“Mirrors” training courses on combating antigypsyism through human rights education in Greece

The Council of Europe’s Youth Department in co-operation with Bodossaki Foundation and NGO Antirropon from Greece organised two training courses from 16-19 November 2016 in Athens, Greece. The activities were based on the Mirrors manual on combating antigypsyism though human rights education.

The training activities have brought together 41 participants with the aim to develop their competences for raising awareness and organising educational activities against antigypsyism with and for young people using Mirrors and other human rights educational resources.

The national training course brought together 23 participants interested in Roma youth work or closely working with the local Roma community from various regions and localities of Greece. The event also served as a basis to promote the upcoming translation of Mirrors in Greek language. The training course was organised to complement the work supported by the Roma Youth Action Plan since 2014 and the ROMED project of the Council of Europe.

The regional training seminar brought together 18 participants from Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey, Albania, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro and Greece to raise their competences in addressing discrimination and antigypsyism through human rights education.

Participants in both trainings were able to develop project ideas for follow-up activities that are based on Mirrors and other human rights educational resources.

Regional training course report >>

Roma youth activities in Ukraine and in the region supporting Roma youth mobilisation

The Council of Europe’s Youth Department, in co-operation with the International Charitable Organisation Roma Women Fund “Chiricli”, organised two activities supporting the mobilisation of Roma youth, in Odesa, Ukraine, from 3 to 8 November 2016. Around 41 young people and multipliers were involved in the training seminars.  

The regional training course on combating antigypsyism through human rights education and youth participation gathered 17 participants and aimed to prepare young Roma activists and members of youth organisations interested to work on Roma issues in order to support the development of the Roma youth movement in the region. Participants come from Belarus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Republic of Moldova, Ukraine and the Russian Federation.

The national training seminar supporting Roma youth participation in Ukraine aimed to prepare young Roma activists and members of youth organisations to be able to support the mobilization of Roma youth and mainstreaming of Roma youth issues in Ukrainian youth policy at national and local levels.

In total 24 young people took part in the training seminar from various parts of Ukraine, who can also act as multipliers within their local or working communities. This national seminar was a follow-up on the 2015 seminar on Roma youth issues, organised jointly by the ROMED programme of the Council of Europe and the Youth Department.

The two activities aimed to make a valuable contribution to the mobilisation, participation and inclusion of Roma young people in Ukraine and the region, notably by:

  • developing the competences of youth leaders and educators in combating antigypsyism through human rights education and using Mirrors as a tool;
  • supporting self-organisation and regional networking among Roma youth organisations and youth leaders;
  • consolidating and extending the process initiated in 2015 on mainstreaming Roma youth issues in youth policies and Roma policies of the Ukrainian youth policy;
  • identifying  and incorporating a Roma youth component as part of the current national and local youth policy structures and processes;
  • identifying priorities, orientation and partners for the future activities of the Roma Youth Action Plan in the region.

The two activities were organised in partnership with the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine and non-governmental organisations working with young Roma, within the Framework Programme on cooperation in the field of youth policy between the Council of Europe and the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine. The ROMED programme of the Council of Europe supported the two activities.
 

Report of the regional training course >>

Report of the national training seminar >>

Meeting of Roma young people from Ukraine

On 29 and 30 May 2015 a meeting of 20 Roma young people from Ukraine was organised by the International Charitable Organization “Roma women fund “Chiricli” and the League of interns of the Parliament of Ukraine with the aim to gather Roma young people in order to develop their competence to participate and interact with a variety of organisations and institutions on Roma youth issues.

The meeting was organised in co-operation with the Council of Europe, as part of the Roma Youth Action Plan and the ROMED programme. Both programmes aim to support the participation of Roma young people in all matters that concern them. The meeting was organised also in co-operation with national level partners from Ukraine, the League of Interns of the Parliament of Ukraine, the Committee of the Youth and Family policy of the Parliament of Ukraine, the State Institute of the Youth and Family policy in Ukraine.

Most of the Roma youth in Ukraine is not integrated into the mainstream education or other public services. In the same time in Ukraine, Roma youth is not sufficiently participating in associations or NGOs: despite the presence of a growing number of young Roma people willing to promote initiatives for their community, there is a general lack of skills, knowledge, necessary information and support.

