The founder and the Publisher of the Periodical: EDITORIAL

EDITORIAL

Dear Readers,

You are reading the October issue of our magazine, with the opening article on the ceremonial start of the new academic year at the Preschool Teacher Training College “Mihailo Palov” in Vršac, and we present you yet another successful Roma woman entrepreneur and the project Mediation for Roma.

Under the “NGO” section, we presented the European Roma Information Centre, a new non-govern-mental organization “Romag” and the organization “The Power of Family”, which organized this year's Children's Week in Novi Sad.

The “Culture” section entails three articles, the first being on public discussion entitled “Media and mar-ginalized groups”, another on “Trifun Dimić Poetry Days” and the third one on the book by Trifun Dimić.

As always, the last article focuses on the famous Roma. This time it was about the actor Michael Caine.

Finally, we remind you that from now on, with cred-its to the Research and Education Center and to the Preschool Teacher Training College “Mihailo Palov” in Vršac, our publication can be also read in its electronic form at www.rec.org.rs/bilten/.

Your editorial board

The founder and the Publisher of the Periodical:The Roma Inclusion Office

of the Government of AP Vojvodina

Editor in Chief:Duško Jovanović

Managing Editor:Aleksandra Mićić

The Team:Dragana RajićTijana Čubrilo

Jovana Davidović

Correspondents:Ferenc Koso

Roma Coordinators of APVIvana Koprivica

Translation into Roma:Igor Dimić

Translation into English:Jezički centar Life College

Technical Preparation and Printing:MONDO-GRAF, Novi Sad

www.mondograf.co.rs

Circulation: 1000

Address: Bulevar Mihajla Pupina 25,21000 Novi Sad

[email protected] www.inkluzijaroma.vojvodina.gov.rs

2 The Roma Decade in AP Vojvodina

Education

The beginning of a new aca-demic year was marked during the freshmen admission, in the hall of the Preschool Teacher Training College “Mihailo Palov” in Vršac. At the same ceremony, the direc-tor and Assistant Professor, Jelena Prtljaga handed over certificates and books as gifts to students who have been awarded for the best undergraduate and postgraduate papers in the previous year. Dire-ctor of the Roma Inclusion Office of the AP of Vojvodina as well as Vladimir Stanojev, member of the Municipal Council of the Munici-pality of Vršac responsible for edu-cation, honored the ceremony.

Musical and literary program

The celebration continued in the spirit of interculturalism and multilingualism, namely the val-ues, of which the College in Vršac is particularly proud of and tries to improve, enhance and strength-en. A program called “There is something in here” was prepared by college students in collabora-tion with their teachers. Poems were recited in Serbian, Romanian and Romani, the choir won the audience with their magnificent performance, and the violin trio, accompanied by the accordion

was in charge of the musical background.

This was followed by presen-tation of the book, “Children’s Healthcare” by Dr Dragica Sta-nojlović, as presented by Assistant Professor Dr Tanja Nedimović, while mr Ivana Đorđev moderated the session.

Subsequently, the College graduates received their diplo-mas, and after the introductory lecture, held by Mr. Viorika Paser, freshmen students got handed their student report cards. Among them were nine Roma students.

CEREMONY FOR THE BEGINNING OF A NEW ACADEMIC YEAR IN VRŠAC

The Ceremony

3The Roma Decade in AP Vojvodina

Education

Words of welcomeAt the beginning of this ceremony, director of the College, Assistant Professor Dr Jelena Prtljaga ad-

dressed the audience with the following words: “Distinguished guests, respected colleagues, professors and students,I greet you with sincere joy and a touch of pride, human and scientific honor, and thank you for glori-

fying this event, an important one for our College, with your presence.In the lifecycle of an educational institution, the beginning of a new academic year marks a celebration

of ideals to which it strives. Here, in the region where the strong winds collide, in the bosom of the most yielding vineyards, where different cultures embrace each other, all that is sublime, honorable and great in humanity is nurtured and developed through scientific words and personal work of all the employees and students – the Education and supporting new generations.

Preschool Teacher Training College, named after the famous pedagogical worker prof. Dr Mihailo Palov, has existed as an accredited and re-accredited College for seven years, but has merged many the skills, as-pirations and achievements of the former Pedagogical Academy, founded in 1973, and of the College for Teacher Training.

Three languages are spoken and taught in at the school: in Serbian, Romanian and Romani, co-exist-ence of several cultures is nurtured and entwined.

By educating professional educators of preschool and nursery age children and specialists, we get cre-ative energy, joy and beauty as the fruits of persistent pedagogical work. And that strength and knowledge are used in scientific and professional work, on various programs and projects, while working with “Dečji vrtić” from Vršac, high schools, colleges and universities from our country, but also from Romania, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary and England.

We are especially happy today that we see here many old and new young faces, with huge potential to be educators. Finally, education is the power and an honor, responsibilities, as well as a gift from heaven.

I am convinced that the College in Vršac will succeed this year as well in creating an excellent genera-tion of educators by setting a great personal example, because every child, under every law, deserves to have great educators.

Tijana Čubrilo

Director’s address


Roma Inclusion Office

DESCRIPTION OF THE CONTEXT

Political and legal context1

The Constitution of the Republic of Serbia (“Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia”, number 98/06), apart from the stipulations on minority rights (articles 75-81), specifies in Article 76, Paragraph 3, that the Republic of Serbia may introduce specific regulations and provi-sional measures in economic, so-cial, cultural and political life for the purpose of achieving full equality among members of a na-tional minority and citizens who belong to the majority, if they are aimed at eliminating ex-tremely unfavorable living condi-tions which particularly affect them.

The Law on the Protection of Rights and Freedoms of National

Minorities (“Official Gazette of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia”, numbers 11/02 and 57/02), grants the Roma the sta-tus of a national minority, and governmental bodies are given the obligation to adopt legislation and take action aiming to im-prove the position of individuals who belong to the Roma national minority (Article 4, Paragraph 2).

The Framework Convention for the Protection of National Mi-norities of the European Council provides the legal framework for the protection and improvement of the position of national minori-ties on the international level, according to which State Parties are committed to adopt, where necessary, taking due account of the specific conditions of the per-sons belonging to national minori-ties, adequate measures in order to promote, in all areas of eco-nomic, social, political and cul-

tural life, full and effective equal-ity between persons belonging to a national minority and those be-longing to the majority. The said Framework Convention was rati-fied by the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1998 (“Official Gazette of the FRY – International Contracts”, number 6/98), and has come into force on September 1, 2001.

The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (“Official Gazette of SFRY – International Contracts”, number 6/67), Article 2, Paragraph 2, determines that States Parties shall, when the cir-cumstances so warrant, take, in social, economic, cultural or oth-er fields, special and concrete measures to ensure the adequate development and protection of certain racial groups or individu-als belonging to them, for the purpose of guaranteeing them

THE MISSION OF THE OFFICE FOR ROMA INCLUSION

The Office for Roma Inclusion is work-ing on the creation of conditions for a fun-damental and complete social inclusion of the Roma in Vojvodina

1 A part of this text has been taken from the “Information on the position of the members of the Roma national community in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina” document, which was prepared by the Office for Roma Inclusion and the Provincial Secretariat for Social Policy and Demography.

OFFICE FOR ROMA INCLUSION OF THE AUTONOMOUS PROVINCE OF VOjVODINA

STRATEGIC PLAN 2014−2017.


