Strasbourg, 28 June 2013                                                                                 CAHROM (2013)17

AD HOC COMMITTEE OF EXPERTS ON ROMA ISSUES (CAHROM)

5th meeting, Strasbourg, 14-16 May 2013

MEETING REPORT

1.         The Ad hoc Committee of Experts on Roma Issues (CAHROM) held its 5th meeting in Strasbourg on 14-16 May 2013, took note of the report of the 5th CAHROM Bureau meeting and adopted its agenda (see documents below).

Documents related to agenda item 1:

 

Roma-related recent developments at international level

2.         The Committee heard a presentation from the Special Representative of the Secretary General for Roma Issues on recent developments at the level of the Council of Europe. An Overview of Roma-related Council of Europe activities between April 2011 and April 2013 was made available to participants (see below). In addition, the SRSG for Roma issues expressed his gratitude to the Swedish authorities for having organised a Round Table on anti-Gypsyism in Stockholm on 12 April 2013 which contributed to draw up a picture of the situation of discrimination against Roma in various European countries, to collect the various points of view of experts, from both decision-makers and civil society, as well as to discuss means to work together to combat acts of discrimination and hatred. The Swedish expert added that his authorities will prepare a “White Paper” with specific recommendations.

3.         In his presentation (see below) the Coordinator for Roma issues at the Council of Europe Development Bank referred inter alia to “bridge loans” that allow several institutions and NGOs active for Roma inclusion to fill the gap until the ESF grant is paid. He added that the CEB is discussing with the European Commission, and also with the Open Society Foundations /MERI to find new ways to cover the risk of these bridge loans, so that the CEB could expand the programme to more institutions and NGOs acting on Roma inclusion.

4.         The representative of the European Commission (DG EAC) and the ROMED Secretariat presented the results and main conclusions of the ROMED Congress (Brussels on 17-18 January 2013). The representative of the DG EAC also underlined some of the factors of success of the ROMED Programme including dialogue, participation of Roma in the programme, common work with the municipalities and real commitment of public institutions.

5.         The representative of Austria highlighted an additional factor to be taken into account for more effective results under ROMED: involvement of mothers in the education of children. The representative of Greece regretted that the Greek mediators could not participate in the ROMED Congress because Greek was not among the working languages of the conference. ROMED Secretariat responded that language skills of mediators would be taken as much as possible into consideration in future similar events.

6.         The representative of DG Justice of the European Commission presented recent developments at the level of the European Union, including recent meetings of the EU National Contact Points on Roma integration that are not aimed at duplicating the work of the CAHROM. She stressed the importance of coordination of policies for integration of the Roma population because at this stage, in spite of having the tools, the finance, the legislation and the expertise, there is still a lack of integration. Three main obstacles have been mentioned in this respect: the economic crisis situation, the lack of political will at all levels and the lack of coordination of various actors. The European Commission has produced a Communication with horizontal assessment and a working paper identifying gaps. The involvement of local and regional authorities, the involvement of Roma communities, funds allocation, effective evaluation and monitoring mechanisms and the fight against discrimination and a stereotyped image, are the main challenges identified at present. Bilateral meetings with countries on defined priorities took place in France, Romania and the Slovak Republic. A similar exercise is planned in Bulgaria. The next Platform meeting in Brussels has been scheduled on 27 June 2013. At the end of this presentation, Amnesty International put a question to the EC representative about the use of infringement procedures in respect of some EU member states to ensure the respect of the EU Race Equality Directive. In her reply, the EC representative indicated that the first phase of infringement proceedings, under confidentiality rule, involves information letters sent to EU Member States concerned.

7.         The representative of FRA specified that they have worked on a comparative analysis of the situation of Roma in the EU based on three pillars: indicators and monitoring methods, regular launching of surveys and collection of qualitative data. FRA will provide analysis and data that would feed the evaluation of the European Commission.

