejudice against the Roma is deep-rooted.

 

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More information
Through a Glass Darkly, by Robert Godden, published on Witness in September 2017
How should vulnerable children be represented in the media? Are we guilty of applying different ethical standards dependent on the race, ethnicity, nationality, location, gender or class of the child? Robert Godden explores these questions and provides guidelines for photojournalists and organizations. 

About the photographer

Jan Grarup

Grarup’s work reflects his belief in photojournalism’s role as an instrument of witness and memory to incite change, and the necessity of telling the stories of people who are re...

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