MINELRES: ERRC presented the prestigious Silver Rose Award
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Sun Feb 7 16:49:04 2010
Original sender: European Roma Rights Centre <[email protected]>
ERRC PRESENTED THE PRESTIGIOUS SILVER ROSE AWARD
BRUSSELS, 4 February 2010: The European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) is
honoured to have been presented with the prestigious Silver Rose Award
for social justice by SOLIDAR. The ERRC shares the 2010 award with
Colombian Trade Union Federations and former Prime Ministers Gyula Horn
(Hungary) and Pierre Mauroy (France).
Recipients of the Silver Rose Awards are selected by a jury of European
Parliamentarians involved with SOLIDAR�s work. The jury, chaired this
year by Veronique de Keyser MEP, conducted various interviews to
determine the winners. The jury awarded the Silver Rose Award in the
European Social Justice category to the ERRC for its �outstanding work
in promoting Roma rights and keeping this important question in the
public arena.�
Commenting on the award, ERRC Managing Director Robert Kushen said, "The
award serves as an important reminder that the ideals of the European
Union require equal rights for all its citizens, including Roma. We are
grateful that SOLIDAR has chosen through this award to highlight the
ongoing problems of Europe's largest minority."
Conny Reuter, Secretary General of SOLIDAR highlighted; �Despite many
political initiatives from the EU and national governments, Roma
communities still suffer massive discrimination in all areas of life,
discrimination which keeps them in poverty and condemns them to being
excluded from the community at large. By awarding the ERRC with this
SOLIDAR Silver Rose Award, we hope to raise awareness of the vital work
that they are carrying out to promote Roma rights and keep the issue of
anti-discrimination in the public sphere�.
The ERRC is an international public interest law organisation that
combats anti-Romani racism and human rights abuse of Roma in Europe. The
ERRC has set in motion more than 500 court cases in 15 countries to
bring to justice state and non-state actors who have discriminated
against Romani individuals in education, housing, employment, healthcare
and other areas, or have committed violence against them. It has secured
over 2 million Euros in compensation for Romani individuals for the
abuse they have suffered and the subsequent failure of their respective
governments to ensure justice. Since its establishment in 1996, the ERRC
has worked to ensure that human rights issues facing Romani communities
are firmly on the political agenda in Europe and beyond.
SOLIDAR is a European network of NGOs working to advance social justice
in Europe and worldwide. With 53 members based in 25 countries, SOLIDAR
works in cooperation with progressive civil society organisations,
socialist democratic and social parties, and trade unions, aiming to
influence EU and international policy and linking members together to
network and carry out humanitarian and development projects.
SOLIDAR�s Silver Rose Awards were launched in 2000 to help raise the
profile of individuals and organisations �whose struggles contribute
greatly to social justice and equality throughout the world.�
The ERRC is pleased with this recognition of its efforts to improve
human rights respect for Roma across Europe. The award ceremony took
place in the Members Dining Room of the European Parliament in Brussels
on 3 February 2010 and was attended by Managing Director Rob Kushen and
Women�s Rights and Equality Coordinator Ostalinda Maya Ovalle from the
ERRC.
For further information, please contact:
Rob Kushen, ERRC Managing Director,
[email protected] +36.1.413.2200
Sinan Gokcen, ERRC Information Officer,
[email protected] +36.1.413.2200
Abigail Goundry, Solidar, Communications Officer
[email protected] +32 (0)2 500 10 34
� ERRC 2010. All rights reserved
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The European Roma Rights Centre is an international public interest law
organisation which monitors the human rights situation of Roma and
provides legal defence in cases of human rights abuse. For more
information about the European Roma Rights Centre, visit the ERRC on the
web at: http://www.errc.org
To support the ERRC, please visit this link:
http://www.errc.org/cikk.php?cikk=2735
European Roma Rights Centre
1386 Budapest 62
P.O. Box 906/93
Hungary
Tel: +36.1.413.2200
Fax:
+36.1.413.2201
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