The aim of the meeting was to develop participants’ competences in enhancing Roma youth and participation in Ukraine and to stimulate co-operation between different actors in the youth field in Ukraine for youth policy development and implementation.

Meeting report >>

Activists’ meeting on ways to combat antigypsyism

The Youth Department of the Council of Europe during 6-8 April, 2014 has organised a meeting of representatives from national campaign committees, online activists and Roma organizations representatives. The aim of the meeting was to analyse and develop strategies, activities and proposals for all those Involved in the NHSM campaign to address the topic of antigypsyism in its online dimension.
 

The specific objectives were:

  • To map the realities of antigypsyism in its online dimension today in Europe;
  • To exchange practices of activists and youth organisations on combating antigypsyism;
  • To review the objectives, approaches and the content of NHSM in relation to combating antigypsyism;
  • To plan future activities, in the NHSM framework, on the topic of combating antigypsyism.

The specific outputs of the meeting were few developed proposals by meeting participants for addressing antigypsyism issues under the NHSM campaign.

The meeting gathered in total of 20 participants from Finland, Poland, Hungary, Ireland, Belgium, Serbia, Greece, Lithuania, Spain and The Netherlands.

First Encounter of Roma youth, students and families of Portugal

‘Letras Nomadas’ a Roma organisation from Portugal has organised a meeting in Lisbon 2014 with representatives of the Roma community, national and municipal authorities and relevant Portuguese stakeholders.

The objectives of the meeting were to raise the awareness of Roma parents about the importance of education, motivate young Roma through positive examples of educated and integrated Roma young people and develop conclusions for future actions. The encounter of this kind was an important milestone for the Roma civil society in Portugal since they had the very first opportunity to discuss issues of education at a national level with high profile of expertise and institutional representatives.

The event brought together around 100 participants out of which 70 Roma students and family representatives. After careful analyses of the education situation in Portugal, participants developed conclusions on how to proceed and improve their educational status.

The event was co-supported by the Youth Department of the Council of Europe.

Training course on the Management and Development of Roma Youth Organisations

Within the framework of the Roma Youth Action Plan, the Youth Department ran in 2013 and 2014 a training course on management of development of Roma youth organisation for youth leaders working within a youth organisation/institution carrying projects with young Roma or an informal youth group that wish to further develop into an organisation.

The training course aimed to strengthen the capacity and sustainability of Roma youth organisations in representing and voicing the concerns and needs of Roma young people and in working with Roma young people.

The training course involved 28 participants from 16 countries. A team of 3 trainers, supported by 2 educational advisors of the Council of Europe, is responsible for the implementation of the course.

First Youth Meeting of Roma, Manouche and Gens de Voyage from France

The first meeting of young Roma, Manouche and Gens de Voyage from France has taken place during 20-23 October 2014 at the European Youth Center in Strasbourg. The event brought together some 35 young people, aged 15 to 30, from the Roma, Manouche and Gens de Voyage communities.
The purpose of the event was to reflect on identity issues among the communities, learn about human rights and the tools to link with European young people but also to create space for sharing and learning together among the communities. Participants developed activities and a plan for the future to act as a group.

It is expected that the young people who participated in the meeting will be multipliers with other young people. They made commitments to work together to better represent the issues that young Roma, Manouche and Gens de Voyage identify as important to work on.

The meeting was organised by the Youth Department of the Council of Europe in co-operation with ARPOMT and other Roma organisations, within the framework of the Roma Youth Action Plan.

Ecoutez les histoires des participants à la première rencontre de jeunes Roms et gens du Voyage de France:

Training for Youth Leaders for fighting against discrimination (2012-2014)

Within the framework of the Roma Youth Action Plan, the Youth Department organised in 2012 and 2013 a training course for Roma youth leaders, activists and multipliers, with a focus on developing their capacity to to take action against discrimination.

The course gave participants the opportunity to experience and reflect upon activities and concepts central to human rights and anti-discrimination youth work based on experiential learning approaches.

The training course involved 31 participants from 18 countries, mostly from local organisations, based in the Roma communities.