September 21, 2015 - By Zeljko Jovanovic
For many Roma, life has gone from bad to worse.
The Decade of Roma Inclusion has ended. This unprecedented collaboration between 12 European countries, encouraged by the World Bank and the Open Society Foundations, started in 2005 in Sofia, Bulgaria. At that time, the prime ministers of these countries made a promise to “close the gaps between Roma and the rest of society,” and committed their domestic public institutions to fulfill this promise by 2015.
Did governments deliver on the promise? In short, no. The Roma Inclusion Index shows some progress in literacy levels, completion of primary education, and access to health insurance. But all in all, the daily life of Roma remains a struggle no other ethnic group in Europe faces.
On average, in the Decade countries, only one in ten Roma completes secondary school, almost half of Roma are unemployed, and more than one in three Roma still live in absolute poverty, meaning they are severely deprived of basic human needs, including food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health care, and shelter.
MULTIPLE REPORT COMPONENTS RELATE TO ROMA WOMEN.
The Roma Inclusion Index 2015 is the first publication to propose a list of relevant indicators and test the availability of existing data to measure progress or the lack thereof in addressing the exclusion of Roma according to the Decade priorities. It is not a data collection exercise – it only attempts to identify and gather in a comprehensive yet easily readable form existing data collected either officially by governments or by others. Hesitation to publish something similar before was due to the scarce existence of official periodic comparable data, but also the lack of agreement among Decade partners on indicators relevant for Roma inclusion. The Secretariat therefore decided to propose such a list itself, based on the work of experts such as those in the Fundamental Rights Agency Working Party on Roma Integration Indicators, to gather all the available quantitative data, although not sufficiently comparable and representative, and to publish the results. We hope this experience will assist the FRA and the European Union in establishing a standardized system of indicators and data collection on Roma inclusion.
The Decade aimed at “eliminating discrimination and closing the unacceptable gaps between Roma and the rest of society”, notably in the areas of employment, education, health and housing, taking into consideration the cross-cutting areas of non-discrimination, gender equality and poverty reduction. Therefore, the Roma Inclusion Index contains a selection of indicators in all of these areas. Gender is mainstreamed in all the indicators by reporting on gender disaggregated data where they exist. For all the indicators the Roma Inclusion Index is looking for the difference (gap) between Roma and the overall population as the goal of the Decade was to close the gap. The indicators of the Roma Inclusion Index are intended to be fully consistent with the larger set of indicators being developed by the Fundamental Rights Agency.
The launch of the Decade of Roma Inclusion in 2005 raised hopes, promised much, and disillusioned many. It raised hopes, for it was unprecedented that so many governments, in the presence of international organizations and civil society groups, would publicly pledge “to work toward eliminating discrimination and closing the unacceptable gaps between Roma and the rest of society;” and promised much in committing “to support the full participation and involvement of national Roma communities,” to demonstrate progress, and measure outcomes in the implementation of Decade Action Plans. Having raised so much hope at the outset, little wonder that today, so many feel so disillusioned.
As one Roma activist put it: “At the beginning of the Decade there was so much effort that it felt as if a flame was burning. Unfortunately as each year passed by the flame grew dimmer, went down, and down. By the end of the Decade, there’s no flame, the flame went out!”
September 28th Global Day of Action for Access to Safe and Legal Abortion
Asian-Pacific Resource & Research Centre for Women (ARROW)
http://us10.campaign-archive1.com/?u=fabbfc4b0034989c69666e7e2&id=e57ed46847&e=4ea8a76369
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MAKING HUMAN RIGHTS WORK FOR PEOPLE LIVING IN EXTREME POVERTY:
A HANDBOOK FOR IMPLEMENTING THE UN GUIDING PRINCIPLES ON EXTREME POVERTY & HUMAN RIGHTS
Direct Link to Full 2015 Handbook
