Civil Society Monitoring Report On Implementation Of The National Roma Integration Strategy In Slovakia Assessing Progress In Key Policy Areas Of The Strategy

Download or read book Civil Society Monitoring Report on Implementation of the National Roma Integration Strategy in Slovakia - Assessing Progress in Key Policy Areas of the Strategy written by and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report aims to deliver critical yet balanced and, importantly, evidence-based monitoring of state policies aimed to address the inequalities, discrimination and anti-Gypsyism that Roma experience in employment, housing, health and education. The report particularly welcomes the willingness of state authorities to adopt systemic legislative and policy measures with the potential to facilitate inclusion of disadvantaged Roma. The report underlines several key examples: a new bankruptcy regulation designed with a view on low-income families that have found themselves in debt traps that prevent them from entering the labour market and accessing housing; new regulations simplifying legalisation of parcels underneath Roma settlements, with a potential to address particularly people living in the most deprived and neglected communities; and the introduction of free universal lunch for children in their final preschool year in kindergarten and through elementary school, which may, among other things, help in desegregation and reduction of inequalities among pupils. We are eager to see the implementation of a plan to introduce a compulsory one year of pre-schooling for all children, anticipated for 2020. Equally among the positive developments, we include efforts to scale up and sustain positive practices such as the janitors in housing, civic guards, school assistants and healthcare mediators. However, institutionalisation of these mostly aiding professions into legislation and/or the state budget still remains an unanswered challenge. The report identifies several key weaknesses in integration policies that merit more vigilant attention. First are the delays in using ESIF funds, particularly relevant for infrastructural programmes. This is likely caused by complex factors, the willingness of municipalities to apply for these funds being among the key ones. Second, and related, is that while the state offers funding and sometimes good practices to municipalities to address the situation of their deprived communities, in practice, it somewhat lacks effective means of enforcement in cases of their neglect. Third, especially in housing and education, we observe that, at best, there are efforts to improve living standards and education through housing and schools for Roma. Indeed, over several decades, Slovakia built parallel communities and segregation in schools spread significantly. We argue that both residential segregation and various forms of segregation of Roma children experienced from early age until their secondary school studies remain the practices most ignored by state authorities. Furthermore, as illustrated through cases of poor school attendance among disadvantaged students and workfare programmes, state authorities should focus on addressing the complex social and structural causes of problems rather than blaming and sanctioning those with few opportunities to help themselves, thereby reinforcing their exclusion trap. Finally, the design of policies, monitoring and evaluation, and data collection all require the adoption of an intersectional perspective considering the particularly vulnerable situation of Roma women and children.