8.         The representative of Croatia referred to recent activities under the Croatian Presidency of the Decade for Roma Inclusion and priorities, such as the link between the Decade and the EU framework, the link between relevant Decade Action Plans and the EU Education policy, the status of the Romani language, and the contribution of the Roma youth. He also informed the Committee about forthcoming activities, namely the International Conference "Linkage of the historical experience of Roma in Europe with the promotion of tolerance and non-discrimination of Roma" to be held in Zagreb on 23-24 May 23-24 2013 and the 24th International Steering Committee meeting in Zagreb on 19-20 June 2013, during which results of consultations about the future of the Decade for Roma inclusion will be presented alongside the priorities of the Montenegrin Decade presidency. During that meeting Norway’s future participation as an observer in the Decade should be announced. Other countries such as the Republic of Moldova, Sweden, Turkey and Ukraine have expressed interest in the Decade, either as observers or participating countries.

9.         The OSCE regional coordinator of the OSCE-ODIHR project “Best practices for Roma Integration” presented recent regional activities and good practices identified in the field of anti-discrimination (see presentation below).

10.       The Committee was informed of a new bilingual CD presenting the database on Roma-related policies and good practices set up by the Council of Europe. The Committee members took note of the Secretariat’s invitation to register themselves as experts in the experts’ directory of the database, as well as to circulate information about this database and provide, where appropriate, examples of good practices. The list of the 49 good practices and 11 strategies that have already been entered in the database was distributed at the meeting and is enclosed below.

11.       The Committee took note of written information about recent developments at national level received from the Czech Republic, Finland, Greece, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Serbia and Spain [see document CAHROM (2013)9 below].

Documents related to agenda item 2.a:

Recent developments at national level concerning the Dosta! campaign and on newly adopted national strategies for Roma inclusion

12.       The Committee heard presentations from Lithuania and Spain about recent national launches of the Council of Europe Dosta! campaign and future related activities in these countries (see presentations below). Croatia, Greece, Italy and “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” announced some developments in this area primarily related to the use of the campaign’s tools during the implementation phase of relevant anti-discrimination chapters of their new national strategies. The Committee took note of the intention of the Slovak Republic to launch Dosta! in the near future and of the interest in the Dosta! campaign and its material expressed by Belgium and France. The latter invited other countries having launched this campaign to communicate information via the Secretariat about examples of activities and about any assessment of their effectiveness.

13.       The representative from Portugal informed the Committee about the adoption of a National Roma Integration Strategy on 27 March 2013. The representative from Ukraine indicated that an action plan will soon be drafted and adopted to implement the various chapters of the Strategy for the protection and integration of the Roma national minority into Ukrainian society up to 2020, which was adopted on 8 April 2013. The representative of the Russian Federation referred to the adoption of a Comprehensive Plan of Measures on Socio-Economic and Ethno-Cultural Development of Roma in the Russian Federation for the period of 2013-2014 which was adopted in January 2013.He underlined that the number of Roma organisations had increased over the last years and that authorities are committed to implement the CoE Roma-related recommendations. The new Plan includes paragraphs focusing on health, education, employment, Roma culture, fighting against stereotypes and guidelines for local authorities.

14.       The representative of Bosnia Herzegovina stressed the fact that in her country considerable progress has been achieved under the National Action Plan for Roma. The main objective is now to strengthen the capacity of local authorities to deal with all issues and to organise several training sessions for Roma representatives at local level on establishing guidelines and a system of independent monitoring. Representatives from the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Greece, Montenegro, Norway, Poland, Serbia, Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden and Turkey also informed the Committee about recent developments in their countries as regards their national strategies/action plans [see document CAHROM (2013)9 for written information].

Documents related to agenda items 2.b and 2.c:

 

15.       Referring to previous interventions, as well as to the CM Declaration on the rise of anti-Gypsyism and racial violence against Roma in Europe from February 2012 and the CM Recommendation (2008)5 on policies for Roma and/or Travellers in Europe, the Committee encouraged member states, wherever necessary, to include an anti-discrimination chapter in their national strategy for Roma inclusion and to finance awareness raising action addressing prejudice and stereotypes, such as the Dosta! campaign, using state funding annually allocated to the implementation of the Roma national strategy/action plan.

