Page 58 – ERGO Network

Welcome to Sebair, ERGO’s new volunteer

Welcome, Sebair!

Here is how Sebair describes himself:

My name is Sebair Selmani (but everyone calls me Sebo) and I come from North Macedonia. Since the beginning of February I am the new volunteer in ERGO Network, in the framework of the European Solidarity Corps.

I am 25 years old and I recently obtained my MSc degree in Business Analytics from the Central European University. My BSc is in Computer Technologies and Engineering, so I am the geek guy. I was also part of Romaversitas Skopje. Another thing about me is that I do not talk that much ?.

I am interested in Data Analytics especially in the case where Roma are involved. My goal is to use these skills to monitor the policies. I am here to learn about European policies about Roma and with analytical skills to find new ways to improve them. Moreover, I would like to spread this kind of methodology for the other Roma activists.

I look forward to meet many ERGO members during the next year, and can’t wait to work with you.

#WeRemember

International Holocaust Remembrance Day 2021 – ERGO Network statement

In 2005, the United Nations General Assembly designated 27 January as the international commemoration day in memory of the millions of victims of the Holocaust. On 27 January 1945 the Red Army liberated the Nazi concentration camps in Auschwitz, where millions of people were murdered. The Roma children, men and women from the so-called “Gypsy Family Camp” in Auschwitz-Birkenau did not live until this liberation day. The last of them, almost 3 000, had been sent to the gas chambers several months prior, on 2 August 1944, as part of the Nazis’ so-called “Final Solution to the Gypsy Question”. Sometimes known as the “Forgotten Holocaust,” the Roma Genocide was excluded from the history of World War II for decades after the end of the war.

Every year on the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, we remember all victims of the Holocaust and send a warning to today’s world: Let’s not forget that the Holocaust started with words – words that are still around us today. Gabriela Hrabanova, Director of ERGO Network states: “Antigypsyism has never stopped and even increased during the pandemic. We cannot allow that once again we and other minorities are scapegoated and our humanity is stripped away. Let us all work together to stop the hate and ensure that history will never be repeated”.

Transparency criteria now available in Bulgarian, Romanian, Lithuanian

Transparency criteria now available in Bulgarian, Romanian, Lithuanian

ERGO Network’s transparency and accountability criteria give recommendations on how grassroots civil society organisations should be governed and managed in order to be reliable and accountable. Fulfilling the criteria will bring attention to an organisation’s quality work. The set of criteria focuses on governance, financial management and performance.

The criteria were developed in 2018 by ERGO Network members from the EU, Turkey and Western Balkans. Besides the criteria as such, the consortium developed a board game that helps civil society organisations to reflect on the criteria inside their own organisations and supports them in improving their internal policies and procedures.

After the success of this project, the criteria and the game were now translated into three additional languages – Lithuanian, Bulgarian and Romanian. They are available online and in print from our member organisations Roma Community Centre (Lithuania), Nevo Parudimos (Romania) and Integro Association (Bulgaria).

The translations have been produced in the framework of the project “New solutions to old problems – exchange of new type of approaches in the field of Roma integration” funded by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the EEA and Norway Grants Fund for Regional Cooperation. They are furthermore part of ERGO Network’s Annual Work Programme “Roma Included in Social Europe”, funded by the European Commission’s EaSI Programme.

Please visit www.ergonetwork.org/transparency to download the criteria and the game in all languages.

Recommendations for national strategic Roma frameworks

Recommendations for the national strategic frameworks under the new EU Roma strategic framework for equality, inclusion and participation

On 7 October 2020, the European Commission published a Communication to the European Parliament and the Council on the new Strategic Framework for Roma Equality, Inclusion and Participation for 2020-2030. The new framework is replacing the previous EU framework for national Roma integration strategies 2011-2020. The new framework is a positive step in the right direction; it shifts the perspective of the previous EU framework to a more balanced approach between social inclusion, human rights and empowerment objectives. It asks Member States and Enlargement countries to develop national strategic frameworks (NSFs), not just strategies, proposing an intersectional approach to tackle discrimination and defining intersectional discrimination as such for the first time. The new framework includes a good reference to antigypsyism using the spelling proposed by the Alliance against Antigypsyism. The framework addresses Enlargement countries on an equal footing and acknowledges the importance of the Western Balkan region for the EU, while the Neighbourhood countries are mentioned for the first time in relation to Roma inclusion under the current framework.

