- Lívia Járóka
Lívia Járóka (born on
6 October 1974 in Tata) is a Hungarian politician of Roma ethnicity and the secondMember of the European Parliament (later joined byViktória Mohácsi ), having been elected as part of theFidesz list inHungary in June 2004. The first Romani member of the European Parliament wasJuan de Dios Ramirez-Heredia from Spain, who served from 1994-1999.Járóka grew up in
Sopron , a town near Hungary's western border withAustria . After getting an MA in sociology from theCentral European University Warsaw campus on a scholarship from the Soros-fundedOpen Society Institute she went on to studyanthropology in Britain, focusing on Roma issues and culture. In August 2003, she had a daughter. As of January 2005, she was still enrolled as a senior PhD anthropology student atUniversity College London researching the politics of ethnic identity among Roma inHungary .She was proposed for a The Parliament Magazine’s MEP Award in September 2006, which led to some controversy when a Bulgarian observer at the European Parliament sent an email to all MEPs that appeared to belittle Roma women. Bulgarian observer Dimitar Stoyanov, of the Attack party and the stepson of its leader,
Volen Siderov , said "In my country there are tens of thousands of Gypsy girls way more pretty than this honorable one... you may even buy one, around 12-13 years, to be your loving wife." [http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&ct=us/1-0&fp=451ed46651c3acf4&ei=DTQeRe-rCsCYHczY3M8H&url=http%3A//www.washtimes.com/upi/20060930-014851-7605r.htm&cid=0]In 2006 January she was named a Young Global Leader among other 150 prominent young figures of the world, in 2006 october among others she won the "MEP of 2006" award in the Justice and Fundamental Rights category by the Parliament Magazine.
External links
Official website [http://www.jarokalivia.hu]
* [http://www.ucl.ac.uk/anthropology/socanth/res-students_jaroka.htm Lívia Járóka at University College London]
* [http://www.ceu.hu/news-event.jsp?nr=1220&content_type=1 Interview with Lívia Járóka at the Central European University web-cite]
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