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George Soros Welcomes EU Action to Promote Roma Inclusion

26 June 2013
2 minute read

Today the European Union announced important measures to promote Roma
inclusion across Europe. The Open Society Foundations praised the proposals,
which focus on ending widespread disparities in education, employment, health,
and housing, and call on member states to devote more money to Roma integration.

“This is the European Commission’s strongest signal to date that member
states must take concrete steps in order to end discrimination and ensure equal
treatment of Roma,” said George Soros, chairman and founder of the Open Society
Foundations. “It provides specific guidance to member states to strengthen and
accelerate their efforts to combat discrimination and promote equality.”

The Open Society Foundations called on member states to promote equal access
for Roma to education and the labor market and said involvement of civil society
and Roma communities in the process was essential.

Open Society also welcomed comments by Commission Vice President Viviane
Reding calling on member states to "move up a gear" on Roma integration. Noting
that 2013 is the year of the European citizen, the Open Society Foundations said
a unanimous endorsement by member states of the proposed Council Recommendation
would make a tangible difference to the lives of Europe’s Roma citizens.

For more than three decades, Open Society has worked with Roma communities to
secure social inclusion. The Foundations support the Decade of Roma Inclusion
2005–2015, an international initiative in partnership with the World Bank that
commits signatory states to combat discrimination against the Roma and to close
the gap in welfare and living conditions between the Roma and the general
population.

The Open Society Foundations also supported litigation, including the
landmark decision by the European Court of Human Rights to end school
segregation of Roma children in the Czech Republic, Roma-led census registration
campaigns in Central and Eastern Europe, an education fund that has helped bring
more than 156,000 Roma to school as students and as teachers, and efforts to
break down the barriers that keep Roma from accessing quality health care
services.

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