SEMINAR ON ROMANI WOMEN AND GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE WITHIN ROMANI
COMMUNITIES
26th March 2013 | 15.00pm-18.00pm
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT - Room A5 E1
Hosted by Raül Romeva i Rueda
MINUTES
The 26th March 2013 the European Parliament hosted the seminar on Romani women on genderbased violence within Romani Communities, organised within the framework of the Daphne project
Empow-air. Mr Mikael Gustafsson, Chair of the Women's Rights and Gender Equality Committee,
welcomed all participants and Mr Raül Romeva i Rueda, MEP of the Women's Rights and Gender
Equality Committee, opened and chaired the 3 hours seminar.
The first discussion panel on Romani women and gender-based violence within Romani Communities
was introduced by Ms Núria Francolí i Sanglas and Ms Mar Camarasa i Casals, project coordinators at
SURT - Women’s Foundation, who presented the main results of the 2 years Daphne project Empowair, coordinated by SURT. Moreover, the Empow-air political recommendations were also shared with
all participants. In this sense, in order to put the issues of male violence against Romani women on the
EU political agenda, Empow-air demands: 1) A EU Directive to combat violence against women, 2) A
EU gendered anti-discrimination legislation and/or framework, 3) A gendered EU framework for
National Roma Integration Strategies, 4) Ensured EU funding and 5) Foster research on Roma
communities and Roma women.
After SURT’s presentation, the European Women’s Lobby was invited to develop its views on the
issues at stake. The EWL Policy Officer and Project Coordinator Pierrette Pape presented the EWL
position paper on Tackling multiple discrimination of Romani and Traveller women – a crucial factor for
the successful implementation of the National Roma Integration Strategies. In a context of growing
anti-Roma racism and of backlash against women’s rights, Romani women run a higher risk of being
exposed to all forms of violence against women. The EWL pointed out the crucial need for an EU
framework on equality between women and men, which forms the base for all actions aiming at
fighting all forms of inequalities between women and men. The current EU Strategy on Gender
Equality runs until 2015 and includes violence against women as a priority, but should be more
specific in the future and make sure that diversity of needs and experiences of women are taken into
account in all policies, so that Romani women and girls are not left out.
Within this first panel it was also foreseen the participation of Mr Martin Demirovski, policy officer on
Romani issues at Open Society Institute, who finally could not attend the seminar.
After the first discussion panel, some debate took place, specially concerning the national responses
to the phenomenon of VAW within the current context.
The second discussion panel focused on discussing what is the EU doing on the issue of tackling
violence against women within Romani Communities. This discussion panel counted with the
participation of Ms Martine Parmantier, Daphne III programme manager, European Commission, who
presented the Daphne programme 2007-2013. Moreover, Ms Parmantier shared with the audience the
future of the programme. In this sense, she explained that Daphne will be merged with the
Fundamental Rights and Citizenship Programme and two strands of the Progress Programme. The
result of this merge will be the Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme. This new programme will
count with a budget of 442 M EUR, will maintain specific Daphne objectives and will continue the
previous activities planned. The Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme will normally be adopted
during 2013.
Following, Mr Michael Verschraegen, as a substitute for Ilona Negro, Roma Team Leader, DG Justice
Unit 4 Non-discrimination policies and Roma coordination, European Commission spoke. Mr
Verschraegen shared the work of the EC in terms of Roma issues. Mr Verschraegen stated that the
EC is working on a new document for monitoring the National Roma Strategies that will include a
paragraph on Roma women and intersectional discrimination.
After the interventions of the EC, it was MEP’s turn. In this sense, several MEPs came to the event to
support the work of Empow-air project and discuss future action on the issues at stake. Mr Raül
Romeva i Rueda (Spain, Greens), Mr Mikael Gustafsson (Sweden, GUE), Carmen Romero López
(Spain, S&D), Lívia Jaróka (Hungary, EPP), Véronica Lope Fontagné (Spain, EPP), Kinga Göncz
(Hungary, S&D) and Renate Weber (Romania, ALDE) shared their concerns about the future of the
Daphne programme, which is currently the only EU programme supporting projects on ending violence
against women. They alerted on the detrimental impact of the crisis and austerity measures on
violence against women in general, and on the ability for Romani women in particular to escape from
such violence. The current funding cuts affect both NGOs and public services supporting victims and
preventing violence against women, and create conditions whereby women are rendered more
economically dependent from their partner and/or family, including Roma communities. The recent EU
actions were mentioned as good steps, but progress still depends on Member States’ political will to
address violence against women and to protect Romani women and girls (such as for the European
Protection Order or the directive on victims’ rights). MEPs also shared their concerns about the
blockage of several directives in the Council, including the directive on anti-discrimination, and the lack
of EU Strategy on Roma Inclusion.
During the debate, representatives of civil society organisations of Romania, Bulgaria and Spain also
shared their views on the situation of Roma communities, fight against VAW in their countries and the
need for funds and programmes on both Roma integration and prevention of VAW in the EU.
The Seminar counted with the participation of 50 people from diverse backgrounds from civil society
organisations, members of the EC, EP policy advisers, among others. The seminar was an
instrumental momentum for NGOs, the EC and the MEPs to share concerns and demands on the
issues of violence against Romani women. The seminar was a key occasion to initiate reflections and
debates around that phenomenon at EU level. Moreover, it was indeed a great opportunity to raise
awareness among decision makers and other stakeholders on the situation of Romani women within
the EU, which was one of the objectives of the Daphne Empow-Air project and this final seminar.