Regional Round Table on "Roma Access to Employment"
Skopje, 25 - 26 April 2005

Employment is one of the prerequisites to living a dignified and decent life. Are current policies being effective in giving the Roma equal opportunities to employment? What obstacles are Roma facing in trying to gain access to employment? What good practices have already been implemented and should be used in full capacity?

These will be some of the main topics of the Regional Round Table on “Roma Access to Employment” which will take place on 25-26 April 2005, in Skopje at the Hotel ARKA, Bitpazarska, 90/2, as part of the joint Project between the Council of Europe, the OSCE-ODIHR and the European Commission “Roma under the Stability Pact II”.

The Regional Round Table will make the findings of a two year survey public. This survey aimed to collect data on the legal framework and the social aspects of the Roma access to employment in four Balkan countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” and Serbia and Montenegro).

Two Council of Europe international experts on employment issues, Mrs. Ina Zoon, and Mrs. Judith Kiers designed a methodology and prepared reporting guidelines based on Council of Europe Committee of Ministers Recommendation (2001)17 on Employment, to assist governments in improving the Roma access to employment in their countries.
Five Council of Europe local consultants, Mr. Amir Sarajlic, Mrs. Lovorka Kusan, Ms. Nedjeljka Sindik, Mr. Nenad Vladsavljev and Mr. Sejdo Jasarov, worked on local reports.

This round table will officially close the Stability Pact II and will allow discussion of the challenges of future stages of the Project.
By way of conclusion a guide book will be published containing the results of the survey as well the good practices to tackle the Roma unemployment issue which might be used by governments also in the context of the Decade for Roma Inclusion.

Contacts: Mrs. Eleni Tsetsekou (e-mail: eleni.tsetsekou@coe.int ; tel: +33 3 88 41 24 33)
Ms. Ivana d’Alessandro (e-mail: ivana.dalessandro@coe.int ; tel: +33 3 90 21 51 51)