Helsinki Deaconess Institute has recently launched the project Discrikamira – Cooperating on Fighthing Discrimination, that aims to combat discrimination against Roma EU migrants and is coordinated in conjunction with the Spanish Federacion Nacional De Asociaciones De Mujeres Gitanas Kamira and the Italian Romni Onlus.

The project aims to increase the knowledge and awareness of the multiple and intersectional forms of discrimination as experienced by some of the Roma migrants and focuses on the development of support services and the empowerment of victims of discrimination. The initiative involves working on different fronts to fight discrimination and support Roma across the EU:

  • Mobilising Roma women groups. Roma migrant women will have the possibility to talk about experiences of discrimination and how to react to them. Such sessions will take place in safe spaces and include counselling and support from professionals.
  • Training for professionals. The aim of the trainings is to better prevent discrimination against the group by engaging key professionals: police, security officers, legal practitioners. There will be training also for media students and specialists focusing on how to avoid racialising ethnic minorities and contribute to spreading stereotypes impacting Roma lives.
  • Digital tools to fight discrimination. As part of the project, a video campaign with materials from each country and the smartphone application “SOS Kamira” have been launched to raise awareness about the issue and facilitate reporting cases of discrimination.
  • European cooperation. At the European level, the project contributes to the efficient implementation of EU legal and policy frameworks for Roma inclusion, such as the EU Framework for National Roma Integration Strategies, anti-discrimination laws and the European Pillar of Social Rights. As part of this, Federacion Nacional De Asociaciones De Mujeres Gitanas Kamira will host an international congress on anti-gypsyism.

Eurodiaconia warmly welcomes this initiative as over the course of this year our advocacy work on Roma inclusion has been insightful:  based on our member’s experiences we have developed a set of recommendations on how to better address mobile EU Roma in EU, and last month we organised a hearing on the future of the EU Roma Strategy. In order to strengthen our network’s knowledge on practices and strategies to empower Roma people in the future, this year’s Roma network meeting hosted is dedicated to Participation and Inclusion of Roma in Europe. The network meeting will take place from 18-20 September in Novi Sad, Serbia and will be hosted by our member EHO.

To know more about the project, please visit the official website.

To know more about Eurodiaconia’s upcoming event on Roma inclusion, please see the event page.