Fifteen anti-racist and Roma NGOs call on EU countries to commit to updating their Romani Integration Strategies after 2020

Last week a coalition of 15 anti-racist and Romani organizations called on the Council of the EU and on governments across Europe to pledge to update their Roma Integration Strategies beyond 2020. The European Commission has also submitted a communication regarding such a commitment to the Council of the EU and the European Parliament.
“The Commission and Parliament have clearly positioned themselves for continued investment into Roma Inclusion after 2020. Now is the time for national governments to do the same, to strengthen their fight against antigypsyism and to update and improve their strategies in line with community needs by working alongside Romani civil society,” said Gabriela Hrabaňová, the director of the European Roma Grassroots Organizations network (ERGO).
The Commission's proposal emphasizes crucial elements for improving national Roma Integration Strategies, including the need to include Romani people in mainstream policies, to combat antigypsyism, to involve Romani people in these processes, to address the different needs of diverse Romani communities, to improve the process of data collection, and to clarify the aims of the national integration strategies and the methods used to assess them. “Until now, Roma Inclusion plans in EU Member States and accession countries have failed to include measures to fight antigypsyism, and have largely failed to significantly improve the situation for Roma across Europe,” said Ðorđe Jovanović, President of the European Roma Rights Centre.
The organizations are asking European countries to acknowledge both contemporary and historic forms of antigypsyism as a specific form of racism and to introduce measures to address it. They are also asking for antigypsyist speech in institutions, public discussions and public services to be prosecuted and for the necessary institutional and legal mechanisms to be introduced so that hate crimes and hate speech can be prosecuted.
The organizations are also emphasizing the need for the fight against antigypsyism to become a shared effort, as they perceive it to be one of the main causes of the exclusion of Romani people from society. The EU institutions must arrange for the next budget cycle of the EU (the Multiannual Financial Framework 2021-2027), which is currently being negotiated, to take account of the political priorities of the EU's Framework for the national Romani Integration Strategies.
The list of organizations supporting this call includes the Alliance against Antigypsyism, the Central Council of German Sinti & Roma, the European Network Against Racism, the European Public Health Alliance, the European Roma Grassroots Organisations Network, the European Roma Rights Centre, FAGiC Federación de Asociaciones Gitanas de Cataluña, the Jaw Dikh Foundation, La Voix de Roms, Nakeramos, Nevo Parudimos, Roma Active Albania, Romanipe, the Roma Education Fund, and the RROMA Regional Roma Educational Youth Association (Macedonia). ROMEA is a founding member of the Alliance against Antigypsyism.
Don't miss:
- European Roma flood Facebook with hundreds of photos of themselves at work, tell Czech President to stop insulting them
- Romani NGOs around Europe ask why the OSCE is researching alleged radicalization of their communities in Serbia
- European Parliament: Shouting matches over Italian "census" of Roma - Járóka finds it reasonable, Post calls for a halt
- Jonathan Lee: Antigypsyism is a cancer at the heart of Europe
- Jarmila Balážová now a member of the Barvalipe Academy of the European Roma Institute for Arts and Culture
- MEP Soraya Post for ROMEA TV: Antigypsyism exists everywhere in Europe
- Roma Week at the European Parliament: 40 young Roma discuss antigypsyism with MEPs
- European Commission: Number of Roma youth not in school and unemployed in the Czech Republic is rising
- European Commission reports Roma six times more likely to be poor in the Czech Republic than non-Roma
- European Commission: Internet giants must combat hatred more
- European Commission agrees with social media companies on a common approach against online hate
- European Commission launches infringement proceedings against Hungary over discrimination of Romani children
- European Commission wants concrete statistics on the integration of disadvantaged children into Czech schools
- European Commission recommends the Czech Republic include Romani children in the education system
- European Commission to decide whether proceedings against Czech Republic over Roma discrimination will continue
Related articles:
- Czech far-right MP gives distasteful xenophobic speech in lower house, attacks Romani refugees with the Nazi term "inadaptables" - ministers left to shut down the session
- Commissioner Jourová, awarding Andalusia prize for the EU Capital of Diversity and Inclusion: Roma are hardest hit during crises
- EU agrees rules to regulate social media content
- Bulgarian MEP fined for giving Nazi salute at the EP, Czech MEP calls it a mild warning
- Bulgarian MEP infamous for anti-Roma rhetoric gives Nazi salute on the floor of the European Parliament
- Commentary: I'd like a Czech ombudsman who solves problems instead of adding fuel to the fire
- European Commission: Czech ombudsman's discriminatory remarks are of serious concern, we will take action
- Patrik Banga on the Czech ombudsman's populism: The Roma warned that ghettos were growing here more than 20 years ago and nobody listened to us!
- Marián Dancso, educator, municipal council member and Romani community member, says Czech ombudsman should resign
- British-Irish comedian makes tasteless "joke" about the Holocaust and Roma, sparking outrage
- Jaroslav Miko: How long will the Czech ombudsman keep exploiting anti-Romani sentiment?
- Nikola Taragoš: We want the Czech ombudsman removed for his repeated attacks on Romani people, he does not understand exclusion and is a populist