Roma Inclusion Office

the full and equal enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms. By ratifying the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages (“Official Gazette of Serbia and Montenegro – International Contracts”, num-ber 18/05), the Republic of Serbia has committed to taking specific actions in favor of the Romany language.

The realization of an interna-tional initiative, “Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005-2015”, which gath-ers Central and Southeastern European countries, international organizations, civic associations and representatives of the Roma civil society, began by the sign-ing, on February 2, 2005, of the Declaration of the Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005-2015, by the Prime Ministers of the participat-ing countries. The goal of this in-ternational initiative is to improve the position of the Roma and to reduce the unacceptable differ-ences between the Roma and the remaining part of society. Special attention is paid to priority areas (housing, education, employment and healthcare), fighting discrimi-nation, reducing poverty and im-proving the position of women, and the basic principle is the in-clusion of representatives of Roma communities into all pro-cesses. By joining the “Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005-2015”, the Government of the Republic of Serbia adopted the Common Action Plan for Improvement of Roma Education in Serbia. During 2005, the Republic of Serbia adopted Action Plans for the Improvement of the Position of the Roma in the fields of employ-ment, housing and healthcare.

Serbia presided over the Decade of Roma between July 1, 2008 and the end of June 2009.

The Government of the Republic of Serbia has adopted the Strategy for Improvement of the Position of Roma in the Republic of Serbia on a session help on April 9, 2009 (“Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia”, number 27/09), the aim of which is to improve the posi-tion of Roma in the Republic of Serbia, which would lead to the reduction of differences that now exist between the position of the Roma population and the remaining population. This Strategy is in the process of re-vision, and the Action Plan for the implementation of the Strategy for the period between 2012 and 2014 is being imple-mented.

In practice, the state has es-tablished mechanisms which need to support the implemen-tation of the regulations for the protection of human rights, which include the rights of mi-norities. National councils of na-tional minorities have been formed. The Council for Integration of the Roma has been established at the national level, as well as in the Autono mous Prov ince of Vojvo d ina. Independent institutions have been established: the Ombud-sman, the Commissioner for Pro-tection of Equality, the Commi-ssioner for Information of Public Importance. The Department for Human and Minority Rights (and with it different sectorial forms of organization regarding Roma issues) has changed its form of organization depending on cur-

rent political situations, and was raised to the level of ministry, while today it exists in the form of the Office for Human and Minority Rights. Within the Office there is a Group for Monitoring the Position of the Roma and providing aid to mi-grants.

In the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, the institution of the Provincial Ombudsman has been established. The Office for Roma Inclusion of the Auto-nomous Province of Vojvodina has been established, and the Sector for the Impro vement of the Position of Roma has been established within the Provincial Secretar iat for Economy, Employ ment and Gender Equality

In July 2009, the Government of the Republic of Serbia has es-tablished the Social Inclusion and Poverty Reduction Team within the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for European Integra tions, as an inter-sectorial body, which horizontally links the policies and activities of relevant ministries. The team is responsible for strengthening the capacities of the Government to develop and implement social inclusion poli-cies based on good practice exam-ples from Europe, and provide support to relevant ministries in the development and implemen-tation of social inclusion policies, with regular consultations with civil society organizations. This Team has provided an extremely valuable contribution to the affir-mation of the concept of social in-clusion and its elevation to a rele-vantly high position on the social and political agenda.


Employment

„BELLEZZA DIVINA“

We remind you that the Roma Inclusion Office implemented a project in partnership with the Secretariat for Economy, Employment and Gender Equality, entitled “Improving the employability of Roma women in five municipalities in Vojvodina”. The Royal Norwegian Embassy funded the project. A total of ten companies were established. We presented one of the entrepreneurs from the project in the last issue, and now we conti-nue in the same manner, so we‘ll introduce you to yet another Roma woman who entered the business world through this project.

Beginnings and experience

Aleksandra Nikolić comes from Futog. She graduated from high school for a pedicure and manicure technician, exactly the profession in which she is now. She decided to open a beauty salon (Bellezza Divina) because it has been a long time since she started with it and got into routine and gained prac-tice in this business. After finishing school, she worked in many salons, even privately at her home be-cause it was more cost-effective. “The time has come for me to try to open a salon, and I hope I will succeed”, says Aleksandra.

Implementation of the project

As soon as the Call was open, Aleksandra immediately asked for a contact and how to apply. She called the Roma Inclusion Office and they lead her through everything she did not know and that is how she fol-lowed all the necessary proce-dures. She said it was hard and had a lot of new things to over-come, but it was all worth it in the end. She admits there was a fear of not being selected be-cause there were a lot of regis-tered candidates.

“I decided to open a salon in Novi Sad, not in Futog because Futog already has many beauty sa-lons, and is a lot smaller than Novi Sad. I wanted to get away from the everyday life and try out in Novi Sad”, Aleksandra Nikolić ex-plains why she opened the salon in Novi Sad.

She emphasizes that she had the mediating support from the staff of the Office, at any time. The hardest thing was to find space. Initially she found a place that was very nice, but too expen-sive, so she gave it up. After a lot of searching and perseverance, she found this place and, is satis-


Employment

fied for now. “Because I wanted a tanning bed, I needed a two-level place”, Aleksandra explains. She added the tanning bed and mas-sage into the salon, in addition to the existing skills she offers her-self (manicure, pedicure, waxing).

Regarding the equipment, she already had small items and sup-plies, although she also had to buy a lot of things, even though she thought she would not have to buy anything, and she still does not have everything.

Plans

We talked about her future plans: “I’m very satisfied with my space at the moment, as I equipped

it the way I wanted and had imag-ined. My goal is to expand the ser-vice in the salon, to have the hair corner, and then I would have eve-rything I consider necessary. I plan to finish the course in eyebrow tat-tooing as it is very popular nowa-days.”

The aim of this project is to improve the employability of Roma

women through allocating subsidies for self-employment and to make an impact on their social and eco-nomic empowerment. Aleksandra Nikolić is yet another tangible ex-ample that the project and the people who implemented it suc-ceeded in their intention.

Tijana Čubrilo

“I do not like any types of division, nor gender nor by ethnicity,

and therefore I believe that everyone should have a chance to try

out in what they consider to be good at. There are a number of pro-

jects during the year and everyone can take their chances. However,

if it were not for this project, I would have never opened my salon,

or that would be very difficult, because I do not have enough money

to buy all the things I have now.”


Social Protection

DATA ANALYSIS OF CENTERS FOR SOCIAL WORK IN THE PROVINCE OF THE AUTONOMOUS

PROVINCE OF VOjVODINAON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE GENERAL PROTOCOL FOR THE PROTECTION

OF CHILDREN FROM ABUSE AND NEGLECTFOR THE PERIOD FROM JANUARY 1, 2014 - AUGUST 8, 2014

Introduction

Ministry of Labor, Employment, Veteran and Social Policy sent a de-mand for information regarding the application of the General Protocol for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (hereinafter the Protocol) to all centers for social work in the territory of the Republic of Serbia on 08.26.2014. During September, the Provincial Institute of Social Welfare (herein-after referred to as the Institute) has also collected such data from the centers for social work in the territory of AP Vojvodina, in order to make the analysis of the imple-mentation of the Protocol in the province.

This report is the result of the analysis, which is aimed at under-standing the application of the Protocol on the territory of AP Vojvodina, in the period from 01/01/2014 to 08/15/2014 and gives general recommendations for im-proving its implementation.

