Roma

SIXTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF ROMA^[1] WOMEN’S POLITICAL PARTICIPATION IN LOCAL, REGIONAL, NATIONAL AND EUROPEAN ELECTIONS

4-5 September 2017

Bucharest, Romania

The Sixth International Conference of Roma Women organised by the Council of Europe and the Romanian Government will take place in Bucharest, Romania, on 4‑5 September 2017.

Since 2003, the Roma Women’s conferences have provided the opportunity for Roma women to address, on the international stage, the issues affecting their own and their families’ lives. They have also provided a space where Roma women have kept each other informed of issues concerning them and exchanged experiences. 

The Fifth International Conference took stock of the developments since the First International Conference of Roma Women and hosted policy oriented discussions in workshops focusing on the major Roma women’s issues identified at the Helsinki conference. One such issue was Romani women’s empowerment, including in political participation.

The Sixth International Conference will focus on the issue of political participation and aims at obtaining concrete endorsements of Roma women by mainstream political parties. It will examine how to ensure the eligibility of Roma women candidates in local, regional, national and European elections in 2018-2019 through national legislative changes. In that context, it will examine existing electoral Roma / Travellers quota systems and how they could be transcribed into the legislation of our member states so as to increase the representation of Roma women at all levels of government.

The Council of Europe will target countries which envisage elections in 2018 and 2019. Target countries include: Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Finland, France, Hungary, Italy, Republic of Moldova, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and the host country, Romania.

Interpretation at the Conference will be provided in English, French, Romani and Romanian.

If you are interested in speaking at the Conference and/or you are a Roma woman interested in running as a candidate in elections at the local, regional, national or European level in 2018-2019 and belong to one of the countries listed above, and would like to participate, you should first express your interest by sending your letter/e-mail of motivation and your CV to roma.team@coe.int before 15 July 2017, in any of the above indicated languages. You will be contacted only if selected to attend the conference. Please note that any of the working languages indicated above constitute a basis for the selection criteria. Please keep in mind that not all those who apply will be able to attend the conference.

[1] The term “Roma” used at the Council of Europe refers to Roma, Sinti, Kale and related groups in Europe, including Travellers and the Eastern groups (Dom and Lom), and covers the wide diversity of the groups concerned, including persons who identify themselves as “Gypsies”.