Interview Interview
NEZDET MUSTAFA, MINISTER WITHOUT PORTFOLIO
The Roma people are becoming the symbol of poverty, which means that the fact that the Roma are poor is already normal in the minds of other people. Therefore, I would say that all people around us, not that just heard, but they know well in what conditions the Roma people live. I, as a minister I’m trying to capture and explain that situation to all factors and colleagues, domestic, as well as foreign, that we need help, that we need inclusion in the system of the institutions, that we want to be integrated an equal citizens of this country, says the minister without portfolio Mustafa
Because of the world economy crisis, the cabinet of the minister without portfolio Nezdet Mustafa this year has almost half smaller budget for the Roma Decade than the last year, but Mustafa says that he will not leave the priorities marked for 2010, which are employment and homing, besides the education and the health. He says that from remarkable great meaning is the cooperation with the local authorities in order to provide infrastructure because the majority of the Roma population are living in substandard conditions. More activities and bigger accent on the processes for improvement the quality of life of the Roma people, he is expecting in 2011, when Macedonia is going to be a chairman of the Decade of Roma inclusion and at that time, the country will be host of many important international factors of the Decade. Mustafa says that when the Decade officially will be over, he won’t stop with the efforts of improving the standards, but the opposite, he says that with the Strategy for Roma, the activities and the processes should be strengthen.
Did Macedonia (civil sector, regular people, local and central Government) understand the Decade of Roma people and did they heard about the difficult socio-economic situation in which Roma live?
The difficult socio-economic situation is an old story that the Roma people in Macedonia are living in for years. The Roma people are becoming a symbol for poverty that means that the fact that Roma are poor is becoming normal in the minds of other people. Therefore, I would say that all around us not only have heard, but they know well in what conditions the Roma people live. I, as a minister I’m trying to capture and explain that situation to all factors and colleagues, domestic, as well as foreign, that we need help, that we need inclusion in the system of the institutions, that we want to be integrated an equal citizens of this country. For me, the Decade is very serious matter on which I accept to work as a minister without portfolio in the Government of Republic of Macedonia. I’m trying as much as I can to persuade the rest of people.
The Decade has started in 2005 and we have five more years until its end. Tell me, what is done for Roma in Macedonia till now and what is necessary to be done in the near future? In which segment we are the strongest, and in which part, the weakest?
Yes, that’s right, we have five more years till the end of the Decade, but I think that the countdown is wrong as a deadline for solving all the problems of the Roma people. The problems of this community are complex and they are lasting for a very long time, therefore, with the ending of the Decade I think that the quality of the Roma community will be improved in a small percent. We must not forget the Strategy for the Roma in Republic of Macedonia. This strategy is a long-term document or program adopt by the Government It is wrong to think that when the Decade will finish, the activities for Roma people will finish along with that. On a contrary, almost the biggest part of the Strategy for Roma is not realized. For me, this strategy is more all included document that very much locates all the problems and fields of work. We are carrying that responsibility.
Employment and housing are not covered. What do you plan about these issues?
Employment of Roma people is realizing through the Secretariat for implementation of the Ohrid frame agreement, the percent of 2,6 participation of the Roma community employment in the state administration are trying to respect. Almost in all sectors which are working on implementation of the Roma Decade in Macedonia has employed the Roma and they are working in these processes. As a minister I’ve managed to point out the question for lacking of the basic homes and I received understanding from the Government and its members, my colleagues. In the program for social apartments we took as a starting point the Roma Decade and in the call we putted the criteria according, ten percent of those apartments must go in the hands of the Roma people. This is implementing. I think that in all Governmental programs I raise the question for inclusion of Roma because that’s the name of the Decade – Decade for Roma inclusion. We can not force the institutions to look on Roma problems with special attention, but we want to look on them through everyday work and reacting. Because, instead of inclusion, we will get exclusion or segregated working on this matter which is far away of the fundaments of the Decade. In the meantime, I’m talking with the local governments in order to provide infrastructure in area where Roma leave and in the near future I plan to cooperate with the Habitat for humanity for building collective homes.
We understand the employment according the Ohrid frame agreement and the employment in the state administration, but what about the ordinary people and their employment?
We are working on that field too. In cooperation with the Ministry for labor and social politics, as well as with the State Agency for employment, there’s a program for employment of Roma people in companies. They provide first three months lasting trainings and the employers must keep them at work one year. Untill last year, around 200 people were part of this program. For this year, only 50 places are provided.
