Past events – Page 4 – ERGO Network

New Board of ERGO Network

We are thrilled to introduce you to the new Board of ERGO Network!

ERGO Network is currently in a big transformative process: We have established a new legal entity, the ERGO Network AISBL, finally moving our legal seat from the Netherlands to Belgium and becoming more democratic. While the “old” ERGO Network will continue to exist until all contracts are moved, the “new” ERGO is already up and running and has just elected a new Board!

The Board consists of six members. Our membership has shown them their trust and support, and all of us – including the ERGO Secretariat – are looking forward to working together – making our Network stronger, wider and more powerful to achieve our common goals.

Our new Board members are:

Soraya Post, Sweden (Chair)

Soraya Post is one of ERGO Network’s founding members. For the past four years, she has been sharing the lead in the “old” ERGO Board, serving as inspiration and motivation for young Roma activists to take a stand for the Roma cause. Soraya has dedicated her entire professional career as a Romani activist as well as a member of the European Parliament to the Roma. Soraya would like to give her support and commitment to the causes that ERGO Network represents. She is particularly keen to take the fight against antigypsyism further based on her knowledge of the European institutions and the European Parliament in particular.

Zuzana Havírová from the Roma Advocacy and Research Centre (RARC), Slovakia (Vice-Chair)

Zuzana Havirová is the chair of the Roma Advocacy and Research Centre (RARC) in Slovakia. She is also vice-chair of the Committee for the Prevention of Racism, Anti-Semitism, Xenophobia and Other Forms of Intolerance, which belongs to the Ministry of the Interior of the Slovak Republic and a member of the Slovak Government Council for Human Rights. Last year Zuzana was also elected by several Roma NGOs to serve as a member of the Slovak Government Council for National Minorities.

Zuzana believes that ERGO Network will play an important role in working with governments and international institutions to ensure Roma are part of the change. She is convinced that it is necessary to strengthen the fight for the rights and participation of the Roma at the international level as well.

Annabel Carballo Mesa from Federación de Asociaciones Gitanas de Cataluña (FAGiC), Spain

Annabel Carballo Mesa is the Director of the European and International Area in the Federació Assoc Gitanes Fagic in Spain. Her main goals for the ERGO Network Board are to bring a new and fresh perspective to continue the great work done previously, and to make sure that strategic plans and annual operation plans are developed and implemented according to ERGO Network’s mission and vision.

Annabel’s main motivation is to widen the geographic scope of the Board including the perspective from the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal). She is sure that this will bring more diversity to the work of ERGO Network and make different voices be heard.

Martin Mata, Czech Republic (Treasurer)

Martin is one of the founding members of ERGO Network and has been serving on the ERGO Network Board for the last four years as treasurer. Away from ERGO Network he is a businessperson, a local politician and leader of important regional institutions. As a part of the Board he will continue to share his knowledge on programmes and spending. He is particularly interested in identifying correlations between organizational development and trends in the society, which is even more relevant in times of crisis.

Mustafa Jakupov from Регионална Ромска Образовна Младинска Асоцијација – RROMA, North Macedonia

Mustafa has 15 years of experience – most of which he was working with ERGO Network and its members on various projects and working groups. For the last several years and until August 2022, Mustafa had an even closer connection to ERGO working as Policy and Project Coordinator in charge of the areas of antigypsyism, non-formal education, Roma youth empowerment, participation, mobility and volunteering.

He has information and knowledge on the variety of the membership, as well as broader policy trends and occurrences related to Roma issues across Europe.

Daniel Grebeldinger from Nevo Parudimos, Romania

Daniel has more than 10 years of experience as Board member of different EU networks, as well as 18 years of running, setting up and developing Roma and non-Roma NGOs.

His vision for ERGO Network in 5 years is being the strongest Roma network in Europe, contributing directly to the development of its members, bringing the grassroots voice of the Roma from all around Europe to the decision makers at EU level. He sees ERGO Network as being one of the main actors in training and capacitating Roma professionals, young people and adults who will be the future Roma civil society in Europe.

Daniel believes that if until now the Board was more a decision-making structure, the future Board of ERGO Network will be a more active body, more dynamic and more involved in the evolution and future development of the Network. He sees himself as an active part of the fundraising team of ERGO Network, a promoter of the network and a recruiter of new members.

Once again, congratulations to all newly elected Board members and we are looking forward to working together!

