Access to Financial Services Critical for Roma Inclusion in Slovakia

Access to Financial Services for the Roma Critical for Roma Inclusion in the Slovak Republic

Bratislava, May 24, 2012–Improved financial literacy and access to financial services of the Roma population and the impact of microfinance on poverty reduction through self-employment are at the heart of discussions this week in Bratislava at a joint workshop co-hosted by the Kiútprogram microfinance facility of Hungary, the Open Society Foundation–Bratislava (with the support of the Open Society Roma Initiatives), the World Bank, and the Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs and Family of the Slovak Republic.

The workshop focuses on the lessons of Kiútprogram, findings and recommendations from the World Bank’s work on financial inclusion of the Roma in Slovakia, and more broadly in Eastern Europe. It explores the opportunities of linking ongoing microfinance and financial education programs with mainstream financial institutions, and the potential of well-designed government payment programs to enhance access to financial services.

In his opening address, Miroslav Pollak, Plenipotentiary for Roma Communities of the Slovak Republic, emphasized that making basic financial services such as savings, payments, and credit accessible for the Roma is a priority area of Slovakia’s National Roma Integration Strategy. “In order to address the financial access gap of the Roma population, the Office of the Plenipotentiary will be submitting a Financial Inclusion Action Plan for the government’s consideration in the course of the following weeks,” said Pollak. “Financial inclusion is a preventive measure against poverty.”

Elaborating on the experience of Kiútprogram in Hungary, Peter Felcsuti, board member of Kiútprogram and the Polgár Foundation, and the former chairman of the Hungarian Banking Association, said that microfinance means much more than a mere credit facility. “It has a job creation potential and a suitable policy framework that supports it can go a long way to sustain startup micro enterprises, and with that to keep the momentum of those community members who consider microcredit as the last and only chance to break out from the social and economic inertia,” he said.

http://www.romadecade.org/banking_for_progress_may_2012

Ireland’s National Roma Integration Strategy fails to address fact that Roma are not permitted to work in Ireland

The European Commission published an EU Framework for national Roma Integration Strategies in 2011. The Framework requires Member States to ensure that Roma are not discriminated against but treated like any other EU citizens with equal access to all fundamental rights as enshrined in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. Under the Framework, all Member States were expected to present to the European Commission a strategy for Roma inclusion or sets of policy measures within their social inclusion policies for improving the situation of Roma people. Ireland has duly submitted its policy, which was prepared by the Traveller Policy Division of the Department of Justice and Equality.

Before 2011, Nasc assisted a handful of Roma service-users each year. In mid 2011, we were invited to participate in a Roma Research Project spearheaded by the Cork City Partnership. The need for Nasc to provide a specific information and advocacy service for Roma people directly emerged because of the specific and multiple needs of this vulnerable group, and we commenced working with Roma people in 2011. Our work in this area resulted, for the first time to our knowledge in the city, in Roma people accessing information and assistance, and succeeding, in some exceptional cases, in accessing employment and social protection in the state.

All of the Roma people we have worked with are nationals of Romania. Although they have a right to reside here, Romanian (and Bulgarian) citizens do not have an automatic right to work in Ireland. As a result, the principle issues that we dealt with were accessing the labour market (mostly through work permits) and social protection. Clearly, these are major barriers to integration and social inclusion for Roma people in Ireland.

On foot of our experiences, we have analysed Ireland’s first Roma Integration Strategy in the context of European policy on the Roma. Unfortunately, we feel that Ireland’s Strategy does not reflect the seriousness of the issues that affect Roma people who live in Ireland. Our work with Roma people in Cork leads us to believe that there is a great need for initiatives to be taken here to give Roma people the opportunity to integrate in Ireland. We have communicated our concerns to the Irish government and to the Commission, and we hope that these will be of interest to policy makers, as Ireland’s response to the Framework Directive progresses and, hopefully, deepens.

http://www.nascireland.org/latest-news/irelands-national-roma-integration-strategy-fails-to-address-fact-that-roma-are-not-permitted-to-work-in-ireland/

Press Conference on the Commission’s Communication on “National Roma Integration Strategies: a first step in the implementation of the EU Framework”

Speach of Mrs. Viviane Reding, Vice-President of the European Commission

I am glad to be here today with my colleagues László Andor and Lívia Járóka – just one year after we adopted the EU Framework for National Roma Integration Strategies. We – the European Commission and the European Parliament – have succeeded in putting Roma integration high, not only on the EU’s political agenda – but also on Member States’ national agendas.
And today we are seeing the first results of our work: all Member States – except for Malta, which has no Roma population – have lived up to their word and submitted national Roma integration strategies to the European Commission.

