Strasbourg, 25 May 2012CAHROM (2012)10

 

AD HOC COMMITTEE OF EXPERTS ON ROMA ISSUES

(CAHROM)

 

3rd meeting

Skopje and Ohrid, “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”,

22-25 May 2012

 

 

 

ABRIDGED MEETING REPORT

 

 

 

1. The Ad hoc Committee of Experts on Roma Issues (CAHROM) held its 3rd meeting in Skopje and Ohrid, "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" on 22-25 May 2012. The agenda as adopted appears in Appendix 1.

 

Joint Meeting between the participants of the Decade for Roma Inclusion Conference and the CAHROM on social housing for Roma (Skopje, 22 May 2012)

 

2.Ms Mabera Kamberi, as Chair of the CAHROM and of the Roma Decade Conference on Housing organised under the presidency of "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia", together with Mr Sixto Molina, Head of the Support Team of the Special Representative of the Secretary General for Roma Issues (SRSG), opened the meeting. They highlighted that this was the first time such a joint meeting was organised between the two fora and that it represented a good opportunity to share experience on a common field of interest: social housing for Roma.

 

3. Participants exchanged views on a range of relevant policy issues, including the preliminary findings of the CAHROM thematic group of experts on social housing, whose final report will be presented at the next CAHROM meeting.

 

Election of the Bureau (Chair, Vice-chair, Bureau member)

 

4. The Committee proceeded with the election of its Bureau. The Bureau with Mrs Mabera Kamberi (“the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”) as Chairperson, Mr Ian Naysmith (United Kingdom) as Vice-Chair and Mr Nicolae Radiţa (Republic of Moldova) as third Bureau member was re-elected until the end of 2012. Their mandates are not renewable. The Committee agreed to hold new elections at its fourth meeting, scheduled in Strasbourg on 28-30 November 2012, for the 2013 calendar year.

 

Inclusive education of Roma vs. segregation

 

  1.                The committee heard presentations of the REF/Equality Pilot Study From segregation to Inclusion and of the REF publication Ten years After; a History of School Desegregation in Central and Eastern Europe.

 

6.The Committee agreed that this should be a priority theme in its thematic work.

 

Thematic exchange of experience on school drop-out/absenteeism of Roma children (with The Netherlands as requesting country; Hungary, Spain and Sweden as partner countries)

 

7.After introductory presentations and discussion, the Committee endorsed the synthesis report of the thematic group of experts [document CAHROM(2012)6] and decided transmit it to the Committee of Ministers for information, along with information on short term follow-up.

 

8. The Committee decided to include additional information provided by CAHROM participants in the Addendum to the report which will be made publicly available on the CAHROM website in the original language.

 

Roma mediation

 

9.The Committee took note of the experience gained with the Council of Europe-EU joint programme on inter-cultural mediation with Roma communities (ROMED) on effective approaches to mediation. In the light of this experience it approved, after discussion, a draft recommendation of the Committee of Ministers on mediation as an effective tool for promoting respect for human rights and social inclusion of Roma. It decided to transmit it to the Committee of Ministers for adoption (see Appendix 2).

 

Thematic exchange of experience on the role of central, local and regional authorities in implementing national Roma inclusion policies (with the Republic of Moldova as requesting country; Finland, Romania and Slovenia as partner countries)

 

10.After introductory presentations and discussion, the Committee endorsed the synthesis report of the thematic group of experts [document CAHROM(2012)7] and decided to transmit it to the Committee of Ministers for information, along with information on short term follow-up.

 

11.The Committee decided to include additional information provided by CAHROM participants in the Addendum to the report which will be made publicly available on the CAHROM website in the original language.

 

12.The Committee heard a presentation from the rapporteur of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe on recent developments concerning the setting-up of the European Alliance of Cities and Regions for Roma Inclusion.

 

13. The Committee welcomed these developments and expressed the importance it attaches to developing co-operation and synergies between the Alliance and its own thematic work.

 

Working methods and proposals for thematic groups

 

14.On the basis of the experience gained with the first three initial thematic groups, the Committee assessed its new working methods. There was a consensus that these working methods were highly useful.

