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European Network on Social Inclusion and Roma under the Structural Funds
Structural Funds: Investing in Roma
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European Network on Social Inclusion and Roma under the Structural Funds
Structural Funds: Investing in Roma
27th May 2009
On May 27th, ERIO organized the conference “Roma Migration: A European Challenge”, held on the premises of the European Social and Economic Committee.The conference brought representatives from various organizations and institutions such as the European Commission, Roma NGOs and human rights activists together. Mario Sepi, EESC President, opened the session. He stressed the fact that there are continuous violations of the rights of the Roma as European citizens: “Inside Europe there are no more frontiers. But for the Roma there are legal frontiers, in health, policy, education. The free circulation of people in Europe is also in question in the case of Roma.” He finally pledged for a more systematic dialogue among Roma communities and civil society organisations.
The conference aimed at addressing the complexity of migration patterns among Roma migrants: there are those who are EU citizens, those who are Third Country Nationals and those who are asylum seekers and refugees. This requires different intervention approaches from national governments and European institutions, in order to guarantee their social inclusion and equal treatment. In the opening remarks, it was stressed that Roma permanents and Roma migrants are discriminated in the same way and this proves that first and foremost discrimination is by ethnicity and not by migration. Racism is the key problem and therefore intercultural dialogue must be promoted and non-discriminatory regulations implemented.
Housing, education, health and employment are the best ways to get the Roma into mainstream society. ERIO called upon DG Justice and Home Affairs to address the migration not from a security perspective but from a human rights perspective.
New from the ERIO's website.
