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Director General,
Dear Friends,
Thank you for the invitation to join you today. I welcome this initiative and I applaud the high focus you are giving to the critical issue of full respect for the human rights of Roma, Sinti, and Travellers. I welcome the adoption of the National Strategy 2021-2030. I appreciate the initiative of convening us here on the Campidoglio, the symbolic heart of governance, with a resonance for people everywhere.
Colleagues, after nearly eight years as director of the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights - FRA, I am convinced that the experience of Roma in our societies is one of the defining human rights issues of our time. The extent of exclusion and marginalisation of the EU’s 6 million-strong community of Roma women, men and children is a cause of great shame.
Several years ago, I was in a small village – not in Italy - where I was invited into a Roma lady’s home. It was a very poor house, some broken windows, desperately in need of paint. There was no inside toilet, the yard was scruffy, overgrown and all her neighbours were Roma. These Roma were, in a sense, pushed to that part of the village by the local community. What I remember most of all is the fact that this woman kept apologising to me. She apologised for the fact that the house was not very presentable, she apologised that her children were not well dressed, she apologised that she didn’t have anything to offer us by way of food or drink. She kept apologising and I got very angry. Not with her. I got angry that she should apologise to me. We, non-Roma, should be apologising to her, because it’s we, through our attitudes and our prejudice and our discrimination, that have shoved that woman to the edge of our society.
The evidence for our failure is overwhelming and sadly reinforced by my Agency’s research.
In our survey work with Roma and Travellers across the EU, one in four Roma reports being discriminated against. They report the discrimination in education, access to work, the workplace, engagement with the State, housing, healthcare and elsewhere. Patterns of attacks and harassment are equally disturbing. Our data indicates that the average of Roma people who have experienced hate-motivated harassment is 20%, with the figure for Italy being twice this. Violence against Roma is also high in Italy: one in ten Roma have experience racially motivated physical violence within the past year: five times the EU average.
Such acts of violence and discrimination are extremely underreported to the authorities. Underreporting is compounded by low levels of awareness of rights, as well as how and where to complain. On average, only half of Roma respondents to our surveys have heard of avenues of redress, such an equality body, national human rights institution, or ombudsperson. Many Roma also distrust the police, with 14% of survey respondents in Ireland believing that the most recent stop by police was carried out because they are an Irish Traveller.
It will come as no surprise that Roma fare very badly in terms of respect for their socio-economic outcomes. As our surveys show, here in Italy, almost every Roma – 98%- is at risk of poverty, with the EU average not far behind at 83%.
Any analysis of the human rights situation of Roma requires reference to the extent of antigypsyism in our societies. The share of people not wanting Roma as neighbours is disturbingly high – especially here in Italy - at 65% in 2018. It is also commonplace to smear the entire Roma community with the unacceptable acts of individuals – such as labelling everyone a criminal because of the acts of a few. These problems of ‘othering’ are widespread and entrenched. And we see that they are exacerbated in moments of social unease, such as today. I recall the experience of a Ukrainian Roma child that colleagues of mine encountered in March of last year on her arrival into the EU. She was refused access to a bus because the people onboard did not want Roma on the bus. This same child had difficulty finding somewhere to sleep that night, again because people did not want to share their space with her.
My friends,
There is a danger that the constant repetition of the dreadful statistics will induce a sense of hopelessness and toleration of the unacceptable. I acknowledge that it will take a long time to achieve full respect for the human rights of members of the Roma – but positive change is possible. Drawing from the work of my Agency and of others, allow me to propose five elements for our strategies.
First, recognise that the primary problem is in the general population. All our efforts should begin with an acknowledgement of the extent of antigypsyism in our societies. Calling it out as the racism that it is, we must invest in awareness raising in schools and among adults. And Roma- targeted hate speech should be treated no differently to any other – with criminal acts investigated and prosecuted. There can be impunity for no one – not least for high profile political and other personalities. Tackling antigypsyism also requires us to follow the hate online and ensure that it is captured in both human and automated social media content moderation.
Second, acknowledge that those of us who are not Roma must work with, rather than for, them. This obvious observation is commonly overlooked. Shockingly, I even know of an official governmental body working for the wellbeing of Roma that refuses to have them as members. Any such failure to work together with Roma is an issue of human rights, since it undermines their status as rights-holders.
What would meaningful engagement or partnership look like? It entails the co-design, planning, implementation and monitoring of a diverse range of interventions in various areas, whether in education, employment, healthcare, housing, or culture. Most importantly, Roma communities need to be involved in determining the areas of intervention. The process cannot succeed if it is done from the outside-in, without the lived experience and the active participation of the people who stand to gain the most from the interventions.
Two groups in particular should be mentioned: women and young people.
I am firmly convinced that Roma and Traveller women are the primary drivers of change in their communities. In my many visits to Roma communities, from Helsinki to Budapest, Athens to Dublin, they are the predominant source of ideas, energy, and initiatives. My Agency’s recent project, Local Engagement for Roma Inclusion, delivered in multiple countries, was intended to create a space for dialogue and listen to the voices of Roma at the national and local level. Bringing together local residents, including Roma, with other local stakeholders, the project gave people the freedom to identify one priority issue – and provided a small grant to implement it. Roma women opted for practical projects, such as cooking workshops and dance classes- opportunities which would allow them to stay at home to raise their children, while also empowering them as individuals and boosting their self-confidence. Roma women in Madrid took the innovative step to use this project to establish a women’s congress. This was a unique opportunity for them to be heard and to establish networks- a space not just to use their voice, but to grow it.
