Efforts to inform public of Romany Decade fail - Vesely
Prague, 18. 2. 2005, 19:34 (CTK)

Efforts to inform the public on the Decade of Romany Integration international project and to include Romanies in its preparation have collapsed in the Czech Republic, Dzeno association head Ivan Vesely told CTK today. Chairwoman of the Athinganoi association Gabriela Hrabanova and the government's Council for Romany Issues are responsible for this, says a statement which Vesely gave to CTK.

Hrabanova says that her organisation had sought to inform the public about the project according to its possibilities.

The Decade, which along with the Czech Republic was launched on February 2 by seven other central and east European countries, is designed to improve the conditions of Romanies by 2015. In the Czech Republic it will mainly concentrate on their education, employment, housing and health.

"Romanies in the Czech Republic only learnt about the Decade at the moment when this programme should be realised," Vesely said, adding that a delegation of representatives from Romany non-profit organisations which participates in the project is not functioning.

Vesely said that the information on the Decade started to be prepared in January 2004 by Dzeno and Athinganoi jointly. The money for the information projects has been provided by the World Bank and the Open Society Institute and it was managed by Athinganoi, Vesely said.

Finally, the two organisations interrupted their cooperation. A special issue of the Amaro Gendalos magazine was to inform the Romany and non-Romany public about the Decade last year. This January, a press conference was to be held in the Government Office and the information about the Decade was also to be published on the Internet.

"Athinganoi headed by Gaberiela Hrabanova has done nothing of this," Vesely said.

Athinganoi intends to publish its official statement on the issue on Monday.

"We have used all means at our disposal," Hrabanova told CTK today, adding that Athinganoi regularly informed non-profit organisations, regional Romany coordinators and Romany students about Romany problems through e-mail messages. A discussion group has appeared on the Internet and the Decade website operated for a quarter of a year. The magazine about the Decade was to be published simultaneously with the nation-wide launch of the project. The Institute and the Fund for an Open Society have provided 85,000 crowns, she said.

Vesely criticised the preparation of the Decade also previously. He pointed out that only a very small number of Romanies participated in the preparation.

An official Czech delegation led by Deputy Prime Minister Pavel Nemec, which attended the international launch of the project, did not include a single Romany.

The government has approved the Czech Republic's participation in the Decade but did not approve finances for its organisation.

The Decade of Romany Integration in Europe in 2005-2015, a large-scale European project aimed at speeding up integration of Romanies in society was approved at the regional conference on Romany problems in Budapest on July 1, 2003.

CTK