Specific objectives of the analy sis are:

• Assessment of the participation of abuse and neglect against children in the reporting peri-od, through the number of re-ports on abuse and neglect in the centers for social work

• Analysis of the age and sex of child victims of abuse and ne-glect

• Analysis of the age and sex of child victims of abuse and ne-glect by type of abuse and ne-glect

• Analysis of the application of measures of social and family legal protection of child victims of abuse and neglect

Methodological framework

Institute sent a letter to Cen-ters for social work in the territo-ry of AP Vojvodina to submit data on the application of the Protocol for the period 01/01/2014 to 08/15/2014. All centers for social

work provided the Department requested information.

The letter sent to the cent-ers on behalf of the Institute, did not have a defined / offered a format for data submission (given that the Ministry also failed to do so), resulting in the delivery of data that were mixed in form and content. For this reason, the data relating on the age and sex structure of child victims of abuse and neglect by type of abuse will be presented in this report in the form in which the centers of the Institute submit-ted.1

The legal framework for regulating violence

against children

Children are entitled to all the rights under various international human rights documents that are binding on the Republic of Serbia, which are all based on the Universal Declaration of Human

1 It was not possible to reliably analyze the data on age and sex structure of child victims by type of abuse and ne-glect, because the centers provided information by different classifications. Delivery of data in this way does not ques-tion the reliability of the data to be displayed, but limits the possibility of their pooled analysis. What is more impor-tant to note is that, the fact that the centers for social work delivered inconsistent data on cases of abuse and neglect of children imposes the need for further work to develop systematic ways of documenting and reporting on the occur-rence of violence against children. In the last period this was worked on, starting with the adoption of the Protocol, when the incidence of violence was rooted and clearly defined, and to the most recent activities that were carried out with the aim of improving the quality and reliability of the data obtained through regular reporting centers for social work. However, it is obvious that there is still plenty of room left for improvement of analytical and research practic-es, and more broadly, to give more attention and value to the analytical - research character of the activities of social welfare, bearing in mind their importance in the context of perception, understanding and planning of social protec-tion.


Social Protection

Rights. After the United Nations General Assembly unanimously adopted the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989, the Republic of Serbia bounded with the ratifica-tion of this Convention to take measures to prevent violence against children and ensure the protection of the child from all forms of violence in the family, in-stitutions and the general the so-cial environment.

At the annual conference of the Network of Ombudsmen for Children of South East Europe held in September in Belgrade, it was pointed out that the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia and the Assembly Committee on the Rights of the Child conduct decisive actions to mobilize all resources with the aim of building a society that does not show any tolerance on violence against children of any kind. In this light, the information about the readiness of the Serbian parliament to ratify the third Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child is also important, which provides additional protection to children, victims of abuse and vi-olation of rights, because in this way creates the conditions for an appeal to the Committee on the Rights of the Child of the United Nations (Ombudsman of the Republic of Serbia, 2014).

The United Nations Con-vention on the Rights of the Child specifically indicates what the government and individuals need to ensure in order to promote and protect the inalienable human rights of all children. All forms of violence, abuse, misuse or ne-

glect, which endanger or impair the physical, mental and moral integrity of the child’s personali-ty, represent a violation of the fundamental rights of the child enshrined in the Convention, namely the right to life, survival and development.

The provisions of the Conven-tion relating to the protection of the child: physical and mental vi-olence, abuse and neglect (art. 91), all forms of sexual exploita-tion and abuse (art. 34), all forms of exploitation prejudicial to any aspects of the child welfare (Art. 36), Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Art. 37). Also, the provision of Article 39 of the Convention is deter-mined by the state’s obligation to ensure measures to promote physical and psychological recov-ery of children – victims of vio-lence and their social reintegra-tion.

The Republic of Serbia has done a lot in the last decade by adopting a range of strategic, ac-tion documents and the law to respect the rights and improve the status of children. Some of these documents are: the National Plan of Action for Children, the National Strategy for the prevention and protection of children from violence and ac-tion plan for its implementation, the Family Law, the Law on Primary Education, the Law on Social Protection, General Protocol for the Protection of Children from abuse and neglect, special protocol on the protection of children from abuse and ne-glect that have adopted the sin-gle systems (health, education, police and social welfare).

Numerous trainings were con-ducted for specialists of centers for social work and members of multidisciplinary teams that are formed in local communities after the adoption and early implemen-tation of the General Protocol for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect, 2005. Center for the Rights of the Child made a Handbook for the application of the General Protocol for the pro-tection of children from abuse and neglect in 2006, and in 2011, pub-lished the book Protecting the child from abuse and neglect, as well as the revised and expanded edition of the Handbook.

General Protocol for the Prevention of Child Abuse

and Neglect

Protocol on the protection of children from abuse and neglect is a legally binding document that provides guidelines for the opera-tion of all service providers who work with children and families, so that all together could work to protect the child from abuse and neglect, in accordance with the Rights of the Child (Ispanović-Radojković, V., Ignjatovic, T., Kalezić Vignjević, A., Stevanovic, I., Srna, J., Vujović, R., Žegarac, N., 2011)

The general objectives of the Protocol are the improve-ment of the situation of children through the prevention of child abuse and neglect, providing a quick and coordinated process that protects the child from fur-ther abuse and neglect when abuse and neglect occurs and providing therapy to help the child and family. Also, its goal is


Social Protection

to ensure that all taken actions and decisions throughout the process of child protection, are in the best interest of the child. The Protocol clearly defines the roles and responsibilities of all actors involved in the process of care, as well as specific steps in the process of care.

The Protocol, as well as the documents that are made in or-der to facilitate and improve its application, says that child abuse is a phenomenological complex phenomenon that requires coor-dinated interventions of differ-ent sectors: education, health, justice, social welfare and civil society organizations dealing with violence against children. In addition, one of the goals of the Protocol is to establish an effec-tive, operational, multi-sectorial network for the protection of children from abuse, neglect, ex-ploitation and violence.

In this multi-sectorial net-work, the center for social work is recognized as a service that has multiple roles in the protec-tion of children from violence at the local level. Its coordinating role is the prevention and organi-zation of the network to detect and collect data on abused and neglected children. Furthermore, the center plays a key role in im-plementing the central diagnos-tic procedure, the organization of specialized diagnostic, plan-ning processes and protective treatment in the application of measures of social and legal pro-tection within the jurisdiction of the guardianship, as well as the initiatives for bringing court ac-tions (Išpanović-Radojković et al., 2011).

Results of the analysis

The analysis was done on the basis of data on the implementa-tion of the General Protocol for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect, for the per iod 01/01/2014 to 15/08/2014, which the centers for social work in the territory of AP Vojvodina submit-ted to the Institute.

• The number of reported cases of child abuse and neglect Family law requires that all

children’s, medical and education-al institutions, social protection, judicial and other governmental authorities, associations and citi-zens themselves, report any case of abuse or neglect of a child to the guardianship body. In cases where there is suspicion of a crime, the case should also be re-ported to the police or the public prosecutor’s office (Family Law, art. 263, paragraph 3).

In the analyzed period, in the centers for social work in the ter-ritory of AP Vojvodina, a total of 757 cases of child abuse and ne-glect were reported. The six centers and municipalities in Vojvodina have not reported a single case.

• Disclosure of abuse and ne-glect and sources of reported child abuse and neglect cases to the center for social work Reporting cases of abuse and

neglect to the center for social work precedes the detection of child abuse and neglect, which is the first and the most sensitive step in the process of child pro-tection. It may be by recognizing

signs of abuse and neglect of the child or entrusting experience di-rectly from child victim or indi-rectly, through the person to whom the child is entrusted.