ERGO Network’s Annual Members’ Meeting / General Assembly 2022

ERGO Network’s Annual Members’ Meeting / General Assembly 2022

After two years of meeting online, from 13-15 June 2022 ERGO Network’s members finally came together live in Brussels to share updates from the past year, set future priorities, and learn from each other. As ERGO Network is moving from a foundation (Stichting) registered in the Netherlands to a member-governed organisation (AISBL) based in Belgium, this Annual Members’ Meeting was also the first General Assembly of the “new ERGO”.

The first day started with welcoming the members to Brussels by ERGO Network Co-Chair Stanislav Daniel and ERGO Network Director Jamen Gabriela Hrabaňová. It was followed by an exchange of expectations for the meeting between the members, who highlighted fears such as conflicts, lack of (or too much) discussion and even contracting Covid-19 during the meeting. But the identified opportunities and hopes – such as to be heard, to come back home motivated, excitement about the “new” ERGO and its board together with many others – outweighed these fears.

This ice-breaker session was followed by a presentation of the “new ERGO” working structure: a general overview of the Statutes of the new ERGO Network aisbl, the membership (a discussion during which the active members of the “old” ERGO Network officially also became members of the new ERGO Network aisbl), the establishment of the General Assembly and approval of the agenda. The new statutes are also introducing the new type of membership – besides the full members, we also welcomed associated members and friends of ERGO.“We also discussed the roles of the new ERGO Board, the General Assembly, the Secretariat, voting procedures, and elections.

In the afternoon, the members split into groups to discuss ERGO Network policy work updates:

• EU Roma Strategic Framework up to 2030, Roma Civil Monitoring and the work of the Anti-Racism Coalition with Isabela Mihalache
• Capacity building of Roma civil society by the director Gabriela Hrabaňová
• Combatting Roma poverty and social exclusion with Amana Ferro and Carmen Tănasie
• Raising awareness of antigypsyism online and offline with Mustafa Jakupov
• Romani Women Power of Change in the Western Balkans and Turkey with Adriatik Hasantari

This session was followed by a plenary discussion on updates on the situation in Ukraine and support from ERGO Network members. The exchange was kicked-off by our Ukrainian member organization Roma Women Fund Chiricli and followed by inputs from members from Romania, Hungary, Germany, and the Czech Republic. The discussions continued late into the evening during our dinner outside, where the members also had a chance to join an informal conversation about an initiative exploring any potential misuse of EU funds for Roma integration.

The second day started with a deeper look at the statutory items of the new ERGO: the statutory role of the General Assembly and voting procedures, and the Internal Governance Handbook. Then the candidates for the Board were presented and the most awaited part of the meeting – the elections – took place. To find out who became the new Board of ERGO Network stay tuned for the update in the coming days!

Our treasurer Martin Mata presented an overview of the financial situation from 2017 to 2022. He stated that ERGO Network was in very good financial health, with sufficient reserves, and recommended continuing on the same path. The session on finances was complete with the presentation of ERGO’s main funding sources and finally the discussion and vote on the membership fee.

After all the excitement of the elections, an in-depth discussion on strengthening the membership followed. In the format of the World Café, we asked our members: What does membership mean for you? What works in ERGO’s membership? What does not work? What are the opportunities to make the membership stronger?

Some of the key takeaways from this session were: to be more aware of members’ capacities, to channel communication, to increase the transparency within the network, and to continue sharing knowledge and expertise among members.

This day and the General Assembly 2022 closed with a policy round table on Building intersectional synergies to guarantee Roma equality, inclusion, and participation, which facilitated a discussion on the existing challenges of antigypsyism as a specific form of racism and its various manifestations inside and outside the European Union.

The speakers in this event came from the Social Platform, the European Network Against Racism (ENAR), Eurodiaconia, the European Commission’s DG Justice and Consumers, as well as from ERGO Network’s French member La Voix des Rroms. The presentations were followed by a debate with the audience.

The round table looked at intersections with mainstream anti-racist policy frameworks, and where synergies or opportunities for joint advocacy and cooperation arise that can help strengthen the work of addressing Roma issues further in a holistic way. It provided an opportunity to examine the importance of large-scale awareness-raising and of promoting a deep understanding of antigypsyism as a specific form of racism, not only at the national but also at the European level.

The round table received the financial support of the European Union and the International Visegrád Fund.

We thank our members for coming to Brussels for this meeting!

Romani Week 2022

Looking back at the Romani Week 2022

After last year’s online edition of the Romani Week, the Romani Week 2022 brought together Members of the European Parliament, officials of EU institutions and International Organisations, national and international civil society organisations as well as young Roma activists for a series of live events in the European Parliament in Brussels.

