TIRANA: Regional round-table on housing of Roma

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Thursday, 27 February 2014 08:03

Local delegation from Herceg Novi - deputy mayor, Jovan Subotic, head of the Department of Local Government Vesna Samardzic and representatives of Roma - Jaha Samir and Almir Tahiri participated at the second regional round table on housing of Roma held on 27 - 28 February in Tirana.

This roundtable concluded the project "Best Practices for Integration of Roma in the Western Balkans", which is funded by the European Union and implemented by the OSCE - Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).

Representatives of our municipality had the opportunity to present the results of a local housing study of the Roma and Egyptian population in the municipality of Herceg Novi at the meeting of the working group for participation in the planning process. The study was drafted last year in collaboration with the NGO Young Roma, CEDEM, and the Open Society Foundation from Budapest. The project manager of the study in front of the Municipality of Herceg Novi was Jovan Subotic. Study in Tirana was well received, with a recognition for good work and incentives for further activities in this area.

This study will soon be part of the agenda of the members of the local parliament of Herceg Novi at the session, which is scheduled for the 11 March. The study gives a detailed survey of housing conditions of Roma in the municipality of Herceg Novi with a set of recommendations for further action in this area. This document will serve as the basis for the future international projects aimed at strengthening the integration of Roma and improveing their housing conditions.

The study findings show there are 319 persons of Roma and Egyptian nationality in a total of 56 Roma households in Herceg Novi.