JUSTROM2 was a continuation of JUSTROM, a Council of Europe and the European Commission joint programme aims to improve the access to justice of Roma women. The project ran from April 2018 to March 2019

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JUSTROM2 is a joint programme of the Council of Europe and European Commission aiming to improve the access to justice of Roma women in Bulgaria, Greece, Italy and Romania.

The programme aims to empower Roma women to adequately address discrimination and other human rights violations committed against them, including early/forced marriage, trafficking, domestic violence, housing evictions, police abuse and hate crime by raising their awareness about discrimination, complaint mechanisms, the justice system and human rights institutions. The programme seeks Roma women empowerment inter alia through awareness-raising gatherings and info days, where active citizenship is promoted, and legal advice.

It also aims at strengthening links, exchanges and partnerships with and among actors at different levels, such as local, national, regional and European level. The actors involved include local and central government institutions, lawyers, judges, prosecutors, national human rights institutions, equality bodies, bar associations, legal aid bureaus, National Roma Contact Points (NRCP), CAHROM members, police, mediators and Roma NGOs. These will create an inclusive and enabling environment leading to accountability and sustainable change in Roma communities and the wider societies they live in.

In addition, it aims to enhance the capacity of the judiciary, law enforcement in the application of anti-discrimination standards with a focus on multiple discrimination, gender equality and Roma women.  Finally, this programme will further increase the synergy and coherence between the institutional frameworks of the EU and Council of Europe, national Roma integration strategies and civil society initiatives.

 

The specific objectives are:
  • to support the empowerment of Roma women through increasing their awareness about discrimination, complaint mechanisms, the justice system and human rights institutions/equality bodies;
  • to increase the number of cases of discrimination against Roma women admitted by human rights institutions, equality bodies and courts;
  • enhance professional resources used at national level by the judiciary, law enforcement and NGOs/human rights advocates regarding the application of anti-discrimination standards with a focus on multiple discrimination, gender equality and Roma women; 
  • increase synergies between the institutional frameworks of the European Union and Council of Europe, including through National Roma Contact Points and CAHROM, and with national and local authorities on national Roma integration strategies, and civil society regarding access to justice.

 

Project activities
  • 4 national launch events took place between May and June 2018 with relevant stakeholders to present the project activities and objectives;
  • legal clinics were established through by associate partnerships in Plovdiv and Veliko Tarnovo (Bulgaria); Athens, Thessaloniki and Xanthi (Greece); Naples and Rome (Italy); and Bucharest and Calarasi County (Romania);
  • national teams were select with the following format: 1 national coordinator per country and 1 or 2 mediators/facilitators, 1 legal assistant and 1 lawyers per legal clinic;
  • awareness-raising gatherings with Roma women and other vulnerable groups were organised in the target localities. Each gathering was designed to inform beneficiaries on a particular topic and to discuss issues related to it, such as domestic violence, human trafficking, secon chance schools, etc.;
  • Info days with the municipalities were organised to provide a platform for exchanges among the Roma communities and municipalities;
  • legal information, advice and counsel was provided by the JUSTROM national teams in the local legal clinic to everyone who requested from the target communities;
  • 3 training of trainers for police officers on non-discrimination, gender and Roma. The first one took place in Romania in June 2018; the second one, in Bulgaria in November 2018; and the third one took place in Greece in early 2019. The ToTs in Romania was an additional contribution to the programme by the CoE (CoE own budget);
  • a training of trainers for judges and prosecutors took place in Strasbourg, France, in September 2018;
  • monitoring missions to all the implementing countries took place between late October to early December 2018;
  • literacy classes for Roma women took place in Naples, Italy, and Thessaloniki, Greece;
  • 4 seminars with lawyers per country to sensitise them on non-discrimination, gender equality and Roma issues;
  • Sessions on JUSTROM were held in universities;
  • a study visit from Equality bodies and National Human Rights institutions from the implementing countries took place in March 2019;
  • training of lawyers of the legal aid bureau in Bulgaria and Romania, lawyers of the bar associations in Greece, and lawyers of the bar councils in Italy took place in early 2019;
  • Workshops for the Ombudsoffice staff and the National Human Rights Institution in Romania took place in early 2019;
  • 2 country exchanges on best practices in Greece and Romania;
  • printing of brochures with information on the project and services, and other visibility material;
  • info graphics with project indicators were produced at the end of the project;
  • an end-of-project external evaluation was undertaken in January-March 2019.
  • Ms Michèle BERGDOLL
  • Ms Sandra VELOY MATEU
  • Ms Aida-Diana FARKAS