European Training Programme for Roma Mediators starts on 26-29 January 2011 in Strasbourg

As a follow-up to the High Level Meeting on Roma and the adoption of the Strasbourg Declaration on 20 October 2010, the Council of Europe is launching a European Training Programme for Roma Mediators. The aim is to consolidate the existing training programmes for and about mediators for Roma, through the most effective use of existing Council of Europe resources, standards, methodology, networks and infrastructure, in close co-operation with national and local authorities. The Programme envisages the training of school, health and employment mediators working with Roma people who face difficulties in exercising their social human rights (access to education, health services and employment), in the beneficiary countries. The training course will be based on a curriculum prepared by the Council of Europe and will be tailored to address the specific needs of the mediators in the selected countries.

Call for applications

Recent Activities

Some twenty lawyers and human rights activists from across Europe participated in a two-day study session on September 6 and 7 organised by the Directorate General of Social Cohesion of the Council of Europe to learn new techniques for using the European Convention and the European Social Charter to promote enforcement of human rights protections for Roma and Travellers. In cooperation with the Budapest-based European Roma Rights Centre, participants were selected through a competitive process based upon a demonstration of commitment to human rights in general and to promoting legal and social rights of Europe’s most impoverished and discriminated minority group. Read more here.

The European citizens rally in favour of their fellow-countrymen Roma and Travellers. On Saturday, September 4th, on the appeal of the associations of Roma and Travellers, the League of Human rights, MRAP, Doctors of the World or from the Europe Ecology, demonstrations were organized in the main French cities and in front of the embassies of France abroad to say no to the stigmatization and protest against xenophobe policies of France. An interview was made with Ms Eleni Tsetsekou from the Roma and Travellers division of the Council of Europe by Claire Stephan for ARTE Journal. The interview (in French only) is available here.

The international specialist workshop organised within the Presidency of the Slovak Republic of the Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005-2015 entitled "Programmes supporting social inclusion of the disadvantaged population groups" took place in Bratislava on 17-18 May 2010. The speech of Ms Louiza Kyriakaki, a Chair of the MG-S-ROM is available here.

European Roma and Travellers Forum
Meeting report
Media training on the Roma minority and ethical reporting