 

15.The main conclusions drawn were that it was important:

 

a) for the Committee to concentrate its thematic priorities on the three topics initially selected, i.e. education, housing and the role of local authorities, in order in the future to have a series of thematic reports related to these topics, or certain aspects of them, with a view to preparing possible general guidelines on these themes and possibly publishing a compilation of thematic reports;

b) for the requesting country to define precisely the focus of the topic to be addressed by the thematic group of experts and to provide as soon as possible a draft agenda for the visit, which should include meetings with Roma representatives;

c) for partner countries, to appoint the experts with expertise on the specific topic at issue and at the right level (national, regional or local);

d) for the Bureau of the CAHROM to examine the themes requested by Committee members and arrange the planning of future thematic groups in the light of national and international developments, taking into account that some interested countries have not yet been able to participate in a thematic group;

e) for the Secretariat and the teams of experts to include, wherever possible, a summary table at the end of the thematic synthesis report, as was the case with the report on school-drop out/absenteeism;

f) for CAHROM members to arrange for the dissemination of thematic reports, or a summary thereof, within their countries among national, regional and local levels, if necessary in translated form;

g) for the Committee to include on its agenda, regular discussion on any follow-up developments in requesting and partner countries since the adoption of the thematic report;

h) for the Secretariat to include relevant policies and practices identified through the CAHROM thematic exercises in the Council of Europe database on policies and good practices.

 

16.As regards topics for future thematic groups of experts, the Committee took note of several requests, including gender aspects of school drop-out, special schools, evictions, legalisation of Roma settlements, availability of sites for Travellers/nomadic Roma, participation and representation of Roma at all levels, linking anti-poverty and Roma policies.

 

17.The Committee asked its Bureau in co-operation with the Secretariat to plan the work of thematic groups between its current and next meeting in consultation with the countries concerned.

 

Roma asylum seekers & returnees, migration & freedom of movement of Roma

 

18.The Committee heard presentations from IOM and UNHCR about their activities pertinent to Roma populations.

 

19.The Secretariat informed the Committee that following the Committee's discussion at its previous meeting on this topic, a regional activity with the countries concerned is being considered by the Council of Europe on the issue of measures taken or envisaged to reduce the number of persons leaving their country in order to seek asylum abroad, seen in the light of the European Convention on Human Rights. In this context, the ERTF reiterated its deep concern about actions taken by the government of “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” to prevent Roma from leaving the country.

 

Recent developments (including on national strategies for Roma inclusion) and up-coming events at national and international levels

 

20.The Committee heard presentations from UNICEF, OSCE-ODIHR, UNDP, the Roma Decade Presidency about their recent activities or reports, from the representative of the Council of Europe's Advisory Committee on Youth on the Roma Youth Action Plan, as well as from CAHROM members about recent developments at national level.

 

21.The Committee underlined that its work provides an important contribution to efforts within other fora such as these mentioned above but also within the EU, to support effective implementation of national Roma integration policies. The Committee invited its members to promote that good use be made of its work in other contexts, in order to achieve synergies and avoid duplication.

 

Dosta! campaign, anti-Gypsyism and violence towards Roma, women in particular

 

22.Committee members, as well as the Secretariat, presented developments concerning the Dosta! campaign.

 

23.The Committee took note with satisfaction that both Italy and Slovenia have officially integrated the Dosta! campaign in their national Roma integration strategies.

 

Agenda items to be included in the next meeting

 

24.The CAHROM took note of the invitation by Italy to host a CAHROM meeting in Rome in 2013. Among the issues to be on the agenda of its 4th meeting (Strasbourg, 28-30 November), the Committee agreed to include:

 

a) the presentation the CAHROM team of experts' report on social housing for Roma;

b) a summary presentation and discussion of  new synthesis thematic reports;

c) information from the requesting and partner countries about any follow-up to the two first thematic reports on school drop-out/absenteeism of Roma children and the role of state, local and regional authorities in implementing national Roma inclusion strategies.

In this context, the Committee proposed to hear presentations on the Council of Europe project “Building a Europe for and with children”, on GRETA's activities concerning trafficking in human beings, from a representative of the Lanzarote Committee on child exploitation, as well as from the City of Strasbourg about its activities towards Roma and initiatives as a partner of the European Alliance for Cities and Regions for Roma Inclusion;

d) agenda item on Roma asylum seekers and returnees, migration and freedom of movement, including a possible CAHROM draft opinion on PACE Recommendation on “the situation of Roma in Europe: migration and freedom of movement”, pending its adoption by the Parliamentary Assembly in June;

e) information item on bilateral cooperation between member states concerning Roma migrants;

f) gender aspects.