The EU Framework for national Roma strategies set out four key areas which Member States were asked to address: access to education, jobs, healthcare and housing. In June last year, for the first time, the heads of state and government of all 27 EU Member States committed to addressing these four policy areas. One year on they have now delivered national strategies to do just that. This shows the strong political will to tackle the challenges of Roma integration.
The European Commission has looked at all the strategies and the first thing I have to say is: they vary significantly.

First, they vary in terms of length and the level of detail given.
Second, they vary in terms of ambition. Some set ambitious targets with a clear timetable, while others are rather limited in scope.

Third, they vary in relation to the type and size of the Roma population on the territory concerned and the specific challenges Member States need to address.
And finally, the national strategies vary in terms of the policy areas covered. This is what concerns me the most.

Because even if all EU Member States have acknowledged that education and employment are priority areas, and all have also mentioned some measures to fight discrimination, not all Member States have addressed the important issues of access to decent housing and healthcare.
This is deeply regrettable because clearly these are areas where national action is needed. The figures speak for themselves: life expectancy for Roma is 10 years less than the EU average of 76 for men and 82 for women.
What’s more, a startling report released today by the Fundamental Rights Agency shows that about 45 % of the Roma surveyed live in households lacking an indoor kitchen, toilet, shower or bath, or electricity. The report also shows that one in three Roma is unemployed, 20 % are not covered by health insurance, and 90 % are living below the poverty line.
The information is sobering – and should serve as a wake-up call to Member States. The Commission’s message today is this: Member States need to extend health and basic social security coverage to Roma people. They also need to improve living conditions especially in segregated settlements.

There are some good examples from which other Member States could learn a thing or two: Austria, for example, is promoting access to the labour market for young Roma through a project which includes community work, coaching and training. Ireland has made a wide range of Travellers-dedicated health services available, such as the Traveller Health Units including public nurses for Travellers. And Welsh authorities have put in place specific measures to improve accommodation and access to services for Roma and Travellers – funding for refurbishment and the creation of new sites was increased from 75% to 100%.

These are some good examples. And it is good to see that Member States have made an effort to address the issues outlined in the EU Framework. But this is only a first step. For the strategies to exist not just on paper and to produce tangible benefits for the 10-12 million Roma living in Europe we now need concrete measures, explicit targets, earmarked funding and sound monitoring and evaluation. As we know, the devil is in the detail. And it is precisely this level of detail that is lacking in most of the strategies.

We have funds at European level that can be used to finance projects that benefit Roma. However, today’s assessment shows that only 12 countries have clearly identified allocated funding and presented specific amounts for Roma inclusion policy measures in their strategy papers (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia and Sweden). My colleague Lázló will tell you more about this in a second.

Investing in Roma might not be politically opportune but it makes economic sense. In these times of crisis, a better economic and social integration of all EU citizens is imperative because, otherwise, potential talent is going to waste. Roma represent a growing share of the working age population. For example, they make up one in five new labour market entrants in Bulgaria and Romania. Research by the World Bank suggests full Roma integration could be worth around half a billion a year to the economies of some countries by improving productivity, cutting welfare bills and boosting tax receipts.

Roma integration must not be seen as a cost, but as a benefit to society. Member States should now work on further specifying and delivering the actions foreseen in their strategies.
What we are presenting today is only one milestone on the road to Roma integration in the EU. Member States have just started their work. They now need to implement their strategies, strengthen them and put in place a long-lasting framework. The European Commission and the European Parliament will follow this closely and report publicly about progress made – or the lack thereof.

We are all aware of the enormous challenges faced by Roma communities. It is time to translate ambitions into action.

Viviane Reding- Vice president of the EC

 

Download the evaluation report

Croatian FM, ombud slam anti-Roma incident

Croatian Foreign Minister Vesna Pusic and the EU-bound country’s ombudsman on Friday slammed a recent protest against Roma families as shameful and discriminatory.

“We cannot present ourselves as a country that promotes anti-discrimination and human rights … without condemning (such) shameful and unacceptable situations or incidents (like the one) that occurred with two Roma families in Skabrnje,” Pusic told parliament.

