Strasbourg, 15 June 2015CAHROM (2015)16

 

AD HOC COMMITTEE OF EXPERTS ON ROMA ISSUES

(CAHROM)

 

9 th CAHROM MEETING

 

Strasbourg, 27-29 May 2015

 

 

FINAL ABRIDGED REPORT

(DECISIONS APPEAR IN BOLD)

 

 

Opening and adoption of the agenda

 

1. The Ad hoc Committee of Experts on Roma Issues (CAHROM) held its 9th meeting in Strasbourg on 27-29 May 2015. The meeting was opened by the Vice-Chair (Ms Mabera Kamberi, “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”) and by the Special Representative of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe for Roma Issues who welcomed all participants, in particular new members and observers, and highlighted the particular importance of this meeting in relation to the topics on the agenda and the opportunity to hold an exchange with the Secretary General of the Council of Europe on its proposed agenda for Roma inclusion for the years 2015-2019, including the proposal to set up a “European Roma Institute”. They also welcomed the large participation from member States, from observers and from CoE colleagues and stressed the fact that all 41 member States having at least a small Roma population were present at this meeting.

 

2. The Committee adopted the agenda which appears in Appendix 1.

 

Roma children`s education

 

3. The Committee heard information from the Czech CAHROM member and Committee Rapporteur on Roma children and the main conclusions of the thematic visit on inclusive pre-school education for Roma children held in Prague on 19-21 November 2014 and comments from partner countries (Hungary, Latvia, Poland and “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”), as well as comments on the draft thematic report from Committee Rapporteurs on gender equality (Finland), on Roma youth (Croatia), and on anti-Gypsyism and hate crime (United Kingdom).

 

4. CAHROM participants discussed a) the added value of introducing compulsory pre-school education to better prepare Roma children for their education and social inter-action, including supportive measures such as fee exemptions, free meals and transport; b) the need of non- biased and culturally neutral diagnosis methods during the recruitment process of children; c) the need to further raise awareness among Roma parents, teachers’ unions and society at large on the negative consequences of school segregation, using the Dosta! campaign where relevant; d) the risk of duplication in maintaining zero/preparatory classes when compulsory pre-school education is introduced; e) the need to reinforce the role of Roma mediators or school assistants in pre-schools; f) the need to collect disaggregated data by ethnicity and gender at project/local level to better assess the impact of policy measures; g) the crucial role of local authorities to ensure the inclusion of all children in compulsory education; and h) the relevance of using official curricula in pre-school clubs managed by NGOs. Poland underlined the misleading terminology of “practical” schools, including for Romani parents who might not be aware that these schools are often segregated schools or schools for children with mild mental disabilities. Finland urged member States to develop disaggregated data by gender which were largely missing in the report. The Netherlands highlighted the need to clarify the meaning of “pre-school” since the enrolment of Roma children in compulsory education differs from one country to the next. The Republic of Moldova warned that, among some Roma families, it was considered shameful for Roma mothers to send their children at an early age to kindergarten, whilst they are, according to the Romani tradition, supposed to take care of their young children at home. He therefore recommended introducing pre-school education within primary education facilities. REF, ERTF and Amnesty International called for a stronger political will to end school segregation and the persisting practice of enrolling Roma children in schools for pupils with special needs observed in many member States, whilst OSCE-ODIHR underlined the need to involve Roma and non-Roma parents in the process.

 

5. The Committee endorsed the conclusions of the CAHROM thematic visit on inclusive pre-school education for Roma children [document CAHROM(2015)6]. The Committee fixed 8 June 2015 as a deadline for the experts having participated in the thematic group, CAHROM members and international observers to submit to the Secretariat any factual amendments to the rest of the thematic report[1].

 

Housing / Legalisation of informal Roma settlements

 

6. The Committee welcomed detailed information provided by Albania, Serbia, the Slovak Republic and “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” on the legal framework adopted or under preparation for the legalisation of Roma informal settlements or buildings, including concrete supporting measures undertaken in this field, in particular by the Roma National Congress, Habitat and other NGOs in “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”. The Committee took note of OSCE-ODIHR’s presentation of positive examples in the field of legalisation of Roma informal settlements identified through the Best Practices for Roma Integration (BRRI) project[2] and that twenty BPRI identified practices had been included in the online database on Roma-related good practices developed by the Council of Europe[3].

