The Council of Europe contributes to the mainstreaming of Roma and Traveller gender equality issues within the Council of Europe Strategy for Gender Equality 2018-2023, promotes the empowerment of Roma and Traveller women in all spheres, addresses reproductive rights, domestic violence and early marriages or human trafficking within Roma and Traveller communities and organises every two years an International Roma Women’s Conference on thematic priorities established in co-operation with Roma and Traveller women’s organisations and, where relevant, with the competent authorities of the host country.
Finland is actively involved in the promotion of human rights matters in the Council of Europe and is known for its strong contribution to the development of human rights. It has been on the front line in the promotion of the human rights of the most disadvantaged groups, including women and the Roma.
The overall objective of this conference is to recognise the rights of Roma and Traveller women to live their lives freely and to be able to make their own choices without undue pressure from their community, family or the State.
The conference aims to raise awareness about the serious obstacles that Roma and Traveller women face in accessing justice and rights.
It will focus on family life, early/forced marriages, reproductive health and digitalisation. It will also review the achievements of the European Commission/Council of Europe Joint Programme JUSTROM, look at national and international legislation to secure access to justice of vulnerable groups, and identify barriers preventing this legislation to be fully and effectively implemented as well as ways and means of overcoming these obstacles.
The conference will comprise plenary sessions to set the scene and working groups as well as workshops to facilitate more interactive and in-depth discussions on core topics.
Participants will also assess the implementation of the Thematic Action Plan on the Inclusion of Roma and Travellers (2016-2019) from a gender perspective. The recommendations and conclusions form the conference will help define the post-2019 work on Roma and Traveller inclusion, with a gender perspective.
The event will take place at the Hanaholmen Swedish-Finnish Cultural Centre Hanasaarenranta 5, Espoo (Finland)
Documents
- Concept paper of the 7th International Roma Women's Conference
- Programme of the Conference
- Background documents and articles
Video links to the Conference
- Welcome and introductory statements
- Plenary session 1 - Improving access to justice for Roma and traveller Women
- Workshop 2 - Forced and child marriages in Roma and Traveller communities
- Plenary session 2 - Conclusions and recommendations of the workshops
- Short documentary by Katriina Haikala
- Plenary session 3 - New technologies, digitalisation potential equalizers or threats to Roma and Travellers
- Visual Interlude: Katriina Haikala
- Plenary session 4 - Conclusions, Recommendations and closing remarks (starting with Ms Mabera Kamberi’s speech)