Pavee Point sends congratulations to Megan Berry on her graduation from the UN Minority Fellows Programme which took place today at the UN Forum on Minority Issues in Geneva.
Over the past month Megan Berry, previously of Pavee Point and who currently works as one of the Co Ordinators on implementation of the Traveller & Roma Education Strategy, has participated as the first Irish Traveller to do
so, on the UN Minority Fellows Programme.
Megan also spoke at a number of seminars during the weeks in Geneva and significantly increased awareness about Traveller and Roma rights and concerns including the rights of Traveller and Roma women and girls. During her contribution to the Forum Megan said: “Recognising the full contributions of Travellers means more than celebrating diversity it requires structural change respect and meaningful investment”.
Along with Megan, Martin Collins, Pavee Point and Anastasia Crickley were present. According to Anastasia, who has participated in and chaired a number of previous Forums – “The commitment of minorities globally to equal, diverse societies is more evident today at this Forum than ever – in spite of attempts to ignore the systemic racism they face”.
Speaking at this week’s 18th UN Forum on Minority Issues in Geneva November 27 and 28, Martin Collins Co Director Pavee Point said “The full contribution of minorities to diverse, resilient and peaceful societies can only happen when minority rights including Traveller and Roma rights in Ireland are respected and realised and the
state policies and strategies which can help this are fully implemented.” Watch here
The theme for this Forum, which has over 900 minority organisation participants as well as UN member states, is the ‘Contribution of Minorities to Diverse Resilient and Peaceful Societies’.
