MINELRES: Call for Applications: ERRC Women's Rights Workshop in Russia

[MINELRES moderator]

Original sender: European Roma Rights Center <errc@errc.org>


Call for Applications: Human Rights Capacity-Building Workshop for
Romani Women Activists in Russia

The European Roma Rights Center (ERRC) shall conduct a Human Rights
Workshop for Romani Women in Russia during the first week of June 2005.

The goal of the workshop is to develop the capacity of Romani women
activists in Russia, as well as Russian-speaking Romani women from other
countries of the former Soviet Union, to use international, regional and
domestic human rights instruments and mechanisms to advance the rights
of Roma, both domestically and internationally. The workshop aims to
enable participants to:

* Document instances of human rights violations of Romani women such as
cases of trafficking, domestic violence, or discrimination in access to
various services such as health care, education, employment, housing and
social services
* Analyse issues and situations affecting Romani women in Russia, based
on international human rights instruments and principles
* Develop skills in using domestic mechanisms (such as national
legislation) and international human rights instruments to protect and
promote the rights of Romani women
* Strengthen skills in monitoring and reporting human rights violations,
as well as advocating the rights of Russian Romani women
* Increase the capacity of Romani women activists to apply their
learning within their organisations and their communities
* Explore opportunities for networking and developing partnerships with
NGOs involved in women rights issues, as well as with government
officials, to further advance the cause of Roma rights

The workshop will be held near Volgograd.

The workshop is a component of ERRC programming aimed at capacitating
Romani women activists, and is therefore only open to Russian-speaking
Romani women. Applicants must be at least 16 years of age.

Application Procedure

Applicants must:

1. Submit a 300-500 word essay in Russian or Romani:
* giving basic details about themselves
* explaining any human rights/Roma rights activities in which they have
been involved to date
* expressing why they would like to participate in the workshop, and how
it would be useful for them and any future actions they would like to
undertake in their Roma rights/human rights work

2. Provide a letter of recommendation from an NGO, community leader,
professor or current employer. The letter should explain the nature of
their relationship, how long they have known the applicant and highlight
the main attributes of the applicant and whether they would be a
suitable candidate for the workshop. We kindly request that all
materials be submitted to the ERRC in one package. Applications missing
one or more of these requirements will not be considered by the
selection committee.

Completed applications should be submitted to European Roma Rights
Center, 1386 Budapest 62, P.O. Box 906/93, Hungary, or by fax to (+ 36
1) 413-2201, or by e-mail to Olga Chashchikhina: olgach@errc.org. The
closing deadline for all applications is April 4, 2005. Please take note
that this is an absolutely final deadline and any applications received
after this date shall not be considered.

Support for the workshop is provided by the Sigrid Rausing Trust.
_____________________________________________

The European Roma Rights Center is an international public interest law
organisation which monitors the rights of Roma and provides legal
defence in cases of human rights abuse. For more information about the
European Roma Rights Center, visit the ERRC on the web at
http://www.errc.org.

European Roma Rights Center
1386 Budapest 62
P.O. Box 906/93
Hungary


Phone: +36 1 4132200
Fax:   +36 1 4132201

_____________________________________________

SUPPORT THE ERRC!

The European Roma Rights Center is dependent upon the generosity of
individual donors for its continued existence. If you believe the ERRC
performs a service valuable to the public, please join in enabling its
future with a contribution. Gifts of all sizes are welcome; bank
transfers are preferred. Please send your contribution to:

European Roma Rights Center
Budapest Bank Rt.
99P00402686
1054 Budapest
Bathory utca 1
Hungary

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