Last week’s discussion in the European Parliament on challenges in urban areas in the Nordic countries has painfully shown that Europe faces an increasing amount of poverty, inequality, and social exclusion, even in the wealthier Nordic countries. We heard about the tragic stories of undocumented migrants without perspective, about Roma working in precarious conditions, and migrants living in homelessness on the streets.
Civil society organisations such as Eurodiaconia members are doing what they can to support vulnerable people on the ground and to give them hope, while advocating for a more accessible system and more inclusive societies at local, national and European level. This month I have been visiting the Church of Sweden in Uppsala where I had the chance to hear about their local advocacy work in person. During the Eurodiaconia Roma Network Meeting, ambitious projects were presented that not only challenge the political, but also the societal approach to the minority group of Roma. For example, through visits to schools where Romani heritage, culture and language is presented, prejudices are questioned and inclusion is discussed. Back to last week, the discussion in the Parliament has shown how advocacy is transferred to the European level. Eurodiaconia members raised much needed awareness of the situation at European level by sharing their knowledge and experiences, among others also about the precarious situation and stigmatization of Roma. As Helle Christiansen from Kirkens Koshaer has stated, Roma as intra-EU migrants hardly have access to work and support from the welfare system and end up on the black market where they are unprotected and exploited.
There are organisations like our members who give disadvantaged group a voice and defend their rights on different levels. We have to continue the efforts to make sure that all people are included and protected in state and society. But civil society organisations cannot reach this goal alone: As long as the social systems remain inaccessible and unambitious, poverty and social exclusion among minority groups will not vanish. Politics have to stop turning a blind eye to the precarious situation of vulnerable groups and to start taking the responsibility for change.
Have a good weekend,
Lea