Next year Macedonia will be a chairman of the Roma Decade. That honor we’ve got because it is going to be our turn or because of some good results in implementation of the Decade?
MUSTAFA: That honor are having all the states that are implementing the Roma Decade, so I would say that it’s our turn in 2011 to be a chairman of the Decade and to be organizers of many international meetings of representatives from many countries in order to discuss about the problems of the Roma people and from here to send recommendations how to improve the implementation of the Decade.
ONE: As a coordinator of the Roma Decade in the country, you are facing with the financial and institutional problems. Why is that so and how that influences on the activities planed according the Decade?
Yes, we are facing with the difficulties in implementation of the Decade and the Strategy, especially in a period when we are experiencing one global economical crisis in all sectors, including the Roma too. The possibilities are one and the wishes are another thing. As a minister I attend to use all the possibilities for gaining finances in the name of the Decade and of its interest. It is normal to face difficulties during work, they are from administrative nature and we are handling them.
What is your budget for 2010 and what are the priorities for this year?
The Government of Republic of Macedonia, for 2010 has provided total 15.140,000 Denars or 246.580 Euros for implementation of the national action plans of the Decade and the Strategy for Roma. The implementation of the memorandum signed with 19 municipalities is the main priority. That means that the local Governments must work on improvement of the basic living conditions of the Roma people. Other priorities are education, health and housing.
Can non-governmental organizations use the IPA funds and how?
Those are finances that can be used for projects connected with capacity building and human recourses building. So, there are possibilities that NGO’s can use these funds.
How much the Roma NGO’s contribute for implementing the activities of the Decade and mostly in which area?
The Roma info centers as a project from the Ministry for labor and social politics are Roma NGO’s that are helping the process. Following their work and reports that I receive as a working material they have a role to inform, guide and to be in contact with the Roma community for issues connected with the Decade as well as to inform the institutions when some problem occurs or somewhere help is needed. So, the civil sector helps the process in every aspect and directly informs about the problems inside the community. Some of the NGO’s make intervention with projects in education or in health, so overall they help and work on issues connected with the four priority areas.
How much are you satisfied from the work of the ministries that are your partners in implementation of the activities from the Decade?
Generally I’m satisfied, although always can be done more and better. With the money from the budget that they have, they use them optimally for good implementation of the Decade. The Ministry for education gives scholarships, the Ministry for labor and social politics make interventions with the project for kindergartens, the Roma info centers are working, the department for implementation of the Decade has being established and this department is coordinating the other ministries. Also, the National coordination body was formed, the representatives from many ministries are its members as well as representatives from the civil sector, so the cooperation is on all levels. But, I must repeat that always can be better.
What is the role of the local Governments and what kind of support you get from them?
In order to motivate them and to cooperate, my cabinet prepared a Memorandum for cooperation with the municipalities. The goal of this document is that the municipalities must prepare local action plans according the goals of the Decade and to provide some financial help from their annual budgets for infrastructural interventions during the first year, and as time is passing, they must work in phases, according to the needs of the Roma people that live in that municipality. The process has already begun in some municipalities. The Decade must have local support and interventions, but the responsibility for implementation must be taken by the institutions of the system, which means on local level. The Decade is an institutional process, I as a coordinator can ease the process, to initiate cooperation and implementation, but with help of all the involved sides, especially the municipalities which are crucial for the Decade, because they closely know the real problems of the Roma people and must put them higher in their priority lists. If they do that and if they are willing to cooperate, they can easily help.
What can we expect when the Decade will end?
As I mentioned earlier, I expect to continue the implementation of the Strategy for Roma in Macedonia. That is a document that has big support from the Government.
What happened with the idea for building a high school in Suto Orizari? As well as with the project for establishing the study group for Roma language?
According to the last information from the Ministry for education, the building is stopped because of some problems with the ownership of the property where the school was planned to be built. I’m still saying that that kind of school is needed there. I will continue to insist for realization of that project. We are working on introducing the Roma language on the faculties that will produce teachers and we hope that these study groups will start from the next school year. There was a promotion of the grammar of the Roma language and the dictionary on Roma-Macedonian and Macedonian-Roma language, so I hope that both will help in the work of the study group of Roma language.
Ljubica Grozdanovska Dimishkovska