Recent developments regarding the European Alliance of Cities and Regions for Roma Inclusion and the work of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities on Roma issues

16.              The Committee heard a presentation by the Secretariat of the Congress about the launch of the European Alliance of Cities and Regions for Roma Inclusion (Strasbourg, 20 March 2013) and the Congress’ work on Roma-related issues in general. It also heard an example of local practice from Serbia identified as a good practice under the OSCE-ODIHR project “Best practices for Roma Integration” - BPRI (see Mr Osman Balic’s presentation below and the good practice in Roma participation no. 14 of the BPRI regional report on anti-discrimination and the participation of Roma in local decision-making).

17.              The Committee welcomed the recent developments concerning the Alliance, notably as regards the ROMACT project, as well as on-going efforts to enhance international coordination among the Council of Europe, the European Commission, UNDP, the World Bank, the Council of Europe Development Bank, FRA, OSF and EEA & Norway Grants. This coalition should promote the integration of Roma and other vulnerable groups under a strong political commitment with the participation of both local authorities and the Roma Community. The Committee took note of the intention of the Congress to renew the Dosta! Congress prize and of the on-going discussion about signing a cooperation agreement between the Congress and the ERTF similar to the one signed between the ERTF and the Parliamentary Assembly.

Documents related to agenda item 3:

 

Direction and thematic priorities of the CAHROM’s work

18.              The Committee thanked Poland for having generated a lively discussion over the last two CAHROM meetings through its non-paper on working methods and priorities of the Committee and took note of comments received from Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, the Russian Federation and the ERTF [see document CAHROM (2013)7 below]. On the one hand, many points in this document received wide support such as the need to take into account the diversity of situations (different Roma communities with different traditions, different legal systems and policies) and the importance of an integrated and comprehensive policy approach. On the other hand, some member states expressed caution about certain wording in the non-paper, e.g. defining “genuine” Roma organisations. The Committee agreed that the CAHROM in its work should address both the responsibility of Roma parents and families (e.g. regarding school enrolment of children, girls in particular) and the responsibilities of state and local authorities to guarantee that all basic conditions are met for Roma to fully exercise their rights.

19.              The representatives of France, the Netherlands, Slovenia, and Sweden took the floor to underline that an integrated approach is the best way to solve problems within Roma families, especially multi-problem families, and to stress the need to work in collaboration with NGOs. In addition, Amnesty International suggested that the CAHROM keeps the emphasis on the international obligations of states to remove obstacles in the field of education (e.g. racial prejudice, discrimination, constant evictions of Roma families that disrupt school, and associated costs with meals, clothing or bus fares), whilst stressing the crucial role of parents who should not be blamed for the serious and systematic failures of the state which perpetuate discrimination.

20.              As a conclusion, the Committee underlined that through its past and future thematic work and agenda items addressing substantive and controversial issues, the CAHROM is already responding to some of the issues and proposals raised in the Polish non-paper.

21.              As regards its future thematic priorities, the Committee endorsed two concrete proposals for future thematic work, namely:

·      a thematic group on combating anti-Gypsyism and hate speech with Hungary as a requesting country and the Czech Republic, Italy, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom as partner countries. The group of experts will be invited to visit Hungary in early September 2013 with a view to presenting the thematic report at the 6th CAHROM meeting (Rome, 28-31 October 2013);

·      a thematic group on housing loans and re-housing solutions in order to prevent constant (forced) evictions and to respect the security of tenure with Serbia as a requesting country and Greece, Spain and Slovak Republic as partner countries. The group of experts will be invited to visit Serbia during the 2nd half of November 2013 with a view to presenting the thematic report at the 7th CAHROM meeting in Spring 2014.

22.              The Committee took note of other proposals for thematic work and tasked the Secretariat and the Bureau with contacting countries concerned so as to explore the possibility to set up future thematic groups in those areas:

23.              As regards vocational training, the representative from Greece reminded participants that the CAHROM adopted at its first meeting the implementation report of CM Recommendation (2001)17 on improving the economic and employment situation of Roma and Travellers, and indicated that this report contains some national good practices in this area [see document CAHROM (2011)7 below].

