Combatting antigypsyism – Page 12

Roma youth empowerment trough Rromani language

Our partners from Roma Community Centre in Vilinus, Lithuania for the first time ever gather a group of young Roma for 2 days seminar from 2-4 Of December, 2019 with a programme in rromanes on topics such as: discrimination, equality, access to the labor market and empowerment.

The event took part under the frame of Roma platform and was organized by the department of National minorities together with the Public institution Roma Community Center.

ERGO’s policy officer Carmen Tanasie and its member from France La Voix des Rroms, Samir Mile delivered the workshop in rromani language engaging in deconstructing the consequences of social exclusion and came together with the participants to a set of recommendations such as:

Roma youth should be consulted by the National Minorities department when issuing calls or implementing activities that includes Roma youth
Provide high-level jobs in the public sector for Roma
Improve cooperation between young Roma and labor offices
Tackle the discrimination in schools and include the Roma history in the school curricula

The young Roma got empowered by the fact that could freely express in their maternal language and asked the organizers to follow organizing seminars and meeting not just for young people but involving more Roma communities in Lithuania.

OSCE Human Dimension Implementation Meeting

ERGO Network voices major steps to take to achieve true leadership and participation and to combat antigypsyism at the 2019 OSCE Human Dimension Implementation Meeting

Our Policy and Research Coordinator Jelena Jovanovic recently took part in the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) annual human rights conference: the Human Dimension Implementation Meeting (HDIM). She read a statement on Roma participation and leadership and presented the work on developing concrete measures to combat antigypsyism, measures the Alliance against Antigypsyism proposes to the EU institutions and EU Member States as well as Candidate Countries.

During the working session ‘Roma and Sinti participation in public and political life’, Jelena Jovanovic spoke about participation as a human right and pointed out that committing to the empowerment of a systematically disempowered group to achieve true participation in various societal and political affairs would play a crucial role in advancing democratic governance, the rule of law and socio-economic development. ERGO Network called upon the OSCE Participating States to develop measures with direct Roma empowerment as an objective, to envision and foster quality participation at all levels and all stages of policy making, to develop national policies addressing Roma participation by positive actions, including in administrative personnel, while being conscious that Roma should not only be part of processes narrowly defined as ‘Roma issues’.

We also urged the Participating States to devise tools and resources for empowering grassroots organisations, to develop indicators to measure the frequency and quality of Roma participation and leadership and to contribute to diversifying Roma participation while embracing an understanding that besides ‘women’s’ and ‘youth issues’, Roma women and youth have diverse expertise and should also occupy high level positions. ERGO strongly emphasised that the same understanding should be applied to other social groups on the intersections of different categories of difference such as sexuality, class, disability, geographical location. Marginalised groups’ representation affects other people in similar positions to get more confidence to voice their needs.

During the side event focusing on “Racism, intolerance and violence against Roma and Sinti in the OSCE area”, we explained challenges with regards to legislation, policy development and concrete interventions. Many civil society organisations, the European Parliament, the European Commission, United Nations and other institutions and organisations highlight the persistent antigypsyism at all levels of European society, despite the efforts undertaken under strategies and action plans for Roma and national legislative frameworks against discrimination and hate crime.

ERGO Network called upon OSCE participating states to take stock of the situation and adopt complementary policy measures to respond to the challenges experienced by Roma in Europe. We suggested specific measures in terms of recognising present and historical responsibility and improving institutional frameworks, collecting data and monitoring antigypsyism and enabling access to justice.

You can read here our statements on participation and leadership and on combating antigypsyism and the ODIHR Third Status Report from 2018 focusing on participation in public and political life.

International Congress on Discrimination based on Work and Descent

International Congress on Discrimination based on Work and Descent tackling Casteism, Antigypsyism, Traditional and Contemporary forms of Slavery and Other Analogous Forms of Discrimination (ICDWD)

21-23 September 2019, New York

From 21 to 23 September, a delegation of Roma activists from ERGO Network took part in the International Congress on Discrimination based on Work and Descent tackling Casteism, Antigypsyism, Contemporary forms of Slavery and Other Analogous Forms of Discrimination, which was held in conjunction with the United Nations General Assembly in New York. The ERGO Network delegation consisted of ERGO Network director Gabriela Hrabanova, Michal Miko (RomanNet, Czech Republic), Isaac Blake (National Federation of Gypsy Liaison Groups, UK) and Vesa Batalli (Voice of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians, Kosovo). The conference was co-hosted by the Asia Dalit Rights Forum, the African Network on Discrimination based on Work, Descent and Contemporary Forms of Slavery, ERGO Network, the Inclusivity Project, Trust Africa and Boston Study Group.

