The Council of Europe, in cooperation with the State Service for Ethnic Affairs and Freedom of Conscience (DESS), organised consultations attended by 97 representatives of Roma civil society organisations, international bodies, embassies and regional military administrations.

The participants noted the positive developments taking place in Ukraine in the field of protecting the rights of national minorities, particularly in terms of legislative reform. At the same time, they provided a number of comments and proposals on the draft National Action Plan for the Roma Strategy for 2026-2028, emphasising that the document only partially meets the needs of the Roma population and does not contain sufficient specific mechanisms to address key issues.

According to the participants, the successful implementation of the Plan requires:

• clear measures to ensure access to quality education for Roma children;
• consideration of the needs of Roma internally displaced persons, Roma returning from European countries, and those who have lost their homes;
• integration of Roma needs into Ukraine's recovery plans;
• measures to increase the participation of Roma men and women in decision-making, despite the existence of the institution of Roma advisers in the national Plan on National Minorities.

Participants also stressed that funding exclusively from local budgets may make it impossible to implement most of the measures. In their opinion, clear coordination of actions with state institutions, regional military administrations and local self-government bodies is needed.

Particular attention was paid to the issue of effective coordination and implementation of the Roma Strategy. Activists noted that the implementation of the Roma Strategy is currently largely driven by the efforts of Roma organisations and that the Plan should take into account the needs of Roma women, mothers with many children and Roma women who are internally displaced persons.

The consultation demonstrated the importance of an inclusive, transparent and coordinated approach to the development and implementation of the National Action Plan for the Roma Strategy.

The event was held as part of the Council of Europe's project ‘Supporting the reform of the national minority legal framework and the resilience of national minorities and Roma in Ukraine-Phase II’ and was funded under the Council of Europe's Action Plan for Ukraine ‘Resilience, Recovery and Reconstruction’ for 2023-2026.