Immediately upon the occur-rence of suspected abuse and ne-glect, consultations are held with-in the service in with a specialist who is concerned for the child (if needed, consultations may be conducted with other agencies, which are supposed to be able to have information about the family and the child), then, the first or preliminary risk assessment for abuse and neglect is implement-ed within the same institution. Based on the outcome of this as-sessment, a decision is made whether the case will be report-ed to the police and center for social work, or will the reporting be delayed (all the cases that were not reported also require ongoing monitoring by a service that has information about sus-pected child abuse and neglect). People who are not experts (peo-ple, relatives of the child), under the Family Law also have an obli-gation to report their allegations of abuse and neglect of a child to relevant services.

When analyzing the data pro-vided by Centers to the Institute on ways to detect, i.e. sources of registration of cases of abuse and neglect to centers for social work, you can see that the most commonly reported cases are on the part of children victims’ rela-tives, and then police follows by the number of reports, center for social service (these are situa-tions when the center itself or other center for social work iden-tified violence), educational insti-


Social Protection

2 Since the Family Law founded the right and duty of all children, health and educational institutions, social protection, judi-cial and other state bodies, associations and citizens to inform the public prosecutor or the guardianship of the reasons for the Protection of the Rights of the Child, the data on the number of reports to centers for social work by judicial authorities in this light are to be considered. Practical experience shows that instances of abuse and neglect are reported more often to centers for social work or the police than to the organs of the judicial system.

3 In the letter which was sent to centers for social work, it was pointed out that in cases of reporting on behalf of health insti-tutions, it should specifically be stated whether the incident was reported by a visiting nurse service, pediatric health centers or hospitals, school doctors. The shown data - 42 reports, is the total number of reports of all health institutions together, since many centers for social work did not specify who reported the abuse. The number of reports of health services that are specifically responsible for pre-school children (home care services, pediatric home health) is as follows: 5 applications from community nursing services and 23 applications from pediatric physicians. Seen in this way, the proportion of reports on behalf of health system is even lower, which further reinforces concerns about the disclo-sure of abuse and neglect with preschool children, especially those children who are not enrolled in preschool.

tutions (schools that children at-tend), citizens and the children who are victims themselves who reported abuse and neglect in 28% of the total number of appli-cations. Health care facilities, preschools, judicial authorities (prosecution and court)2 and civil society organizations are at the bottom of the list by the number of reported cases to centers for social work in child abuse and ne-glect. One report from home for children and young people was evidenced, and in one case, the violence against the child was dis-covered based on the information from the media. Seven anony-mous reports were evidenced.

The data on the number of re-ports, according to the source of reporting, ie. ways of detecting cases of abuse and neglect, can be seen in the graph below.

The data that preschools are the source of reporting in only 19

cases (or 2%), and health care in-stitutions in only 42 (5%) cases out of the total number of reports3 is warning. Given that preschool children make up 40% of the total number of victims of abuse and neglect and that the child’s age is one of the criteria of high risk in the event of suspected abuse and neglect (younger children - new-borns and children up to 5 years are under high risk), (Išpanović-Radojković et al., 2011), then em-ployees in preschools who work directly with children and health care workers are in a “privileged” position to recognize signs of abuse and neglect and are invalu-able in detecting and stopping fur-ther exposure to child abuse and neglect. The importance of the role of health services (doctors and pediatricians care service) is even higher when it comes to chil-dren who are not enrolled in pre-school.

The data also illustrates rep-resentation of different systems in the detection and reporting of violence against children, and above all, health and education institutions, as for example, in Novi Sad, out of 154 reports to the center for social work, no charges came from a preschool institution, then, schools in Novi Sad sent five reports to the cent-er for social work, and all health services together a total of 11 re-ports (home care service, pediat-ric physician, school doctor and children’s Hospital). In Novi Sad, the largest number of reports comes from relatives of the chil-dren victims, then the police, and there are situations when the center for social work re-vealed violence (which is the same representation as in Vojvodina, generally speaking). Judicial authorities and civil so-ciety organizations are on the bottom of the list by the number of reports, in addition to health and education systems as men-tioned above, and a noticeable fact is that none of the reports in the center for social work in Novi Sad has not been evidenced from children-victims of abuse and ne-glect themselves.


Projects

PUBLIC PRESENTATION OF THE “MEDIATION FOR ROMA” PROjECTPublic presentation of the two-year international project “Mediation for Roma”

(Mediation4Roma) was held at the Assembly of Vojvodina. The project is being implemen-ted in Spain, Italy, Belgium, Romania and Serbia.

The aim of the project is to provide a higher level of achieve-ment, protection and promotion of the rights of Roma by implement-ing the project and empowering Roma mediators in the participating countries. Activities under this project are analyses of the existing formal legal framework and practice in relation to mediation within the Roma community and publication of the results of this analysis; the exchange of experiences among the countries participating in the project related to the work of Roma mediators, development and implementation of online e-training programs for Roma media-tors, who would later train leaders in their countries for skills of me-diation between the Roma and the institutions and mechanisms for protection and promotion of human rights in four areas (education, employment, housing and health care).

Participants

Aniko Muškinja Heinrich, the Provincial Ombudswoman, opened the presentation of the project, and pointed out that the institution head-ed by her has been monitoring the process of the realization and promo-tion of human rights of Roma in Vojvodina since its founding, provid-ing legal protection and assistance to members of the Roma community, but also by conducting research. “The research entitled “Roma settle-ments in Vojvodina”, was the main recommendation to participate in the realization of this important pro-ject”, said Muškinja Heinrich.

Pedro Cortes Aguilera, Chief Project Manager and representative of the Pere Closa Foundation from Spain presented the objectives, ex-pected results and methodology of the project, who pointed out that the main and most important goal of the project is to create a certified curriculum standardized for media-tors in all project partner countries and to recognize Roma mediation as a legitimate profession.

Eva Vukašinović, Deputy Om-bud sman for the Rights of National Minorities spoke of the work of Roma Coordinators in the AP of Vojvodina. She presented an analysis of legal employment status of Roma Coordinators, what are the rights of the Roma minority in the territory of the local self-government and elec-toral activity and enrollment in the special voters list for the upcoming elections for National Councils of National Minorities.

While speaking about the activi-ties of the Roma Inclusion Office of the AP of Vojvodina aimed at educa-tion, Duško Jovanović, the Director of the Office said that due to pover-ty, many Roma children are not in-cluded in the educational system, and that the right to education must be provided for every child. “We ex-pect the support from domestic and international institutions and organi-zations in the creation and design of concrete measures and activities that are directed towards the Roma population”, Jovanović concluded.

Networking of multiple coun-tries and exchange of positive exam-ples and principles will undoubtedly

contribute to better status of the Roma population. Roma mediators will have a special role in that; be-cause no one understands and knows better the needs and problems of the Roma than Roma themselves. This is why Roma mediators have to be systematized and have a perma-nent job position in government in-stitutions, and these projects are im-portant because they put Roma at the heart of solutions to the prob-lems of Roma, who would eventually be able to train the other members of their community. Both Roma and the country in which they live would benefit from this.

Tijana Čubrilo


Projects

The European project “Medi-ation for Roma” (Mediati-on4Roma) was created as a dis-cussion on what Roma mediation is, with the aim to analyze and define capabilities and needs of Roma mediators. The project aims to develop a European Roma mediating framework through the implementation of VET certifi-cates for Roma mediators. This certificate is aimed to recognize Roma mediation as a profession, by defining its capabilities and needs. The first step is realiza-tion of research of the profile of professional mediators and medi-ation of major projects that have been implemented at European and national level, so that those results could be used for the pro-motion of certified standardized curriculum for all partner coun-tries of the project. Once this is realized, “Mediation for Roma” will create an educational plan through e-learning platform that will be visible within the pilot training in each of the project partner countries.