The Romani Week built on the work done during previous Romani Weeks and debated EU policies for Romani inclusion. It also called upon the European Commission and the EU Member States to put the fight against antigypsyism at the forefront of efforts for the social and economic inclusion of the Romani people.

ERGO Network was once again a proud co-organizer and partner of this edition of the Romani Week, under the patronage of the European Parliament, European Commission and the Council of the European Union, as well as MEP hosts: Romeo FRANZ, Peter POLLÁK, Anna Júlia DONÁTH, Terry REINTKE, Cornelia ERNST, Klára DOBREV, Sergey LAGODINSKY, Juan Fernando LÓPEZ AGUILAR, Rasmus ANDRESEN, Lucia ĎURIŠ NICHOLSONOVÁ, Monika VANA, Thomas WAITZ and Carmen AVRAM.

ERGO Network’s participation started on the first day, coinciding symbolically with the Romani Resistance Day on 16 May. During the event on “Promoting positive narratives and raising awareness about the Romani language”, ERGO Network Director Jamen Gabriela Hrabaňová underlined that the brave act of Romani prisoners resisting their oppressors in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp is an inspiration for many contemporary Roma, who have to still resist racism and discrimination in their daily lives.

“The Decade to counter antigypsyism as a new strategy for Roma inclusion in the EU and Western Balkans” was the title of the second event on the next day. co-organised by ERGO Network. It facilitated a discussion on the existing challenges of modern antigypsyism and its forms in the EU and Western Balkan & Turkey and articulated the way antigypsyism and public policies are related and put forward to achieve equality, inclusion, and participation of Roma.

The event highlighted how antigypsyism is addressed in the framework of the new Roma policies and strategies, with special attention given to the governments in the Enlargement Countries, and discussed the importance of large-scale awareness-raising and a deep understanding of antigypsyism as a specific form of racism. ERGO Network’s campaign “Decade to counter antigypsyism” following the timeframe of the EU Roma Strategic Framework up to 2030, will in this regard target the public and offer new narratives and measures to combat antigypsyism.

The third event co-organised by ERGO Network with the title “Ensuring adequate and effective regional, national and local funds for Roma equality, inclusion and participation – past, present and future challenges” took place on 18 May.

The event was organised jointly by ERGO Network, the Central European University Democracy Institute and Fundación Secretariado Gitano under the Roma Civil Monitoring Consortium together with Nevo Parudimos, RROMA, Autonómia Foundation, and the office of MEP Romeo Franz.
The event facilitated discussions on the challenges in ensuring adequate and effective regional, national, and local funds for Roma, as well as on the importance of monitoring data on funding and its effective implementation towards achieving equality, inclusion and participation of Roma. It also highlighted the importance of Roma civil society monitoring of the EU Roma Strategic Framework and National Roma Frameworks for Roma equality, inclusion and participation.

The event provided examples from the national level on the inclusion of funding allocations, or lack thereof, for priorities under National Roma Frameworks as well as synergies with wider national programmes and funding. It introduced a new guide of the Greens/EFA Group in the European Parliament, commissioned by MEP Romeo Franz, on how Roma civil society can best benefit from the new EU funding period 2021-2027, as well as the latest report produced for ERGO Network by Marko Pecak on funding of bottom-up approaches and Roma grassroots involvement and has received financial support in the framework of the project “New solutions to old problems” funded by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the EEA and Norway Grants Fund for Regional Cooperation.

This event was followed by the Most Roma Friendly Mayor Award, taking place live on 18 May in the afternoon. The “Most Roma Friendly Mayor” award is a local advocacy component of the project Romani Women Power of Change in the Western Balkans and Turkey (Power of Change), funded by DG NEAR and delivered by the ERGO Network. “The Most Roma Friendly Mayor” is a regional campaign aiming to mobilize Roma communities and strengthen their ability to engage in dialogue with public authorities.

The Power of Change project is implemented in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Turkey and the selection panel chose one mayor per country among the nominated candidates to receive the award in Brussels. The event was hosted by MEP Romeo Franz and opened by Mr Olivér Várhelyi, European Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement.

The final event co-organised by ERGO Network was called “Towards zero segregation in education in Europe”. The event was moderated by Damaris Uzoma, Coordinator of the European Parliament Anti-Racism and Diversity Intergroup (ARDI), Belén Sánchez-Rubio, Head of International Department, Fundación Secretariado Gitano, Spain and our Senior Policy Officer Isabela Mihalache.

This insightful event informed about the challenges in preventing, combating and sanctioning segregation in education at national and European levels and proposed sustainable and long-term advocacy and cooperation paths towards zero segregation in education.

