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The purpose of this paper is to report on the barriers to reintegration for Gitano (Gypsy) communities in one northern Spanish city.

The article is based on ethnographic research undertaken in Gitano communities throughout 2010.

Over the last 30 years, the city has witnessed vast commercial and residential expansion, resulting in the spatial and social exclusion of Gitanos to the outskirts of the city. Here they have had to survive by reduced access to their livelihoods in city markets and increasingly through illicit drug markets and crime. It is only recently that there have been attempts to relocate these people back into the city. Yet the social reintegration efforts have only perpetuated the social exclusion of the Gitanos and there is significant community opposition to their relocation.

The council need to take more care in consulting Gitanos and seek to build the fragile relations they have with them before deciding on what “best to do about them”.

No ethnographic research has been undertaken in this city in the context of Gitanos.

In this chapter, the authors describe the developments towards Roma inclusion in Spain through Successful Educational Actions. First, the authors describe the main characteristics of the Spanish Roma Minority with special regard to their cultural and linguistic diversity and deprivated social situation. After a brief overview of the Spanish education system, the authors give a detailed picture of the educational attainment of the Roma minority in Spain. After then the authors present and analyse the most important successful policies and support programmes for Roma education.

The study presented is a starting point in Spain about the invisible phenomenon of female delinquency behavior and juvenile justice. Studying girls who break laws certainly provides insight into the standards, practices, and social customs affecting young women in a particular time and space, as well as providing clues about the expectations of their gender.

This research is being based on socio-biographic interviews and the analysis of individual life histories (totaling 16). However, in order to increase the validity and credibility of the information collected using this method, further complimentary methods of collecting data were also employed, leading to a triangulation of methods. This consisted of the analysis of social and judicial case files/dossiers (44) and first-hand observation undertaken during one-month stay in a female juvenile reform institution for young women convicted of committing crimes between the age of 14 and 18. The girls could, however, remain at the institution to the age of 21.

Girls are often the victims of what might be called multiple situation of marginality in that their gender race and class have placed them at the economic periphery of society. Understanding their lives and choices of girls who find themselves in the juvenile criminal justice systems also requires a broader understanding of the contexts and process within which their criminal behavior is lodged.

This research has looked closely at the existing theory on women and crime, as well as the forms of participation, the processes, factors and contexts of social exclusion, and the role of women offenders in the Spanish Juvenile Justice.

In this chapter, the author provides an overview of some central issues of the book. First she shows the similarities in the challenges to increase the participation and success of Roma people in education and lifelong learning in the selected European countries; then she discusses their policies and support programmes, which on the one hand try to improve the social situation of the Roma while promoting minority language and culture on the other hand. The author finds the reason for their similarities regarding the wording, defining and communicating and also concerning the main ideas and concrete projects for possible solutions, in the Roma inclusion policy of the European Union in the frame of the Open Method of Coordination, which has been introduced within the Lisbon Strategy, linked to the idea of lifelong learning. She considers the realisation of these policy measures at national, regional and local levels to have shown only unsatisfactory results until now.

At a European level, despite the numerous policies developed in relation to the inclusion of Roma, Roma continue to be discriminated. With regard to education, Roma children remain among the lowest academic achievers in all European countries and the same is reported in Greece. This chapter discusses aspects of life for Roma living in Greece, with an emphasis on education: first, it details aspects of Greek Roma’s social and cultural life; second it focuses on Greek Roma’s education (educational situation, policies and supportive programmes for Roma children); third, it presents studies which have started to examine contexts where the Greek Roma have experienced some educational progression against the odds.

This introduction from Andrea Óhidy and Katalin R. Forray provides a brief overview of the social and education situation of European Roma and also about the structure of this book. Roma are here described as a ‘hidden minority’ (see the country study about Italy from Valeria Cavioni), because – although they are the largest minority group living in Europe for more than a hundred years – we still know very little about them. Although most of the Roma people have been living for centuries in European countries, their situation is still different from the non-Roma population; they often suffered from poverty and exclusion. There is a host of Roma, especially in Southern and in Eastern Europe, who is considered to be the most disadvantaged group in European societies, for example, regarding their (1) health situation, (2) on the labour and (3) on the housing market and (4) also in education. Questions of education are the central elements of politics making the situation of Roma better. To fulfil these requirements some European countries have taken determined steps. As Natascha Hofmann in the country study about Germany wrote, we are in the phase of the ‘dawn of learning’ because there are more and more policies and programs to develop attainment and success of Roma in European education and lifelong learning. This book gives an overview about retrospective and prospective tendencies in the situation of European Roma in education and lifelong learning.

In this chapter, the author describes the education of Roma, Sinti and Caminanti (RSC) children in Italy focussing on possible pathways to school inclusion. According to available national reports, there are about 140,000 RSC people living in Italy, who the author calls a ‘hidden minority’. The author provides detailed information on their ethnic origins and traditions, describes their legal and social situation, culture and language. Then the author outlines the attainment of RSC in the Italian education system and the most important policies to support their successful education. In conclusion, the author presents selected programmes to promote social inclusion and education of RSC children.

This paper aims to compare the health status of Roma in Europe and Aborigines in Australia, examining access to health care (both primary and long‐term), administrative and communication problems, environmental risks associated with location of residences, women's health, substance abuse and mental health.

The paper discusses issues generated by cultural practices by both health care providers and the target groups.

Both Roma and Australian Aborigines have significantly poorer health status than the majority of the societies they are embedded in, and are clearly amongst the most disadvantaged members of their respective societies. Nevertheless, affirmative action programs for Aboriginal people over the last 40 years have produced some significant changes, with Aboriginal doctors and nurses, and culturally appropriate service provision being found in many areas.

Although there are considerable similarities between the health status and situation of Romanies and Australian Aborigines, clearly, there are also substantive differences. The paper suggests possible culturally appropriate service provision for Roma, based on Australian Aboriginal experiences and models.