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UNICEF: Prioritize children to speed up Roma inclusion in Europe

04 April 2014
3 minute read

On the eve of the third Roma summit in Brussels today, UNICEF calls on
European governments to firmly place children at the centre of Roma inclusion
policies.

Across Europe, progress has been made to realize the rights of Roma children.
Yet many Roma girls and boys still face extreme poverty, social exclusion and
discrimination, according to a new UNICEF summary report released today.

“Now is the time for European governments to transform their commitments into
reality for all Roma boys and girls,” said Marie-Pierre Poirier, UNICEF Regional
Director for Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent
States. She also highlighted this year’s 25th anniversary of the UN Convention
on the Rights of the Child as an opportunity to assess what has been achieved
and the challenges that lie ahead.

“These commitments need to be translated into policies and funding that
directly reach Roma children so that they reach their full potential. A first
priority should be collecting disaggregated data on children. Better data
enables better policies and monitoring at local and central levels,” Ms. Poirier
said.

Bosnia and Herzegovina, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and Serbia
are among the first countries to collect and make publicly available
disaggregated data on Roma children, the summary report noted.

“We applaud these bold initiatives and we urge other governments and partners
to follow these valuable examples,” she added.

UNICEF analyzed data collected in the three countries covered in the summary
report, Realizing the rights of Roma Children and women in Bosnia and
Herzegovina, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Serbia. The key areas
highlighted for immediate policy action are:

  • End malnutrition: during the first years of life, one in five Roma
    children in Bosnia and Herzegovina is too short for his or her age, compared
    to less than one in ten nationally.
  • Secure access to quality inclusive health care services and information
    for women and children: in all three countries, Roma children are more
    likely to have low weight at birth than other children on average nationally.
  • Expand supply of inclusive early child education and learning for
    children: in Serbia, only 8 per cent of Roma children aged 3-4 years attend
    early childhood education, compared to 44 per cent of children nationally.
  • Provide family support services and encourage equal involvement of
    mothers and fathers in raising their children: in Serbia, Roma mothers and
    fathers with secondary or higher education are up to twice more likely to
    engage with children than parents with no education. When parents are better
    educated, they are more involved in raising their children, which increases
    children’s survival, growth and development.
  • Improve the quality and inclusiveness of primary and secondary education,
    particularly for Roma girls and women: in the former Yugoslav Republic of
    Macedonia, 35 per cent of Roma girls attend secondary school, while
    nationally, 84 per cent of girls attend.
  • Improve living standards and address the income poverty of Roma
    households, in particular of Roma women: in all three countries, Roma
    households are less likely to have improved sanitation or have a place for
    hand washing and more likely to use wood for cooking compared to national
    averages.

UNICEF recommends such priority investments for children and young people as
necessary contributions to social cohesion and sustainable development as
enshrined in the ‘Europe 2020 Strategy’.

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