A future for Roma: peer reviewers help shape Greece’s Roma inclusion plan
Newsletter 2009-2
Publication date : 2009-10-14
“The
biggest problem is education,” according to Greece’s Roma mediator Nikos
Moukanis. “Once we get the children to go to school, we can start tackling the
other problems.” Indeed, many of the children in the illegally-built shacks and
houses of the Roma settlement in Acharnon do not attend school and those who do
may well drop out again. But that is just one of the issues facing this community.
Much lower life expectancy than in Greece as a whole. Much higher
unemployment. Illiteracy. Difficulties for Roma in accessing mainstream
services and mutual suspicions when they do. Roma,
gypsies, tsiganoi – they go by many names across Europe.
The problems facing them cut across national frontiers and they have been
called “Europe’s biggest minority”. Some
governments dislike that label. So do some Roma, not least in Greece. But one thing is certain:
Although plenty of Roma are successful and comfortably housed, the Roma people
as a whole suffer major social exclusion. The EU and its Member States
are well aware of that. They also know that recent accessions have greatly
increased the number of Roma EU citizens. One
way of promoting their social inclusion is by helping EU Member States to exchange
good practice. This was the objective of the Peer Review held in Athens this May.
Unusually, the Greek government had asked the expert reviewers from across Europe to help shape an emerging policy – the planned new
Integrated Programme for the Social Inclusion of Roma following the 2001-2006
Roma reintegration programme which had failed to deliver the expected outputs–
rather than assessing a current one. Indeed, independent evaluation had showed
major organisational and technical shortcomings in the implementation of the programme
as well as problems with the continuity of financing. The
new long-term action plan will likely take up and expand some of the positive elements
contained in the previous programme, such as the introduction of Roma mediators
and the establishment of socio-medical centres close to local Roma communities.
The centres provide basic medical treatment, vaccination and prevention. They also
have a much wider role as contact, information and counselling points for Roma,
as well as building awareness in the wider community. The
new programme also aims to cover housing and basic infrastructures, employment and
vocational training, education, social welfare, culture, and publicity,
awareness- raising and networking. It is scheduled for the fourth Community
Structural Funds planning period and beyond. In
particular, Greece
asked for the Peer Review’s inputs on institutional form, managerial mechanisms
and improved policy design. During the Peer Review which took place on 27-28
May 2009, the reviewers visited sociomedical centres in Acharnes and Ano
Liosia, two municipalities near Athens
with extensive Roma communities. They also saw two very different facets of
Roma housing. The illegal slum settlement contrasted sharply with high-quality
homes bought by Roma on a new suburban estate. Among
the main points to emerge from the Peer Review were the following: There
is a need to set up an institutional structure, with the participation of those
directly concerned, responsible for designing, implementing, monitoring and
assessing action to promote Roma social inclusion. A dedicated budget should be
earmarked and priorities assigned, on the basis of an integrated approach. This
could be done either through the Greek Interministerial Commission, through the
establishment of separate government office or by assigning Roma issues to an
existing ministry. The active involvement of the local government level is also
a prerequisite for the success of the programme. Mainstreaming
of Roma policy should be the aim, but with specific positive action to address
existing inequalities. In particular, there is a need to link
anti-discrimination laws with social inclusion policies. Roma
employment in the grey economy needs to be regularised. Vocational training should
equip Roma for the jobs of today and tomorrow, as their traditional trades are in
decline. Housing
should be mainly integrated, but Roma should be consulted on this in each case. Preschool
education is crucial to tackling the intergenerational transmission of poverty.
It will also enable Roma women to take up jobs outside the home. A good general
education is the best way of improving Roma access to jobs. Health
is a field in which immediate benefits for Roma can be achieved, for example through
vaccination schemes and screening programmes. However, low life expectancy also
has to be tackled through anti-poverty measures, notably the promotion of
employment. The
use of Roma mediators should be expanded. The
quality of data about Roma, notably population statistics, is in urgent need of
improvement. Participation
by those living in situations of precarity is crucial to social inclusion and this
is equally important in the case of the Roma. There should be a two-way
approach to integration, stressing the mutual rights and duties both of Roma
and of the society around them. The
new Greek programme should make greater use of EU structural funds, but an element
of nationally sourced funding is also important, especially to ensure
continuity of the action once the Community funding will not be any longer
available. Lessons learned
