Participants at OSCE/ODIHR workshop stress need for participating States to step up efforts to ensure effective and meaningful participation of Roma and Sinti in public and political life

OSCE participating States should step up their efforts to ensure the effective and meaningful participation of Roma and Sinti in public and political life, said participants at the consultation workshop organized by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) in Warsaw on 5 and 6 June 2018.

The workshop brought together 22 Roma experts from civil society organizations across the OSCE region to assess the progress participating States have made in the last five years in the implementation of the Action Plan on Improving the Situation of Roma and Sinti within the OSCE Area (OSCE Action Plan). Participants focused, in particular, on OSCE commitments related to enhancing the participation of Roma in public and political life.

During the meeting, participants discussed various developments regarding the participation of Roma and Sinti, including women and youth, over the last five years. Participants also discussed good practices, challenges and lessons learned over the last five years.

“The workshop provided an important platform for reviewing the extent of the progress made by OSCE participating States, but more vigorous action and measures must be undertaken to overcome the significant gap in participation of Roma and Sinti in all aspects of public life,” said Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir, Director of ODIHR.

Miranda Vuolasranta, president of the European Roma and Travellers Forum, said that “often, public authorities initiate consultation processes where Roma and Sinti’s contribution and recommendations are simply ignored or considered to a minimum extent only. This results in a situation where the policies, initiatives and projects stemming out of these processes lack Roma ownership and participation, and fail to produce the needed changes.”

In 2018, on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of the adoption of the OSCE’s Action Plan on Improving the Situation of Roma and Sinti within the OSCE Area, ODIHR will prepare its third status report on the implementation of the action plan, focusing, in particular, on Chapter VI: “Enhancing participation in public and political life”.