Italy, Switzerland, Slovakia

Italy: a day for intercultural dialogueThe solution to the problem of Roma People’s integration “doesn’t solely depend on decisions implemented in Rome and Brussles”. Rather, “dialogue and the mutual cooperation” of institutions, civil society and the Roma Community ought to be sought”, since “there is a shared responsibility”, and the Roma People are “an integrating part of European culture”. The statement was delivered on July 17 by Joachim Ott, European Commission DG for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, Action against Discrimination/Civil Society, in the framework of “Vakriben” (that in the Romani language means dialogue), the Roma Day for intercultural dialogue in Europe, organised in Rome’s La Sapienza University by the European Commission Offices in Italy, in cooperation with the Atheneum. Pier Virgilio Dastoli, director of Italy’s EC Offices, said that the Day had been planned past February 14 in the context of the European Year for Intercultural Dialogue, which eventually hit the news following the polemics sparked off by the Italian government’s proposal to take the fingerprints of Roma minors. The Human Rights Commissioner of the Council of Europe, Thomas Hammarberg, pointed out in a Note that: “the ongoing discrimination, along with hate-incitement and assaults by racist groups perpetrated in Europe, doesn’t help the Roma People feel they are well-accepted. Decision-makers ought to understand their feelings of mistrust”. “In many European Countries – Mr. Hammarberg added – the Romanies are denied fundamental human rights. They have been marginalised and were left to lag behind the population majority as relates to education, employment, housing, and health services. Indeed, they are not even represented at political level”. It is therefore “crucial for national and local authorities to intervene in a coordinated effort to interrupt this vicious cycle”. The University represents a place for confrontation, since more than other environments it can become the promoter of dialogue between cultures, for society as a whole”. Education, employment, language and housing are the basic spheres enabling Romanies’ integration, MEPs pointed out during the debate. They equally claimed that Italy’s many problems in this field are due to the fact that a large amount of the allocated European funds have not been used. In fact, only one of the 567 million euros has been spent. Positive integration models, according to European officials, are presently being carried out in Spain (where some 700-800,000 Romanies live), and in Hungary.Switzerland: “itinerant People” Most of Swizerland’s “itinerant people” are Catholic. The Swiss Catholic Chaplaincy, which is part of Switerland’s Bishops Conference for Itinerant People, and whose Chaplain is the Dominican Father Jean-Bernard Dousse op., is in charge of their spiritual care. The Chaplaincy is a mixed team of nomads, homeless, lay people, priests and religious. During the winter, the Chaplaincy provides catechetical and Biblical formation, as well as preparation for sacrament. For the past ten years, on July 22-27 the national pilgrimage to the Einseldeln Abbey is held (in the Canton of Schwyz, Swizerland). The chaplaincy is present with a camper called “Shooting Star”. The pilgrimage is viewed as part and parcel of itinerant people’s identity. The tradition of the Benedictine fathers’ abbey dates back to 1999. It is a place of encounter for itinerant people as well as an opportunity for them to develop their faith. The program envisages a daily Holy Mass, moments of prayer in the Chapel of the Black Virgin worshipped in Einsiedeln, the Via Crucis, the blessing of the sick, of families and caravans, along with meeting with the Abbey’s Benedictine monks. During the major celebration, to be held on July 26, a number of Roma children and adults will be blessed with their First Communion and Confirmation. Last year, some 250 Roma people took part in the national pilgrimage to the Einsiedeln Abbey. The Chaplaincy chose Einsiedeln’s Abbey as the pilgrimage’s destination since it is dedicated to the Holy Virgin, whose devotion is felt very deeply by the itinerat people, and also because many nomads come from Einsiedeln.Slovakia: children discriminated against?In Slovakia – according to Amnesty International -, a large number of Rom (gipsy) children are inappropriately placed in “special schools” for children with mental disabilities, where they receive an education of lower quality and have more limited opportunities of employment and higher education. “Children may be placed in special schools only after a formal diagnosis of mental disability and only with the full consent of their parents”, explains the humanitarian organization. At Pavlovce nad Uhom (a little town in eastern Slovakia, ten km from the Ukrainian frontier) “many children [in special schools] did not receive such an assessment – accuses Amnesty – and if there has been any it was seriously defective. At the same time, in most cases, the consent of parents was neither free nor informed”. Amnesty International, therefore, is asking the Slovak authorities “to recognize these failings and to introduce proper structural reforms-“.