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Headway made in combating discrimination in 2013-2014
1. The situation in Europe
I.
Recommendations from the Council of
the EU on the inclusion of the Roma
community
In December 2013 the EU Council published a series of
recommendations to implement effective measures
for Roma inclusion in the Member States. The aim of
these Recommendations is to provide Member States
with guidance to enhance the effectiveness of their
measures and bolster the application of their national
Roma inclusion strategies and their political and social
measures.
In order to promote the full equality of Roma in every-
day practice, the Council of the European Union rec-
ommends “implementing an effective policy containing
measures to guarantee equal treatment and respect for
fundamental rights, including equal access to education,
employment, health-care and housing” and goes on to
detail a series of concrete measures in these areas.
The document contains a recommendations section on
non-discrimination and the Roma community encour-
aging states to guarantee the effective practical exe-
cution of Directive 2000/43/EC, specifically calling on
them to make sure that administrative rules at national,
regional and local level are not discriminatory and do not
give rise to segregation.
It also urges EU Member States to implement measures
to combat discrimination and prejudice against Roma
and to combat anti-gypsyism is all spheres of society
while raising awareness as to the benefits of integrat-
ing the Roma and proposing the adoption of effective
measures to combat anti-Roma hate speech, stereo-
types and any other types of conduct inciting discrim-
ination against the Roma people.
II.
8th meeting of the European Platform for
Roma Inclusion
Under the slogan “Urgent change is needed among
Roma youth and children”, on 27 June 2013 the European
Commission organised the 8th meeting of the Europe-
an Platform for Roma Inclusion in Brussels. The Com-
missioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion,
László Andor, and the Commissioner for Justice, Fun-
damental Rights and Citizenship and Vice-president of
the EC, Viviane Reding, were on hand for the event and
underscored the need to take bigger steps forward in
social inclusion, equality and the fight on discrimination
against Europe’s Roma population.
Commissioner Andor stressed that Roma youth should
benefit as a specific group under the youth guarantee
schemes. He also recalled that “EU funds and specifi-
cally European Social Fund resources can help provide
other ways to facilitate the Roma population’s transition
from the classroom to the labour market. These include
drawing up or enlarging schemes targeting children and
adolescents from disadvantaged environments, includ-
ing Roma.”
Commissioner Reding highlighted the importance of
launching the European framework of National Roma In-
clusion Strategies but questioned the progress made
in this connection and underscored the need to involve
regional and local administrations in their implementation
and to appropriately allocate funds (mainly Structural
Funds) for their full development.
She urged close collaboration and coordination between
the different levels of government and the civil society.
She also noted that little progress has been made in
involving local authorities in social inclusion projects
and stressed that not enough national funds are being
earmarked for Roma inclusion and the fact that Euro-
pean funds are available but go unused due to lack of
co-funding. “Policies targeting the Roma population are
not a luxury but rather an obligation.”
III. FRA report on the Framework Decision
regarding racism and xenophobia and
victims of hate crimes.
In 2013 the FRA published a new report entitled “Opinion
of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights
on the Framework Decision on Racism and Xenophobia
– with special attention to the rights of victims of hate
crime”.
The conclusions reached, based on evidence gathered
and analysed by the FRA, including large scale surveys
and its specific and annual reports, illustrate the variety