24.              The Committee also took note of lessons learnt from previous thematic groups, i.e.:

25.              The Committee agreed that in the future only the introductory and conclusion parts of the thematic report will be circulated to the Committee of Ministers (via the GR-SOC) and decided to plan for the Autumn CAHROM meeting an agenda item on follow-up developments in both requesting and partner countries following the endorsement of the first six thematic reports.

Documents related to agenda item 4.a:

 

Appointment of a CAHROM member in charge of mainstreaming gender issues in the work of the Committee

26.              The Committee appointed the Finnish member to have special responsibility for mainstreaming gender issues in the work of the CAHROM.

Revised Terms of Reference of the CAHROM

27.              The Committee decided to grant observer status to the Financial Mechanisms Office (EEA and Norway Grants) and requested the Secretariat to contact some organisations having an observer status and which do not participate in CAHROM meetings to check whether they are still interested and able to contribute to the Committee’s work.

28.              The Committee adopted draft revised Terms of Reference and decided to submit them to the Committee of Ministers once the Legal Advice Unit has checked the revised text (see below document CAHROM (2013)10] which is the final draft of the revised Terms of Reference as approved by the CAHROM Bureau following the Legal Advice Unit’s opinion and confirmation of interest by observers).

Documents related to agenda item 4.c:

  

Thematic report on encampment areas and other issues relating to Travellers (with Belgium as a requesting country and France, Switzerland and the United Kingdom as partner countries)

29.       The representative of Belgium mentioned the main subjects that were addressed during the visit conducted in Belgium, i.e. recognition of the caravan as a proper dwelling, education of children, mediation and support (role of “district stewards” in Flanders and of the “mediation centre” in Wallonia), access to employment, health conditions, neighbourhood relationships, travel permits, insurance for the caravan, and validation of professional experience. After this introductory presentation and feedback from partner countries of this thematic group, the Committee endorsed the experts’ thematic report [see document CAHROM (2013)6 below] and decided to transmit it to the Committee of Ministers for information.

30.       The Committee invited CAHROM members from other countries with nomadic or semi-nomadic Roma or Travellers to provide additional information which will be introduced in the Addendum to the thematic report and could eventually be discussed at the next meeting.

Documents related to agenda item 5:

 

ERTF Charter on the Rights of Roma

31.       The Committee heard an introductory presentation from the ERTF President who recalled the background of this document adopted in 2009 and took note of written comments received from Finland, Germany, Portugal and the Russian Federation [see document CAHROM (2013)8 below]. The Representative of the ERTF insisted on the importance of the recognition and inclusion of Roma and recommended to the Council of Europe to consider working on a legally-binding charter on the rights of Roma that would establish standards in Europe.

32.       Observations by the Secretariat of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities on the rights of Roma so far protected under the FCNM and from the DLAPIL about procedures for adopting a legally-binding instrument in the Council of Europe (see below) were followed by a discussion regarding the feasibility and suitability of transforming this Charter into a legally-binding document in which several countries contributed, including Bosnia and Herzegovina, Finland, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia and “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”. A number of speakers recalled that the existing legally binding international treaties (e.g. the European Convention on Human Rights, the European Social Charter, the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, the Charter on Fundamental Rights of the EU, UN conventions, etc.) already provide a legal protection of the rights of Roma.

33.       The CAHROM agreed that Committee members would seek the views of their authorities to see whether their governments would support the idea of a legally-binding instrument on Roma rights that could be inspired by the ERTF Charter. The Committee further agreed that to hold a tour de table on this subject at the next meeting.

34.       The Committee also took note of the planned consultation about the ERTF Charter on the Rights of Roma at a forthcoming meeting of the Advisory Committee of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and suggested that the ERTF might discuss it with other CoE bodies and committees (e.g. Parliamentary Assembly, Congress and CDDH).

