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Author Messages Oldest First Newest First fuller Posts:82 06 Oct 2007 14:35 Alert  NEWS RELEASE Release No: 2007/463/ECA Contacts: Open Society Institute Budapest: Andy Haupert, +36 327 3010 ahaupert@osi.hu The World Bank: Tunde Buzetzky, +421-908 430853 tbuzetzky@worldbank.org Hungarian Minister of Social Affairs and Labor calls for preparation of a European Roma Policy while new countries are to join the Decade Budapest, October 3, 2007— Representatives of the nine Roma Decade countries , Roma civil society, and international organizations gathered in Budapest for the eleventh Steering Committee Meeting of the Decade of Roma Inclusion on October 1-2. At the meeting, participants concluded that in spite of the efforts of the European Union institutions to address Roma social inclusion, it will be necessary to adopt a comprehensive EU Roma policy. Participants at the discussions noted that the private sector might also play a beneficial role to promote social inclusion of the Roma, in ways including the development of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategies. Another point of discussion was sharing of best practices regarding anti-segregation policies in the fields of education and housing. These measures may bring a new impetus to the continued efforts of the Decade. The meeting was also attended by the representatives of the Government of Slovenia and the Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina as observers. “The Decade of Roma Inclusion offers an excellent opportunity for countries to join forces and take effective coordinated steps; however, we may need to put a special emphasis on the importance of wider social support,” stressed Hungarian Minister of Social Affairs and Labor Dr. Monika Lampreth in her opening speech. The Government of Hungary took over the Presidency of the Decade as of July 1, 2007. The Hungarian Government’s presidency program will focus on the following priorities: 1. Invite new interested governments to join the Decade: Bosnia-Herzegovina, Moldova, Portugal, Spain and Slovenia. 2. Action should be taken to persuade the institutions of the European Union to discuss the Decade of Roma Inclusion program and consider adopting a comprehensive Roma policy. 3. International and local awareness and support of the Roma Decade is to be raised. 4. On the basis of DecadeWatch monitoring report, common indicators are to be developed to further strengthen the monitoring of implementation of government actions. 5. Reinforce cooperation with private sector through Corporate Social Responsibility strategies to contribute to the education and employment of Roma. The representatives of the Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina who attended the meeting informed participants that the BiH government has adopted a Roma strategy, and that the development of an action plan will be completed soon to fulfill the necessary requirements to join the Decade initiative. The next event to be held under the auspices of the Decade will be a workshop on housing, to be organized jointly by the Governments of Hungary and Croatia to share best practices in this field. For more information, visit http://www.romadecade.org ----------------------------------------------------------------- Next Decade Watch Puts the Roma Decade on the Serbian Parliament's Agenda Serbian DecadeWatch Report Presented to MPs in Belgrade September 21, 2007 On September 19, 2007 the Serbian-language version of the DecadeWatch report was presented in the building of the Parliament of Serbia. This public presentation took place on the occasion of the conference "The Situation of Roma in Serbia" organized by the Roma MP Srdjan Sain in cooperation with the League for the Decade in Serbia, the Fund for an Open Society–Serbia and the OSI Roma Initiatives Office. The event was attended by ten members of parliament representing all political factions and was opened by the Speaker of Parliament, Oliver Dulic. In his speech, Dulic stressed that "anti-discrimination is a key for the stability of Serbian society" and that "the ruling coalition is committed to improve the situation of Roma." He added that the approval a few weeks ago of an amendment to the budget law allocating funds for the Decade of Roma Inclusion is an example of the steps taken in this direction. The Head of the Agency for Human and Minority Rights, Petar Ladjevic, re-affirmed the commitment of the government to take over the Presidency of the Decade starting July 1, 2008. Osman Balic, the coordinator of the League for the Decade, spoke about the findings of DecadeWatch and urged the government to adopt and implement policies towards Roma in the fields of education, housing, health and employment, also taking into account gender, anti-discrimination and poverty. Following Balic's presentation, most of the MPs present expressed their agreement with the findings of the report and pledged their support for Roma policies. Overall, the conference was a great success and it achieved its purpose of placing Roma issues and the Roma Decade on the agenda of Parliament. The results of the conference and the findings of the Decade Watch report will be presented at the next meeting of the External Relations Committee of the Serbian Parliament together with a proposal to form a sub-committee on the Decade of Roma Inclusion that will also include Roma activists from civil society. ------------------------------------- Next Embracing the Future: Identity, Culture and Artistic Expression in the Education of Roma Children" Conference of the Roma Education Fund (to be confirmed) The seminar will touch upon the important issue of culture and artistic expression in the education of Roma children as a way to build a positive cultural identity. Culture in education is usually limited to teaching history, the Romani language and folk art thus suggesting a view that Roma culture is past and only thrived when the group lived in separation. Children and youth need exposure to contemporary culture, art, film, new media, dance and music—the conference will aim to raise awareness and establish guidelines on best practices of introducing Roma culture in education programs. ------------------------------------------------ Next Seminar: "Engaging with the National Action Plans on Strategies for Social Protection" ENAR training seminar on mainstreaming anti-racism in social inclusion: "Engaging with the National Action Plans on Strategies for Social Protection and Social Inclusion under the EU Lisbon strategy OMC" One of the biggest challenges facing the European Union is to promote the social and economic inclusion of ethnic minority communities, and in particular to address discrimination faced by Roma, Sinti and Travellers, new migrants, established minorities of immigrant origin and other minority groups. Ethnic and religious minorities and migrants across Europe are still amongst the groups most vulnerable to poverty and social exclusion. Building the capacities of the members of ENAR and of the broader anti-racist community to engage with the National Action Plans on Social Protection and Social Inclusion appears as one of the responses to tackle the growing needs of ethnic minorities in the area of social inclusion. ENAR’s seminar on mainstreaming anti-racism in social inclusion aims to shed light on this unique policy making system called Open Method of Coordination (OMC) and equip the members of ENAR and of the broader anti-racist community with the necessary knowledge to get involved in this process. EAPN’s experience and assessment of the challenges and difficulties of engaging in complex discussion rounds with Member States will also allow ENAR members to better structure their future interactions within that framework. Please note that the deadline for applications is 1 October 2007. ------------------------------------- Next DecadeWatch: Roma Activists Assess the Progress of the Decade of Roma Inclusion (2007) July 03, 2007 DecadeWatch: Roma Activists Assess the Progress of the Decade of Roma Inclusion, 2005-2006 Download as pdf files from www.decadewatch.org DecadeWatch is the first assessment of government action on implementing the commitments expressed under the Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005–2015. Since the Decade aims at giving Roma a voice in the process of inclusion, this assessment has been conducted by coalitions of Roma NGOs and activists from all countries participating in the Decade. (In Croatia and Montenegro the reporting was conducted jointly by mainstream NGOs and Roma activists.) This first round of DecadeWatch reviews the period from the launch of the Decade in early 2005 until the end of 2006. DecadeWatch is a contribution by Roma activists to making the Decade a success. DecadeWatch is supported by the Open Society Institute and the World Bank. This support included training and mentoring the research teams, as well as developing the methodology, providing editorial support and printing this series of reports ------------------------------------ Next How the Global Fund Can Improve Roma Health (2007) September 12, 2007 While activities supported by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria have helped increase access to health services for Roma, certain vulnerable groups within Roma communities still lack care and support and face higher risks for HIV/AIDS and TB infection. How the Global Fund Can Improve Roma Health, published by the OSI Public Health Program, assesses the impact of Global Fund–sponsored projects and the challenge of delivering HIV/AIDS and TB services to vulnerable Roma groups in Bulgaria, Macedonia, Romania, and Serbia. The report also examines the involvement of Roma civil society in the development of proposals and implementation of projects sponsored by the Global Fund. The report finds that the overall impact of HIV/AIDS and TB activities is limited because projects have incomplete needs assessments for vulnerable Roma groups or lack coordination with other Roma health initiatives. How the Global Fund Can Improve Roma Health aims to close these gaps by providing recommendations to help public health officials and advocates better address Roma health concerns and increase the involvement of Roma NGOs in developing and implementing projects. Source: http://www.soros.org/initiatives/health/focus/roma/articles_publications/publications/gfatm_20070829 ------------------------------------------------------- Next Forced Out: The Problem of Roma Evictions in Europe (2006) July 20, 2007 The Dzeno Association has chosen to focus on evictions in this report for two reasons. First, evictions have a major effect on the lives of the effected Roma. Roma without permanent homes will not receive adequate health care, the difficulty of getting a job will increase, their children will be less likely to get an education, and they will generally be more likely to be homeless and impoverished. Second, despite the importance of this issue, evictions has received little concerted effort, either from NGOs or from national governments. Source: http://www.dzeno.cz/?r_id=234 ------------------------ End: Snippits:
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