International Roma Women's Network (IRWN) - Europe

IRWN will function as an informal network until it seeks formal registration. (To view a list of IRWN founding members in PDF format, click here). The group seeks to be inclusive and welcomes new members. IRWN functions independently of governments and international agencies. It will establish national and local contact points, consisting of its members, who will report on the situation and problems of Roma women in their countries. This material will be disseminated on a regular basis through the Internet.

Advocacy efforts will be central to the network's efforts. One of the seven goals in the IRWN charter is: "To challenge individual and institutional discrimination at all levels, more specifically discrimination in housing, health care, education and employment." (To read the full text of the charter, click here). While protesting governmental policies and practices, the group will seek to collaborate with the government to ensure that the basic human rights of Roma women are respected.

The immediate task of the IRWN was to present a unified position at the May 2003 Ministerial conference on Roma women's health. Forced sterilisation was high on the agenda following recent reports that Roma women have been forcibly sterilised in the Slovak Republic. In its first public action, the network issued an open letter of protest. The letter calls on the government of Slovakia to punish those responsible and declares such violations as a "crime against humanity - a crime against all women." To read the full text of this letter in PDF format, click here.

The decision to create the network was made at a meeting in Vienna (November 28-29, 2002) to review the health of Roma women in Europe. At this meeting, The Advocacy Project worked with the participants to develop their advocacy capacity and brainstorm what networking role they wanted to play at both a regional and international level. The Vienna meeting was jointly sponsored by the Council of Europe, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the European Union's Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC). (These three organisations also sponsored the May Ministerial conference on the health of Roma women). The new network was then endorsed by a follow-up meeting at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg (February 3-3, 2003), where participants adopted a charter and elected a provisional coordinating committee.

Europe's population of Roma, Sinti, Gypsies and Travellers number approximately 8 million; their treatment has become a key issue in the enlargement of the European Union (EU). Several East Europe countries have been told to improve the condition of Roma as a precondition for entry to the EU. In spite of this, organisers say, little attention has yet been paid to the specific problems of Roma women. Many of these problems are health-related. A recent study by the OSCE's High Commissioner for National Minorities found that the life expectancy of Roma women is usually between 10 and 17 years lower for Roma women than for the general population. Infant mortality among Bulgaria's Roma in 1989 was six times the national average. The causes of this health crisis range from poverty to poor housing, but they are exacerbated by social exclusion, discrimination, and prejudice. Organisers claim that these attitudes extend even to health facilities, where sick Roma women and children are often turned away.