Roma women should also be given meaningful support to enter the labour market. Fighting poverty and providing decent housing will help Roma women in particular to get out of survival mode, unlock their potential to get jobs and provide them with meaningful choices. I should add that providing women with a real choice, to get education and a job, is also the best way to tackle early marriage- a fate experienced by twice as many young women than young men.
Turning to young people, the importance of including them in the continued fight for change cannot be overstated. While their infectious energy and passion is integral to keeping all others motivated, the need for their involvement is simpler than that. Change will not occur overnight. We can see in our surveys, that where change occurs, it is the result of a long effort, of years of discussing, convincing and struggling. The journey to the eradication of racism and discrimination against Roma communities is an intergenerational one, and we must strive to get - and keep - younger people involved.
Third, go local. Participatory approaches to local-level action can help to empower people to claim their rights, and learn tools to improve their own situation, thus reducing their dependency on others to remove barriers and challenges for them. In doing so, meaningful, and tangible change can be achieved. Communities can be empowered, and local authorities can become more responsible and effective in working to protect and promote anti-racism and human rights. This is why my own Agency has repeatedly called for a particular focus on local-level community-led initiatives with priority on housing and on strengthening the capacity to implement projects.
An important element of focussing locally is the building of trust between stakeholders. Where communities and their members trust the individuals and organisations that implement projects, they are more likely to participate in activities and share openly their thoughts and opinions; as a result, interventions lead to more concrete and meaningful results.
Fourth, build policy and action on the foundation of solid evidence. Many of our EU Member States lack mechanisms for the gathering of the data essential to the measurement and assessment of social change and the pursuit of equality. Without these they are working in the dark.
My Agency plays an important role in the generation of evidence with its repeated surveys. The disaggregated data provides stakeholders - from the European Commission to local actors - with baseline information on the lived experience of inequality among different population groups. However, our work at FRA can in no way substitute for the detailed and localised data gathering that is possible at the national level. As efforts are made to strengthen national efforts my Agency will continue to offer and provide its expertise and support.
Fifth, and finally foster and celebrate Roma culture. Later this week (8 April), we celebrate National Romani Day. It is a day to raise awareness of the issues faced by the Roma people, but, just as importantly, it is a day to celebrate Roma culture in all its rich diversity. Our general populations seem to have only the most limited understanding not only of the cultural fabric of Roma life but also how that culture has enriched the art, music, language, and other strands of our lives. How many people, for instance, are aware of the origins in Roma culture of the flamenco music and dance of Spain? Culture, of course, is about more than song and dance, it goes to the very heart of communities, embracing features of life that are integral to the identity of the group. Within the Irish Traveller context, for instance, the rearing and keeping of horses is of high importance. That essential element of Traveller culture must be respected in any actions impacting that community, such as regarding housing. This is just one of many different examples across our societies and countries. They must all be addressed in our relevant policies and strategies.
Mention of strategies brings me to consider a roadmap by which to move forward.
In October 2020, the European Commission adopted its new EU Roma Strategic Framework for Equality, Inclusion and Participation. The Strategic Framework sets out seven objectives at the EU level for the period up to 2030. Three of these objectives are horizontal, addressing the areas of equality, inclusion, and participation. The other four are sectoral objectives: in the areas of education, employment, housing, and health.
The Framework proposes quantitative EU headline targets to monitor achievement towards the objectives. While such targets require minimum progress to be achieved by 2030, the long-term aim remains to ensure effective equality and to close the gap between Roma and the general population. The targets are the result of the close cooperation between the Commission, the Member States as well as Roma and pro-Roma civil society – and I am proud that our Agency played an instrumental role in facilitating this challenging exchange.
Of course, an EU strategy will achieve little without being echoed at the national level. That is why the Framework called for the Member States to have presented their national inclusion plans by September 2021. However, a sense of urgency was lacking in the adoption by many Member States’ of their national plans; most missed the original deadline, with only 5 Member States submitting on time. And the national plans are of varying quality. An assessment of national frameworks, carried out by the European Commission in January 2023, determined that many of them are lacking in particular aspects, ranging from targets to measurable indicators, to necessary budgets and resources.
Dear colleagues,
I began my words today with a memory. Please allow me to conclude with another, from my childhood in Ireland. When I was 7 or 8 years old - late one evening, I was woken up by a commotion on the street below my bedroom window. When I went to the window, I saw the owner of a small bar or café across the street from our house brutally beating a Traveller man with a piece of wood. The attack was extremely brutal. What was striking was not just its ferocity, but the sense that the bartender was going to get away with it, that this was just somehow normal behaviour for how you treat a Traveller customer who is not obeying the rules of the cafe. I don’t know how long I watched, but what is horrifying in retrospect, was the extent to which I just filed it away as something if not acceptable, then normal – as just a particularly extreme reflection of the endemic prejudice and marginalization of Travelling People that was standard in the Ireland of the 1960s and 70s.
Things have improved greatly since then, but I must never put away the memory – I need it to remind me of how low we can fall in our treatment of each other.
But I must also go forward with hope. What image or memory will help with that? Perhaps an apt image is that of the wonderful statue of Marcus Aurelius that is positioned just outside this building. He was described by Machiavelli as the last of the good emperors. I find helpful the advice he offers us in his Meditations, ‘Do not feel exasperated or defeated or despondent because your days are not packed with wise and moral actions. But get back up when you fail, celebrate behaving like a human – however imperfectly – and fully embrace the pursuit of good’.
These are wise words for all of us as we recommit to working together to honour the human rights of Roma and Travellers.
Thank you.
