The Roma in Europe: towards a real and effective inclusion

Theme of the outcome

Working for a Europe of inclusiveness and equality for refugees and migrants - fighting against all forms of racism and discrimination

Description of the outcome

With the enlargement to 27 countries the Roma became in 2007 the first minority in the European Union. Suffering from discriminations for centuries they still have difficulties to exercise their most basic rights.

This population lives in dire poverty especially in the Balkan area: 79% of Roma people from Kosovo, 69% from Romania and 61% from Serbia are living below the poverty line, while it only concerns 8% of Roma from Hungary. According to a UNDP report, more than half of Roma people in Eastern of Europe declare to suffer from hunger, only one third completed primary school and less than one percent followed secondary education. In order to continue to exist, Roma had to develop means of support on the fringes of society, for instance in the employment field.

Countries of the European Union do not provide them the best conditions. In Germany, in France, in Spain, in Greece, in Italy or in Portugal, they are living in appalling conditions, the most often in shantytowns or in squats. Frequent deportations weaken them and make their life more precarious. Forced to live in clandestineness, the Roma cannot exercise or access to fundamental rights. In Italia where the new government has just introduced strict measures to fight against illegal immigration, their situation is getting worse.

Nowadays, besides the subsistence problem, it is necessary to enable them to access to skill trade employment, considered as a main key to inclusion in Europe. In spite of the existence of European texts for a non discriminatory access to employment, education and assistance, one can notice that the Roma community is still widely stigmatised and excluded from the labour market.

In view of this situation, NGOs across Europe are developing alternative ideas to promote inclusion while running advocacy actions at the national and European level for a real and effective inclusion of Roma in Europe. They committed themselves to work individually and collectively on the following issues.

Regarding the legal assistance:

- To acknowledge to the Roma population every human rights and not merely some of them. Do not accept that those rights are considered as favours, which implies to encourage a shift of mentalities.
- To support at European level experimental common action of Roma communities, which would have an impact in all the EU countries in order to call the interested institutions (local, national, European) against discriminatory legal practice.
- To support the European Roma and Travellers forum in the organisation and coordination of a European campaign against discriminatory practise towards the Roma.
- To set up a European directive – a binding tool- for a positive action towards the Roma or/and implement a European strategy against the discriminations, in particular towards the Roma.

Regarding the social assistance:

- To promote the emergence of leaders in Roma communities in order to favour access to health, education, employment, housing… of Roma and to foster the Roma culture.
- To increase the awareness of the educators in the schools to the Roma issue and to the difficulties they face, and to increase the awareness of Roma parents to the schooling of their children.
- To open cultural spaces to Roma culture

Regarding the advocacy:

- To launch a European advocacy campaign in order to shape and promote a positive image of the Roma community
- To promote by introducing it in the school programmes the teaching of a living in harmony through an “active inclusive education”, i.e. an education provided to the all population and not only to Roma children. A European egalitarian citizenship should be built on the learning of interculturality at school. The purpose is to encourage the school systems of the EU countries to promote cultural diversity and intercultural relation.
- To mobilize the civil society to feed at local, national and European level a strategy to better take into account the Roma issue by the 27 governments of the EU.



This seminar, held on the 19th of September 2008, was organized by Secours Catholique-Caritas France, Caritas Italy, Amare Rromentza - Romania, Caritas Kosovo, Network Caritas Europa and gathered a hundred participants from different countries: Kosovo, France, Italy, Spain, Romania, Sweden, Hungary, Great Britain…