On January 26, 2012, a meeting took place in Kyiv with representatives of the Committee of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities of the Council of Europe.
The participants of the meeting included Mr. R. Hofman – the President of the Advisory Committee of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, Mr. G. Sinani, Mr. A. Boyadzhieva, and Mr. S. Altenhenner-Dion.
Representatives of national minorities residing in Ukraine were invited to the meeting. Vice-President of the “Chirikli” Foundation, Ms. Z. Kondur, was also invited to the meeting, during which she highlighted the issues of discrimination against Roma in Ukraine, especially by law enforcement authorities. She also addressed the problems related to official statistics regarding the actual number of Roma living in Ukraine and the difficulties Roma face in accessing quality education and socio-medical services.
The event held significance on an international level as well. On February 20-21, 2012, in Strasbourg, the Council of Europe organized a high-level final conference on the implementation of the Roma Mediators Program in 15 European countries. Vice-President of the “Chirikli” Foundation was also invited to co-report with an Advisor to the Minister of Justice of Ukraine. In this regard, it is particularly pleasing that the Council of Europe recognized the implementation of the program “Improving Access to Medical Services for the Roma Population of Ukraine through Roma Mediators” and included examples of successful results in their publications.
Moreover, for the meeting with the Secretary-General of the Council of Europe, Mr. Thorbjørn Jagland, only six mediators from 15 countries were selected, including Ukrainian mediators. Roma mediators had the opportunity to talk about their work and share the challenges they face.
