Bottom Up, Top Down and Human Rights: Roma Organisations, Policy Frameworks and European Institutions

Abstract

In this chapter, Natascha Hofmann discusses the policy measures for improving the (education) situation of Roma in Europe. It concentrates on the post-war turning points and corresponding discourses before reviewing aims, outcomes and legacies of the Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005–2015 proclaimed by the European Union (EU). According to Hofmann, the past decades reveal a shift in the discourse of how Roma living conditions and perspectives are perceived in Europe. Indications that underpin that argument can be found in processes referring to fields of bottom-up movements of Roma organisations, top-down approaches of the EU and its member states, shifting borders and the implementation of human rights. Outcomes of the Decade of Roma Inclusion show not only the importance of educational achievements, but also the importance of educational work of mentors and mediators within the communities and within the regional and national societies. Regarding the bottom-up movement of Roma organisations, there seems to be a generation change not only regarding educational achievements, but also by dealing with being visible as Roma and promoting new narratives of being Roma.

Citation

Hofmann, N. (2019), "Bottom Up, Top Down and Human Rights: Roma Organisations, Policy Frameworks and European Institutions", Óhidy, A. and Forray, K.R. (Ed.) Lifelong Learning and the Roma Minority in Central and Eastern Europe, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 15-24. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-83867-259-120191002