 

7. During the discussion, the OSCE-ODIHR underlined the very good and constructive co-operation with the relevant Slovak authorities on their Draft Act on Land-Use Planning and Construction. Bosnia and Herzegovina recalled its efforts to solve the housing situation of Roma and referred to some of the obstacles they face, including financial barriers and land property. The Council of Europe Development Bank Secretariat indicated that the CEB remains at the disposal of both state and local authorities, should they wish to submit proposals for loans for their housing projects and support measures. CAHROM participants highlighted the benefit of micro-credits, where they exist, to assist families for housing self-reconstruction. Several participants recalled the need to provide alternative accommodation before destroying any dwelling/building.

 

8. The Committee encouraged the authorities of “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” to extend the deadline of the Law for the Legalisation of Informal Settlements (fixed so far at February 2017) so as to allow a maximum of Roma families to benefit from this legislation. The Committee also encouraged the Serbian Government to adopt a Lex Specialis to resolve the legalisation of Roma informal settlements not covered by the Legalisation Law adopted in 2013.

 

Romani language and culture

 

9. The Committee received confirmation from Croatia that the conclusions of the CAHROM thematic group on the protection and promotion of languages spoken by Roma have already been taken into account (e.g. development of a school curriculum for Boyash Romanian or on-going progress for the financing of teaching Romani minority language as an optional subject) or will be in the near future (lifting the reservation as regards the Romani language under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages-ECRML). The representative of the ECRML Committee of Experts welcomed the announcement that the lifting of the reservation by Croatia was under way and appreciated the interest of the CAHROM to keep Romani language as a recurrent item on its agenda. He  confirmed that the ECRML Committee of Experts  regularly provided information on the European Language Charter also to member States which were not yet State Parties to the Charter. It would also be ready to co-operate with the CAHROM on language issues as much as possible within the limits of its mandate as a monitoring body. The ECRML Secretariat informed the CAHROM about the recent information paper “The Romani language under the ECRML”, available on the CAHROM restricted web site. The Committee took note that sixteen member States already protect the Romani language under the ECRML.[4]

 

10. The Committee discussed the need for organising a second thematic visit related to this topic, which could also address the opposition of certain traditional groups (in particular Sinti) to having their language written and taught to non-Roma, as is the case in Austria, Germany, Poland and Slovenia.

 

Romani history

 

11. The Committee heard the presentation by the Centre for Studies of Holocaust and Religious Minorities in Norway of the research report “Get Rid of Them – The development of Gypsy politics and the Extermination of the Norwegian Roma” and took note of the public apologies of the Prime Minister of Norway regarding the persecution against Roma during the 20th century, following the publication of that report.

 

12. Following a summary presentation by Italy of the main conclusions of the International Seminar on the Inclusion of Roma History Teaching in National School Curricula held in Rome in December 2014, the Committee discussed recent developments related to the inclusion of Roma history teaching – including the Roma genocide - in school curricula. Croatia informed the Committee that 2 August had been recently officially recognised as a commemoration day for the victims of the genocide perpetrated against Roma during the Second World War, before a similar recognition was made by the European Parliament. OSF underlined the need to have Roma history teaching not taught as a separate subject and not just for Roma pupils/students, but as a means to create inter-action with non-Roma pupils/students. Azerbaijan, the Slovak Republic and Ukraine indicated that they cover the history of different nationalities in their school curricula. Latvia referred to an exhibition in Riga on the genocide of Latvian Roma during the Second World War.

 

13. The Committee welcomed the invitation by Serbia to CAHROM members to participate in a follow-up Seminar on Roma history teaching, with a focus on the genocide of Roma during the Second World War, that will be co-organised with the Serbian Ministry for Education and the Council of Europe in Belgrade on 21-22 September 2015. Croatia, Finland, the Republic of Moldova, and the Slovak Republic confirmed their interest, whilst other member States, including Belgium, the Czech Republic and Norway, will confirm at a later stage. Sweden informed the Committee that the publication of the White Paper on abuses and rights violations against Roma in the 20th century entitled “The Dark Unknown History” is now available on the Internet in English and that a printed copy will be sent out to all Committee members.

 

Improving the implementation of national Roma strategies and action plans

 

14. The Committee was presented the work of the FRA and its Working Party of 17 EU member States on Roma Integration S.P.O. (Structural, Process and Outcome) Indicators. It held a preliminary discussion about the need and possibility to develop similar structural indicators for CoE standards/recommendations and enlarge the ongoing reflection on these S.P.O. common indicators to non EU member States through the CAHROM.

 

Thematic groups in 2015

 

15. The Secretariat introduced the list of already planned thematic visits for 2015 and proposed future thematic groups. Several CAHROM members confirmed their interest to join as requesting or partner countries. The list of proposals, some of them scheduled for the years 2016-2017 pending adoption of the revised Terms of Reference of CAHROM by the Committee of Ministers, has been updated [document CAHROM(2015)3rev4[5]].

