Podgorica, (MINA) – The Romani and Egyptian women in Montenegro should contribute to improvement of their own status, said representative of the Office for Fight against Trafficking in Human Beings Behija Ramovic and added that the EU integration process is an opportunity for successful social integration of that marginalized group.
According to her, the status of Romani and Egyptian women is extremely difficult, while the causes can be identified in poverty, unemployment, poor access to information, negative tradition aspects, violation of fundamental rights and decades-long passivity in observing their status.
“Both the government and non-governmental institutions agree that it is an ethnic group with the lowest level of integration in the Montenegrin society, and Romani women are still in unfavorable position”, Ramovic told Mina.
Asked how Romani and Egyptian women can beat prejudice and discrimination and fight for their place in the society, she responded that they must do that themselves, by initiating, participating and supporting all the activities concerning Romani people, protection from domestic violence, promotion and advocating for the rights of children and gender equality, fight against panhandling and early and forced marriages.
“Romani women should contribute themselves, and the state is there to help and have multi-disciplinary approach to resolving all the problems regarding the Romani women”, Ramovic emphasized.
Speaking about participation of the Romani and Egyptian children in the education system, she stated that education should be recognized as the only sustainable manner of getting out of poverty and negative aspects of tradition.
Ramovic claims that a lot has been done regarding education of the Romani population, but adds that there is still a lot of space for improvement.
She noted that women should be encouraged to higher social engagement, which will in perspective generate Romani women power that will be able to fight against patriarchate in their communities and discrimination they are exposed to as the members of the Romani minority.
Ramovic believes that the number of Romani and Egyptian women in the decision making positions should be increased, both at local and national levels.
One of the priorities, she adds, is increasing the level of motivation among the Romani and Egyptian women to participate in political processes as well as the number of Romani activists in the NGO sector.Longer version of article is available on a link MINA ENGLISH SERVIS