Documents related to agenda item 6:

 

Genocide of Roma (Samudaripen/Pharrajimos)

35.              The Committee heard introductory presentations from Mr Wolfgang Wipperman from the Friedrich-Meinecke Institute in Berlin, expert presented by the ERTF, and Mrs Karen Polak from Anne Frank House and Head of the Sub-Committee on the Genocide of Roma of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) (see below), as well as the ERTF President on the ERTF proposal to assign a European commemoration day on 2 August for the genocide of Roma and Sinti during World War II. The Committee took note of the support letter to the ERTF proposal received from the Congress Rapporteur on Roma and Traveller issues, of written comments received from the Czech Republic and the Russian Federation, as well as of background documents prepared by the Secretariat related to the genocide of Roma, including additional information provided by the Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Luxembourg, the Russian Federation, Switzerland and the United Kingdom [see documents (2013)14 and CAHROM (2013)15 below].

36.              The Committee also took note of the Secretariat invitation to correct or complete with additional information both the CoE/OSCE website on the genocide of Roma and the Secretariat Overview on the recognition of the genocide of Roma and of relevant commemoration days of this genocide [see document CAHROM (2013)15 below]. The Chair of the Committee encouraged national experts to send their contributions to the Secretariat.

37.              During the discussion on the ERTF proposal, the representative of Germany suggested to create a working group to draft a recommendation for the Committee of Ministers on this topic. The representative from Greece wondered whether the CAHROM should not be first mandated by the Committee of Ministers to draft a recommendation. The Committee came to the conclusion that a declaration might be more suitable than a recommendation and agreed to examine at its next meeting a draft declaration for the Committee of Ministers’ approval to be prepared by the Secretariat which would address two main issues: a) the need for recognition of the genocide of Roma and its inclusion in school curricula at national level and b) an invitation to member states to commemorate this genocide annually and as appropriate. During the debate, it was suggested that the Committee in its draft Declaration could suggest 2 August as a commemoration day unless other dates prevail (e.g. due to national historical circumstances) and highlight that the setting up of a national commemoration day specifically for Roma and Sinti victims should not exclude these communities from being associated to commemorations for all victims (e.g. at national events on the International Day of Remembrance of the Holocaust). The Committee took note of the Congress’ suggestion to have the proposed CM Declaration made public on 2 August 2014, 70 years after the massacre of almost 3,000 Roma and Sinti in Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.

Documents related to agenda item 7:

  

Exchange of views with Council of Europe bodies and committees

38.              The Committee heard presentations from the President of the European Committee of Social Rights (ECSR), from the ECRI Secretariat, from the Secretariat of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, from the GRETA Secretariat, from the Secretariat of the Division “Gender Equality, Violence against Women and Domestic Violence” on the Istanbul Convention, as well as from the Secretariat of the Lanzarote Committee on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse.

39.              The Representative of the ECSR presented the main areas of their work: the specific rights for Roma, the monitoring mechanisms, the guarantees and procedures and the evaluation reports. He concluded by highlighting that a Charter on the rights of Roma could be interesting, but first the effectiveness of instruments already existing should be explored.

40.              The representative from the Gender Equality, Violence against Women and Domestic Violence Division referred to a package of protection measures under four main pillars of the Istanbul Convention:

·         Prevention: taking measures to change attitudes, training of professionals in working with Roma women;

·         Protection: victims receiving the support they need, setting up of specialised service medical assistance, psychological and legal counselling;

·         Penal code: translating measures into criminal codes (it was mentioned in this regard that there is no relation established under the Istanbul Convention between early marriages and trafficking); and

·         Integrated policies: bringing together all actors.

41.              As regards the issue of forced and early marriages in relation to trafficking, the Committee heard feedback from the GRETA Conference on human trafficking and its workshop on Roma as a group at risk (Sofia, Bulgaria, 4-5 December 2012) and from a Secretariat meeting with the Dutch CAHROM member in Strasbourg on 13 May 2013.

42.              The Committee agreed to keep this topic on the agenda of its next meeting and asked its members to provide the Secretariat by the end of June 2013 with:

·         Any relevant information on the inclusion of forced and/or early marriages in criminal law and on any relevant case-law;

·         Information as whether forced and/or early marriages of under-age Roma is an issue in the country and whether there are any studies, surveys providing data on this topic;

·         If so, information on whether and how the authorities enforce the law; and

·         Information on whether Roma mediators, where they exist, are involved in prevention against trafficking, and whether they address the issue of forced and/or early marriages.