 

16. The Committee confirmed the organisation of four CAHROM thematic visits by the end of 2015: a) to Slovenia in June on Roma youth empowerment and the youth dimension of national Roma strategies with Belgium, Croatia, Serbia and the Slovak Republic as partner countries; b) to France in early October on the schooling of Roma migrant and Traveller children with Belgium, Romania, Switzerland and possibly Denmark as partner countries; c) to Bulgaria this autumn on Roma health mediators with Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” and Turkey as partner countries; and d) to Poland later this year on vocational training/education with Bosnia and Herzegovina, Finland, “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” and Turkey as partner countries.

 

Recent developments at international level

 

17. The Committee heard feedback from the Special Representative of the Secretary General for Roma issues about the coordination meeting with international partners that had taken place the previous day, as well as presentations from the European Commission (DG Justice and DG Employment) on recent developments. The Committee took note of written information submitted by FRA, IOM, ERTF and Amnesty International for an update of their activities, as well as written information provided by Armenia and Cyprus on the situation of Roma in their respective countries. The Committee also took note of the message delivered by the Holy See[6]. The Committee agreed to include an exchange with the European Commission DG NEAR on the agenda of its next plenary meeting.

 

Council of Europe’s strategic priorities on Roma inclusion

 

18. The Committee held an exchange of views with the Secretary General on his proposals for updating the Council of Europe agenda on Roma inclusion (2015-2019)”[7] and expressed satisfaction to have been given the possibility to share their comments on the proposed priorities and new initiatives in the Secretary General’s presence. Among numerous other interventions, the Committee rapporteurs on gender equality, Roma youth, Roma children and anti-Gypsysim and hate crime provided comments on the document from their respective mandates and made some proposals for concrete amendments to the SG/Inf(2015)16rev document, should it be revised in the future. The Gender Equality Rapporteur (Finland) noted with satisfaction the priority given by the Secretary General to Roma women’s issues and highlighted the need to promote Roma women’s empowerment in member States, as well as in the Council of Europe itself. The Rapporteur on Anti-Gypsyism and Hate crime (United Kingdom) and the Congress Rapporteur on Roma and Travellers (United Kingdom) both highlighted the importance to involve local authorities and welcomed the fact that this has been referred to in the third priority. Whilst welcoming the inclusion of Roma children among the most vulnerable groups in the SG/INF(2015)16rev document, the Roma Children Rapporteur (Czech Republic) also proposed an amendment to the 2nd line of action so as to more precisely reflects priorities defined for the next Council of Europe Strategy for the Rights of the Child as discussed at the 2nd DECS-ENF meeting that he attended on behalf of CAHROM on 13 May 2015.[8] The Roma Youth Rapporteur (Croatia) indicated that regretfully, the Strasbourg Declaration did not mention “Roma youth” as a target group which had been criticised by European Roma youth organisations/networks; the Roma Youth Action Plan (RYAP) cannot therefore be considered as a direct result of the Strasbourg Declaration. However, the Roma Youth Rapporteur saw the Secretary General’s updated agenda as a key opportunity to give more visibility and show clear commitment to Roma youth and suggested to rephrase the SG/INF(2015)16rev document to make it clear that Roma youth would be a clear target group and include a specific line of action to be implemented by both the Youth Sector and the SRSG Roma Team, building upon the RYAP and the conclusions of the CAHROM thematic visit on Roma youth empowerment in Slovenia. He added that, in order for the Roma Youth Action Plan to be sustainable, there was a need for an explicit commitment towards including resources and support for the RYAP as part of this updated Roma agenda. In addition, the Roma Youth Rapporteur indicated the importance of having a clear, visible and explicit youth dimension in the ROMED and ROMACT programmes. Based on the positive experience of the Dosta! campaign’s implementation in Croatia, the Roma Youth Rapporteur also suggested to rephrase the last sentence of paragraph 13 of the Appendix of the SG/INF(2015)16rev “Third Progress Report on the Follow-Up to the Strasbourg Declaration on Roma”.[9]

 

19. On the basis of the 21 written replies received prior to the meeting and the oral discussion, the Committee adopted its Opinion on the Secretary General’s document “Updating the Council of Europe agenda on Roma inclusion (2015-2019)” which appears in Appendix 2.

