7^th INTERNATIONAL ROMA WOMEN’S CONFERENCE

Roma and Traveller Women’s access to justice and rights

Tuesday, 26 March 2019 

Hashtags: #IRWConference and #FinlandCoE and #WeSupportHumanRights

Roma and Traveller Women’s access to justice and rights

Tuesday, 26 March 2019

Welcome and introductory statements

Chair: Mr Hallvard Gorseth, Head of Anti-Discrimination Department, Head of Department a.i. for the Roma and Travellers Team, Directorate General of Democracy, Council of Europe             

09.00-09.30                 Welcoming words by the Chair of the session

                                    Introductory statement by Ms Marja Ruotanen, Director of the Committees, Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE)

Setting the scene

Introductory statement by Ms Miranda Vuolasranta, President of European Roma and Travellers Forum (ERTF) and of the International Roma Women Network (IRWN) / Phenjalipe

Follow-up given to the 6^th international roma women conference on political participation and representation

09.30-10.00                  Mr Thorsten Afflerbach, Head of Division, Roma and Travellers Team, Council of Europe

                                   Conclusions and recommendations of the 6th International Roma women conference on political participation and representation

                                     Ms Katju Aro, Chair of the Feminist Party, Finland

                                    The importance of the Feminist Party for minorities and Roma women

Keynote speech

10.00-10.30                Ms Kirsi Pimiä, Non-Discrimination Ombudsperson, Finland

The possibilities for the Non-Discrimination Ombudsman to prevent and tackle Roma discrimination and to promote Roma equality in Finland

Commentaries

10.30-11:10                        Mr Ioannis Dimitrakopoulos, Scientific Adviser, European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA)

Mr Dan Doghi, Chief of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) Contact Point for Roma and Sinti

11.10-11.30                        BREAK

Plenary session 1: Improving access to justice for Roma and traveller Women

Chair: Mr Thorsten Afflerbach, Head of Division, Roma and Travellers Team, Council of Europe

11.30-13.00                Ms Michèle Bergdoll, JUSTROM Programme Manager, Roma and Travellers Team, Council of Europe

Presentation of the EU-CoE Joint programme on Roma and Traveller women’s access to justice (JUSTROM)

Ms Alexandra Karagianni (JUSTROM Greece)

Ms Teodora Krumova (JUSTROM Bulgaria)

Ms Argentina Dragutinovic (JUSTROM Italy)

Presentation and discussion of their work

Ms Henna Huttu, Ministerial Adviser, Advisory Board on Roma Affairs, Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, Finland, Finnish CAHROM member and CAHROM Rapporteur on Roma children: Main conclusions and lessons learnt from the CAHROM thematic report on improving access to justice for Roma and Travellers in Europe

Ms Mervi Sarimo, Ministerial Adviser, Ministry of Justice, Finland

Victim Support as a step towards equal access to justice

Discussion

13.00-14.30                        Lunch offered by the Finnish authorities

Parallel workshops

14.30-16.30                WORKSHOP 1: Forced removal of Roma and Traveller children from their parents

Room: Propeller, 2^nd floor

Languages: English and Finnish

Chair and moderator: Ms Marja Ruotanen, Director of the Committees, Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE)

Rapporteur: Mr Dan Doghi, Chief of the ODIHR Contact Point for Roma and Sinti, OSCE-ODIHR

panelists

Mr Philip Brown, Professor of Social Change in the Sustainable Housing & Urban Studies Unit (SHUSU), School of Nursing, Midwifery, Social Work and Social Sciences at the University of Salford, United Kingdom

Mr Thomas Huonker, Historian and senior researcher, Switzerland

Ms Rosita Grönfors, International Romnja and Travelling Women’s Center, Sweden

Ms Aniko Orsos, expert, European Roma Rights Center (ERRC)

Ms Inka Hetemäki, Director, Advocacy and Programmes, UNICEF                    

Mr Anssi Pirttijärvi, Senior Officer at the Office of the Ombudsman for Children, Finland

WORKSHOP 2: Forced and child marriages in Roma and Traveller communities

Room: Tetra, 1^st floor

Languages: English and Romani

Chair and moderator: Ms Merete Bjerregaard, Secretary of the former Steering Committee for Human Rights (CDDH) Drafting Group on Female Genital Mutilation and Forced Marriage

Rapporteur: Ms Cristina Raducan, Head of Roma Women Network in Moldova, Gender and Innovation expert, Republic of Moldova

panelists

Ms Najwa Duzdar, Orient Express, Vienna, Austria

Ms Béatrice Fresko-Rolfo (Monaco, ALDE). Rapporteur for the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly report on forced marriage (Resolution 2233 (2018), General Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, member of the PACE Equality and Anti-Discrimination Committee

Ms Diny Flierman, Manager Landelijk Knooppunt, Huwelijksdwang en Achterlating, the Netherlands

Ms Saška Jovanović, Ternibori, Italy, Marry when you are ready

Ms Teodora Krumova, Amalipe, Bulgaria

Ms Nataša Milenkovic, Nowhere to turn - Gender-based violence against Roma women, UNDP Europe and Central Asia

Ms Anu Sivaganesan, President of the Swiss National Centre of Competence against Forced Marriage, Switzerland

Ms Ursula Till-Tentschert, Deputy Head of Unit, Technical Assistance & Capacity Building Unit, European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA)                                                 

