Speech by Maud de Boer-Buquicchio,

Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe

Launch of the Dosta! Campaign in Italy

Rome, 7 June 2010

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First of all, I should like to thank all of you who have contributed to the launch of the Dosta! Campaign in Italy, starting with the Uffizio Nazionale Antidiscriminazioni Razziali and you, Mr Monnani, as its General Director. I should also like to express my appreciation for the support of the Italian government, especially Ms Matone who is with us today, and Minister Carfagna.

Finally, of course, my thanks go to Fanny Ardant, who has agreed to lend her voice, determination and artistic talent to the cause of defending Roma rights across Europe. We are delighted, dear Fanny, to have you on board, and after seeing your emotion and
thought-provoking film, I am looking forward to all our future
co-operation for the cause of the human rights and human dignity of Roma.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

A cynic once said that common sense was just another word for all the prejudice one has accumulated by the age of eighteen. Regrettably, there is much truth in this statement, especially when it comes to people’s attitudes towards Roma.

Many people, throughout all European societies, have a deeply entrenched suspicion and fear of Roma. I am not talking about extremists who are always on the look out for someone to hate, but about ordinary people, who think of themselves as good and decent, and who would never admit or accept to be called racists. Yet they will cross the road when they see a Roma on the street, protest when a Roma family moves into the neighbourhood or complain about Roma children in their local school.

This is not racism, they will say, this is about security, good education, special needs of Roma children, property prices or any other consequence of living in proximity of Roma in which they believe because this is, after all, common knowledge and common sense.

Many of these people may indeed not be racists, but they are still wrong. Their perceptions and reactions are helping to build the wall of mistrust, intolerance and discrimination between majority populations and Roma communities in Europe.

It is this people, victims of ignorance and stereotypes, who are the main target of our Dosta! Campaign. Dosta, in Romani, means “enough”. Enough of ignorance, enough of prejudice, enough of fear.

The Dosta! Campaign is an invitation to learn about our neighbours, our fellow citizens, our fellow Europeans. It shows Roma as they are, in their daily routines, in their family, with their friends, at work, in school, at home, with their hopes and with their problems. It shows the richness of their culture and the harshness of their daily lives.

The Council of Europe has been working to defend and promote the rights of the Roma and Sinti populations in Europe for over forty years now. We act in many different areas and in many different ways. We help our member States to adapt their laws and put in place adequate policies in the field of education, health, social services, housing and others, with the objective of successful integration and socialisation of Roma. We organise workshops for teachers and seminars for public officials.

Our legally-binding mechanisms, starting, of course, with the European Convention on Human Rights and its Court, to the European Social Charter and the Framework Convention on National Minorities, to mention only the most important ones, are offering legal protection and legal remedies against human rights violations. The European Court of Human Rights, for one, has delivered a number of important decisions which have helped to advance the protection of the human rights of Roma in several Council of Europe member States.

Our monitoring institutions, such as the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance and, of course, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Thomas Hammerberg, have been devoting much attention to the Roma situation, which they have identified as perhaps the most vulnerable minority in Europe. A minority, I repeat, of 12 million people.

Within that vulnerable minority, there are sub-minorities which are even more at risk. There are women, often disadvantaged not only as Roma, but also within the Roma community as well. And there are of course children, who must be – and are – an absolute priority of our work related to Roma.

In recent years, our work has gained a new, and very important aspect. We are not only working for Roma, we are working with them. This is crucially important. While societies as a whole have the responsibility to confront prejudice and discrimination, guarantee the full protection of human rights and provide adequate social conditions for Roma, a large part of responsibility for successful social integration lies with Roma themselves. This is why we have helped to create the European Roma and Travellers Forum, a body entrusted with giving Roma communities throughout Europe a voice and a say in the matters which concern them directly. Roma, like all other individuals in our societies, have rights, and these rights must be fully respected. But they also have responsibilities, and these must be respected as well.

We are fully aware of the problems which exist in many of our societies and are related to Roma. We are not dismissing the real and legitimate concerns of the authorities in many of our countries with regard to the respect of legal and social norms. To the contrary; much of the Council of Europe’s work is designed to help the authorities to manage sometimes very complex, sensitive and difficult situations, and to put in place adequate measures and policies. What we insist upon, however, is that any such measures are effective and respective of the human rights and the human dignity of all involved – and this is regrettably not always the case.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

This was a very summary presentation of the Council of Europe’s
multi-disciplinary work on Roma and with Roma. We help to change laws and help to change lives. But to be successful, we must start by changing minds. This brings me back to the Dosta! Campaign and to its launch here in Italy.

Once again, I should like to congratulate the Italian authorities for joining in this Campaign. I take their commitment as encouraging evidence of their determination to respond to all the challenges in this area in a way which will be effective and consistent with Council of Europe standards. I can assure you that in this endeavour, they can count on the Council of Europe’s full support and contribution.

Finally, I should only like to invite you to say Dosta! learn about Roma. Opening your eyes is the first step towards opening your hearts.

Thank you.