SARAJEVO: Conference on integrated housing and employment of Roma

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Wednesday, 20 May 2015 13:04

The Decade Secretariat for Roma Inclusion, the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Decade Focal Point for B&H - Roma Information Center Kalisara, organised an international conference entitled "Integrated approach to social inclusion of the Roma through housing and employment." The international conference was organised in Sarajevo on 18 - 20 May. 

As usual the meeting will gather government officials, representatives of international organisations and Roma civil society activists dealing with the complex programs of housing and employment and promoting the integrated approach in the implementation of the action plans on Housing.

International conference on housing and employment was opened by Ms Semiha Borovac, Minister for Human Rights and Refugees in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In addition to Ms Borovac, introductory speeches were given by Ms Saliha Đuderija, Assistant Minister for Human Rights and Refugees in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Alexander Chuplygin, Deputy Head of the OSCE Mission to BiH and Ms Indira Bajramović, Chairperson of the Committee for Roma in the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The objectives of the workshop were to (i) assess the problem of the homeless Roma families and discuss the model of sustainable social housing (ii) discuss the construction of housing units in accordance with international adequate standards (iii) share lessons on the legalization of informal Roma settlements (iii) share lessons and experiences of integrated approach to sustainable housing that also address employment and other social services.

In addition to the conference, a field visit to Roma settlement in Bisce field in Mostar, as well as of to regional parliament, were organised. The conference participants were, thus, able to get acquainted with the practice of applied models of housing for Roma.

A special session within the conference was devoted to presentations of examples of models for housing in Hungary, the Czech Republic, Serbia and Montenegro. Integrated model of housing in Konik (Podgorica) was presented by Mr Nebojša Bulatović, project assistant at Help.

Besides Mr Bulatović, representatives of Montenegro at this conference were: Samir Jaha (Young Roma), Dijamant Pajazitaj (RAE Camp Council) and Sokolj Beganaj (Ministry for Human and Minority Rights of Montenegro).

Here you can download the agenda and program of the conference, as well as the presentation on a model of housing in Konik. All presentations from the conference will be available soon on the official website of the  Decade Secretariat - http://www.romadecade.org/.