Decade Watch Update 2007

 

The first DecadeWatch report, published in June 2007, reviewed the period from the launch of the Decade in early 2005 until the end of 2006. The DecadeWatch 2007 Update, available only as an electronic publication, covers the year 2007 and reports any changes and new initiatives that governments introduced in that year. DecadeWatch reports aim to identify good experience and highlight achievements that countries can learn from. They are an attempt to compare government actions and to provide a snapshot of whether, and to what extent, governments have acted on their Decade promise. DecadeWatch recognizes that countries differ in size—in the size of their Roma populations and their level of economic development—and therefore may require differences in scale of effort. However, it is important to gain some measure of political will and pro-activity, as well as to identify good practice and gaps across countries and priority areas. 


Read the full DecadeWatch 2007 Update (PDF - 212K) 

 

Overview: What Was Accomplished in 2007?

The Decade gained momentum in 2007. Compared to 2005-2006, this DecadeWatch Update finds that 2007 saw progress across all countries, with some seeing more significant progress than others, and major developments for the Decade as a whole: 

- Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Spain expressed their wish to join the Decade in 2007; Spain was the first Western European, non-transition country to join. The addition of new countries to the Decade is a powerful signal as to the importance of the Roma inclusion agenda in Europe and will enrich the process with new experiences and perspectives. (Albania became a full member of the Decade in July 2008. Bosnia and Herzegovina and Spain are still taking steps toward full membership.);

- Macedonia and the Czech Republic provided an example for increased government pro-activeness in introducing systemic change even over the short term. Macedonia began to seriously tackle the Roma inclusion agenda, by developing reporting mechanisms, making efforts to strengthen the Decade co-ordinating body and mainstreaming Romani issues into employment and health policies. The Czech Republic launched a “Governmental Department for Social Inclusion of Excluded Romani Communities” (Agency) which will promote local-level partnerships and innovative and complex social inclusion policies in marginalized Roma localities;

- During the first year of its EU membership, Bulgaria indicated that it is willing to tie Decade priorities to EU funding, especially in the area of school desegregation, by funding partnerships of Roma NGOs, local governments and schools to implement school desegregation action;

- The Decade remains the framework for discussing Roma inclusion both for the governments and Roma civil society of all participating countries. It is increasingly becoming an “Open Method of Co-ordination”-type mechanism for the exchange of good practice and peer learning. The Hungarian Government, the seat of the Decade Presidency in 2007-2008, has led this process by making use of financing under the Decade Trust Fund for a workshop on housing, jointly organized with Croatia, and in forming an expert working group on indicators for Roma inclusion; 

- The Hungarian Presidency and other Decade countries have taken the lead in calling for the adoption of a European Roma Policy, to be elaborated taking account of the goals and mechanisms of the Decade of Roma Inclusion;

- The Decade process aims at giving Roma a voice in the countries’ efforts at promoting inclusion and Roma are being increasingly heard at national and European levels.

Although the 2007 DecadeWatch Update finds increasing signs of enhanced and more systematic attention to Roma inclusion in most Decade countries, integrated inclusion policies with a focus on achieving and demonstrating results remain a distant goal.