Cities and regions - joining forces for inclusion of Roma populations
31 May 2011, Brussels
Committee of the Regions, room JDE 51
Speech by John WARMISHAM, Congress Thematic Rapporteur on Roma/Travellers
Excellencies
Ladies and Gentlemen
On behalf of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, I should like to thank you for the invitation to take the floor today in the closing session of this seminar. As you will see from the programme, I’m speaking to you today in my role as Congress Thematic Rapporteur on Roma/Travellers. But if the Congress invited me to be its rapporteur on Roma, it is because I work a lot, as local councillor in my home town of Salford, to promote the inclusion of Roma. The Congress decided such a rapporteur was necessary in view of the growing concern about what is happening to Roma communities and the anti-Gypsyism which is on the rise across Europe, not only from citizens but also in the discourse of elected representatives.
I have been following the Council of Europe’s Roma related activities for some time now, and I am delighted that the Congress has joined the momentum created by Secretary General Thorbjørn Jagland when he called for a high level meeting last October to address the issue of Roma integration. The Secretary General launched his action at a time when major political figures in Council of Europe member states drew attention to the increasing discrimination and hate speech directed against the Roma population by policies which could only perpetuate these negative feelings. But it is not only at national level that politicians are giving voice to discriminatory declarations: we all remember, and were shocked by, the declaration adopted at the beginning of the year by 60 or so mayors in the Czech Republic. This declaration was about measures, which were widely seen as targeting the Roma population, which qualified Roma as “socially inadaptable”. I can but echo the statement made by Congress President, Keith Whitmore at the time and say that this sort of declaration runs counter to integration efforts and such an attitude cannot be tolerated by the Congress.
The Strasbourg Declaration, adopted at last October’s high level meeting, underlines the important role to be played at local and regional levels in promoting Roma inclusion. At its 20th session last March, the Congress decided to examine more closely the situation of Roma, and in particular to address the challenges posed to local and regional authorities in working towards Roma inclusion. In countries across Europe, national strategies and policies have been drafted to address the situation of Roma and to promote their inclusion, however, as we here know, it is at the local level where services are actually delivered and where action can be adapted to suit the local situation, the situation in my town will be different to that in your towns, indeed the situation in one neighbourhood will be different to the next. It is at the local and regional level that these policies and action are most effective and can be most efficiently implemented. We know from our experience in our towns and cities that it is also at this level where citizens have easiest access to policy makers as well as to their rights. Local authorities, therefore, have a key role to play in Roma inclusion and they must increase their efforts to implement local policy initiatives which support Roma.
Today’s seminar has been looking at these challenges and we have seen, but in fact we already knew, these policies and initiatives do not always work. Sometimes we do not always get the results we expected. Sometimes, our policies are just outright failures. As Congress Rapporteur on Roma/Travellers, I have been charged with researching not only what local and regional authorities can do to promote Roma inclusion but more importantly what they are doing, what is working and what is not. I have gained some very useful ideas from our discussions today which I will add to the research I have already undertaken. My task now is to draw conclusions from all I have learnt and heard and make recommendations to local and regional authorities, but also to national governments, not only on the type of policies we should be implementing but also the way they should be implemented.
In the Congress, we firmly believe in the concept of participation: we have a Convention on the Participation of Foreigners in Public Life at Local Level; a European Charter on the Participation of Young People in Local and Regional Life; an additional protocol on democratic participation at local level, complementing the European Charter of Local Self-Government. We have created these instruments because we know that, in the words of an African proverb, “the one wearing the shoes knows exactly where they hurt”. In other words, the people themselves are best placed to know what they want and what they need. In the district of the town of Salford in the north of England where I am a local councillor, we have a school which welcomes all children, be they of Roma origin or pure, born-and-bred Salford like myself. And the school works well, it has no more problems than any other school. In a borough of a neighbouring town, the authorities decided one school should open its doors to Roma children. But what happened? The other parents took their children out of the school. So what went wrong in that other town? What did we do right in Salford? What we did right is that we talked to and worked with representatives of all of the communities in our district because we realise that people have different needs and different goals. In Salford, wherever possible, we actively encourage the participation of all to develop strong and positive relationships between people from different backgrounds and promote meaningful dialogue and understanding between communities. In this way, we remove the barriers that limit what people can do and be, and we create an equal society.
For my research, I called upon the help of representatives of the Roma community in different countries for their ideas and suggestions. The Congress will take this cooperation one step further when it organises a Summit of Mayors on Roma, on 22 September in Strasbourg. We are inviting mayors, representatives of the Roma community, international organisations, networks of cities, to come together for one day to discuss the challenges posed to local and regional authorities and possible solutions. This Summit also aims to agree to set up a framework for cooperation between local and regional authorities at pan-European level, in close partnership with Roma associations, within which they can share experience and examples of good practice, building on and coordinating with networks of authorities that are already working on these issues.
I hope you will all join us in Strasbourg in September at this important event as we need your cooperation in building this legal and political cooperation framework within which all stakeholders participate on an equal footing and where common values can be negotiated and agreed upon. For it is only in this way, once citizens feel they are equal and have equal access to their rights, that a greater understanding is achieved between all members of a community, from all backgrounds. Only in this way can stereotypes be broken down, can citizens better engage in dialogue based on respect, and a more harmonious and comfortable environment be created.
I urge you to get involved in these activities and to send a message that intolerance towards and discrimination against Roma are not acceptable. I am sure I can also count on your cooperation in these efforts too.
Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your attention.