VET solution

“Mediation for Roma” will develop a professional and certi-fied curriculum for Roma media-tion based on new theoretical and training methods. The main objective is to offer profession-alized and certified way toward an acknowledged and the recog-nized mediation in accordance with the European Reference Framework. Certificate will be developed through cooperation

of all the partners in the pro-ject. Training of Roma media-tors will offer a range of skills and tools with which one can develop from a natural-born to professional and recognized Roma mediator in four areas (employment, health, housing and education).

Challenges

This project is going to pro-mote certified and standardized curriculum in all partner coun-tries through training via e-plat-form. VET solution in the form of learning and training through e-platform will enhance the digital literacy of Roma as one of the most important competencies to become more competitive in the market economy and to adapt their skills to new challenges in mediation. Furthermore, through pilot training “Mediation for Roma”, one national officer by partner country will be trained

and certified directly, which in turn will involve at least 125 Roma mediators in each country. Through this training strategy, the trainers will include at least 1,000 end users in countries whose organizations are involved in this project.

European values

“Mediation for Roma” is in line with the objectives of the EU Framework for National Roma Integration Strategies up to 2020. In addition, this project will try to encourage mobility of media-tors in European countries. The main objective is to create a strong social network among me-diators from all over Europe, which will thus promote the cre-ation of a new policy of Roma in-tegration.

www.mediation4roma.eu

“MEDIATION FOR ROMA”

Partners involved in the Mediation4Roma project:

• Fundacio Pere Closa (Spain)

• Fundacio Esplai (Spain)

• IIT (Romania)

• Arci Solidarieta Onlus (Italy)

• CMGVRW (Belgium)

• Radovi u toku (Serbia)

• EARC Speranta (Romania)


Permanent Conference of Roma Civic Associations (SKRUG) - Roma League, has launched a “Get out and vote, amen sijam but Roma” on the occasion of the upcoming elec-tion for National Councils of national mi-norities. The aim of the campaign is to motivate Roma to get involved in large numbers in the se-lection process and en-roll in the special voters list. It is also important that the members of the Roma minority get time-ly informed about the responsibilities of the National Council and the possibilities to enter into a separate voters list.

In line with the campaign, the Per-manent Conference of Roma Civic Associations (SKRUG) - Roma League,

organized a press conference at the Media Center where carriers of electoral rolls for the National Council of the Roma minority

presented themselves, in order to ensure that all electoral rolls get equal opportunities to pre-sent their programs. Ten elector-

al rolls have been submi-tted to the Republic Ele ctoral Commi ssion, but only eight representatives presented their programs and presented the list. Each of the heads had the opportunity to present themself for five minutes as well as the candidates from the list, after which they had another five min-utes each to answer the questions in relation to ju-risdictions of National Councils.

Respect for minority rights is one of the indica-tors of democratic society and ways to enrich the cul-ture of all nations.

Aleksandra Mićić

Elections

“Alliance for Change - People on a human scale” - Muhamed Osman, head of the list “Our Roma List - Duško Jovanović” - Duško Jovanović , head of the list“Association of Roma in Serbia - Vladan Stanojević” - Vladan Stanojević, head of the list “Justice and truth for every Roma Tane Kurtić”- Tane Kurić, head of the list “Anglunipe - Progress Dragoljub Acković” - Dragoljub Acković, head of the list “Roma for a better future” - Vitomir Mihajlović, head of the list “Roma - the citizens of Serbia” - Srdjan Šajn, head of the list “Roma for Serbia - Nenad Tairović” - Nenad Tairović, head of the list “Group of voters Roma in Europe” - Ferhat Saiti, head of the list “Roma voice for Europe” - Jelena Jovanović, head of the list

Sour

ce:

“Med

ia C

ente

r Be

lgra

de”

“GET OUT AND VOTE, AMEN SIjAM BUT ROMA”


NGO

Responsibilities of the ERIO:• Perform research on the European Union and national policies re-

lated to Roma issues in the field of anti-discrimination and social inclusion;

• Help with current projects; • Assistance in the preparation of publications; • Supporting informative programs; • Help with the organization of events; • Proofreading and editing texts; • Maintaining the ERIO database; • Updating the ERIO website.

ERIO is an international organization that promotes political and public discus-sion on Roma issues by pro-viding factual and compre-hensive information on a range of public issues within the European Union institu-tions, Roma civil organiza-tions, governments, and in-tergovernmental bodies.

T he Eu ro p ean Ro ma Information Office (ERIO) was founded in 2003 in Brussels, as a non-profit organization under Belgian law, to work in internation-

al and European scale. Despite the role it plays in representing the rights of Roma at the European lev-el, the Office is not intended to re-place other Roma organizations, but rather act as an information platform, which ensures that the voices of all European Roma are heard in the EU and with govern-ment officials.

ERIO advocates for the rights of Roma through designing and pro-moting policies that are aimed at improving the socio-economic situ-ation and the social inclusion of Roma in Europe. The Office is work-

ing with a large net-work of organizations and acts against racial discrimination and so-cial exclusion through raising the awareness, lobbying and policy development. The fo-cus of the Office is currently on policies aimed to combat dis-crimination in the are-as of education, em-ployment, health and housing.

ERIO aims to com-bat racial discrimina-tion against the Roma,

as well as contribute to a better public awareness of the problems faced by the Roma com-munity. Moreover, ERIO promotes participation of Roma communities in decision-making process at the European, national and local level. The Office works on sensitizing the EU institutions on the importance of developing and providing access to equal opportunities for Roma in the EU Member States and in the candidate countries.

ERIO is a member of the Platform of European Social NGOs (Social Platform), Policy Making Committee of the European Network Against Racism (ENAR), Fundamental Rights Platform (FRP), and European Roma Policy Coalition (ERPC) and the Association of the European Year of Citizens Alliance (EYCA).

You can find more information about ERIO on their official web-site, available at www.erionet.eu as well as at the official twitter ac-count on twitter.com/ERIO_EU.

www.erionet.eu

Meeting at the ERIO

EUROPEAN ROMA INFORMATION OFFICE(ERIO)


Video Campaign “To better understand each other” involves statements of Roma and non-Roma celebrities. All statements made by public figures of non-Roma origin are in Romani language, and vice versa - the famous Roma speak in Serbian, and each statement is subtitled. The main objective of this action is the integration of Roma into society, as well as to assist with the integration and expan-sion of mutual understanding between Roma and non-Roma. Promoting tolerance and pro-viding equal opportunities and participation of Roma in all social activities is the out-come.

“In this way, we wanted to encourage the spread of mutual understanding between Roma and individuals who are not members of this minority, and thus to spread the prin-ciples of the richness of diversity and to com-bat stereotypes and prejudice”, says Biljana Tasić. She adds that this is the way to fight dis-crimination and promote tolerance towards the Roma minority as a group in a particularly vulner-able position, while encouraging social inclusion at the same time.

The campaign included Jovan Ćirilov, Vanja Bulić, Marko Vidojković, Natasa Tasić Knešević, Zoran Jovanović, Princess Jelisaveta Karadjordjević

Radoslav Pavlović, Dragan Đilas and Nenad Borovčanin. The Ministry of Culture and Information, Ministry of Youth and Sport, Provincial Secretariat supported campaign “To better under-stand each other” for Economy, Employment and Gender Equality and the Office for Human and Minority Rights.