 

20. In addition, the Committee wishes to draw the attention of the Committee of Ministers to the fact that the CAHROM opinion contains an additional proposal, i.e. to reintroduce the term “Roma and Travellers” in the title of CAHROM and in relevant Roma-related documents of the Council of Europe. These terms should be accompanied by the proposed revised explanatory foonote (see Appendix 2).

 

Proposal to set up a “European Roma Institute” (ERI)

 

21. The Committee held an intensive discussion on the proposal to establish a “European Roma Institute” (ERI). This debate showed the different views held by CAHROM members and produced a wealth of detailed observations.

 

22. The CAHROM expressed the wish to have more time to provide comments on the ERI proposal and decided to supply to the Committee of Ministers the requested comments on this particular initiative by the beginning of July 2015[10]. The Committee adopted the following schedule:

 

 

Human trafficking

 

23. The Committee heard the presentation of Mr Olivier Peyroux, French author of a book “Fantasies and Realities Fueling Child Trafficking in Europe”, who explained the complex sociological mechanisms driving contemporary trafficking modi operandi in Europe. deconstructing some of the clichés of poverty, immigration or ethnic stereotyping that continue to fuel this criminal phenomenon. He highlighted shortcomings in the institutional and political approach towards this phenomenon, which is very often concentrated in specific localities and families in countries of origin, transit and destination, as well as in the child protection arsenal.

 

24. The Committee heard from Albania and the Secretariat the conclusions of the CAHROM thematic visit to Albania on addressing and combatting human trafficking within Roma communities (with focus on prostitution and street children) held in Tirana on 4-6 March 2015, as well as comments from Greece and Italy, two of the four partner countries.

 

25. The Committee agreed to keep this item on its agenda, in particular for the next meeting since Romania was one of the partner countries of the thematic visit.

 

Early marriages

 

26. The Committee took note of an expert report on early and forced marriages within Romanian Roma communities. It also heard from Romania a presentation on the preliminary conclusions of the CAHROM thematic visit to Romania on ensuring gender equality within Roma communities (with a focus on early and/or forced marriages) held in Bucharest on 27-29 April 2015, as well as comments from the partner countries, i.e. Italy, the Republic of Moldova, the Netherlands, Poland and the United Kingdom. The Committee rapporteur on gender equality (Finland) invited member States to take this issue into consideration when reviewing their national Roma inclusion strategy. The representative of DG NEAR proposed that social services both in EU and EU accession countries look into this matter since the early marriage phenomenon has an impact on the health of mothers and children, on educational matters, on employment issues and on registration processes. Montenegro and Spain underlined the importance of addressing this issue which has too long been taboo. Italy highlighted the importance of involving men in the discussion. Armenia noted the importance of early formal and informal education to raise awareness about the risks of early marriage and avoid early school drop outs.

 

27. The Committee decided to postpone the endorsement of this thematic report to its next meeting which will be hosted by Romania so as to benefit from the presence of a number of interlocutors, including high state officials and leaders and members from traditional Roma communities, who contributed to the discussions during the thematic visit.

 

Roma youth

 

28. The Committee received information from the Chair about the agenda of the upcoming thematic visit on Roma youth empowerment and the inclusion of a youth dimension in national Roma inclusion strategies to be held in Ljubljana on 4-6 June 2015 and took note of the proposals for discussion proposed by the CAHROM Rapporteur on Roma youth (Croatia).

 

29. The Committee heard presentations from the Youth Department and the representative of the Advisory Council on Youth on recent developments concerning the Roma Youth Action Plan and its forthcoming assessment, and took note of the new manual on combatting anti-Gypsyism through human rights education “MIRRORS”. Both speakers thanked the Committee for its comments on the new Council of Europe strategic document on Roma inclusion asking that Roma youth should be a clear target group of the new strategy. They also expressed satisfaction that the CAHROM has engaged itself in addressing Roma youth challenges through the forthcoming thematic visit in which the Youth Department and ACY will take an active part, alongside representatives of international Roma youth networks (FERYP and TernYpe). The Committee took note that Spain organised a seminar in November 2014 to explore in which ways Roma young people could benefit from the Youth Guarantee schemes and that young Roma could benefit from employment training activities within the national operational plan of the ACCEDER programme and other regional European Structural Funds operational programmes. The Committee also took note of a recent Conference organised by the OSCE-ODIHR which conclusions could be taken on board for the forthcoming thematic visit.

 

Roma women

 

30. The Committee heard two presentations related to the gender dimension of national Roma inclusion strategies, one prepared by the I-CARE Unit of the Support Team of the SRSG for Roma based on the conclusions of a workshop held in Kyiv, Ukraine, on 24-25 November 2014 and another one, prepared by the ERTF. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Lithuania and Serbia welcomed the Kyiv workshop as it would help them to introduce gender dimension aspects when revising their national Roma inclusion strategies or action plans.