43.              Replies to these questions, as well as information from GRETA monitoring and questionnaire, will be used in the document “Overview of the situation of Roma women in Council of Europe member states” for discussion at the Roma Women’s International Helsinki Conference.

44.              The representative from ECRI Secretariat, following a general presentation of ECRI activities, suggested to the Committee three areas for its future thematic work, i.e. developing a positive image of Roma in the public perception (quoting positive examples in French and German press), encouraging mediation, especially in the education area (with good practices in Lithuania and Portugal) or addressing multi-problem Roma families (the Netherlands), and mapping services for Roma children (Albania). He added that the thematic work of the CAHROM could help implement both national Roma integration strategies/action plans and the ECRI General Policy Recommendation no. 13 on combating anti-Gypsyism and discrimination against Roma.

45.              The Secretariat of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages referred inter alia to a recent study on the Romani language and the Charter which will be soon made public. The Committee invited the Secretariat of the ECRML to present this study at the next CAHROM meeting. During the discussion, the ERTF, on behalf of the Croatian NGOs concerned, encouraged the Croatian authorities to withdraw their reservation to Article 7 (5) of the ECRML. In response, the ECRML Secretariat presented the interpretation of the concept of “territorial languages” by the Committee of Experts of the ECRML. Representatives from Germany and the Slovak Republic reiterated their offer to share their experience as regards the Romani language. The German expert suggested setting up a thematic group on the protection of the Romani language within the ECRML if the Committee considers it necessary after hearing the presentation of the ECRML at the next meeting.

46.              The Secretary of the Lanzarote Committee informed the CAHROM that the monitoring of the CoE Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse by the Committee of the Parties to this Convention (also known as “Lanzarote Committee”) was about to start. She explained that the 1st monitoring round will focus on the theme “Sexual abuse of children in the circle of trust”. She clarified that the questionnaires that would be shortly addressed to States Parties to gather the required information to assess the implementation of the Convention with respect to this theme do not include reference to any particular vulnerable category of children as all children are concerned. Specific information concerning Roma children is welcome and may be addressed to [email protected]. Relevant representatives of civil society involved in the preventing and combating sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of children may submit replies to the questionnaires. As soon as finalised (by 21 June 2013), the questionnaires will be published at: www.coe.int/lanzarote.

Documents related to agenda item 8:

 

Thematic report on school attendance of Roma children, in particular Roma girls (with Finland as a requesting country and Latvia, Norway and Sweden as partner countries)

47.              After introductory presentations and feedback by the requesting and partner countries of this thematic group, the Committee endorsed the experts’ thematic report [see below document CAHROM (2013)5], decided to transmit it to the Committee of Ministers for information and invited CAHROM participants to provide additional information by the beginning of June which will be included in an Addendum.

48.              The Committee heard from the Secretariat a preliminary comparison between the two CAHROM thematic reports addressing school attendance, school drop-out and absenteeism (see presentation below). The representative of the Netherlands suggested that a follow-up should be done by the Committee after the endorsement of the thematic reports in order to see the evolution of the measures taken and progress made. He proposed that a sort of study should be done by requesting countries involved in thematic groups and any other interesting countries. Experts from the Czech Republic, Finland, the Netherlands, Romania and the Slovak Republic have accepted to further analyse these reports and to propose a list of concrete measures for authorities. The Committee decided that this point is to be included on the agenda of its next meeting.

Documents related to agenda item 9.a:

 

Pre-school education of Roma children

49.              The Committee heard a presentation from Mrs Maria Giannakaki, member of the PACE Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination on the PACE Resolution Ending Discrimination against Roma Children through Inclusive Early Childhood Development and Basic Education, agreed that preschool education would be a suitable topic for its thematic work, and took note of the OSCE-ODIHR proposal to come up with a joint statement of various international institutions referring to inclusive education and to the use of Structural Funds for that purpose.

