The panel discussion on the topic “Roma 2015 Roma 2020 Roma …?” was another common moment with our partners, supporters, experts, researchers and representatives of international organizations in an attempt to address the complex issues of how to position the work of civil society and to proceed with an actual understanding of the needs of Roma people in the country while taking into account national and local practices

The debate at the EU Info Centre marking 10 years of operation of the association, led to the need for a real change in the daily lives of Roma through a greater commitment to better integrate the Roma community into the society.

Today, NRC sends a message to the domestic factors, relevant institutions and citizens that we are Macedonia. The future of our children and the possibility of improvement are within us. But to accomplish all that it requires a positive atmosphere.

A need of positive views to come closer to international standards, to be adapted to national regulations, if Roma are a constituent nation then they should equally enjoy all rights as everyone else, said Asmet Elezovski, executive director of the NRC.
The results of our work show that Roma are part of this country, said Elezovski. Roma are part of this process. But it requires a greater commitment to stop the growing discrimination and racism.

Poverty affects us all regardless of religion and nationality; it can be overcome if there is a will, responsibility and commitment. It takes action and spreading positive messages, developing dialogue and communication, because there are many obstacles, said Elezovski the opening of the debate “Roma 2015 Roma 2020 Roma ….?”

The representative of the EU Delegation in Skopje, Mauro di Verona, congratulated NRC the ten-year activity and accomplishments and the over 50 implemented projects in key sectors for inclusion of the Roma community such as housing, registration, education and social welfare, over the past ten years.

Roma across Europe still face poor living conditions, exclusion and discrimination. It requires better integration of Roma communities. To achieve a real change in the daily lives of Roma an action is needed at a local, regional and European level.

To that end the EU developed an action framework urging member states and candidates, national strategies for Roma inclusion. No change is possible without the active participation of Roma, which is the main condition for success, said Mauro di Verona, also adding that in the period from 2007 to 2014 the EU has provided more than seven million Euros in projects on inclusion of the Roma community.

In a prepared speech for the event, UN special reporter on minority rights Rita Isaac said that the international and regional organizations, states, civil society, independent experts and researchers, need to join efforts for the Roma rights to become a reality not to remain only on paper.

“As Roma we need more young with completed secondary school and higher enrollment in universities. As for NRC, we should increase our work and achieve tangible results in the fight against discrimination, educational barriers to Roma, as well as the discrimination in the labor market”, said Jud Nirenberg, Chairman of the Board of the National Roma Center (NRC) in his statement read on the debate.

Recommendations

In terms of access to equal opportunities and quality of education, the participants emphasized that the only bright spot in the implementation of the Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005-2015 is precisely the education. In here are invested most of the resources and most efforts which resulted in an increased enrollment of students in primary and secondary education, reduced drop-out from the educational process in an effort to involve Roma educational mediators.

A shared responsibility remains among all participants in the educational process in order to minimize the discrimination and segregation of Roma children; also the efforts for all children to engage in the educational process by overcoming the problem of personal documents as a precondition for entry and in some cases overcome the age limit for enrollment in primary education.

The access to quality health care for Roma women remains a major challenge with many barriers to approach to health services, medical devices and pharmaceuticals. In this segment we should further work on the development of measurable indicators for the purpose of following and participating in the decision of preventive healthcare programs, concurrently with reviewing financial accessibility of health check-ups especially in their reproductive period with an emphasis on antenatal care.

The access to justice in Republic of Macedonia is difficult because of the many administrative barriers, citizen’s ignorance to use and refer requests to state institutions and authorities, the fear from the costs of proceedings and insufficient awareness of legal rights in access to administrative and judicial justice.

Housing remains a major challenge in the future considering that it is a complex problem with large financial needs to solve accordingly, it needs an additional efforts to link process of legalization of Roma homes and their involvement in urban planning documentation, but also land legalization where people have built homes and livelihoods.

NRC was established in 2005. As an organization it advocates for inclusion and equal opportunities for Roma. The organization so far has implemented 53 projects; nine projects in Education with 9,500 direct beneficiaries, five projects for the reproductive health of Roma women involving 1,500 people and 24 projects in the field of human rights, institutional support, projects to empower Roma and better informing Roma.

The debate is organized with a support from the Roma Initiatives Office and EU’s “Europe for Citizens” Programme. The purpose of the debate is to give an overview of policies and practices being taken for the progressive realization of economic, social, cultural and civil rights of Roma in Macedonia.