 

31. The Committee took note of a proposed project that will be submitted for voluntary contributions on enhancing Romani women’s access to justice, as well as of some of the agenda items proposed for the 5th International Roma Women’s Review Conference to be held in Skopje on 6-7 October 2015. The Vice-Chair (“the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”) and the Committee Rapporteur on gender equality (Finland) informed the Committee on how the Skopje Conference will build on the conclusions of the 4th International Romani Women’s Conference held in Helsinki in September 2013, the Strategy on the Advancement of Romani Woman and Girls 2014-2020 developed by the Roma Women Informal Platform Phenjalipe’s and the conclusions of the CAHROM thematic Report on Roma Women’s empowerment and gender dimension of national Roma inclusion strategies. Regarding the latter reference, the Committee expressed satisfaction that Lithuania, requesting country of the thematic visit on Roma women’s empowerment, has introduced a separate chapter for Roma women and specific measures, such as a survey on Roma women in prison, and measures addressing Roma women’s empowerment and early marriage in its new Roma Integration Action Plan for 2015-2020.

 

32. Recalling that the rights and multiple discrimination faced by Roma LGBTI have been raised in the context of Roma women and youth activities, the Committee agreed that the Rapporteur on anti-Gypsyism and hate crime (United Kingdom) will also cover the rights of LGBTI groups within Roma communities.

 

Contracts between Roma families and local authorities

 

33. The Committee agreed to postpone the presentation from The Netherlands on the type of non-formal and non-compulsory contracts offered by local authorities to “complex” or “multi-problem” families with Roma background and to include this item on the agenda of its next meeting. The Committee proposed that such a topic could also be debated in the context of the European Alliance of Cities and Regions for Roma Inclusion.

 

Role of the media in the combating stereotypes and promoting Roma role models

 

34. The Committee took note of the introductory presentation by Austria on legal media framework, concrete projects and measures and possible ways forward. It also received information about existing relevant Council of Europe standards and recommendations and training possibilities for journalists. The representative of the Media and Information Society Division referred to the adoption of the Committee of Ministers’ Recommendation CM/Rec(2013)1 on Gender Equality and the Media and the publication of a toolkit on this topic done together with the Gender Equality Division, which refer to ethics, cyber-crime, hate speech on Internet, the freedom of expression and its limitation, e.g. as regards recognition of genocides, etc. She also highlighted ECRI’s General Policy Recommendation no.13 on combating anti-Gypsyism and discrimination against Roma. In the discussion that followed, Ukraine was interested to hear more about possible sanctions against journalists for anti-Roma statements; the Netherlands asked about the limits of the freedom of expression, whilst indicating that some vulnerable communities who suffered discrimination in the media managed to bring cases to court. The Czech Republic reported on a working group on how to report on Roma, set up with broadcasting media. The Committee also heard a presentation on the Polish experience of working with the media on Roma issues, which shows the importance of giving a voice to Roma who are involved in resolving problems and not just complaining, as it changes the image of Roma in the general public opinion. The Slovak Republic highlighted inter alia the need to provide support to journalists to provide them with relevant and accurate information, pictures, etc. Latvia presented the conclusions of a recent workshop with Latvian media and Roma representatives which addressed the issue of editorial decisions concerning titles of articles and pictures and discussed the results of a two-year monitoring of the portrayal of Roma in Latvian media by the Latvian Centre for Human Rights. The Committee noted that criminal and folkloric portrayal of Roma seem to be the most frequent media stereotypes, not only in Latvia. Italy said it had developed materials and activities to address anti-Gypsyism in the media and underlined that the future challenge is the control of hate speech in social media and networks. Spain explained how much damage to the image of Roma some TV or radio programmes can do and referred to some projects to fight anti-Gypsyism in the media. Having noted the great interest in this discussion, the Committee agreed to include such an item in the agenda of one of its future meetings.