50.              The Committee took note of written information on pre-school education provided by the Czech Republic and Germany, as well as of relevant extracts from CAHROM thematic reports [see document CAHROM (2013) 11 below]. It also took note of two existing documents of reference, namely the OSCE-ODIHR report on “Participation of Roma and Sinti children in early education processes within the OSCE region” and the UNESCO/Council of Europe Guidelines on inclusive early childhood care and education for Roma children (see documents below). Other countries provided oral information about pre-school, such as Greece, the Netherlands, Poland and “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”. Several of them stressed the importance of involving Roma parents. Amnesty International expressed concerns about persisting school segregation and a lack of developments in certain member states (see AI statement below).

Documents related to agenda item 9.b:

Housing-related issues

51.              The Committee held a preliminary discussion on the  legalisation of Roma settlements/houses following the visit to Albania (requesting country) of a team of experts from Bosnia and Herzegovina and “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”(partner countries) on 15-17 April 2013.

52.              The representative of Albania, requesting country for the thematic visit, made an oral summary of the visit recalling the meetings held with the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, the Ministry of Transport and Public Work, the municipality of Tirana, UNDP and the People’s Advocate, as well as the visit to two informal Roma settlements in Tirana. The experts of partner countries indicated that the meetings and the field visits allowed them to understand the harsh reality of Roma living in these settlements and highlighted some of the problems faced by these Roma families as regards their housing conditions, in particular the registration process and the selection and eligibility criteria for social housing which prevent most vulnerable Roma families to access social housing. Other areas of concern included the lack of a minority law, the use of official census data as opposed to estimates to draw policies for Roma, a lack of projects, measures and budget allocation specifically designed for Roma on behalf of line ministries which makes it difficult for authorities to implement the national Roma strategy and Roma Decade action plans. Whilst there was evidence of a close cooperation with international actors such as UNDP, the need for a stronger cooperation between authorities and civil society was also highlighted. Among the positive elements, the experts mentioned the recruitment of a young Roma woman in the municipality of Tirana and the current setting up of an online registration and statistical database jointly managed by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and UNDP.

53.              The Committee took note that the final report will be presented at the next CAHROM meeting. Following a suggestion made by members of the group of experts, the Committee agreed to change the title of the thematic report into “social housing for Roma and legalisation of Roma settlements and houses”.

54.              The Secretariat thanked the OSCE-ODIHR for their financial support under the project “Best practices for Roma Integration” which ensured the participation and active contribution of Roma experts from Albania and from the two partner countries in the thematic visit.

55.              In the follow-up discussion, the representative of Italy insisted on the importance of enforcing human rights and involving local partners to prevent evictions. The Amnesty International representative raised concerns about forced evictions in six member states and referred to recent publications on that issue, in particular “Know your obligations: A guide to preventing forced evictions” from November 2012 which is available in English, French and Romanian (see the full AI statement below). The representative of Greece questioned the accuracy of information provided on recent evictions and told the Committee that recent developments at the regional level, demonstrated an intense effort to prevent unauthorised resettlement. During the discussion, reference was also made to a recent complaint launched at the European Court of Human Rights against Spain (see A.M.B. and Others vs. Spain below) which addresses the lack of rehousing alternatives to a Spanish Gypsy woman and her children.

Documents related to agenda item 9.c:

 

Roma refugees, asylum seekers and stateless Roma

56.              The Committee heard a presentation by the representative of the Office of the CoE Commissioner for Human Rights who highlighted the fact that there is still a large number of stateless people or people lacking documentation in Europe. In a recent Human Rights Comment on the statelessness of children, the Commissioner underlined the need to facilitate acquisition of nationality at birth, the need to collect disaggregated data on statelessness, to promote birth registration and to ensure access to swift and effective procedures of acquisition of nationality for children in particular. The need for all member states of the Council of Europe to accede to the Council of Europe and UN Conventions on nationality and avoidance of statelessness was also highlighted. The representative of the Office of the Commissioner also reported on the Commissioner’s concerns regarding restrictions imposed on the freedom of movement of Roma from certain countries, especially in the Western Balkans. She mentioned a recent judgment of the European Court on Human Rights in Stamose v. Bulgaria, in which the Court stated that a blanket and indiscriminate ban on travelling to any foreign country is not a proportionate response to a person’s breach of immigration laws of a particular country. The Commissioner has commissioned a study on the impact on human rights of restrictions on the freedom of movement, to be published in late 2013. He has also strongly warned against the increasing stigmatisation of Roma asylum seekers and migrants, which is likely to trigger further discrimination and racism.

