Romani Week 2022 - Roma families from the social protection perspective

The third day of the Roma Week 2022 Conference started debating issues related to the status of Roma families from the social protection perspective. The main topics presented today relate to “Legal framework and the legal opportunities for change” and” What change would we like to see? How to bring about change?”. The lack of social protection legislation creates discrimination and segregation in Europe. During the past years, numerous projects have been carried out in the European Parliament for Roma children in foster care. In Bulgaria society confronts a widespread phenomenon of racism against Roma children, as they are heavily adopted by families and are often moved from one placement centre to another. Although there are many programs aimed to eradicate racism against the Roma community, one of the issues mentioned today is fact that most Roma community representatives are not involved in those projects. Discussions lead to idea that to change the mentality at society level, it is necessary to involve all those who are discriminated or at least most of them. The event involved NGO`s and European Union institutional representatives that stand for non-discrimination and equality rights. The conference continued with” The Most Roma Friendly Mayor Award”, concept which is a local advocacy component of the project Romani Women Power of Change in the Western Balkans and Turkey (Power of Change). “The Most Roma Friendly Mayor” is created as a regional campaign aiming to mobilize Roma communities and strengthen their ability to engage in dialogue with public authorities. Boosting the dialogue with public authorities, the project partners focused on further raising awareness in municipal administrations of Roma issues when electing the “The Most Roma Friendly Mayor”.