Education, employment, health protection and housing for the Roma community are key items in the EU-funded project “Support to National Action Plan for Roma Inclusion“

On Wednesday in Sarajevo a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the BiH Ministry for Human Rights and Refugees and CARE International outlining steps to improve the status of Roma in Bosnia and Herzegovina with the support of the European Union.

The EU has allocated 495,000 Euros for this project, from IPA 2008, and CARE international has allocated 55,000 Euros. As part of the project, a Roma representative will be hired to act as Roma Coordinator at the BiH Ministry for Human Rights and Refugees, while four Roma Coordinators will be appointed at municipal level.

“The focus will be on collecting and distributing information and monitoring implementation of the Action Plans,” said Natalia Dianiskova, Head of the Operations Section for Social Development, Civil Society and Cross-Border Cooperation at the EU Delegation. “We are taking these activities very seriously, which is why we are already thinking about allocating a much higher amount for the implementation of the Roma Action Plan in the next three years, to the value of several million Euros.“

Dianiskova stressed that stronger efforts have to be made at other levels of government in order to support the Ministry for Human Rights and Refugees.

Minister for Human Rights and Refugees Safet Halilović noted that project activities include the provision of technical assistance, especially regarding education of local authorities and Roma organisations. He said that, until now, 202 apartment units have been built for Roma residents in different parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina and 10 more units are expected to be finished soon in Bihać Municipality.

“Of the 702,000 KM allocated in 2009 by the Council of Ministers to support the Roma population, 527,000 KM has been used for job creation,“ Halilović said. He said 119 Roma had been employed as a result of Council of Ministers activities.

Sumka Bučan, Director of CARE International said the goal of the present project is to strengthen the Ministry for Human Rights’ capacity to implement national Action Plans and to create a strong connection with Roma NGOs. One of the partners in the project is the Roma NGO “Euro-Rom” from Tuzla.

“Although Bosnia and Herzegovina signed up to the Roma Decade in 2008, and although numerous Action Plans have been adopted, the Roma population still suffers from various kinds of discrimination and human rights violation,“ Bučan said. She said that more than 40,000 Roma are currently living in Bosnia and Herzegovina and that they constitute the largest minority in the country.

Euro-Rom Director Nedžad Jusić said that this was one of the first projects to try to achieve a systemic solution to challenges faced by Roma citizens in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“The Project is designed to help employ Roma in public institutions where they can act as liaison between the authorities and NGOs,” he said. “A team will be created that can help implement the Roma Action Plans in an active way.”