ERGO Network has developed a set of recommendations for national governments that should be prioritised when developing national strategic frameworks in the first months of 2021.

These recommendations have been developed based on ERGO Network’s previous policy and monitoring work in the area of equality, inclusion and participation of Roma and on valuable on-the-ground input from ERGO Network’s member organisations across Europe and from Roma and pro-Roma organisations members of the EU Roma Policy Coalition.

You can access the recommendations here.

The following organisations contributed to the recommendations:

European Public Health Alliance (EPHA)
Open Society Public Policy Institute (OSEPI)
European Roma Institute for Arts and Culture (ERIAC)
Phiren Amenca
European Network against Racism (ENAR)
Roma Active Albania
Roma Association Utrecht ,Netherlands
National federation of Gypsy Liaison Groups, UK
La voix des Rroms, France
Slovo 21, Czech Republic
Integro Association, Bulgaria

PECAO’s workshop materials and media monitoring tool now available

PECAO’s workshop materials and media monitoring tool are available for download

With approximately 12 Million people living in Europe for centuries, the Roma are the continent’s biggest ethnic minority. At the same time they are the its most disliked and discriminated minority, with every third person not wanting to have a Roma neighbour and 80% of Roma living at the risk of poverty.

Antigypsyism – a specific form of racism against people who are perceived as ‘Gypsies’ in the public imagination, is at the core of the social exclusion and discrimination of Roma.

PECAO will counter antigypsyist hate speech online by working with young people, using a combination of peer education and monitoring in order to obtain two-fold results: the peer education methodology will achieve a direct change in attitudes and actions of a high number of young people, and the monitoring will contribute to better understanding and a more systemic change of policies through advocacy based on the results.

By using the standard workshop materials created by the consortium and translated in the available languages (EN, BG, CZ, HU, RO and ES), participants of the workshop will be able to understand the phenomena of antigypsyist hate speech and its impact on Roma, as well as the importance to monitor and report that speech online. Furthermore, the participants of the workshop can engage into advocacy and work towards better anti-discrimination policies by addressing antigypsyism as bias motivation, as well as raise awareness among various stakeholders about the antigypsyist hate speech in online media.

The project consortium of PECAO consists of the following partners and funding:

Funded by the European Union’s Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme (2014-2020) with co-funding from Google.org:

Integro Association (Bulgaria)
Nevo Parudimos (Romania)
Federation of Catalan Roma Associations (FAGIC), Spain
Romaversitas (Hungary)
Romanonet (Czech Republic)
ERGO Network (Belgium)

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

La Voix des Rroms (France)
Upre Roma (Italy)
Roma Women Fund Chiricli (Ukraine)
RROMA (North Macedonia)
Roma Active Albania (Albania)

The standard workshop materials are available in English, Bulgarian, Czech, Hungarian, Romanian and Spanish language for the moment. Should you have any additional requests for session outlines examples, exercises, or need for additional information concerning the topic, please write an e-mail to ERGO network at info@ergonetwork.org by adding the word PECAO to your subject line.

The materials consist of the following documents:

M01 – Objectives, Impact and Methodology
M02 – Aim and objectives of the workshop
M03 – Programme of the workshop
M04 – Non-formal education
M05 – Protocol form for monitoring media content with hate speech

As well as the media monitoring tool with a glossary available within the tool.

You can access the materials here and media monitoring tool here.

Publicity Disclaimer:

This publication was funded by the European Union’s Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme (REC 2014-2020) and Google.Org Impact Challenge on Safety. The European’s Commission’s and Google.Org’s support for the production does not constitute and endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views of the authors only, and the European Commission and Google.Org cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained there.