Identity of Roma women and processes of international and transitional justice

Among the women involved in international legal environments, there are women who are administrators of justice, and women who remain as recipients, consumers or petitioners of justice. The question of identity, be it national, cultural, ethnic, religious or otherwise may become crucial when positioning human beings in one side of justice or another. This article seeks to analyse the formation of identities and the characteristics of Roma women’s identity and specifically their roles in international justice together with some actual European political stances towards the Roma peoples. Part of the study will take into account the sequence of processes that take place from the appointment of international judges to the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council, and that lead to the granting of a certain place for women in the transitional/international justice scene. Nevertheless, there are also groups of women who hardly participate in the international legal scene and, although their role has historically been, and still is, reduced to being victims, their possibilities of action in the field justice are extraordinarily limited. This is the case of Roma women in Europe.

Entertainment outreach projects without losing scientific content: A Neolithic puppet show by senior citizens and Roma women

In this work, we present the genesis, development, and results of a set of inclusive outreach activities developed through a puppet theatre play about the Neolithic. We present our methodology and techniques for outreach activities, showing the advantages of collaborative work and bottom-up approaches. The text also explains how the initiative was born and how the contacts for its realization consolidated. All the activities were carried out with the utmost care for the scientific content since it is essential that the public comes to understand all the archaeological information and differentiates it from the entertaining and dramatic elements.

Intersectionality and Human Rights within Regional Human Rights Systems

This chapter explores the ways in which regional human rights systems, which operate alongside the UN human rights system, have increasingly embraced intersectionality in their analysis of complex human rights violations. After a review of each system’s basic structure and primary human rights treaties, the chapter briefly examines the ways in which the treaty language itself includes, or does not include, intersectional principles. The chapter then reviews the “soft law” related to intersectionality within each regional system: the non-binding law or policy reflected in regional recommendations, guidelines, or programs. Although it is impossible to comprehensively cover the regional human rights jurisprudence given the scope of the chapter, each section offers a generalized overview of the regional system’s approach to intersectionality in its non-discrimination jurisprudence. Finally, each section provides an example of intersectional discrimination and a more detailed description of how the relevant judicial bodies have approached intersectionality. The chapter uses an intersectional lens to explore LGBTQI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and/or questioning, and intersex) rights in the African region, the rights of poor and Indigenous women to be free from violence in the Americas, and the equality rights of Roma women in the European system.

Education Transforms Lives: from Deep Poverty to Cultural Agent and Activist. Anikó Orsós and the Amrita Association

Roma women are the focus of this article and the Spotlight offers a Roma woman’s testimony as a starting point. The article weaves in the personal narrative of the now director of a Roma organisation based in Hungary and combines the individual journey of Anikó Orsós , a Roma woman, educator, activist and human rights defender. Orsos is the president of Amrita Association and this paper describes the work of the association while also allowing her own reality to reflect the transformative potential of education.

Demographic Changes in Slovak Roma Communities in the New Millennium

The study identifies the Roma population’s demographic specifics in Slovakia and graphically depicts the current situation and ongoing developments. The research methodology consisted of sociological surveys and data from secondary sources, including “The Statistical Office” and previous research on this issue. Demographic analysis from 1996 to 2018 was performed on the Roma study sample, and population changes were examined separately based on the degree of concentration in Slovak municipalities. The particular emphasis here is placed on those with a Roma population proportion of at least 80%. The new millennium indicates changes in the Roma population’s reproductive behavior, with a decline in birth rate, fertility, and population growth. Moreover, the increased average life expectancy signals an improved mortality rate, especially during childhood. While these changes do not indicate a reduction or stabilization of the growth of the Roma population in Slovakia, population growth is slightly declining due to changes in the reproductive behavior of Roma women, which is a positive indicator of social emancipation. The work provides valuable insight into the main demographic features of behavior and changes in the behavior and population development of the Roma ethnic group in Slovakia.

Spotlight on voices from the community: The importance of empowerment through the Erasmus+ Nefeli Project for Roma women

The Erasmus+ Nefeli Project held a weeklong training (September 21-25, 2020) for women from all walks of life and welcomed over 25 participants. Women from the UK, Europe and abroad attended the training and engaged in lifelong learning using the arts and intangible cultural heritage practice, learning about techniques that they can apply in their contexts. Nefeli's training was an exchange of know-how and material of Non-Formal Learning activities between organisations of the consortium and focussed on offering the participants a way to improve their methods and quality of work and gain more results in terms of agency for women from vulnerable communities.The participants all gained a Europass Mobility certificates as well CPD certificates. Prior to the training the team held a social media campaign where we asked Roma and migrant women to answer three questions around what lifelong learning means.

