Empowerment of Roma to Fight Rights Deprivation
23 March 2009
Empowerment of Roma to Fight Rights Deprivation
In September 2008, the ERRC began work on a 2-year project to empower grassroots Romani organisations to participate effectively in the development of legal and policy tools for protection against discrimination and to increase the prominence of issues of non-compliance of domestic law and practice with international human rights standards. Capacity-building actions in Romani grassroots organisations will include targeted training by the ERRC; collaboration between the ERRC and Roma NGOs in formulating advocacy strategies to amend legislation and policies which have an adverse impact on Roma; and joint advocacy actions at the national and international levels. Such domestic and international advocacy actions are intended to prompt a reaction from civil society and international monitoring bodies to pressure governments to comply with their obligations under international human rights law. This project is implemented with support from the United Nations Democracy Fund.
The ERRC targets Romani organisations in Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia and Slovakia. Specifically the actions of the project aim to support Romani individuals in challenging racial discrimination; in campaigning for the adoption of anti-discrimination legislation in compliance with international and European standards; and in campaigning for adequate legal protections against forced evictions. This project also aims to sensitise law and policy-makers of the multiple disadvantages facing Romani women and to reinforce targeted measures at national level for the protection of the rights of Romani women.
The project activities include:
- Conducting capacity building initiatives (training programmes on non-discrimination and housing rights advocacy) for grassroots Romani activists;
- Facilitating close co-operation with and capacitation of local Romani groups in the process of human rights monitoring and documentation, and targeted advocacy on anti-discrimination law and housing rights matters relevant to Roma in the target countries;
- Developing and implementing joint advocacy campaigns with grassroots Romani activists on anti-discrimination law matters;
- Publishing comprehensive materials, including a comprehensive report, on the housing rights situation of Roma in the target countries (Final Report: Standards Do Not Apply: Inadequate Housing in Roma Communities); and
- Filing strategic litigation cases (approximately 2 cases per target country) to secure respect for the rights of Roma under national discrimination and housing rights provisions as well as to test the implementation of existing legal protections.
For further information on this project, please contact Idaver Memedov at: idaver.memedov@errc.org.