57.              The Committee heard the presentation by the UNHCR Office in Strasbourg and took note of its recommendations on statelessness (see UNHCR presentation below). It also heard statements from the representative of “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” on recent developments concerning Roma refugees. She explained that in their national Action Plan, measures to implement the process of asylum are included and informed the Committee about a brochure jointly prepared by the Centre for Integration of Refugees and Foreigners and the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy (see the brochure below).

58.              The Committee reiterated its view that the operation of border controls should fully respect the rights of Roma and should not be in contradiction with the European Convention on Human Rights and relevant UN conventions. It decided to put this item on the agenda of one of its future meetings.

Documents related to agenda items 10.a. and 10.b:

 

Bilateral cooperation in the field of Roma migration

59.              The Committee took note of the written reply from the Czech Republic [see document CAHROM (2013)12 below] and heard presentations from CAHROM members from Croatia, the Republic of Moldova and the United Kingdom on existing forms of bilateral cooperation in the field of Roma migration. It decided to keep this item on the agenda of one of its next meetings and encouraged individual member states to provide information on this topic to the Secretariat.

Document related to agenda item 10.c:

Roma women and youth

60.              The Committee took note of information provided by Finland and the Secretariat on the agenda and participants of the 4th International Roma Women’s Conference to be held in Helsinki on 16-17 September 2013, as well as from the Youth Directorate on recent developments regarding the Roma Youth Action Plan and other Roma-related activities in the youth sector.

61.              Experts from Croatia, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Turkey took the floor to emphasise that the measures for Roma women in the national Roma integration strategies should be monitored in order to have better results and that mainstreaming and cooperation are crucial.

62.              The Committee agreed to include on the agenda of its next meeting a presentation of the conclusions and follow-up of the Helsinki Conference. The Committee welcomed the initiative of the Croatian Presidency of the Decade for Roma Inclusion to include Roma youth as one of the priorities for the Decade and took note of the invitation of the Youth Directorate of the Council of Europe to nominate a Committee member to join the Informal Contact Group for the Roma Youth Action Plan. The Committee proposed Mr Nicolae Radiţa (Republic of Moldova), subject to his acceptance.

Document related to agenda item 11:

Arrangements for the next meeting and items to be included in the agenda

63.              The Italian representative confirmed that Italy will host the next CAHROM meeting in Rome, 28-31 October 2013. The Committee thanked the Italian authorities for their invitation.

64.              Among the issues to be on the agenda of its 6th meeting, the Committee agreed to include:

·      Election of the Bureau;

·      Recent developments at national and international level, including presentations from the IOM and UNICEF, from the Roma Decade Secretariat of the Intelligence Database of good practices in the Decade countries, from Denmark and Georgia on the situation of Roma and related policy and from Turkey on their national strategy (provided it is adopted by the next meeting);

·      Presentation of the thematic report on social housing for Roma and legalisation of Roma settlements and houses following the thematic visit in Albania;

·      Presentation of the thematic report on combating anti-Gypsyism and hate speech;

·      Follow-up given to the first six thematic reports;

·      Comparative analysis of thematic reports on education-related issues and concrete proposed measures and recommendations.

·      Future thematic groups;

·      Measures and legal and financial incentives to encourage the creation of halting/encampment sites for Travellers;

·      Presentation by an expert of the Experts Committee of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages on the Romani language;

·      Conclusions and follow-up of the 4th International Roma Women’s Conference;

·      Tour de table on the ERTF Charter for the Rights of Roma;

·      Draft Declaration on the genocide of Roma;

·      Roma refugees, asylum seekers and stateless persons; and

·      Early and/or forced marriages in relation to human trafficking.

65.              The CAHROM took note of the invitation by Bosnia and Herzegovina to host a CAHROM meeting in 2014.

Adoption of the abridged report (list of decisions)

66.       The Committee adopted the abridged report (list of decisions) of its 5th meeting (see below).

Document related to agenda item 13:

---------------