Tijana Čubrilo

NGO

TO BETTER UNDERSTAND EACH OTHER(TE BI SUKAR NA RAZUMINAMEN)

Roma non-profit organization Romag has launched a campaign called “To better un-derstand each other”, involving Roma and non-Roma celebrities.

ROMAG is an innovative and competi-

tive organization that is based on knowl-

edge, expertise, network of contacts and

previous experience and achieved success

in implementing projects at the local and

regional level by individuals with the com-

mon goal of improving the social status of

minorities, especially Roma. This Roma non-

governmental organization was founded by

John Ćirilov, Dušan Bulić I Biljana Tasić, who

is the executive director.


NGO

This year’s Children’s Week included sports activities, but also educational, artistic, musical and environmental workshops, as well as the exchange of books, which promotes books and read-ing. Special attention was dedi-cated to strengthening families and fostering better conditions for exercising the right of every child to grow up with a family (biologi-cal, adoptive, caretaking or fos-ter)..

Workshops for Roma children

In Veliki Rit, Bangladeš and Šangaj, the Association “Snaga porodice” (“The Power of Family”) held creative workshops for Roma

children of pre-school and school age. One of the workshops is

called “My wishes, my power”, and the other “I’ll learn my

The overall objectives of the Children’s Week:

• Drawing the attention of general public on the rights and needs of children;

• Pointing out to responsibilities that schools, the state and its in-stitutions have in the protection of children and realization of their rights;

• Pointing out to examples of good practice and problems in realiz-ing the rights of children;

• Encourage inter-departmental and inter-sectorial cooperation in ensuring conditions for the respect of rights and optimal devel-opment of each child;

• Promote active participation of children in decisions that affect them;

• Launching new initiatives and actions that contribute to improv-ing the situation of children in the Republic of Serbia and realiza-tion of their rights..

From October 6-10, the Children‘s Week took place in Novi Sad, with a slogan “Every beaming child was raised in a family”. The association “Life as Inspiration” with the sup-port of the City of Novi Sad organized the event.

“EVERY BEAMING CHILD WAS RAISED IN A FAMILY”


rights”. “The goal is for children to learn about their rights, to be-come aware on this issue, both children and their parents who were present. These are creative workshops, so that children’s cre-ativity could be fully expressed. As specialists on the issue, we noted that Roma children, as a vulnerable group, are particularly sensitive, and therefore we pre-

pared workshops designed spe-cially for them”, says Stana Todorić, an educator, on behalf of “Snaga porodice”.

Within the workshop “My wishes, my power,” children intro-duced themselves and told what it is that they love to do (play foot-ball, volleyball, basketball, to draw, to run, to play), and then portrayed their wishes in the form of drawings. Afterward, they

made a collage of how they want-ed their homes to look like. It could be concluded from this workshop that the children did not have too excessive nor im-modest desires, they only wanted the basic things that would make their childhood happier and more fulfilled (a doll, a ball, a phone, to be good soccer players).

“I’ll learn my rights” is a

workshop whose aim was to teach children their rights, but also of duties and responsibilities. Children were aware of some of their rights, such as the right to education, right to play, treat-ment, the right to use their moth-er tongue, while they learned at the workshop about the right to be different, and therefore to be pro-tected from discrimination, the right to security, right to their own

opinion and the right not to be ex-ploited in any way. The need for children to read, go to school, li-brary, keep their books and be good students was particularly em-phasized.

After playing and dancing, children were given their presents, which caused excitement and sin-cere joy on their faces.

Every day should be childre-

n’s day, and Children’s Week sho-uld be only a further opportunity to think about children and their rights. Impressions upon comple-tion of the workshop are that small thinks make children hap-py, that their desires are not un-realistic, and that it is up to us, the adults, not to disrupt their happiness and peace.

Tijana Čubrilo

NGO

The workshop


A friendly match between the national football Roma team of the Republic of Slovenia and the Roma football team of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina took place at the stadium of FC “Metalac” in Futog. Mr Petar Nikolić Dudija or-ganized this event. After the cordial and mutual introduction, the match

took place where guests scored the first goal, and after the tie just be-fore the end of the game, the host team made the winning goal. The match was played in the spirit of sportsmanship and in a friendly mood. A rematch is expected to happen by the end of the year in Morska Sobota (Slovenia), after the

invitation on behalf of the guest team.

Duško Jovanović, director of the Roma Inclusion Office, support-ed this event with his presence and expressed hope that this coopera-tion will continue.

Aleksandra Mićić

SPORT WITHOUT BORDERS

NGO

Home team and the visiting team


Youth Strategy

Ministry of Youth and Sports started with the development of the National Youth Strategy (NYS) for the period from 2015 to 2025 and of the Action Plan for the period from 2015 to 2018. According to planned activities, round tables throughout Serbia are to happen in October this year, in order to involve all relevant youth policy stakeholders into the Strategy development process. One such roundtable was held in Novi Sad, and the goal was to improve and advance the Strategy with new ideas and concrete mea-sures, through dialogue and recommendations of present stakeholders. The round table was held in cooperation with the Novi Sad Humanitarian Centre and Sombor Educational Center within the “Mladi su zakon” (“Youth Rocks”) program.

FIRST DRAFT OF THE NATIONAL YOUTH STRATEGY

Participants of the round table

Dobrila Pejin, on behalf of the Novi Sad Humanitarian Centre and

Srđan Vlaškalić, in front of the Sombor Educational Centre, opened the event, after which Nenad Borovčanin, Secretary of State for Youth, addressed the audience. The

first draft of the National Youth Strategy was presented by Zorica Labudović, Head of Department for Cooperation with Youth offices and associations in the Ministry of Youth


“It is important to define the role of each institution through the

NYS, and to determine the mode of operation at all levels, national,

provincial and local. Basically, this means that if there are no quality

activities and recognition of youth from all other ministries and lev-

els of government, the strategy will not be implemented properly.

We invite young people to give their suggestions and comments,

to express their concerns and needs, because this is the first working

Draft that will vary depending on, first of all, young people and their

proposals. The plan is to make the first Official Draft after all round

tables have finished, and there will be 25 of them across Serbia. New

rounds of public hearings will follow, and then the adoption of NYS

by the end of the year.

Regarding the employment of the youth, developing and foster-

ing the entrepreneurial spirit of young people are in the first place,

as well as harmonization of the educational process with the labor

market. Incentives will be defined together with the National

Employment Service through the Package for Youth for year 2015.

This Strategy should enable the youth to achieve their personal

and social roles and objectives and a normal life, especially in their

birthplaces. Our vision is to create the conditions for young people to

live well, to grow in personal and professional terms, but also to be-

come active participants of change and social action.”

Nenad Borovčanin,

Secretary of State for Youth

and Sports. Representatives of local governments, associations, youth offices, the media, experts and all those who were interested in the topic attended the roundtable.

For now, the Draft proposes ten areas related to the youth and improving their position in the soci-ety. These are:

• Employment and youth entre-preneurship

• Education, values and training of the youth

• Social inclusion of the youth • Youth safety • Health and well being of the

youth • Activism and active participa-

tion of the youth • Youth and the environment and

sustainable development

• Youth Awareness • Youth Mobility • Culture and creativity of the

youthThrough its principles, the

NYS (support to personal and so-cial empowerment of the youth, equality, non-discrimination and respect for human and minority rights, equal opportunities for all, the importance of youth and their role in the society, active partici-pation of the youth and coopera-tion and social responsibility and solidarity) is to achieve its main objectives and carry improvement for the youth.