 

Adoption of the list of decisions

 

25.The Committee adopted the list of decisions.


Appendix 1

 

MEETING AGENDA

 

 

Skopje, 22 May 2012

 

Joint meeting between the participants of the Decade for Roma Inclusion Conference and the CAHROM on social housing for Roma (morning session)

 

  1. Opening of the 3rd CAHROM meeting

 

  1. Adoption of the agenda

 

  1. Elections of the Bureau

 

  1. Inclusive education of Roma vs. segregation

 

Ohrid, 23 May 2012

 

  1. Thematic exchange of experience on school drop-out/absenteeism of Roma children (with The Netherlands as requesting country; Hungary, Spain and Sweden as partner countries)

 

  1. Roma mediation

 

  1. Thematic exchange of experience on the role of central, local and regional authorities in implementing national Roma inclusion policies (with the Republic of Moldova as requesting country; Finland, Romania and Slovenia as partner countries)

 

  1. Working methods and proposals for thematic groups

 

Ohrid, 24 May 2012

 

  1. Roma asylum seekers & returnees, migration & freedom of movement of Roma

 

  1. Recent developments and up-coming events at national and international levels

 

  1. Dosta! campaign, anti-Gypsyism and violence towards Roma, women in particular

 

  1. Agenda items to be included in the next meeting

 

  1. Adoption of the list of decisions

 

Skopje/Šuto Orizari, 25 May 2012

 

Field visit to Šuto Orizari municipality in Skopje, meeting with the Mayor, and visit to an elementary school.

 


Appendix 2

 

AD HOC COMMITTEE OF EXPERTS ON ROMA ISSUES

(CAHROM)

__________

Draft Recommendation on mediation

as an effective tool for promoting respect

for human rights and social inclusion of Roma

 

as adopted by the CAHROM at its 3rd meeting in Ohrid

for adoption by the Committee of Ministers

___________

 

Draft Recommendation of the Committee of Ministers to member states on mediation as an effective tool for promoting respect for human rights and social inclusion of Roma[1]

 

1. The Committee of Ministers, under the terms of Article 15.b of the Statute of the Council of Europe,

 

Considering that the aim of the Council of Europe is to achieve greater unity between its members, and that this aim may be pursued, in particular, through common action in the field of human rights and social cohesion, which form core values and objectives of the Council of Europe;

 

2. Recognising that Roma have faced, for more than five centuries, widespread and enduring discrimination, rejection and marginalisation across Europe and in all areas of life;

 

3. Aware that discrimination and social exclusion can be overcome most effectively by comprehensive, coherent and proactive policies targeting both the Roma and the majority, which ensure integration and participation of Roma in the societies in which they live and respect for their identity, and recognising that mediation can be a useful tool for improving Roma inclusion;

 

4. Considering that all human rights are universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated and that economic and social rights are human rights, and should be supported by concrete community and governmental efforts to ensure they are equally accessible to members of the most deprived and disadvantaged groups and communities;

 

5. Recalling its previous recommendations[2] which advocated the use of Roma mediators to improve communication and relations between Roma and public institutions, which in turn can help overcome barriers to social inclusion and effective access of human rights, as well as improve access of Roma to public services;

 

6. Bearing in mind the Strasbourg Declaration on Roma, adopted at the High Level Meeting of Council of Europe member states on 20 October 2010, which refers to mediation in the context of education, employment and healthcare and expresses the agreement of member states to set up a European Training Programme for Roma mediators;

 

7. Noting that recourse by municipalities and regions to Roma mediators is among the measures called for in Resolution 333(2011) of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities on The situation of Roma in Europe: a challenge for local and regional authorities, and in the Final Declaration of the Summit of Mayors on Roma, organised by the Congress on 22 September 2011;

 

8. Drawing on the positive experience of the ROMED programme “Intercultural mediation for Roma communities”, implemented from 2011 as a joint action of the Council of Europe and the European Union, which provides important lessons on how to achieve effective intercultural mediation between Roma communities and public institutions;

 