The Conference was preceded by a Parliamentarian’s Roundtable on discrimination based on work and descent, hosted in the Permanent Mission to the UN of Senegal.

Communities discriminated based on Work and Descent (DWD) are some of the most excluded, segregated, and marginalized groups at the global and local levels within their social, economic, political, and cultural systems. The inequalities and disadvantages they experience exist in various services like education, hunger alleviation, health, water and sanitation, employment, voting rights, equal access to land and housing, access to religious institutions in the public sphere, disaster risk reduction and environmental health, some of which are represented in SDGs through definite goals. Gender equality, peace and justice constitute cross-cutting, significant determinants, which must be addressed to mitigate inequalities within the countries.

The Congress adopted the New York Declaration: Global March Forward to Eradicate Discrimination, calling upon the United Nations and States Parties to adopt effective measures towards ending all forms of discrimination based on work & descent, untouchability, antigypsyism, socio-cultural beliefs, and other analogous forms of discrimination including contemporary forms of slavery.

The ERGO delegation furthermore took part in the People’s Assembly organized by the Global Actions against Poverty and the United Nations Civil Society SDG Forum, which aimed to create a space for constructive and propositional dialogue between civil society and UN Member States, international organizations and other related constituencies on the possible responses to the challenges exposed by the first four years of implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

New reports about racism and inequality in the UK

New reports about racism and inequality in the UK

The “Report of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance on her visit to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland” has been published and makes specific reference to Gypsies, Roma and Travellers.

The UN Special Rapporteur E. Tendayi Achiume stated in her report that the UK Government’s policies exacerbate discrimination, stoke xenophobic sentiment and further entrench racial inequality. It highlights persistent racial disparities in, among others, education, employment, housing, health, surveillance, interactions with police, prosecutions, and incarceration.

“The structural socio-economic exclusion of racial and ethnic minority communities in the United Kingdom is striking,” the Special Rapporteur said in her report, based on a fact-finding visit to the country in April and May 2018.

“Notwithstanding the existence of a legal framework devoted to combating racial discrimination, the harsh reality is that race, ethnicity, religion, gender, disability status and related categories all continue to determine the life chances and well-being of people in Britain in ways that are unacceptable and, in many cases, unlawful.”

During her fact finding visit to the country in April and May 2018 she held a special meeting with Gypsy, Roma and Traveller organisations.

The full report of the Women and Equalities Committee “Tackling inequalities faced by Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities” was produced in April 2019:

The Government has now produced its response to this in which it states that “the Government agrees that an ambitious programme of work needs to be undertaken in order to tackle inequalities faced by Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities.

The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government will lead in co-ordinating a cross-Government strategy to improve outcomes for Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities. The ministry will work closely with other Government departments including the Race Disparity Unit within the Cabinet Office, the Department for Education, the Department of Health and Social Care, the Government Equalities Office and the Home Office to develop the strategy.”

This follows years of pressure from NGOs, including the civil society monitoring reports and the “Experts by Experience” report of the National Federation of Gypsy Liaison Groups and will be a “Roma Integration Strategy” in all but name. The Strategy won’t be operational until 2020 to give time for community input into its formulation, but the commitment to produce it is a positive move and we will be working alongside other NGOs to ensure that the Strategy is “bottom up” rather than merely being imposed from above.

Alliance against Antigypsyism: new recommendations

Alliance against Antigypsyism offers recommendations and concrete measures to combat antigypsyism for the future EU and national policies

The Alliance against Antigypsyism has recently published two new policy papers. The first offers recommendations to combat antigypsyism for future EU and national policies to ensure they are comprehensive and no dimension or manifestation of antigypsyism is omitted. The Alliance also went one step further and proposes concrete measures to combat antigypsyism In their paper “Developing measures to combat antigypsyism after 2020: Guidance for European and national stakeholders”.

Both papers aim to inspire European and national stakeholders to contribute to combating exclusion of Roma. They could be used as guide for EU Member States and Candidate Countries to update their current national strategies or create new strategies that can respond to antigypsyism. With the papers we also want to enter the narratives and practice of the new European Parliament and the European Commission. There has been a tremendous work done by civil society and EU institutions in the last years and it is now the time for Roma rights advocates to make sure that the new parliamentarians and the new Commission follow-up and continue to create policies and legislations that reflect realities of Roma people in Europe.

Roma and pro-Roma activists are invited to adapt these recommendations and measures to their context, use the ideas the Alliance put forward to advocate on national and local levels. These papers are a result of the work led by the European Roma Grassroots Organisations (ERGO) Network, Central Council for German Sinti and Roma and European Network against Racism, with inputs of more than 25 other Roma and pro-Roma organisations and individual experts.