WORKSHOP 3: Preventing and combatting violence against Roma and Traveller women and domestic violence, and protecting their reproductive rights

Room: Dynamit, 2^nd floor

Language: English

Chair and moderator: Ms Iris Luarasi, Head of Board and Manager, Counseling Line for Women and Girls, Expert of the Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (GREVIO)

Rapporteur: Ms Gwendolyn Albert, journalist, Romea, Czech Republic

Panelists              

Ms Vanda Durbakova, Lawyer, Slovak Centre for Civil and Human rights

Testimony by Ms Elena Gorolová, NGO Group of Women Harmed by Forced Sterilization in the Czech Republic and victim of forced sterilisation

Mr Ciprian Ionita, independent human rights activist, Romania

Ms Ana María Segovia Montoya, Fundación Secretariado Gitano, Spain

WORKSHOP 4: Pogroms and evictions motivated by anti-Gypsyism and anti-Nomadism and their effects on Roma and Traveller women and communities

Venue: Room Ultraljud, 2^nd floor

 Languages: English and French

Chair and moderator: Ms Anca Enache, Head of Development, at the International Affairs Unit of Helsinki Deaconess Institute

Rapporteur: Ms Norica Costache, Secretary of IRWN-Phenjalipe, Romania

Panelists

Ms Miriam Attias, Conflict resolution between population groups, 2018 Winner of the European Prize, Finland

Ms Marie Pichault, Policy Officer, Centre de Médiation des Gens du Voyage et des Roms, Namur, Belgium

Mr Milan Antonijević, Director, Open Society Foundation Serbia             

Ms Tessa Collins, Senior Community Development Worker, Violence Against Women Programme, Pavee Point Traveller and Roma Centre, Ireland

Ms Yulia Kondur, President, Roma Women Fund "Chiricli", Ukraine

Ms Martine Serlinger, member of the Commission nationale consultative des gens du voyage and member of IRWN-Phenjalipe, France

Ms Manjola Veizi, Vice-President of IRWN-Phenjalipe, Albania

16.30-17.00                        BREAK

Plenary session 2: Conclusions and recommendations of the workshops

Moderator:                  Mr Thorsten Afflerbach, Head of Division, Roma and Travellers Team, Council of Europe

17.00-18.00                Working Group 1 Rapporteur: Mr Dan Doghi, Chief of the ODIHR Contact Point for Roma and Sinti, OSCE-ODIHR

                                   Working Group 2 Rapporteur: Ms Cristina Raducan, Gender and innovation expert, Republic of Moldova

                                   Working Group 3 Rapporteur: Ms Gwendolyn Albert, journalist, Romea.CZ

Working Group 4 Rapporteur: Ms Norica Costache, Secretary of IRWN-Phenjalipe, Romania

18.00                                                         End of second working day

Wednesday, 27 March 2019

Plenary session 3: New technologies, digitalisation potential equalizers or threats to Roma and Travellers

Moderator: Ms Henna Huttu, Ministerial Adviser, Advisory Board on Roma Affairs, Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, Finland

09.00-9.45   Ms Ursula Till-Tentschert, Deputy Head of Unit, Technical Assistance & Capacity Building Unit, European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) Big Data: Discrimination in data-supported decision making

Ms Carmen Santiago Reyes, Spain

SOS Kamira smartphone application lowering the threshold for reporting discrimination cases

Ms Yvonne MacNamara, Chief Officer, Ms Jenni Berlin, The Traveller Movement, United Kingdom

#Operationreporthate Campaign

Ms Jenita Rauta, POLAMK: Digital database research on hate crime against Roma in Finland, HERTGATE smartphone application

9.45 – 10.30                        Visual interlude

                                            Ms Carmen Baltzar, documentarist:

Public Images of Roma and Traveller Women in Media - reflection on unbalanced and distorted representations

                                            Ms Katriina Haikala, Visual Artist

Artist as a facilitator – Introduction to Lupta Femeilor- Women’s Fight art project executed together with Roma women in Finland

Ms Timea Junghaus, Executive Director / Anna Mirga-Kruszelnica, Deputy Director, The European Roma Institute for Arts and Culture (ERIAC),

ERIAC and organisation’s support to Roma women artists and Roma women

Discussion

10.30-11.00                        BREAK

11.00-11.30                        Contribution of the 7^th International Roma Women Conference to the CoE-Finnish CM Presidency Conference on “Gender stereotypes and sexism”                   on 28-29 March 2019

Ms Mabera Kamberi, CAHROM member in respect of North Macedonia and Gender Equality Rapporteur

Plenary session 4: Conclusions, Recommendations and closing remarks

Moderator: Ms Valerie Poppe-Muess, Project Manager, Roma and Travellers Team, Council of Europe

11.30-13.00                Ms Gwendolyn Albert, General Rapporteur

Conclusions and recommendations

Ms Christina Chalilopoulou, Senior Adviser in Human Rights, KEDE Central Union of Municipalities of Greece

The perspective of Roma and Traveller women

                                                                 Concluding statements

Mr Thorsten Afflerbach, Head of Division, Roma and Travellers Team, Council of Europe

Ms Henna Huttu, Ministerial Adviser, Advisory Board on Roma Affairs, Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, Finland

13.00                                                         End of the Conference