The other events of the Romani Week also provided recommendations on combatting antigypsyism, defined the place of Roma in the digital and green agendas, paid special attention to the challenges of Roma women and youth, as well as representation of the local communities and Romani language. Finally, meeting in person for this Romani Week following the previous online format was not only enlightening but also inspiring and motivating. It highlighted the need for cooperation between stakeholders on different levels to bring on a real change in the situation of the Roma communities across Europe.

* This designation is without prejudice to positions on status and is in line with UNSCR 1244/1999 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence.

Romani Week 2022 / Romano Kurko 2022

Romani Week 2022 / Romano Kurko 2022

ERGO Network is proud to be once again a key partner of the annual Romani Week! This year it will take place both online and in-person in Brussels, Belgium.

Romani Week 2022 will be organised from 16^th to 19^th of May 2022. It aims to build on the work done during previous Romani Weeks and will debate EU policies for Romani inclusion. It will call upon the European Commission and EU Member States to put the fight against antigypsyism at the forefront of efforts for the social and economic inclusion of Romani people.

Policymakers, experts, activists, and organisations concerned with persistent antigypsyism in Europe cooperate to organise the Romani Week. The week will consist of a series of events that will provide recommendations on combatting antigypsyism, including the Roma in the digital and green agendas, paying special attention to the challenges of Roma women and youth, and representation of the local communities and Romani language.

Patronage: European Parliament, European Commission, French Presidency of the Council of the European Union

MEP Hosts: Romeo FRANZ I Peter POLLÁK I Anna Júlia DONÁTH I Terry REINTKE I Cornelia ERNST I Klára DOBREV I Sergey LAGODINSKY I Juan Fernando LÓPEZ AGUILAR I Rasmus ANDRESEN I Lucia ĎURIŠ NICHOLSONOVÁ I Monika VANA I Thomas WAITZ I Carmen AVRAM

Partners: Autonómia Foundation; Bundesvereinigung der Sinti und Roma (BVSR); CADO; Centre of Resources for Social Inclusion CRIS; Center for Reproductive Rights; Center of European Policy Studies; Council of Europe; Deacones Foundation; European Parliament Anti-Racism and Diversity Intergroup; European Commission; European Roma Grassroots Organizations (ERGO) Network; European Public Health Alliance; European Environmental Bureau; European Roma Equality Network; Eurodiaconia; E-Romnja; Federation of Roma Organisations in Catalonia FAGIC; Fundación Secretariado Gitano; Hildegard Lagrenne Foundation; International Roma Youth Network TernYpe; Kosovo Roma Coalition, Minority Initiative; Nevo Parudimos; Opre Roma; Plataforma Khetane del Movimiento Asociativo, Gitano del Estado Español; Politirom; Phiren Amenca; Roma Voice Centre; Roma Entrepreneurship Development Initiative; Roma Youth Organization Croatia; Roma Resources Center; Roma Versitas; RomnoKher; Roma Active; Roma Health Network; RRoma; Roma Civil Monitor.

.When: 16-19 May 2022

Where: Online and European Parliament, Brussels

Aims:

To create a platform to raise concerns and exchange knowledge: To facilitate exchange and capacity building between Romani people, civil society, policymakers and officials.
Advocacy for specific thematic areas: Such as segregation in education, the inclusion of Roma in digital and green agendas, Romani language, and discrimination of Roma women and youth.
Recognition of antigypsyism: The week will be an opportunity for experts and activists on the issue to lobby European and national policymakers to strengthen the recognition of antigypsyism as well as develop strategic and coherent responses.
Current policies for Romani people: There will be an opportunity to discuss the future of current EU, national and local policies.

Attendees and speakers:

Policymakers and officials from European and national levels;
Representatives of local authorities and large cities in Europe;
Civil society and other relevant stakeholders
Romani people and youth.

ERGO Network is co-organising the following events in the framework of the Romani Week 2022:

Romani Resistance: Opening Ceremony (16/05, 10:00)

Venue: MVenue 6Q1 – European Parliament
Programme of the event

New Strategies for Romani Inclusion in the Western Balkans and the Decade to counter antigypsyism in Europe (17/05, 09:30)

Venue: Room 1E2
Programme of the event

Ensuring adequate and effective regional, national and local funds for Roma equality, inclusion and participation – past, present and future challenges (18/05, 14:00)

Venue: European Parliament, József Antall (JAN) building, room 6Q2
Programme of the event

Most Romani friendly Mayor award – 3rd edition (18/05, 16:30)

Venue: Venue 3D – European Parliament
Programme of the event

Segregation in education in Romania (19/05, 14:00)

