Ana Rozanova – Page 60

Message from the event “Countering Shrinking Space for Roma Civil Society’ to the European Roma Platform

Message from the event “Countering Shrinking Space for Roma Civil Society’ to the European Roma Platform

On November 29, ERGO Network organised a public event to discuss the ‘Shrinking space of Roma civil society’, which was co-hosted by MEPs Terry Reintke (Greens/EFA) and Tomáš Zdechovský (EPP). Over 80 people participated in the meeting. One of the conclusions is that there is a squeeze on available funding for work that is not strictly oriented to the provision of social services: advocacy, watchdog work, civil monitoring, community empowerment and activism. Shrinking space of civil society is a trend in Europe, but hits hard on Roma organisations, as they are scarcely equipped and often struggling for survival.

The 2^nd EUMIDIS report issued by the Fundamental Rights Agency on 29 November confirms that Roma are still Europe’s most discriminated and disliked minority and their position in society has not improved in the past 5 years. Obviously, EU policies and funding has not brought the much needed change in the lives of Roma. Research shows that 80% of the Roma live below the poverty threshold. In fact, many are the poorest of the poor – living in 3rd world enclaves – and their position is worsening. Despite some positive examples, most EU funding does not reach out to Roma and often confirms the second-class citizen status. Exclusionary patterns first needs to be tackled in order to make (EU) policies work and to prevent that tax-payers money is wasted.

One of the main challenges of Roma inclusion policies is to ensure Roma and Roma organisations are actors in the policy process, not subjects. Weak policy delivery goes hand in hand with the lack of active and independent civil society. Change on the ground will only come about when Roma communities and organizations are capable of holding municipalities, school authorities and businesses accountable for their performance and when they are equipped to monitor policy processes targeting them.

ERGO Network’s message from its public event to the EU Roma Platform meeting is that (pro) Roma civil society has a huge role to play to hold (local) governments accountable and involve themselves in policy processes as respected actor. This requires dedicated and flexible support to equip them to take such role and there is urgent need for funding of independent watch-dog organisations. And, policy makers need to take a pro-active role to take the expertise of civil society into account in the policy dialogue and assessment.

Also, at grassroots level Roma need to be supported to participate in and benefit from social inclusion interventions. Guiding principle in policy delivery should be that Roma themselves should take an active role to accomplish equal citizenship on all levels, from local up to European. EU funding will only be absorbed in a right and just manner, if people targeted are empowered and equipped to access and direct this funding. Roma civil society can monitor the outreach and impact of (EU funded) programmes by showing the perspective of the beneficiaries on the ground.

The mutual accountability can only work if civil society actors are equipped as watch-dog organizations. In order to ensure the independence and safety of civil society to keep governments accountable, an EU-led funding stream should be in place offering long-term, independent and flexible support. In the long term, this will make EU programmes more effective and fair, thus generating an interesting return on investment.

Moreover, in policy making, where possible, independent monitoring and evidence should be used. Including information from civil society in review processes can help provide objective evidence, increase transparency and bring important political points of view. It is enormously important to hold a mid-term evaluation to prepare the ground for the post-2020 Roma policy. Mutual accountability is, by its very nature, a political process rather than a technical exercise. An independent group with a formalised advisory status should be in place, as such does not exist in the EU, as well as support for shadow reporting by civil society organisations (that has been initiated by DG Justice, but not yet conducted). As a result, no frame is provided for civil society to give an organised input into the yearly reporting exercise on the implementation of the EPSCO Council Recommendations of 2013.

To conclude, Roma civil society is facing shrinking space, which is a reality for civil society at large. Taking into account the precarious position of Roma in the society, more firm and dedicated measures are needed. The prevailing antigypsyism is a barrier for efficient policy implementation. This needs to be acknowledged and taking into account as precondition in the design of all future initiatives and policies.

ERGO Network Annual Platform Members’ Meeting

ERGO Network Annual Platform Members’ Meeting

ERGO Network brought together people from over 20 organizations and young Roma activists for the Annual Members’ Platform that took place in Brussels on 28 November 2016.

The meeting was opened by Ruus Dijksterhuis, Director of ERGO Network, who shared a short history of the work that was conducted by ERGO and opened a space for the members organizations to present their own work and share their motivation for taking part in the network and its activities.

Then the ERGO members split into small groups to develop a common approach for fulfilling the ERGO Network Strategy. The group work was focused on the questions: What brings members together? What drives them in their work? How can the ERGO Network be strengthened?