Tijana Čubrilo

“It is essential that young people be directly involved in the

drafting of the National Strategy for they know best their needs. We

are here to guide them and provide advice in case they do not know

whom to turn to or how to implement some of their ideas”.

Dobrila Pejin, NSHC

Youth Strategy


Culture

In mid-October, a public discussion on “Media and marginalized groups”, organized by the Ethnicity Research Center and NSSJ was held at the premises of the Novi Sad School of Journalism (NSSJ). The event was organized as part of a project supported by Commissariat for Refugees and Migration and the Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Policy.

Dr. Dubravka Valić Nedelj-ković opened the discussion, and the participants were Dr. Goran Bašić (Ethnicity Research Center),

Milica Ružičić Novković (Centre “Living Upright”) and Petar Nikolić (editor of the Roma news-room of RTV). The aim of discus-

sions was the analysis of media coverage of marginalized groups in Serbia.

Discussion

“We of the NSSJ have been doing everything we can for years to show reporters how important reporting and informing about marginalized groups is, about the other and different. Such report-ing improves the quality of me-dia, but also sensitizes the socie-

MEDIA AND MARGINALIZED GROUPS

Center “Living Upright”

Center “Living Upright” is a local non-governmental organization founded in 2002 with headquarters in Novi Sad. Their goal is to create social environment in which all human rights of persons with disabili-ties will be respected and the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities will be implemented through representing interests of persons with disabilities, family support, and educational and research work in the field of disability and accessibility.


Culture

NOVI SAD SCHOOL OF jOURNALISM (NNSj)

NSSJ is a civil society organization engaged in the development and professionalization of the media scene in Serbia and the region, respecting the values of truth, knowledge and critical approaches in a multilingual, multicultural and multinational environment and fos-ters a balanced and tolerant dialogue.

Novi Sad School of Journalism has existed since 1996, and has been operating as a non-governmental organization since 1998.

Project activities of the organization are focused on increasing the professional capacity in the media sector; Monitoring and analy-sis of media content; education of various target groups about media literacy and advocacy that contribute to the democratization and development of civil society and the promotion of European values.

For all of the above, NSSJ offers knowledge that promotes communication, without discrimination of ethnicity, confes-sionalism, sexism and racism.

ty to observe from another perspective, understands and meets the group”, Dr. Dubravka Valić Nedeljković said at the be-ginning.

Ethnicity Research Center conducted a study of the manner in which the Serbian media re-port on marginalized groups. We analyzed the reporting on Roma, migrants and people with disabil-ities, and the general conclusion of Goran Bašić was that the me-dia, when reporting on these groups generally provide only in-formation and facts, but do not go to the root of the problem. The role of the media is not fully used, because they do not con-tribute to their reports, changing

values in society, reducing preju-dice and fear of the different. There is a need for continuous and meaningful reporting on these groups for these changes in society to occur.

Milica Ružičić Novković from the “Living Upright” center talked about the media coverage of people with disabilities and had concrete suggestions on how to improve and repair this type of

reporting. This is to record short ten-minute programs that are rich in content and would often be aired in the media, and would make the population familiar with this social group. She em-phasized that it is essential for

the stories of marginalized groups to be told by those who are mem-bers of the group, and not some-one who is only concerned with the group.

Petar Nikolić talked about public interest, dialogue and fun-damental solving of these prob-lems, and pointed out that every event must have its solution, con-clusion, and be covered in the media.

Unfortunately, not many me-dia representatives were present at this discussion, which indicates to a lack of desire to talk on such topics.

Tijana Čubrilo

Ethnicity Research Center

Ethnicity Research Centre was established in 2000. They are pri-marily interested in human rights and minority groups. They are also interested in security cooperation and integration. Ethnicity Research Center is a member of a regional network of organizations under the auspices of ISCOMET’s (The International Scientific Conference Minorities for Europe of Tomorrow).


Culture

Citizens Association Phralipe organized “Dani poezije Trifun Dimić” (Trifun Dimić Poetry Days), an event that took place at the Department for Culture of Vojvodina. Representatives from the association said they wanted to show the richness of Romani li-terature, and also its importance for the preservation of Roma national identity. The ve-nue is also very symbolically important because it is precisely in this cultural institution that Trifun Dimić was born.

Aims of the event

Sava Aleksandrović, presi-dent of the association, said that

this event has been realized for the past seven years, and thanks to being recognized as valuable by the state and cultural institu-

tions (local government of the City of Novi Sad, the Provincial Department of Culture and Public Information and Ministry

THE IMPORTANCE OF WRITTEN ROMANI WORD


Culture

“What is written in the

books, remains as a monu-

ment for all time.”

Rajko Jovanović

of Culture and Information of the Republic of Serbia). “This event is to contribute to the emancipa-tion of the socialization of Roma”, added Aleksandrović.

“The aim is to present the literary work of the Roma and to this way encourage enthusiasts who have a flair for the written word. We want to increase the

base of Romani literary authors because with the written word, we can preserve the Romani lan-guage from oblivion”, says

Alexander Alexandrovich of asso-ciation “Phralipe”.

Book Promotion

Within the “Trifun Dimić Potry Days”, book promotion was held for the “Romany songbook 2” by Maja Jovanović and Rajko Ranko Jovanović from Deronja. The book consists of thirty po-ems for children in Romani and Serbian language. Their first book of poems was published in 2010. Maja Jovanović (Romani language teacher) says that this book is important, especially for those who work in schools with children, because teachers are the ones who nurture Roma lit-erature, and through it reflect Roma traditions and cultural richness.

“This Songbook will help and assist in teaching to us, the teachers, but the majority of people will also have the oppor-tunity to see how the Romani language and word live in books”, says Maja Jovanović, while Rajko Jovanović insists that it is very important that the books end up in the hands of Roma children.

There is a need for Roma community to find new people, primarily among young people, through projects and programs in educational institutions, who are going to write new literary works. This would make Roma still visible as a nation that un-derstands time and place to be taken by writers and their work. At the same time, this would en-able the work on preserving and nurturing Romani language.

Tijana Čubrilo


Culture

ROMA SPOKEN HERITAGE

The City Library of Novi Sad published a book by Trifun Dimić, “Paths of Judgment”, with the assistance of the City of Culture of the City of Novi Sad in 2012. There are spoken literary works of Romani literature co lected and transla-ted by Trifun Dimić (ballads, romances, short stories, panchatantra, traditions of the Roma in Serbian literature, curses, oaths and blessings). In this article, we will try to single out a couple of spoken pieces out of all that are listed, for you to gain insight into the wealth of Romani spoken heritage.

The afterword was writ-ten by Rajko Đurić, who pays special attention to Dimić’s collection of work in the field of Roma folk art. He contin-ued his work as a translator and creator of prose and poet-ry, editor of newspapers and magazines in Romani and about the Roma, fighter for the rights of Roma people, founder of Romani language and culture as a course, and so on. Acković considers Trifun Dimić a true disciple and fol-

lower of what Rade Uhlik and Tihomir Djor-djevic had done before that. “Enlightenment, translation, cul-tural, political and every other work by Trifun Dimić was and hopefully will be the occasion for many more m e m o r a b l e

May God give you the Devil’s justice to catch you!

