Tim za socijalno uključivanje i smanjenje siromaštva

The director of the Office for Human and Minority Rights, Suzana Paunović, spoke to the participants of the working meeting dedicated to the preparations for drafting the new Strategy for Improving the Status of Roma. At the meeting, the partners who support Roma inclusion in Serbia were presented the plans and methodology for drafting the new Strategy. According to her, this is the first time we are entering into drafting a new strategic document more prepared, since the Initial Basis for the New Roma Inclusion Strategy for 2015-2025 has been drafted. It was adopted at the session of the Council for Improving the Status of Roma and the implementation of the Roma Inclusion Decade in February.

The initial basis was drafted in a wide consultative process with local self-government units in Serbia, civil society organizations, state institutions and bodies, independent bodies and the National Council of the Roma National Minority, in order to gain insight into all aspects of policy implementation that could contribute to improving the status of Roma in Serbia, noted Paunović.

The new strategy should be based on the principles of inclusivity, decentralization, rationalization, cost effectiveness and efficiency, as well as affirmative measures. It should be harmonized with the economic circumstance, trends, strategies and public policy implemented in the Republic of Serbia, and to this end it was envisaged for the social inclusion measures to be implemented through the strategic areas of education, employment and economic empowerment, housing and healthcare, elaborated Paunović.

The meeting was held by the Office for Human and Minority Rights and the Council for Improving the Status of Roma in cooperation with the Social Inclusion and Poverty Reduction Unit. The meeting was also attended by the chairman of the Council for Improving the Status of Roma and the implementation of the Roma Inclusion Decade, representatives of the European Union Delegation to Serbia, project teams of the TARI and RAP projects implemented by the OSCE mission to Serbia, the Open Society foundation, and World Bank in Serbia.

Source: www.ljudskaprava.gov.rs