Decade Watch Puts the Roma Decade on the Serbian Parliament's Agenda

2007.09.21

On September 19, 2007 the Serbian version of the Decade Watch report was presented in the building of the Parliament of Serbia. The presentation took place during the conference "The Situation of Roma in Serbia" organized by the Roma MP Srdjan Sain.


On September 19, 2007 the Serbian-language version of the Decade Watch report was presented in the building of the Parliament of Serbia. This public presentation took place on the occasion of the conference "The Situation of Roma in Serbia" organized by the Roma MP Srdjan Sain in cooperation with the League for the Decade in Serbia, the Fund for an Open Society–Serbia and the OSI Roma Initiatives Office.

The event was attended by ten members of parliament representing all political factions and was opened by the Speaker of Parliament, Oliver Dulic. In his speech, Dulic stressed that "anti-discrimination is a key for the stability of Serbian society" and that "the ruling coalition is committed to improve the situation of Roma." He added that the approval a few weeks ago of an amendment to the budget law allocating funds for the Decade of Roma Inclusion is an example of the steps taken in this direction. The Head of the Agency for Human and Minority Rights, Petar Ladjevic, re-affirmed the commitment of the government to take over the Presidency of the Decade starting July 1, 2008.

Osman Balic, the coordinator of the League for the Decade, spoke about the findings of Decade Watch and urged the government to adopt and implement policies towards Roma in the fields of education, housing, health and employment, also taking into account gender, anti-discrimination and poverty. Following Balic's presentation, most of the MPs present expressed their agreement with the findings of the report and pledged their support for Roma policies.

Overall, the conference was a great success and it achieved its purpose of placing Roma issues and the Roma Decade on the agenda of Parliament. The results of the conference and the findings of the Decade Watch report will be presented at the next meeting of the External Relations Committee of the Serbian Parliament together with a proposal to form a sub-committee on the Decade of Roma Inclusion that will also include Roma activists from civil society.



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