 

Anti-Gypsyism, non-discrimination and the DOSTA! campaign

 

35. The Committee was informed about the launching meeting of the COE-FRA-ENNHRI-EQUINET Operational Platform on Roma Equality (“OPRE Platform”) in Strasbourg on 30 January 2015, and about the recent development of a collaborative website of the OPRE platform which is open to the public.[11]

 

36. The Committee received information about recent anti-discrimination training activities and material conducted by the SRSG Roma Support Team in the framework of the Dosta! campaign in close co-operation with the HELP programme, as well as other relevant CoE departments and international partners (OSCE-ODIHR, Amnesty International, ERRC, etc.). The Committee was informed about a lawyers’ training on housing rights held in Albania and another training for the police held in Italy at the end of 2014, as well as a non-discrimination training for lawyers in Bosnia and Herzegovina and another in the Republic of Moldova (with HELP) in June and a brainstorming international seminar with police officers involved in non-discrimination training or awareness-raising activities that will be hosted by the Italian Ministry of Interior/OSCAD in Rome on 11-12 September 2015. The Slovak Republic confirmed the interest of the Slovak Ministry of Interior in participating in an anti-discrimination training for the police.

 

37. Mr Javier Sáez (Fundación Secretariado Gitano-FSG) presented to the Committee the four guides on preventing discrimination of Roma produced for lawyers, media professionals, police services and NGOs by the Net-Kard EU-funded project. He indicated that these guides are available online in five languages (Spanish, English, Italian, Romanian and Portuguese). The guide for lawyers is also available in Hungarian.[12]

 

38. The Committee heard from Latvia a summary of Dosta! activities carried since the launch of the campaign in April 2015. A follow-up training of journalists on non-discrimination is envisaged for this autumn and could make use of the training material developed by the FSG, the FRA and the CoE. A budget has been allocated for the Dosta! campaign for three years.

 

39. The Secretariat of the European Alliance of Cities and Regions for Roma Inclusion informed the Committee that 128 cities and regions from 29 member States had now joined the Alliance. The Congress Rapporteur on Roma and Travellers also informed the Committee about the next edition of the Dosta! Congress Prize that will be awarded to three municipalities during  the October 2015 session of the Congress and encouraged CAHROM members and observers to distribute information to potential applicants. A CAHROM Bureau member or rapporteur will participate in the jury.

 

Arrangement and proposals for the agenda of the next plenary meeting

 

40. The Committee thanked the Romanian authorities for their invitation to host the 10th CAHROM meeting in Bucharest on 27-30 October 2015 (4 days). The Committee also thanked the Bulgarian authorities for proposing to host the 11th CAHROM meeting, in Sofia or another city, on 26-29 April 2016 (3.5 days), pending the approval of the revised CAHROM Terms of Reference by the Committee of Ministers.

 

41. The Committee agreed to include on the agenda of its next meeting the following items:

 


APPENDIX 1

 

Agenda of the 9th CAHROM meeting

 

 

  1.                 Opening of the 9th CAHROM meeting and adoption of the Agenda

 

  1. Roma children’s education (including the conclusions of the thematic report on inclusive pre-school education for Roma children)

 

  1. Housing (including follow-up to the thematic reports addressing the legalisation of Roma informal settlement, social housing and re-housing solutions as alternatives to forced evictions)

 

  1. Romani language, culture and history (including follow-up to the thematic report on the protection and promotion of languages spoken by Roma)

 

  1. Use of indicators to improve the implementation of national Roma integration strategies /policies/action plans

 

  1.                 Proposals for future thematic groups

 

  1.                 A. Recent developments at national and international level

B. Exchange of views with the Secretary General on Council of Europe strategic priorities on Roma inclusion (2015-2019)

 

  1. Draft Opinion on Roma Strategic Priorities of the CoE, inccluding the proposal to set up a “European Roma Institute”

 

  1. A. Human trafficking (including the conclusions of the thematic report on addressing and combating human trafficking within Roma communities - with a focus on prostitution and street children)

B. Early marriages (including the preliminary conclusions of the thematic report on promoting gender equality within Roma communities – with a focus on early and/or forced marriages)

 

  1. A. Roma women (including follow-up to the thematic report on Roma women’s empowerment and gender dimension of national Roma inclusion strategies)

B. Roma youth (including preparation of the thematic visit on Roma youth empowerment and youth dimension of national Roma inclusion strategies)

 

  1.             Debate on the use of contracts between Roma families and local authorities

 

  1. Debate on the role on the media in combating stereotypes and promoting Roma role models

 

  1.             Anti-Gypsyism, non-discrimination and the DOSTA! campaign

 

  1.             Arrangements and proposal for the agenda of the next plenary meetings

 

  1.             Adoption of the abridged report/list of decisions

 


APPENDIX 2

 

 

CAHROM Opinion on the Secretary General’s document

“Updating the Council of Europe agenda on Roma inclusion (2015-2019)”

 

 

as adopted by the Committee at its 9th CAHROM meeting, Strasbourg, 27-29 May 2015

 

 

1.The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, by decision taken at their 1226th meeting on 28-29 April 2015, invited the Ad Hoc Committee of Experts on Roma Issues (CAHROM) to formulate an opinion on the Secretary General’s document “Updating the Council of Europe agenda on Roma inclusion (2015-2019)” [i].

