„Roma Virtual
Network“ romale0804@yahoo.com (Roma
Francais)
Roma Need a
Radical Break with a History of Injustices, Harvard’s Matache Says
18/06/2015 -
Recent European Roma integration policies have failed, and we need to find out
why, according to Margareta Matache, Roma rights activist and instructor at
Harvard University, speaking at CEU’s Roma Graduate Preparation Program
End-of-Year Student Seminar on June 15.
“In theory,
Roma people have the same citizenship rights in Europe and there are many
programs aimed at their integration. Still, the gap between Roma and non-Roma
population in terms of employment, education and life expectancy has not closed
in the last 25 years. We have to find out why,” said Matache, who mentioned
“low and biased policy goals” as one of the main reasons.
For example,
Roma and non-Roma employment policies have different ambitions, Matache said,
comparing the 10-year Europe 2020 program with the EU Framework for National
Roma Integration Strategies. While the goal of the Europe 2020 program is to
raise the percentage of the 30-34 age group finishing tertiary education to 40
percent, the EU Framework aims only at providing access to all Roma children to
primary education, while “encouraging” them to continue their education.
“The positive
scenario means only that by 2020, the gap will not widen further. In a more
likely negative scenario, we will see that the policies introduced had
practically no effect and the negative tendencies could not be reversed. Make
no mistake, surely the Roma minorities and NGOs will be blamed for this,”
Matache said. The outlook is not too bright either, as “integration fatigue”
might set in in government institutions by 2020. “It is only the Roma activists
who can prove and tell the public that these policies mostly existed in paper
and theory, and that they had limited budgets, poor monitoring and
implementation,” said Matache.
“To achieve a
radical break from a long history of injustices we must remind the majority
population of their responsibility, and attain reparations: symbolic, monetary
or otherwise,” said Matache, who listed recent examples of government
apologies. The Czech Republic apologized for the forceful sterilization of Roma
women during the communist era. Written statements were later followed by a
plan of compensations. Norway also apologized for World War II discrimination
and offered compensation.
Memorialization
of injustices is also a key area. In Romania, the enslavement of the Roma
minority, which lasted till the mid-19th century, should be memorialized not
only in special institutions, but also at such important venues of national
identity as the National Museum of Romanian History, she said. She also
mentioned that attempts at gaining apologies from the Orthodox Church because
its involvement in slavery have been unsuccessful.
Mainstream sociological
research towards Roma communities is often biased, sensationalist and pursuing
its own agenda instead of the interests of the communities, she said.
“A top-down,
outside-in approach is regular in these surveys, and they rarely engage the
communities in a meaningful way. Researchers often act patronizingly, offering
simple solutions to local problems, which offends participants. The results are
not shared with the community. Researchers just arrive and leave, never to be
seen again,” she said.
A
participatory approach is a better way of collecting data about minority
communities, such as that followed by the “Reclaiming Adolescence: Roma
Transitions to Adulthood” project, an initiative of Harvard’s FXB Center for
Health and Human Rights, she said. Roma and Non-Roma youths between the ages of
15 and 25 play a key role in the project: they interact with their peers,
conduct interviews, conduct surveys, and work in sub-projects. Click here to
watch a video about the project.
Matache also
offered future research topics to the participants of the Roma Graduate Preparation
Program. She mentioned the participatory approach as a method worth analyzing
or applying, as it offers a lot of value and respect to the communities. Global
Roma cooperation and movements are also worth researching, as the Gypsy
population in India can also be an intriguing field of research.
Dr. Margareta
(Magda) Matache is a Roma rights activist from Romania. In 2012 she was awarded
a Hauser fellowship at Harvard University, FXB Center for Health and Human
Rights, where currently she works as an instructor. Her publications and
research have covered participatory action research, early childhood
development, rights and agency of Romani adolescents, segregation in education,
anti-Roma violence. Some of her academic articles were published by UPenn,
Human Rights Quarterly, and European Review-Cambridge University Press
The Roma
Graduate Preparation Program is part of CEU's Roma Access Programs unit. It is
an intensive nine-month program that prepares promising Roma youth to compete
for study in English-language Master's degree programs at CEU and other
recognized universities. RGPP seeks to attract students with a special interest
in the social sciences and humanities.
Nema komentara:
Objavi komentar