Ivanisevic: Decade of Roma prolonged by another 10 years

SUBOTICA - Serbia has prolonged the Decade of Roma Inclusion by another 10 years, and a strategy for the improvement of the position and inclusion of the Roma people in Serbia is expected to be drafted soon, Nenad Ivanisevic, president of the government's Council for the Improvement of the Position of Roma, said in Subotica on Friday.

At a meeting organized by the Roma Education Center, Ivanisevic said that the Decade of Roma will now be defined differently - its seat will be in Sarajevo and the realization will go through the Stability Pact for South East Europe.

"I believe that this is important for the Roma people since the results in the previous decade are significant both in terms of the number of enrolled students and pupils and our achievements together with the European Commission in setting up formal Roma settlements and addressing the problem of informal Roma settlements," Ivanisevic said.

He announced that in the next few days a meeting will be held with representatives of the Ministry of Construction upon the initiative of the Roma National Council for legalization of informal Roma settlements in line with the Law on Planning and Construction.

Photo Tanjug/S. Ilic (illustration, archive)