Ana Rozanova – Page 62

Reality check on Roma local development in Hungary

Reality check on Roma local development in Hungary

One of the main objectives of ERGO Network is to create strong National Roma Working Groups (NRWG) in France, Romania, Hungary, Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Slovakia. The NRWG aim to be strong coalitions where Roma stakeholders, leaders and community-based organizations can connect and exert bottom-up pressure on administrations in order to take positive action to address Roma exclusion.

In Hungary, our member Butterfly Development has organised the 2nd meeting of the NRWG on 13-14 September in the form of a 2-day study trip with accompanying workshop in the Nord-East part of Hungary.

The main objective of the event – organised in close collaboration with the Alliance of the Spokespersons of Roma Minorities of Nógrád County – was to provide a platform for developing appropriate working relations between the local decision makers, Roma organisations and pro-Roma civil organisations, by means of sharing and evaluating good practices of local development with and for Roma communities in Nógrád County. The participating Mayors and the representatives of their selected collaborators from Roma civil organisation were invited from the Nord-East region, i.e. from Nógrád, Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén and Szabolcs-Szatmár counties. The State Secretary being responsible for social and Roma inclusion also attended the second day of the meeting, together with the Catholic Bishop of the Nógrád County.

The participants of the NRWG meeting visited two small settlements suffering from multiple disadvantages, namely Nagybárkány and Varsány, to collect personal practical experiences about the effects of complex local development resulting in new types of institutions and services or new local employment opportunities built on local traditions (e.g. folk art or agricultural roots) based on public work. The accompanying workshop provided an effective opportunity for brainstorming and summarizing the main objectives of necessary further development, the necessary collaborators to achieve them and the necessary actions. The participants firmly committed themselves to continue their common work and to extend the scope of activity of this network. Some Mayors already offered to host the next NRWG meeting and share their good practices.

For more information and pictures read here

A new united Europe for people

A new united Europe for people

ERGO Network is one of 177 European and national civil society organizations and trade unions to sign a common statement calling for a new direction for the European Union.

The statement is directed to the 27 EU leaders who are going to meet for an informal Summit in Bratislava on the 16^th of September, where the leaders are supposed to address the growing gap between the citizens and the EU in the wake of the UK referendum.

The common statement has been adopted to show a common position demanding leaders to fight back against populism, social inequalities, climate changes etc.

For more information read the full statement and see a full list of signatories.

RED CARD TO ANTIGYPSYISM

Our member RAVS from Slovakia presented their “Red Card to Antigypsyism” campaign at the Balvafest festival in Kokava and Rimavicou on 27 August 2016.

The event gathered over 1500 people. Roma together with non-Roma guests were enjoying the performances of stars such as Jan Bendig, Imperio and bands from Spain and Serbia.Peter Kudrá from the NGO Roma Podskalky briefly explained what the red cards mean to guests arriving at the entrance of the complex. The red cards statements were written in Slovak language and in Romani language.

For more information about the work of our member and the campaign click here.

Confronting antigypsyism is the responsibility of the mainstream society

Confronting antigypsyism is the responsibility of the mainstream society

On 6 September 2016, ERGO Network was present at a high level event hosted by the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, co-organized with ODIHR, the Council of Europe and the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma. It brought together more than 130 participants, including members of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the European Parliament and of national parliaments, along with high-ranking governmental representatives, civil society representatives, and other relevant stakeholders in the fight against antigypsyism.

“In order to put an end to the common practices of the antigypsyism, there is a strong need to mobilize the support of civil society. Civil society needs to monitor the hate speech, the discrimination and give grassroots organizations the tools to address and fight antigypsyism at the local level” said Gabriela Hrabanova the Deputy Director of ERGO Network. In support of those arguments, ERGO presented the reference paper of the Alliance Against Antigypsyism.

The conference underlined the common voice of the international community to address the continued discrimination caused by this specific form of racism against Roma and Sinti within the current challenging regional political context across Europe. All the speakers stressed the need to strengthen alliances among stakeholders, including the civil society, and to build a firm stand of political leaders against antigypsyism. “It is high time that political leaders, political groups and institutions at national and European levels take a strong stand against antigypsyism as the root cause of the social exclusion of Roma,” said Soraya Post, Swedish Member of the European Parliament and Co-President of the Anti-Racism and Diversity Intergroup (ARDI). She continued: “Until this specific form of racism is systematically addressed, the success of actions in other policy areas will be limited.”

EC Assessment of the Implementation of the EU Framework for National Roma Integration Strategies

European Commission’s Assessment of the Implementation of the
EU Framework for National Roma Integration Strategies:
Member States need to step-up their efforts

The report is based on information submitted by Member States of the efforts made to integrate Roma, supplemented by input from civil society. ERGO Network concludes that the report clearly indicates a lack of action in crucial areas -also those Member States with a significant number of Roma.
Therefore, ERGO Network supports the urgent call of the European Commission’s on Member States to address the key priorities and step up their efforts.
In this note we present a brief examination of the European Commission’s (EC) assessment and indicate how it can be used by Roma Civil Society in their national advocacy.

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