 

2.The CAHROM acknowledges and welcomes this opportunity to express itself on the medium- and long-term strategic priorities of the Council of Europe in the field of Roma inclusion. CAHROM members are unanimous in their opinion that more efforts need to be made to ensure that Roma can fully participate in society and enjoy their rights without any discrimination. The contributions of the Council of Europe and the other international institutions, as well as the strong political will of the member States, are essential for these efforts to succeed.

 

3.Following a broad written consultation prior to the meeting, and an intensive debate at the 9th meeting on 27-29 May 2015, which produced a wealth of proposals which merit further reflection, CAHROM members agreed to communicate to the Committee of Ministers the following opinion.

 

The “Strasbourg Declaration” and the strategy of the Council of Europe

 

4.The CAHROM agrees that the “Strasbourg Declaration” of 2010 is still a valid starting point and guidance for the strategic debate of the Council of Europe, notwithstanding the different political priorities selected at national level.

 

5.CAHROM wishes to underline that all policies aimed at Roma inclusion are embedded in the wider context of anti-poverty, anti-discrimination and social inclusion strategies. Roma are not the only vulnerable group and their inclusion should be part of the general process of area-based economic, social and cultural development. A human rights and integrated approach should address policies of social inclusion of Roma in order to avoid the unintended segregation of Roma from other sectors of society.

 

6.During the meeting, it was recalled that, as stated in the “Strasbourg Declaration”, while the primary responsibility for promoting inclusion lies with the member States of which Roma are nationals or long-term legal residents, recent developments concerning Roma in Europe have demonstrated that some of the challenges that member States face have cross border implications and therefore require a pan-European response.

 

7.CAHROM members from EU member States point out that the National Roma Integration Strategies under the EU Framework are significant references for their countries, and that the Council of Europe strategy should take this into account. CAHROM generally encourages a stronger integration between national budgets for Roma inclusion and international funding possibilities, including those offered by the EU (notably the ESF, the ERDF and pre-accession assistance instruments) and the Council of Europe Development Bank.

 

8.CAHROM underlines the necessity to detail the expected outcomes and closely assess the implementation of the strategic proposals and to review the Council of Europe strategy at regular intervals. CAHROM stands ready to contribute to this evaluation process.

 

Priority 1: Tackling anti-Roma prejudice, discrimination and crimes

 

9.The CAHROM agrees with the analysis and strategic orientations under this priority.

 

10.CAHROM is of the opinion that more needs to be done to tackle hate speech and anti-Gypsyism, particularly on social networks and media. CAHROM members are of the opinion that the Council of Europe has an important role to play to develop and strengthen the implementation of legal instruments and international co-operation against anti-Gypsyism, without curtailing freedom of expression, and to support the awareness-raising activities at national and local level.

 

11.Care must be taken to exclude any unwelcome interference or duplication with the work of existing national human rights and equality bodies, and other anti-discrimination institutions. Anti-discrimination legislation and procedures, including reporting procedures, differ from one member State to the next. Some CAHROM members have expressed their confidence that the existing institutions at national level are sufficient to successfully address and prosecute the discrimination of Roma.

 

12.During its 9th meeting CAHROM had an exchange of views with the Secretary General of the Council of Europe and held an intensive discussion on the proposal to establish a “European Roma Institute” (ERI). This debate showed the different views held by CAHROM members and produced a wealth of detailed observations. CAHROM will provide the Committee of Ministers with the requested comments on this particular initiative by the beginning of July 2015[ii].

 

Priority 2: Demonstrate innovative models for inclusive policies for the most vulnerable

 

13.CAHROM is fully supportive of the strategic orientation towards the most vulnerable of Roma, particularly Roma children, young people and women. CAHROM encourages the Committee of Ministers to endorse the proposed measures, once the operational details are provided during the programme planning phase.

 

Priority 3: Demonstrate innovative models for local-level solutions

 

14. CAHROM has been consistently supportive of the ROMED and ROMACT programmes, which have shown a rich potential of inspiring innovative solutions at local level in the member States. CAHROM expects that the current evaluation of ROMED will confirm the added value of this programme. The co-operation with governments should be strengthened both at the preparatory and implementing phase in order to harmonise them with other existing initiatives at national or local level.

