Government of the Republic of Serbia
Michael Davenport presented to the representatives of 20 local governments the keys to the vehicles for mobile teams in charge of improving the living conditions of Roma in Serbia. At the ceremony held in front of Palace Serbia, the head of EU Delegation to Serbia, Michael Davenport said the donation was a “small but visible” result of joint efforts of the European Commission and Serbia in improving the quality of life of the members of Roma community.
According to him, local governments taking part in the Roma integration project are involved also in improving employment, education and housing conditions of Roma. “Better coordination at national level is needed in order for the funds invested in Roma integration to have lasting effects. The entire project which needs to have trustworthy monitoring mechanisms, should also involve the civil sector, while the state authorities must work on preventing all forms of discrimination of different minorities”, said Davenport.
The director of the Government Office for Human and Minority Rights, Suzana Paunović stressed significant results of the mobile teams for Roma inclusion in the previous period. “They succeeded in enrolling 509 Roma children in preschools; initiated 230 administrative and court procedures for civil registration of Roma bu June 2014. In all, 101 Roma settlements were mapped in 20 local governments and 500 Roma pupils and students will get state support to complete education” said Paunović.
The project “We are here together – European Support to Roma Inclusion” is funded by the European Union and implemented by the OSCE Mission to Serbia in coordination with the Government Office for Human and Minority Rights.
Source: B92
pdf [271 KB]
Leave a Comment