Venue: MVenue 7C50 – European Parliament
Programme of the event

Have a look at the complete agenda at the official website of the Romani Week 2022

#romaniweek2022 #equality4all

Event: Presentation of the PECAO activities

“Presentation of the PECAO activities and synthesis research from 10 European countries”

Background

Online Hate speech has been steadily on the rise during the past decade, especially during the on-going Covid-19 pandemic. Making it appearance known at the highest level of the public administration of some Member States, where transformation into policy is just one step away. The liberal stance that was built towards hate speech on basic assumptions that the state and the major society would uphold their democratic standards and values under all circumstances, and distance themselves from hate speakers, has proven to be wrong as many different societal and minority groups continue to be targets of hate speech.

According to the Fundamental Rights Agency, 1 in 3 Roma are victims of harassment and 20% of non-Roma would not like to have a Roma colleague. As identified in the EC Communication ‘Midterm review of the EU framework for national Roma integration strategies’ (2017), antigypsyism goes beyond the legal notion of discrimination. In essence, antigypsyism is the root cause of exclusion of Roma people. It has many different dimensions and manifestations, including hate-speech in public, media, and political narratives, expressed stereotypes, hate-crime, discrimination in school, employment, health and housing and structural antigypsyism.

The mid-term review showed very little progress and highlighted the importance of focusing on antigypsyism in the next Framework. It confirmed that fighting antigypsyism by targeting majority society is a pre-condition for the success of any Roma inclusion intervention. Also, the EP adopted a report on the ‘Fundamental rights aspects in Roma integration in the EU: fighting anti-Gypsyism’ in 2017, highlighting persistent antigypsyism across Europe, despite the efforts undertaken under the EU Roma Framework and the EU legislative framework against discrimination, hate speech and hate crime.

Hate speech as a manifestation of antigypsyism needs particular attention because of its multiplier effect: it influences public opinion, fuels tension, and paves the way for discrimination and hate crimes. Online media plays a particular role in spreading and inciting hate speech. It strengthens stereotypes, uses offensive language, denies, or trivializes antigypsyism. Through social media hate speech reaches millions of people and allows perpetrators to anonymously incite hatred and violence.

ERGO network therefore through the PECAO project supported by DG JUSTICE and Google.org addresses the need to better counter antigypsyist hate speech online. This includes more specifically:

Need to better recognise antigypsyist hate speech: As ‘the most accepted form of racism’, subtle antigypsyist hate speech often remains undetected and is therefore not reported and deleted.
Need to better report antigypsyist hate speech: There is little awareness of existing institutional structures and tools to protect citizens from hate speech.
Need to better monitor hate speech in order to better understand the problem and support the development of policies to counter hate speech.
Need to develop better policies that recognise antigypsyism as bias motivation and tackle institutional antigypsyism.

Draft Agenda

“Presentation of the PECAO activities and synthesis research from 10 European countries”

Conference room, Mundo-B

Rue d’Edimbourg 26, 1050 Brussels

05^th April 2022, 14:00 – 16:00

13:30 Registration of the participants

14:00 Opening of the event:

Mustafa Jakupov, policy and project coordinator ERGO network, “Peer education to counter antigypsyist online hate speech” project funded by DG Justice and Google.org

14:05 Welcoming and Introductory speeches:

Gabriela HRABANOVA, Executive Director ERGO Network
MEP Romeo FRANZ, Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance
Lavinia BANU, Policy officer at Non-Discrimination and Roma Coordination Unit, DG Justice and Consumer
Mr. Bagryan MAKSIMOV, Integro Association

14:30 Tackling antigypsyist hate speech through peer education

15:00 Comfort Break

15:15 Monitoring and reporting antigypsyist hate speech: European Synthesis Report

Ileana ROTARU, assoc. prof. PhD habil. of West University of Timisoara, research expert of Nevo Parudimos Association

16:00 Social Media Campaigning as a tool

Annabel CARBALLO, European Project Manager Coordinator at FAGiC

16:15 Combatting antigypsyist hate speech through advocacy

Mustafa JAKUPOV, policy and project coordinator at ERGO network

16.30 Closing remarks

Giana FRANCESCUTTI, Programme manager, Google.org, EMEA
Tomasso CHIAMPARINO, EU Code of Conduct to prevent and counter the spread of illegal hate speech online

This project is funded by the European Union’s Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme (2014-2020)

This project received funding from the Google.Org Impact Challenge on Safety in the framework of ERGO Network’ project Peer education to counter antigypsyist online hate speech.