The 11th meeting of the Council of Europe Dialogue with Roma and Traveller civil society (29-30 April 2021) focused on combating antigypsyism.

The meeting provided an opportunity for joint reflection between representatives of Council of Europe bodies and members of the Council of Europe Secretariat as well as representatives of Roma and Traveller civil society on the causes, characteristics, historical background and different dimensions of antigypsyism. The meeting focused on addressing antigypsyism and developing a common framework across Europe to identify, monitor, combat and sanction the phenomenon. Participants were also invited to provide information of the impact of the COVID-19 crisis in this context.

The meeting:

• served as a consultation platform for assessing the successes and challenges in the joint fight against antigypsyism through collecting civil society expertise and knowledge about the situation of Roma and Travellers on the ground which contributes to assisting member States and the Council of Europe in meeting their commitments;
• facilitated the directions of Council of Europe actions through constructive and mutual dialogue;
• assessed the prevalence of antigypsyism through analysing recent developments and political trends in member States through involvement of Roma and Traveller communities at policy formulation, implementation and follow-up at national level;
• identified and proposed appropriate measures and tools to fight antigypsyism;
• provided an overview of relevant legal and policy instruments as well as practices to identify, monitor, combat and sanction antigypsyism;
• discussed existing Council of Europe recommendations, the role and work of Council of Europe monitoring bodies and of EU-CoE Joint Programmes to combat antigypsyism;
• highlighted and exchanged examples of good practices and possible future initiatives on combating antigypsyism.