A conference for the presentation of the reports on Integration of the Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian community is held

Honoured Mr.  Korte,
Honoured Ambassadors/Representatives of the Embassies
Honoured Ministers/Deputy Ministers ,
Honoured Mayors of the Municipalities ,
Honoured representatives of the Roma , Ashkali and Egyptian community,
Honoured representatives of the local and international organizations ,
Ladies and Gentleman,

In December of 2009, one year after the declaration of Kosovo as an independent and democratic state, Government of Kosovo committed to build a multi-ethnic country, adopted a Strategy and Action Plan for the integration of Roma, Ashkali, and Egyptian community for the time period 2009-2015. This strategy aims at improving living conditions of these three communities as well as their full integration in the society. Moreover, this strategy offers adequate framework to enable these communities’ necessary conditions in order for them to enjoy equal opportunities of employment and of access in the public institutions.

Government of Kosovo, having as a primary goal building of a democratic country, respecting of democratic values and integration in the European Union, in close cooperation with local and international institutions, agencies and civil society is making serious efforts for implementation of the policies for the human rights, particularly of the minority communities.  Through the legislation base built according to the international standards, as well as policies for protection of the human rights, the Government of Kosovo shows full commitment for integration of the Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities in all spheres of the Kosovo society.

Despite the continuous commitment and engagement of the institutions several difficulties and challenges were evidenced in the efficient implementation of the strategy, among which can be stressed the lack of information for several actions, and difficulty in coordination and communication between institutions. More concretely it has to be worked a lot in order to overcome difficulties regarding the civil registration , registration in the high schools and creation of the living conditions for the repatriated persons.

Given the importance of this issue in the Kosovo’s European Agenda and requests arising from feasibility study and Visa Liberalisation for Kosovo, Ministry of European Integration has been engaged in careful monitoring of this process in order to reach a satisfactory result of the action plan implementation of this strategy.

Today a report will be presented on the mid-term implementation of the strategy for integration of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian community for the year 2012. This report reflects actual situation of the strategy implementation, achievements, gaps and challenges that institutions and relevant organizations are facing in the implementation of the actions. The aim of this report is to underline activities that have been undertaken and continue to be taken in the direction of realizing objectives contained in the Action Plan from the Government of Kosovo and identification of the problems and challenges in the implementation of the Action Plan.

Honoured,

The inter-sectorial nature of this strategy, and involvement of the different stakeholders in this process, makes coordination of special importance in the efficient implementation of the strategy. I invite responsible institutions to prioritize the strategy implementation and to cooperate as much as they can in order to overcome evidenced gaps in implementation of the actions of this strategy.

Thank you