Be silent as a rock.(Curses)

Trifun Dimić


Culture

Whole night I haven’t slept

Whole night I haven’t slept, So i won’t even this one,

To make my wishes come true, And give money to barkeepers.

out, Under the sky I am a miserable man,In my thoughts without a strenght, I drank my house and the windows,

My horse ran away. Dear mother that gave me life,

That swayed my cradleHave I died as a child,I wouldn’t face misery.

more. You will see in spring

Great car, great horses,And six-brake horse carriage,And six-brake horse carriage.

(ballad)

The birdOh, mother, woodland bird,the woodland bird comes

out!That is not the woodland

bird,That is not the bird that

comesBut a beautiful girl,

beautiful foreign girl,Romani will she be a bride,

To you we’ll give her. (romance)

The Rose There is only one Rose in the

worldThe wind dispels her curly

hair;Rose is the only one, and

there are no(romance)

How did the turtle come about

It was a long time ago, such a long time ago that the names were completely lost and the event barely remembered. The only thing left was the story. And the story says the following:

A holy man walked on earth, and as he had dealt with difficult jobs for a long time, he starved. Searching for food, he came to a village; entered into a wealthy house and asked for something to eat. And at that moment, a housewife was baking bread, and as the holy man asked for some food, and thinking he was a beggar, she said to the unexpected guest:

- Wait a minute, my good man, I will now knead and bake a loaf of bread for you, take it with you, and satiate your hunger!

- Good - said the holy man, went outside and waited. The housewife baked the bread for the guest, such a small one, smaller than half of the palm, and put

it with the rest to bake. When the bread was baked, she started removing it from the oven and, behold, the bread that was smaller than half of the palm grew so much that it could barely get out of the oven. This bread was so nice and smelled so good that she was sorry to share such a wealth with a beggar, so she hid the bread in the chimney corner and and hid herself under a wooden manger.

That is when the Holy Man entered and, not even asking for bread said to the housewife:-Why did you hide under the wooden manger, let it always be on top of your back, during night and

day, and let it grow together with you and all of your children!So went the Holy Man. And the housewife turned into a turtle.She was left with a turtle shell, and we were left with a short story.

(Short story)

Have the goodness boast with yourself!

Let the gold be in front of you, and the silver behind

you.(Blessings)

books. Trifun’s life was, in fact, his work and the work was his

life”, says Acković in the after-word.

Tijana Čubrilo


DOUBLE OSCAR WINNER – MICHAEL CAINE

Roma in the World


Roma in the World

According to the “Gypsy Roma Traveller” magazine, one of the best British film and thea-tre actors, Sir Michael Caine was of Romani origin. His full name is Maurice Joseph Micklewhite, and

giving the first-born son his fa-ther’s name – Maurice, was a part of his family’s Romani tradi-tion. He acted in more than hun-dred movies and is a double Oscar winner – in 1987 (for

Woody Allen’s film “Hannah and her sisters”) and in 2000 (for “The Cider House Rules”), when Queen Elizabeth II knighted him as Sir Maurice Micklewhite CBE. Unlike his successful Hollywood


and movie glamour persona, his private life had a darker side. Life he has been living in the

past years does not differ much from the one he used to live in his youth.

Poverty in youth

Michael Caine was born in South London. He lived in a poor working class family, his father used to sell fish at the market while his mother worked as a cleaner. They lived in a modest two-bedroom apart-ment. Out of security reasons, they moved to a farm in Norfolk during the Second World War.

On his return to London, Michael, at the time a 12-year-old boy shows interest in film and theater. He visited the gal-lery in the famous Old Vic Theater, played in school plays, and sometimes even directed them. He dropped out of school

Roma in the World

On how to deal with stress, how he sees the wealth and luxury, the legendary Michael Caine answers in an interview with the BBC:

“Being a movie star is one of the most stressful things that could happen to a man. That stress is simply unthinkable. And alcohol somewhat alleviates that stress, and, in some ways is less harmful than stress itself - stress will kill you sooner than alcohol! In the film industry, many are prone to alcohol; at least it used to be the case. Today, the actors do drugs - the younger generation takes cocaine. It’s very easy, you can rec-ognize when you are in their company – they are calm and quiet, and then go to the toilet. When they re-turn, they do not close their mouth for hours. And all they say is extremely boring, even though they think it’s very interesting. Drugs are more dangerous than alcohol - in order to become an alcoholic, you need to drink for decades, while a drug addict can become one in just a few months. It is much easier to get off al-cohol - I now only drink in the evening, a little wine with dinner, that’s all.”

“I found myself in a situation where I do not have to think about money at all. If I like something, I buy it. And when my wife asks me for the price, I do not know the answer. However it is likely I earn more than my mother: I have an apartment in London, a house in England, in the county of Surrey, and an apartment in Miami. I am not into cars - we have, I think, five cars – for the help, for shopping and the like. Personally, I do not drive - my driver takes me, in a small Lexus after which no one would ever turn. When I was young-er, I was driving a Rolls Royce, but today that idea would not have occurred to me - that car are too striking in the world we live in. Though I still have a gold Rolex, you can see I am wearing a plain black plastic watch I do not need all that glitter anymore.

I do not want people looking at me. I do not want to arouse anyone’s curiosity. I just want to mind my own business. And even I ask myself, when I see a Rolls Royce: Who’s in it? When a man gets older, he does not need these things anymore to be sure of himself. I’m quite happy with myself and I have no need to im-press anyone. I am a family man with a beautiful family. I recently got three grandchildren who completely fascinate me. And when people ask me whether I intend to retire at the professional level - I answer them – you do not turn your back to films, but films do that to you.”


at 16 and worked vari-ous, mostly menial jobs until he was drafted into the Army and went to Korea. After leaving the Army, he attended evening classes of act-ing, which earned him his first job in the theater.

He took the name Michael Caine (Caine – after the movie The Caine Mutiny). He moved to London and occasionally got roles in theater and movie plays. The turning point in his career was in 1963, when he got the role of lieutenant Bromhead in the film Zulu. After that he got the role of anti-hero in the spy thriller, The Ipcress File.

Following films should be highlighted as the significant ones: Gambit, Funeral in Berlin, Billion Dollar Brain, Hurry Sundown by Otto Preminger, Woman Times Seven Vittorio De Sica, The Wilby Conspiracy with Sidney Poitier, The romantic English-woman with Glenda Jackson, The Man Who Would Be King with Sean Connery, Harry and Walter Go To New York, California Suite, The Swarm. During the eighties, Michael Caine made 21 films out of which the most significant ones were Dressed to kill by Brian de Palma, Victory by John Huston, The Hand by Oliver Stone, Death Trap by Sidney

Lumet, Blame It on Rio by Stanley Donen, The Holcroft Covenant by John Fran ken-heimer and Sweet Liberty by Alan Alda. Caine has also worked a lot on television. Out of that opus, mini-series Jack the Ripper, 20 000 Leagues Under the Sea as well as the TV movie Mandela and de Klerk are among the most signifi-cant.

In the early nineties, he founded a production company M&M together with the produc-er Martin Bergman, and the same year, he published his au-tobiography entitled “What’s it

all about?” Michael Caine has been nominated and awarded many times for his work.

This year, Michael Caine de-cided to retire. “I do not have any more ambition left. All that I’ve been doing so far was mak-ing films. I had an agenda with every movie I took. Either to get an Oscar or to make money. Those were the two main rea-sons why I made films. I got two Oscars and I have enough mon-ey. I’m ready to retire and will no longer be making films.” Said Caine.

Aleksandra Mićić

Roma in the World


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The founder and the Publisher of the Periodical: EDITORIAL

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