Meaning making and resilience among academically high-achieving Roma women

This paper investigates the self-narratives of academically high-achieving, first generation college educated, and highly resilient Roma women. We place their meaning making and social navigation processes at the centre of our inquiry, understanding it as an important element of the resilience process of upward mobility (Ungar 2012). Self-narratives describing their changing social class and the corresponding dilemmas offers us the opportunity to understand their strategies, and how to accomplish a resilient minority mobility trajectory, by mitigating the tension and the emotional cost that unavoidably comes with the large social distance they travel between their community of origin and the newly attained class (Naudet 2018). The article draws on two research projects; the first conducted in Spain (2015-17) among 35 Roma university graduates, and the second in Hungary, (2018-20), between 150 Roma and non-Roma university graduates. We have selected one ‘resilient minority mobility trajectory’ as an ideal type from each database for the purposes of this comparison. In this category, upwardly mobile Roma graduates achieve their aspired self- development with the minimal ‘emotional cost’ possible. Our main argument is that a ‘minority path of social ascension’, in itself, is not enough to mitigate the high emotional costs of changing social class. It also requires negotiation, meaning making or reframing work. In this thesis, we support Michael Ungar’s proposal that resilience during upward mobility is a process in one’s ecological context and not an individual asset, and that meaning making work is a crucial part of it. We expand this thesis, however, by demonstrating how navigation among the available resources, and the negotiation of what a ‘proper Roma woman’ and a ‘successful life’ means, in the community of origin, plays a crucial part in accomplishing a resilient upward mobility process.

Mentoring programmes for disadvantaged children in selected European countries

Abstract‘Education for all’ and widening access to education with the aim of creating more social equality are long-term goals of the European education policy. Although there was an education expansion in the last decades in most of European countries, educational attainment and achievement still reflect social inequalities: students with less advantaged socio-economic backgrounds are still significantly underrepresented in higher educational institutions and need supporting measures for educational success. Roma students in particular suffer from multiple deprivation: Firstly, because a large part of the Roma population lives in poverty. Secondly, because their different cultural traditions often lead to discrimination in school education. Roma women additionally suffer from social injustice and deprivation because of the gender aspect: the traditional Roma culture defines the place of women to be with the family at home and an educational career is not necessary for that. Mentoring programmes are considered as successful in helping disadvantaged pupils and students to achieve better results in education. A special form of mentoring programmes is often included as a part of teacher education with the goal of not only helping disadvantaged children but also preparing future teachers to cope with diversity in schools. This article introduces practical and conceptual issues regarding mentoring programmes for disadvantaged children focussing on two perspectives: on the impact on the mentees – disadvantaged children with special regard to Roma students, and on the effect on the mentors – students in teacher training.

Awareness and health beliefs regarding cervical cancer and screenings of women living two different ethnic groups

Purpose: It is stated that the high mortality rate of cer-vical cancer worldwide can be reduced by early diag-nosis, effective observation, and treatment pro-grams. It was aimed to evaluate the correlation be-tween cervical cancer and screening and the health be-liefs of married women living in two different ethnic groups. Materials and methods: This research was con-ducted as a comparative descriptive study. 211 Roma (Gypsies) and 202 non-Roma married women included in the study. The data was obtained in the research by the introductory survey form and the "Cervical Cancer and Pap Smear Test Health Belief Model Scale". Per-centage, mean, t-test, chi-square tests were used in the evaluation of the data. A logistic regression analysis was used. Before the start of the research was received approval by the Ethics Committee. Results: The average age of the non-Roma women who participated in the survey was found 40.3 ± 10.5 (min: 20, max: 67). Non-Roma women were found to have received a pap-smear test at a higher rate (about 4 times more) than Roma women (p˂0.001, OR=3.723, 95%, CI 2.472, 5.607). Non-Roma women were found to have a higher pap-smear test rate (3-fold higher) than Roma women and found that the differ-ence between them was statistically significant (p˂0.001, OR=2.932, 95%, CI 1.855, 4.635). Conclusions: Roma women, a disadvantaged group, were found to hear fewer pap-smear tests, have less knowledge about the test, take fewer pap smears than non-Roma women and especially they did not have the pap-smear test because they did not know it.