An interview with Magdalena Karvayova, co-founder of the Awen Amenca association which focuses on equal access to quality education for Roma children.
There is a long way to go still
A really scathing assessment of the Slovak Republic Strategy for Roma education between 2016 and 2020. According to the official audit, 173 Mio Euros were spent, which in comparison to 500’000 Roma in the country is not exactly a lot.
The programs did not meet their own set goals. Worse, the programs did not have clearly specified goals. Thus, according to the article, “it was not possible to monitor the progress and adapt the activities or to inform the public about the development. Later, the indicators were modified, which lost continuity and made everything even more unclear. What did not change over time was the problem of data unavailability. They were missing during the entire period.”
The European Commission is calling for applications for the award on Roma integration in the Western Balkans and Turkey.
According to the Council of Europe, Italy is not doing enough on the integration of Roma. Despite various parliamentary initiatives, a national legal framework has still not been adopted. Anti-Gypsyism persists at all levels of society and is insufficiently fought against. A negative portrayal of Roma and Sinti remains widespread, including on social media.
Ondrej Ferko leads the Devjatkakare čhave choir, with almost 40 children from the Luník IX housing estate in Košice. They performed during the Pope’s visit to Slovakia and in the television competition Czechoslovakia has talent. “In three years, we have destroyed stereotypes for other educators, who thought that nothing could be done with these children. And we also destroyed the children’s self-doubt,” says Ferko.
At the beginning, Milan Dulina, director of the Ľ Elementary School, also joined the work. Together with choirmaster Ferko, they explain, among other things, how they work with promising singers and also how artistic training has changed the results of children at school.
Ferko added “Roma children are not born knowing how to sing well, it takes a lot of hard work”.
Last week, the Commissioner for Roma Minority Affairs, Lucie Fuková, met with the Deputy Prime Minister for Digitization and the Minister for Regional Development, Ivan Bartoš. They discussed the functioning of the Agency for Social Inclusion and the solution to the social exclusion of Roma not only in economically disadvantaged regions.
On January 13, the inter-municipal Roma association Romano Vozo organized a round table entitled Ethnic minorities in Slovenia, their cooperation and integration. This covered Roma, Serbs, Albanians, Bosnians. Regarding Roma, though, the usual views and statements were made: Jožek Horvat Muc, president of the Association of Roma of Slovenia. First of all, he explained that the Roma live in different regions, where they are accepted and organized in different ways depending on the economic, social and social situation of the region.
“Conditions regarding integration, cooperation, political participation and employment are the best in Prekmurje, and the worst in SE Slovenia. Part of the blame also lies with the Roma, who are not sufficiently organized, do not want to integrate into society, cooperate, take care of the development of the Roma community, and part of their worse situation is also the fact that they live in Roma settlements.
Part of the blame???
There is a shortage of workers in Slovakia, while there are people who urgently need regular work, according to an article published last week by the Swiss newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung. The integration of Roma would solve part of the problems of the Slovak labour market as there are around 500,000 Roma in Slovakia.
According to the statistics of the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights, in 2021 only 33% of Roma in Slovakia had a paid job, while 60% of young Roma between the ages of 16 and 24 were not looking for work, were not in education, or were part of any training program . “Humanly it is a drama, economically it is a burden for Slovakia,” writes the Neue Zürcher Zeitung in an article entitled Roma – a recognized workforce in Europe.
In Slovakia, as in other countries of Central and Eastern Europe, there is a shortage of labour force, which will probably ease in the coming months due to the current negative economic development, but this problem is structural.
The Slovak NGO EDUMA awarded prizes to schools, companies and projects. Among them, Lear Corporation Seating Slovakia, p. r. o., was lauded for the strategic support of activities focused on the importance of diversity in the workplace and also for creating opportunities and environments that help the integration of Roma into the company’s work process.
As part of the Program of social and civic integration of the Roma in Poland for 2021-2030 adopted by Resolution No. 190/2020 of the Council of Ministers of December 21, 2020, the Ministry of the Interior and Administration is starting the procedure related to submitting applications for the implementation of tasks in 2023 year.
According to the “Information on the procedure for granting subsidies from the Social and Civic Integration Program of the Roma in Poland for 2021-2030 for tasks in the fields of: Education, Housing, Innovative Integration Projects in 2023” prepared by the Ministry of the Interior and Administration, the deadline for submitting applications to voivodes is November 15, 2022.
The EU Parliament passed a resolution acknowledging the plight of Roma in many European countries and the need for more action and changes in many European countries. The resolution also called on member states to ensure that EU funds earmarked to support Roma settlement communities are used effectively and to further integrate Roma populations into their societies. This latter point is not a moot one, as initiatives such as the Roma decade have shown that throwing money at the issue doesn’t really change the fundamental issues.
The resolution was adopted with 486 votes in favour, 109 against and 38 abstentions. It would be interesting to understand the rationale of those who voted against it and from which countries and parties they are.
Austria has had a national strategy for the inclusion of Roma and Romnja in society for more than a decade. Viennese scientists have now evaluated it: the results are mixed – discrimination is “deeply rooted” in Austria and has not decreased.
An Austrian Bishop took part to the memorial of Austrian Rroma murdered in Poland. Just missing the fact that the Austrians were actively involved. His other words about integration, stopping prejudice, are the right ones, and not often heard from the Church.
In their official statement on the Rroma Holocaust, the EU commission expressed its commitment at improving the situation of Rroma.
We’ll see …
An article which summarises the interview from Viktor Orban in the Frankfurter Allgemeine. To quote him: “in Hungary we must integrate hundreds of thousands of our Roma compatriots into the labour market.” This is a good excuse for a lot of things. An in terms of work integration, they have come up with the mandatory Közmunka, a source of cheap labour…
EU auditors slammed the EU Rroma integration program saying that there is no way of knowing how much money and for what has been spent on Rroma integration programs by the EU…
BAD …
A long article about the Hotel Gračanica project, a hotel run by Rroma in a country that doesn’t want any Rroma … And lots of information about the current situation.
The story of a Rromni who came to France, and managed to get out of the Ghetto is being thrown out again. She broke the laws introduced by Sarkozy forbidding begging with children (7 years in jail and up to 100’000 EUR fines), and went to court three times to fight her conviction. And she won!
She is now on the verge of falling back. The French state’s policies are definitively pro integration …
What a joke … According to Mr. Zoltan Balog, the Hungarian minister for Human Resources, the situation of Rroma improved over the last two years in Hungary. Specifically, 50’000 Rroma have found new jobs. What he forgets to say is that these jobs are in the so-called Közmunka – or mandatory work scheme that replaced social care.
This is total BS…
Interesting article on identity and on the issue of clichés with which one is immediately confronted when on says one is Rrom. This time in Munich…
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