ERIO seminar in cooperation with the Belgian Government
“Intercultural Dialogue in Belgium ”
On September 25th, 2009 ERIO organized a seminar on “Roma, Sinti and Travelers: Part of the Intercultural Dialogue in Belgium” in Brussels. The event was supported by the Belgian Minister of Employment and Equal Opportunities, as part of a year-long series of roundtable discussions on Intercultural Dialogue in Belgium. Participants included representatives of Belgian municipal, regional and national authorities, interested civil society organizations, and members of Belgian and European Roma communities. The purpose of the seminar was to discuss and propose ways to enhance Roma participation in Belgian intercultural dialogue; this information will be included in a set of recommendations that will be passed on to Belgian local, regional, and national authorities at the culmination of the roundtable series later this year. Norah van den Daele of the Flanders Minority Centre, Natasja Naegels of the Antwerp Centre for Minorities, and Marieke Lamaire from the Municipality of Gent discussed various initiatives underway for their communities‟ Roma, and highlighted some of the practical and multi-faceted challenges faced by sub-national Belgian authorities in engaging and ensuring the delivery of services to local Roma populations. They emphasized a number of crucial issues, including: the detrimental impact of persistently negative media coverage and stereotyping of the Roma on non-Roma communities‟ perception of the Roma; local governments‟ hesitance to recognize the presence and needs of their Roma communities and to commit politically (and financially) to addressing those needs; and the need for improving communication with their Roma citizens in order to ensure that their voices are heard, and that they are aware of the services and rights available to them in Belgium. The Roma participants offered insights on the general concerns of Roma in Belgium, as well as recommendations and feedback on the viability of different proposals to enhance Roma access to rights and services, and their participation in the intercultural dialogue in Belgium. The need for Roma communities to pursue political organization to advocate their concerns collectively was consistently mentioned, and initiatives such as training and support for mediators, and the establishment of Roma community centres as a venue for such organization were discussed and generally supported. The seminar provided an initial forum for representatives of the Belgian authorities and the Roma in Belgium to engage in constructive dialogue, and was a positive step towards more active and consistent inclusion of the Roma in Belgium‟s ongoing intercultural dialogue. ERIO would like to thank all of the participants, and especially Cathi van Remoortere from the Cabinet of the Minister of Employment and Equal Opportunities, and Hristo Kyuchukov of Nitra University in Slovakia, for their support and contributions to the success of the event.
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| ERIO Seminar on Intercultural Dialogue in Belgium - September 2009 |
