Brussels—Today the European Union announced important measures to promote Roma inclusion across Europe. The Open Society Foundations praised the proposals, which focus on ending widespread disparities in education, employment, health, and housing, and call on member states to devote more money to Roma integration.
“This is the European Commission’s strongest signal to date that member states must take concrete steps in order to end discrimination and ensure equal treatment of Roma,” said George Soros, chair and founder of the Open Society Foundations. “It provides specific guidance to member states to strengthen and accelerate their efforts to combat discrimination and promote equality.”
The Open Society Foundations called on member states to promote equal access for Roma to education and the labor market and said involvement of civil society and Roma communities in the process was essential.
Open Society also welcomed comments by Commission Vice President Viviane Reding calling on member states to “move up a gear” on Roma integration. Noting that 2013 is the year of the European citizen, the Open Society Foundations said a unanimous endorsement by member states of the proposed Council Recommendation would make a tangible difference to the lives of Europe’s Roma citizens.
For more than three decades, Open Society has worked with Roma communities to secure social inclusion. The Foundations support the Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005–2015, an international initiative in partnership with the World Bank that commits signatory states to combat discrimination against the Roma and to close the gap in welfare and living conditions between the Roma and the general population.
The Open Society Foundations also supported litigation, including the landmark decision by the European Court of Human Rights to end school segregation of Roma children in the Czech Republic, Roma-led census registration campaigns in Central and Eastern Europe, an education fund that has helped bring more than 156,000 Roma to school as students and as teachers, and efforts to break down the barriers that keep Roma from accessing quality health care services.
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The Open Society Foundations work to build vibrant and tolerant democracies whose governments are accountable to their citizens. Working with local communities in more than 100 countries, the Open Society Foundations support justice and human rights, freedom of expression, and access to public health and education.