Earlier this week some 100 people protested in Skabrnje, a village near the coastal town of Zadar, against the arrival of two Roma families. The families wanted to settle in the village after they bought some 5,000 square metres (53,820 square feet) of land there.

The protesters told local media they worried the Roma would “steal and collect garbage”.

“As long as one can remember there were no Serbs or Romas in Skabrnje and it will remain that way in future,” one of the protestors was quoted as saying.

“There is no room for such statements in 21st century Croatia,” ombudsman Jurica Malcic said in a statement on Friday.

He slammed both the protest and the offer of Skabrnje’s mayor to “buy off the Romas’ land only that they could leave” as discriminatory.

Some 17 members of the two Roma families, who were under police protection, left the village late Thursday saying they feared for their lives, national television reported.

According to official figures Croatia, which has a population of 4.2 million, is home to some 9 500 Romas. However, their real number is estimated to be as many as 40 000.

Croatia is set to join the European Union in 2013. The respect of minority rights was among key criteria for its bid to join the 27-nation bloc. – Sapa-AFP

http://www.iol.co.za/news/world/croatian-fm-ombud-slam-anti-roma-incident-1.1289670

Roma artists changing stereotypes

Generation Y goes behind the scenes with a group of young Roma artists from Slovakia at a concert in Brussels, the first time they had played outside their own country. It was organised by The Yehudi Menuhin Foundation with the support of the European Commission.

Marianne Poncelet, the Vice President of the International Yehudi Menuhin Foundation, explained the choice of venue: “The fact that we came to the Roma ghetto of Moldava Nad Bodvou with the ‘artist ambassadors’ of the Yehudi Menuhin Foundation, along with Ida Kelarova and her Roma musicians, was very powerful for the children because they had the opportunity to discover cultures around the world. At one point they learned Brazilian samba, something they never would have done if we had not introduced them to it.”

She continued: “We try to support collective creation through the arts, something that can change reality and give hope. If we work on ourselves and find strength in ourselves, find the resilience to get out of a difficult situation – I think that is possible through arts.”

Singer Ida Kelarova promotes integration through music and has created her own association in the Czech Republic. It teaches children music as a way of escaping poverty.

Marianne Poncelet told us that is essential: “There is work being done with the Roma communities to change the stereotypes that are very negative and should end. But, apart from giving money to local associations working with Roma people, governments from all the EU Member States should include in the curriculum for children in primary school classes on Roma culture. That would change everything. People would no longer be afraid of Roma people – they would appreciate them, and love them as I do. And I have known them for 20 years.”

In July, the children from Moldava Nad Bodvou will take part in workshops on video, and on Brazilian Capoeira with artists from different countries.

http://www.euronews.com/2012/05/03/roma-artists-changing-stereotypes/

The Roma of Central Europe “feel fear”

A Roma woman in a village northeast of Budapest where the Roma quarter was occupied by an extreme right-wing militia in the spring of 2011.

Can Roma (“gypsies”) from “liberal, democratic, EU countries” really be refugees, fleeing persecution? If I were a Roma person living in Central Europe I know I would not feel safe.

Last year, while we were filming the documentary Never Come Back, Malcolm Hamilton and I visited Roma enclaves in the Czech Republic and Hungary. A first glance, it seemed to us that those communities were not that different from poor and underserviced First Nations communities in Canada.

But make no mistake about it: The challenge the Central European Roma face is not merely one of poverty, fuelled by well-documented discrimination in housing to employment and education.

The far bigger challenge is the constant threat of intimidation and violence from a growing crew of aggressive neo-Nazi and skinheads.

The openly neo-Nazi JOBBIK (“Movement for a Better Hungary”) party currently has 47 seats in parliament. It received nearly a million out of about seven million votes at the last election, in 2010.

In our film Never Come Back we show a recent JOBBIK television commercial that depicts the Roma as annoying mosquitoes bothering upstanding “white” Hungarians.

The ad culminates with JOBBIK’s leader slapping a mosquito. The message is clear: Vote for JOBBIK and we will deal firmly with the “Gypsy problem.”

Never Come Back also depicts a typical JOBBIK torchlight parade through a Roma neighbourhood. The marchers shout epithets and insults at the “dirty Gypsies.” There is nothing subtle about their hatred or their intent to intimidate.

