Euro Reps on Travellers and Roma meet in Belfast

The first joint meeting of the Collaborative Platform on Social and Economic Rights and the Operational Platform for Roma Equality took place this week at the initiative of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission.

The meeting was aimed to look at the protection of the rights to accommodation of Travellers and the rights to housing of Roma that are of joint interest to the two platforms.   The issue of evictions of both Travellers and Roma was also addressed.

‘This was an important opportunity to talk about trends and what is happening to Roma in Europe at this time,” said Gabi Muntean who attended from Pavee Point Roma Programme.

There was also a presentation by the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commision on their recent report “Out of Sight, Out of Mind: Travellers’ Accommodation in Northern Ireland.”  ‘Many of the issues that face Travellers in Northern Ireland are the same as the ones facing Travellers in the Republic,” said Martin Collins, Pavee Point Co Director who also attended the meeting.  “It was great to get this focus and to be able to share learning on these issues.”

The Collaborative Platform is made up of representatives from the Council of Europe, the European Agency for Fundamental Rights, the European Network of Equality Bodies and the European Network of National Human Rights Institutions.