icg contributions from international organisations meeting, 29 june 2012

7/31/2019 ICG Contributions From International Organisations Meeting, 29 June 2012

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Informal Contact Group MeetingCouncil of Europe

Strasbourg, 29 June 2012

Reference documents submitted by International Organisation participating in theInformal Contact Group

Council of Europe:

On 22 September 2011 the Summit of Mayors on Roma, organized by the Congress of Localand Regional authorities and the Special Representative of the Council of Europe SecretaryGeneral for Roma issues, adopted a final declaration, which under point 9 recognizes the needto pursue cooperation between municipalities and regions in Europe by supporting the proposalto establish a European Alliance of Cities and Regions for Roma Inclusion.

Since the Summit of Mayors on Roma in September 2010, the Council of Europe Congress ofLocal and Regional Authorities and the SRSG worked to set up an Alliance of European Citiesand Regions for Roma inclusion.

The preparatory process for setting-up such a cooperation framework is currently underwayunder the auspices of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities in close co-operation withthe Special Representative of the Council of Europe Secretary General for Roma Issues. The

Alliance will be a flexible framework for cooperation among local and regional authorities,focusing on practical and result-oriented capacity-building action for effective Roma inclusion.

The idea is to help cities and regions increase their capacities for Roma inclusion in providingadvice and/or practical support, informing on policies and sources of funding, and exchangingexperiences and practices.

The added value will be learning from others, strengthening capacities and influencing policies.Its activities will be concrete and field-oriented, focusing on identified priority issues and needs.They may cover thematic issues such as, among others, education, housing, health care andemployment, as well as cross-cutting issues such as empowerment and participation, access topublic services and funding, rights and duties.

The Congress and the SRSG Roma Support Team plan to convene a stakeholders meeting inSeptember, with the members of the "core group", a selection of cities and regions andnetworks and organisations likely to become partners of the Alliance in its action.

As far as the CAHROMs work (Ad hoc Committee of Experts on Roma), the nextmeeting is scheduled 28-30 November in Strasbourg.


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Following its new working methods, the Committee has started with the preparation of thematicreports. So far, thematic reports covered the following issues:

school drop-out and absenteeism of Roma children; the role of central, local and regional authorities in implementing national inclusion

policies for Roma; and social housing for Roma.

The Committee decided to prepare new thematic reports in the following subjects:

halting sites and related issues concerning nomadic Roma and Travellers;

special schools for Roma; and school drop-out and absenteeism of Roma girls.

As far as the ROMED programme (training of Roma Mediators) the CoE continues to

organise events in the original 15 member countries to the programme. Five new countrieshave been added (Albania, Belgium, Portugal, the Russian Federation and the United Kingdom).For a list of activities planned in the second semester, please refer to the tables which will bedistributed at the meeting.

A Conference on Roma Mediators, organized by the EU, in collaboration with the SRSGSupport Team for Roma Issues will probably be organized next 3-6 December in Brussels.

The Roma Support Team will also be organizing the following events:

Roma Womens International Conference preparatory meeting 5-6 October, hosted bythe Romanian Government.

European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights:

State of play of FRA Roma Programme

June-December 2012The Agencys Multi-annual Roma Programme was developed in response to the EuropeanCommission Communication of 5 April 2011 and in close cooperation with the ECs Roma TaskForce, in which the FRA participates. It focuses on:1. Expanding research work to cover EU Member States not covered by the 2011 survey;

2. Conductingregular surveys and research to measure progress concerning the respect offundamental rights, and the situation in employment, education, healthcare and housing;3. Working with EU Member States to develop monitoring methods which can providea comparative analysis of the situation of Roma across Europe.

1. Expanding research to EU MSs not included in the survey (2012 2013)In May 2012 the Agency together with the European Commission, the United NationsDevelopment Programme (UNDP) and the World Bank released the first results of their


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combined surveys, available at https://fra.europa.eu/fraWebsite/attachments/FRA-2012-Roma-at-a-glance_EN.pdf.Following the publication of the survey results the FRA analysed information collected by itsFRANET network of national focal points on data availability in 15 EU Member States (AT, BE,CY, DK, EE, FI, DE, IE, LV, LT, LU, NL, SI, SE, UK) and HR.In June 2012 based on this analysis the FRA started collecting existing secondary official andunofficial data on the situation of Roma in education, housing, employment and health.The results will be in the public domain in 2013.

At the end of 2012 the FRA plans to publish a report based on the survey findings on educationand the technical report with detailed information on the survey methodology.

2. Conduct surveys and research to measure progress (2012 2020)From 2012 to 2020, the FRA will report annually to the European Commission based on datasystematically collected across the EU through multiple research methods on the outcome ofRoma integration efforts. The data that will be collected and analysed in combination are:(1) Primary statistical data: in 2011 these were collected through the pilot Roma survey.This survey will be repeated in two successive waves in 2014/15 (mid-term of Europe 2020

process) and in 2018/19 (end of Europe 2020 process). These surveys allow the collection ofdata that are directly comparable, as they apply the same methodology in every Member State,on the socio-economic characteristics and life experiences of respondents.(2) Primary qualitative data: these will be collected from 2013onwards through fieldworkresearch. They will provide a better understanding of the factors influencing the current socio-economic situation and the life experiences of respondents, as well as their attitudes,perceptions, values and views. They will also provide valuable information on what works bestin the implementation of local action plans and why. The research will apply robust and testedresearch methods engaging directly with local communities, as well as public, and in particularlocal, authorities in selected areas across the EU.(3) Mapping of available official and unofficial data sources: this will show whatknowledge is available at national level, regional and local level and how existing data compareto data produced by EU level research directly managed by FRA.