9. Welcoming the cooperation between the Council of Europe and the European Union in promoting effective mediation with Roma communities and encouraged by the fact that such mediation, even if different names are used[3], is practised more and more widely in member states and increasingly explicitly supported in national strategies and action plans for Roma inclusion;

 

10. Convinced of the important benefits resulting from employment of persons with a Roma background to act as mediators between Roma communities and public institutions, notably in terms of improved school attendance and access to quality education, improved access to healthcare and other public services, along with better communication between members of Roma communities and public institutions;

 

11. Stressing the importance of respecting gender equality when having recourse to mediators and noting that the gender of mediators may be relevant to the effectiveness of their work in some situations;

 

12. Noting that experience has shown the importance of ensuring that mediation produces the desired results without unwanted negative side-effects;

 

13. Considering, therefore, that it is useful and timely, given the growing recourse by member states to mediation with Roma communities and based on the experience gained with it, to promote a common understanding of some basic principles that can help make such mediation effective and maximise its impact,

 

Recommends that the governments of Member States, with due regard for their constitutional systems and, where appropriate, to their respective national, regional and local circumstances:

 

  1.    Develop and maintain an effective system of quality mediation with Roma communities based on the following principles:

 

  1.                 human rights: the full enjoyment of human rights of members of Roma communities without any form of discrimination is an essential principle underpinning and governing such mediation; this implies that mediation should aim at empowerment of Roma to exercise their rights and increased capacity of public institutions to guarantee these rights in practice, not at rendering or keeping Roma or public institutions dependent on mediation;
  2.                 systematic consultation, participatory planning and evaluation allowing the members of Roma communities to express their needs and concerns, and to be actively involved in finding the most appropriate solutions to the problems facing their local community in cooperation with representatives of the public institutions;
  3.                 intercultural sensitivity, non-violent communication and conflict mediation, based on good knowledge of the “cultural codes” of the community and of the relevant institutions;
  4.                 impartiality: the mediator should work, and be able to work, in a balanced way with both the public institution and members of Roma communities to help overcome cultural and status differences and focus on improving communication and cooperation and on stimulating both parties to take responsibilities and engage with each other; legitimate interests of both parties should be recognised;

 

  1.    Recognise the importance of professional self-regulation by mediators themselves such as the European Code of Ethics for mediators[4] published by the Council of Europe and the European Union, for setting out a clear understanding of the mediators’ role and responsibilities and encourage public authorities at all levels to respect them, including in employment contracts for mediators, in particular by refraining from interfering with the responsibilities of mediators or requesting them to undertake actions that are not within their responsibilities;

 

  1.    Ensure or, in situations where the state has no direct responsibility, encourage that:

 

- official recognition to the professional status of mediators is given, taking measures, where necessary, to render the employment of mediators more stable, and ensure fair remuneration and adequate working conditions;

- certification or accreditation of initial and in-service training programmes for Roma mediators is provided on the basis of the principles set out in paragraph 1 of this Recommendation;

- the professional expertise gained by mediators is recognised so as to enhance their career perspectives;

- opportunities for networking and regular peer support among Roma mediators are provided and that the participation of various professionals working with them (trainers, supervisors, etc.) is stimulated;

 

  1.    Promote a favourable environment at local level for the work of mediators, notably by increasing the capacity of local and regional authorities to develop and implement effective policies for Roma integration, where appropriate, in close co-operation with other Member States, the Council of Europe, and other international organisations active in this field, including the European Union and the OSCE.

 

[1]The term “Roma” used at the Council of Europe refers to Roma, Sinti, Kale and related groups in Europe, including Travellers and the Eastern groups (Dom and Lom), and covers the wide diversity of the groups concerned, including persons who identify themselves as Gypsies.

[2]See Recommendations CM/Rec(2009)4 on the education of Roma and Travellers in Europe, CM/Rec(2008)5 on policies for Roma and/or Travellers in Europe, Rec(2006)10 on better access to health care for Roma and Travellers in Europe and R (2000) 4 on the education of Roma/Gypsy children in Europe.

[3]The terminology used for persons carrying out mediation (whether as their sole task or as one task among others) varies from one country to another: mediators, facilitators, assistants, social workers, community facilitators, community mediators, pedagogical assistants, etc.

 

 

[4] http://www.coe-romed.org/sites/default/files/code%20ethicEN.pdf.