In preparing our film, we sought the insights of Hungarian sociologist Vera Messing, whom the Canadian government had consulted in 2002.

A decade ago, Messing could honestly report a measure of progress in the human rights and economic situation of Hungary’s Roma.

Today, Messing wishes the Canadian government would again solicit her views. The situation for the Roma has significantly deteriorated, in her expert opinion.

“In 2002,” Vera Messing told us, “there were anti-Roma feelings, but it was not politically correct to express and Roma people were not physically threatened.

“Now, that has unfortunately changed. So, one and a half years ago, there was a series of killings motivated by racial hatred . . . And although the perpetrators were found and now are in front of the court . . . even today anti-Roma militia are allowed to march and threaten people in Roma villages . . . the police do not intervene . . . And Roma people feel fear . . . ”

In Hungary, we visited the village of Gyöngyöspata, where an armed militia occupied the Roma neighbourhood for two weeks in 2011, freely marching into people’s homes and uttering death threats. The police stood by while the local “whites” generally supported the militia. One local man told us the Roma had to be “taught a lesson.”

“They have to learn that they are not the majority here!”

Some of the Roma from Gyöngyöspata have made their way to Canada, and are now seeking refugee status. These are the people some Canadian politicians have called “bogus refugees.”

When it comes to the Roma, it seems that some Canadians have bought into negative European stereotypes.

Based on our experience, those stereotypes are ridiculous. The hundreds of Roma Malcolm Hamilton and I met are good people. A large proportion of the Roma who have come to Canada are not on welfare. They are either working or in school.

The Roma tell us they are grateful to have found, in Canada, a country where diversity is a part of the national identity.

Now, they are bewildered by the fact that some politicians have turned against them.

Last year, while we were filming in the Hamilton Roma community, there was a conference on anti-Semitism taking place in Ottawa. Knowing I am Jewish, a number of Roma asked me: “Could you explain why the government holds conferences for your people, while for us — also victims of the Holocaust — there are deportations?”

I wish I had an answer.

Karl Nerenberg produced and co-directed the film Never Come Back, which will be broadcast on OMNI-1 TV on Sunday May 6 at 9 p.m. in Ontario and 10 p.m. in B.C.

http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorialopinion/article/1173524–the-roma-of-central-europe-feel-fear

Czech daily probes the situation of young Roma

In the wake of several violent attacks committed by young Roma, Mlada fronta DNES, the country’s best selling serious newspaper, takes a look at the Czech Republic’s “lost generation of Roma adolescents.”

Writer Ivana Karaskova went to the ghettos of northern Bohemia and southern Moravia and spoke with Roma who grew up in unemployed families.  Unlike under communism, when everyone was forced to work, contemporary Roma adolescents have often never seen their parents with a job and thus lack role models. They also suffer from the stagnation of the Czech educational system, which has failed to develop effective ways to teach children from poor or troubled families. The newspaper also postulates that the abolition of obligatory military service has removed one way in which young Roma used to have discipline imposed on their lives. And assimilation has diminished the authority of traditional Roma elites.

Those featured in the article tend to come from large families. Unable to find jobs and forced to fend for themselves, they earn money by collecting scrap metal or turning to petty crime. Often they end up addicted to drugs and involved in violence. But the example of 18-year old Jirka, who plays guitar in a band and studies at a secondary school specializing in information technology, suggests hat subsidized housing and integration through education may yet bear fruit.

http://www.tol.org/client/article/23127-kosovo-politician-acquitted-of-war-crimes-czech-romas-lost-generation-.html

Reaching out to Europe’s Roma

European governments are under pressure to focus on Roma integration, and Kavarna in Bulgaria is given as one example of where things are working. Ten years ago Roma complained to parliament about discrimination in the town, and things dramatically changed when a new mayor came into office. But concerns remain about the overall situation in the country.

Kavarna resident Sebastian Romanov told euronews: “The animals in Bulgaria are better integrated than the Roma and I will let you know why: because EU funds are not reaching the Roma children. “In order to achieve successful integration, we need funds. No one is employed. There are no jobs, but they want us to integrate. Please tell me how, explain it to me.”

In Kavarna, though, things look brighter. The Roma are now given help to build new homes and improve their neighbourhoods. The town has set an example in a country that has the second largest Roma population in Europe. The mayor set up a minorities integration service and new facilities are being provided.

http://www.euronews.com/2012/04/30/reaching-out-to-europe-s-roma/