During the meeting ERGO was using methods of the participatory leadership methodology. The methods were introduced and facilitated by four young Roma activists who were trained in those methods during the ERGO Summer Academy.

The members agreed that ERGO Network offers its members an effective platform for provision of information and exchange on relevant political and policy developments from the European perspective and from other countries, which can be used at local level. It is a platform for like-minded people. It serves as a source of motivation and inspiration for more effective grassroots work.

ERGO Network for many members represents a strong organization based in Brussels that can bring the grassroots reality to the Brussels fora and advocate for Roma people. Moreover, the members agreed that ERGO needs to keep its focus on network development and engagement of members in the work of the others, because only by working together we can strengthen the voice of Roma.

International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, 16 days of activism

International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, 16 days of activism

On 25 November, ERGO’s Network’s member from Bosnia-Herzegovina OTHARIN started its so-called ’16-days-activism’ campaign, which is run together with the ‘UG Romkinja’ (Roma women) and the ‘Local Voluntary Service’ in Bijeljina.

The first part of the program took place on the 25 November 2016, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, on the city square in Bijeljina.

The participants of the street action wrote messages about the topic of violence against women and asked citizens who passed by to do the same to show their support.

T-Shirts were donated in order to thank those who left their supportive messages. Unfortunately violence against women is increasing again, which makes it even more important to raise public awareness on that topic.

For more news and updates from Bosnia – Herzegovina please click here

Roma Forum Romania

Roma Forum Romania

The Second National Meeting of Roma Forum in Romania took place on 18 November 2016 at the InfoEurope Center in Bucharest, organized by Nevo Parudimos, as member of ERGO Network, in partnership with Romani Criss.

The meeting focused on issues of Roma communities in order to increase the capacity-building of Roma grassroots organizations who are members in the Roma Forum, especially in the area of monitoring and advocacy work, together with experienced NGOs such as RomaniCriss and Sastipen;

The discussions focused on the list of proposals for the Romanian Presidency of the European Union in 2019 in order to be formalized in the public agenda during the Romanian presidency. These proposals refer to the following areas: school segregation, the mediation process for health and education and the forced eviction of the Roma.

Marian Mandache (Romani Criss), as an invited speaker of the 1^st session, proposed ways of addressing the Roma issues to the future Romanian Government from 2017: bilateral meetings on the main social and economic fields that address Roma, such as sectorial meetings with public ministry representatives to include in their public agenda the Roma issues.

The Roma Forum had about 20 participants of Roma organizations from Romania and some new ones expressed their willingness to join.

As an ERGO member, Nevo Parudimos expresses its commitment to sustain the Roma Forum activities and to develop the capacity of Roma NGOs by exchanging information, solutions and models in order to overcome certain issues.

Also representatives of public authorities, namely the National Roma Agency and Mr. Alexandru Potor from the National Federation of LAGs, participated in the meeting.

Which steps towards European policies against antigypsyism

Which steps towards European policies against antigypsyism

The aim of the seminar, organised by Open Society European Institute on 15 November 2016, was to explore how successful policy initiatives around education and reconciliation can be systematized and disseminated throughout Europe by fighting antigypsyism.

The event gathered representatives of governments, European institutions and Roma civil society to discuss in which direction policies designed for Roma are going and how they foresee to combat the negative rhetoric against Roma.

The Deputy Director of ERGO Network, Gabriela Hrabanova, highlighted the importance of the civil society’s role in monitoring hate speech and discrimination by having the tools to address and fight antigypsyism at the local level. She stressed the importance of independent watchdogs organizations in Europe, which, when it comes to Roma discrimination, are missing. In support of those arguments, ERGO Network presented the reference paper against Antigypsyism of the Alliance Against Antigypsyism, written in cooperation with experts and endorsed by over 100 NGOs across Europe.

Find out more about the key aspects and dimension of antigypsism – a specific form of racism towards Roma at www.antigypsyim.eu.

The concluding remarks were done by Ethel Brooks – Associate Professor at Rutgers University, who stated “What do governments say about Anti-Gypsyism? What has been done? A lot has been said but now it is time for implementation”, “The time has come to deliver not just to talk”. Another remark made in the conclusions is that there is a need to strengthen the alliances among stakeholders and civil society and to start implementing the existing policies and legislation on human rights and hate speech and build a firm stand of political leaders against Anti-Gypsyism.