 

15.CAHROM supports the continuation of ROMED and ROMACT, and their extension in order to involve more member States. The development of both programmes will benefit from the clearer formulation of measurable objectives.

 

Accompanying measures

 

16.CAHROM is of the opinion that the “accompanying measures” listed in the Secretary General’s document are pertinent, feasible and helpful.

 

17.In the view of many CAHROM members, it is of prime importance to develop an increased and institutionalised co-operation with other international institutions, particularly the European Union and the OSCE. Not only will this avoid unnecessary duplication of efforts, it will also increase the quality and impact of the Roma-related action of all stakeholders concerned. CAHROM itself benefits regularly from the input of a wide range of international governmental and non-governmental partners, which is an indispensable precondition for successful European action. CAHROM welcomes the recent efforts of the Secretariat to advance co-operation and consultation with international institutions promoting Roma inclusion. 

 

Terminological questions

 

18.CAHROM avails itself of this opportunity to propose changing the terminology used by the Council of Europe with regard to Roma. Having in mind that in the field of Roma inclusion the Council of Europe consistently addresses both the situation of sedentary and (semi-) nomadic populations, CAHROM requests the Committee of Ministers, when adopting the terms of reference for the years 2016-2017, to change the name of the Committee into “Ad hoc Committee of Experts on Roma and Traveller Issues (CAHROM)”[iii]. With this amendment the Council of Europe would return to the practice before the adoption of the “Strasbourg Declaration”, and respond favourably to a number of requests from Traveller organisations.

 

19.In addition, the explanatory footnote customarily used to accompany the term “Roma” in Council of Europe documents, should be modified and enlarged to reflect the proposed change and to avoid the misunderstanding that the footnote contains a definition of “Roma” or “Roma and Travellers”; it rather describes the scope of communities covered by the work of the Council of Europe[iv].

 

 

 

 

 

 

[1] This thematic report, once endorsed by the Committee, will be published on the CAHROM public website : http://www.coe.int/en/web/portal/cahrom

[2] http://bpri-odihr.org/.

[3] http://goodpracticeroma.ppa.coe.int/en.

[4] http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/education/minlang/.

[5] The document is available on the CAHROM public website: http://www.coe.int/en/web/portal/cahrom.

[6] See document CAHROM (2015)10 Written information submitted by CAHROM members and observers.

[7] SG/Inf(2015)16rev

[8] Czech Republic proposed to rephrase, under priority no.2, the second initiative Making children’s rights accessible to Romani families as follows: “A new initiative on children’s rights, empowering Roma parents and their children shall be developed, aimed at strengthening the awareness and the access to children’s rights, fighting the abuse of Roma children within and outside their own community, with a particular focus on child marriage and school segregation, and building capacity of professionals to develop child-friendly and discrimination-free public services in particular in the field of education, social, health and justice, making use of mediators.”

[9] Croatia proposed to delete the last sentence of paragraph 13 of the Appendix of SG/INF(2015)16rev “Unfortunately, the impact of this campaign is often remained limited.” and to replace it by the following sentence: “A number of member States have fully invested in this campaign and have developed a wide range of activities which allowed them to fight more effectively against prejudice and bring non-Roma closer to Roma. The campaign must, however, not be limited to a few one-off events as this was unfortunately the case in some countries”.

[10] Following the decision of the Committee of Ministers taken at their 1225th meeting on 15 April 2015.

[11] http://a.cs.coe.int/team81/opre_platform.

[12] http://www.gitanos.org/que-hacemos/areas/igualdad_de_trato_y_no_discriminacion/netkard.html.

[i] SG/Inf(2015)16rev.

[ii] Following the decision of the Committee of Ministers taken at their 1225th meeting on 15 April 2015.

[iii] The French equivalent would be “Comité ad hoc d’experts sur les questions relatives aux Roms et aux Gens du voyage (CAHROM)”;  the equivalent in Romani “Ad Hoc Ekspertongo Komiteto pe Romane thaj Phirutnenge Butja (CAHROM)”.

[iv] The English version of the footnote should then read:

The terms “Roma and Travellers” are being used at the Council of Europe to encompass the wide diversity of the groups covered by the work of the Council of Europe in this field: on the one hand a) Roma, Sinti/Manush, Calé, Kaale, Romanichals, Boyash/Rudari; b) Balkan Egyptians (Egyptians and Ashkali); c) Eastern groups (Dom, Lom and Abdal); and, on the other hand, groups such as Travellers, Yenish, and the populations designated under the administrative term “Gens du voyage”, as well as persons who identify themselves as Gypsies.