Mirrors- Training course combating antigypsyism through Roma youth participation

The training course is a part of the Roma youth action plan, which was published in the year 2011 by the Council of Europe. The goal is to support the participation and inclusion of Roma youth across Europe. Roma are official Europe’s largest minority with more than 11 million people. Connected to this topic is also the current No hate speech campaign, in which is combated hate against any groups and individuals. In the internet, during action days or seminars can also you get a part of the No hate speech campaign. The today’s action day on the 21st September deals with the topics Islamophopia and religious intolerance. Check out the website of the no hate speech campaign if there will be also an event in your city, where you can participate.

https://www.nohatespeechmovement.org/

During the training course, we were talking about human rights, nationality, identity and the structure of the European institutions. Furthermore, we were as the main topic discussing which forms of participation are existing, such as campaigning, internet participation, the participation in free time centers,… and these are only a part of it. Connected to this we defined, which are the preconditions for youth participation: an active group, knowledge, motivation, space,… In informal activities we discovered the origin, problems and obstacles of the Roma group. The Roma Bingo, the front page of a magazine talking about the situation of Roma in Europe and creating stickers to show a positive picture about Roma are only some examples. Everyone shared the own experiences, which was quite interesting, considered that all of us have a different cultural background, nationality and working experiences. The participants reported, that segregated schools for Roma children’s are still existing in Romania, horrible living conditions without the excess to water and electricity can be found in Slovakia and the Romani travelers community is existing in Great Britain.

How to reach a sustainable and continues result in the work with the Roma minority?

Therefore we will need Roma activists, continuous financial project support and it will be important that our society accepts the group of Roma.

During the Role game the city of Capricy we created an artificial hearing to receive a found for the integration of Roma. Everyone was supposed to act in a different character. As the role of business mans, teachers, youth workers,… we had to set the priorities in which fields it will be necessary to invest money to reach the goal of the integration of the Roma community. What was interesting, that every one of us had as the main goal to set up the own ideas from the characters and sometimes considered them as more important than the community interests. This simulation shows us, that also we as human right activists are a victim of egoism and our society system.

Another amazing part of the training course have been the guest speakers of the Documentary and Cultural Centre of German Sinti and Roma and the Council of Europe, which we could visit during our free day.

Only some weeks ago was opened the first European Roma Institute for Arts and Culture, which marks a big step in the work against antigypsyism. Also, you should take a look on Mirrors – a Manual for teachers, trainers, and facilitators of non-formal education on combating antigypsyism through human rights education, published in April 2015 by the Council of Europe.

To put it in a nutshell, I definitely recommend the participation in a training course!

For more information’s visit the website of the Council of Europe.

http://www.coe.int/en/