50th International Roma Day: Towards justice and building trust
On the occasion of 50th International Roma Day, ERGO Network together with CEPS, the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma, the Federación de Asociaciones Gitanas de Cataluña (FAGIC) in Spain, the Asociatia Fast Forward and the ARESEL Network in Romania launched their joint EU funded project, Chachipen (“truth”) online on 29 March 2021.
The kick-off event brought together an important number of key stakeholders at European, regional and national level, including Vera Jourova, Vice President of the European Commission for Values and Transparency, Dunja Mijatovic, Commissioner for Human Rights, Council of Europe, Thomas Hammarberg, Member of the Swedish Parliament and former Chair of the Swedish Antigypsyism Commission, Ismael Cortes, Member of Parliament in Spain, Florin Manole, former Member of Parliament in Romania and prominent Roma and pro-Roma human rights experts and NGOs, including the European Roma Rights Centre, European Roma Institute for Arts and Culture, European Network against Racism, Phiren Amenca International Network and European and intergovernmental institutions such as the European Commission, Unit, Non-discrimination and Roma coordination, OSCE ODIHR Contact Point for Roma and Sinti Issues, Council of Europe’s Roma and Travellers Team, the UN Human Rights Office in Brussels and the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Committee on the Genocide of the Roma.
The event reflected the objectives of the Chachipen project by taking stock of approaches to address antigypsyism and transitional justice also by learning from the experiences of Sweden and Germany with a view to pave the way for truth and reconciliation processes in Romania and Spain. The event also discussed the struggles of Roma and Sinti civil society in advocating for routh and reconciliation processes at national level and ways to ensure ownership, including by empowering and mobilising Roma and Sinti communities and civil society to engage in advocacy at national and EU level and building bridges with other racialised communities and groups.
This project is funded by the European Union’s Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme (2014-2020). The content of the project’s outputs represents the views of the author only and is his/her sole responsibility. The European Commission does not accept any responsibility for use that may be made of the information it contains.