3. Working with EU Member States to develop monitoring methods and toolsFrom 2012 to 2020, the FRA in close collaboration with the European Commission and MemberStates, and engaging other key actors, will identify data gaps - see previous activity 2 (3) andassist Member States to develop data collection methodologies, indicators and benchmarks thatcan enable them to monitor effectively the outcome of policy measures.In December 2011 the FRA hosted a first exploratory meeting with the National Contact Pointson Roma inclusion, which resulted in the formation of an ad-hoc working party to test and pilotmonitoring methods and tools.On 20-21 June 2012 the first meeting of the ad-hoc working party took place at the FRA with

representatives from nine EU Member States (BG, GR, CZ, ES, FI, FR, HU, IT, RO, UK),Eurofound and UNDP.
https://fra.europa.eu/fraWebsite/attachments/FRA-2012-Roma-at-a-glance_EN.pdfhttps://fra.europa.eu/fraWebsite/attachments/FRA-2012-Roma-at-a-glance_EN.pdfhttps://fra.europa.eu/fraWebsite/attachments/FRA-2012-Roma-at-a-glance_EN.pdfhttps://fra.europa.eu/fraWebsite/attachments/FRA-2012-Roma-at-a-glance_EN.pdfhttps://fra.europa.eu/fraWebsite/attachments/FRA-2012-Roma-at-a-glance_EN.pdf


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OSCE/ODIHR:

CPRSI activities planned to implement till end of this year:

This year the Human Dimension Implementation Meeting, Special day on Roma and Sintiwill focus on Empowerment of Romani women and it will take place on 27 September.Day before this meeting, the CPRSI will hold preparatory meeting with the Roma civilsociety.

Launch of the filed assessment visit report on the situation of Romani children ineducation in the Czech Republic (is planned in Autumn);

Follow up activities on the Czech Republic report will take place after the launch of thereport;

Short preparatory visit of Ukraine to discuss the possibility to assist the government inimplementation of activities related to Roma (planed in October);

Implementation of the activities related to assistance of the government of Moldova inimplementation of the Action Plan on Roma (October-November);

Preparation of the Status report on the implementation of the 2003 OSCE Action plan(July-December);

Since the beginning of the year ODIHR started with the implementation of the projectBest Practices of Roma Integration and during this year there are will be set of activitiesimplemented in the Western Balkan (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, FYROM, Croatia,Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo*).

UNHCR- please see separate sheet

World Bank:

- Attached two presentations on the World Bank's recent work on Roma inclusion: one on theWorld Bank approach on Roma inclusion in Eastern Europe in general, and another morespecific one on how the Bank has been applying the 2011 Roma Household Survey insupporting analytical work on early childhood development and financial inclusion of the Roma

- Attached a short summary of the Bank's recently launched study: Toward an Early Start -Closing the Early Learning Gap for Roma Children in Eastern Europe.


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OPERATIONAL FRAMEWORK

Also in line with subsequent CoE recommendations developed within the Committee formigration, mobility and access to health, in which IOM contributed


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Current also :IOM Sofia participates in the Ministry of Health "Prevention and Control of HIV/AIDS" and"Improve the Tuberculosis Control in Bulgaria" in implementing HIV/TB prevention activities to peoplefrom Roma communities with a specific focus on young people from the community and is activelyinvolved in CT prevention activities among vulnerable Roma communities within the country.

Migration Health Division

Areas of IOM Activity with Roma

Roma health Social mobilization to generate income,

promote inclusion, and improve healthaccess

(Serbia) SWIFT: WHO, IOM a

Building Healthy Roma Communities Pilot ProjectBuilding Healthy Roma Communities Pilot Project (HU, PL, SK,RO)

2 phases (2006-2009), MHD Brussels, funded by GoB,

Build human capacity to deal effectively with minority group needs,

reduce discrimination and support Roma access to heath social services

-Development of training curriculum and manual-Provide opportunities for exchange and learningToT-Pilot a community assistance model with

community mediators (Equality Support Unit)

Migration Health DivisionEquality support Unit, Negresti, Romania

Challenges and next steps:Challenges and next steps:presented at the COST Action Roma Health Budapest 2009

Identify funding forIdentify funding for European initiatives targeting the improvement ofEuropean initiatives targeting the improvement ofRoma healthRoma health as well as funding for communityas well as funding for community--level health projects;level health projects;

Strengthen health component in national action plansStrengthen health component in national action plans for social inclusionfor social inclusionof EU MSof EU MS

Foster deeperFoster deeper cooperation between governmental and noncooperation between governmental and non--governmentalgovernmentalactorsactors engaged in Roma health;engaged in Roma health;

DevelopDevelop support structure for international and nationalsupport structure for international and national--level sharinglevel sharing ofofinformation andinformation and good practices on Roma health issuesgood practices on Roma health issues

Building Healthy Roma Communities Pilot Project, cont.Building Healthy Roma Communities Pilot Project, cont.


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UPCOMING 2012-2015

Duration 3years, expected start up Fall 2012

*Priorities to be defined at National Consultative Committees(multi-stakeholder) as wellas Regional Consultations


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Coordination with the Inter-agency initiative, the Informal Council , EC DGs, ECAgencies, CSOs, etc

**Focus on EU MS with high % of national Roma populations, as well as those with high% of Roma migrants

27 MS country briefs on migrant and ethnic minority health

(legal, policy, good practices, ect)

Regional Office for the European Economic Area, the EU and NATO40, rue Montoyer - Montoyerstraat 1000 Brussels Belgium

Tel: +32.2.287.70.00 Fax: +32.2.287.70.06 E-mail: [email protected]: http://www.belgium.iom.int

icg contributions from international organisations meeting, 29 june 2012

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