Inclusion, Integration or Perpetual Exclusion? A Critical Examination of the Decade of Roma Inclusion, 2005-2015

ABSTRACT A total of 12 European countries with significant Roma populations are taking part in the Decade of Roma Inclusion, 2005-2015 (the Decade). Each of these countries developed a Decade Action Plan with the aim of eliminating the marginalization and discrimination of Roma in the areas of housing, health care, employment and education. Nonetheless, as we near the end of the Decade, we find little evidence that disparities between Roma and non-Roma citizens of Europe have decreased. Of all the priorities noted in the Decade, education is seen as the most successful, and that success is minimal at best. This article critically examines why ‘inclusion ’ has failed and offers insights into micro and macro contexts and educational goals formulated by the states participating in the Decade. Throughout Europe, Roma children do not attend school at the same rate as their non-Roma peers. Those Roma students who do attend school are often placed in segregated classrooms (European Commission, 2007; New, 2013; Stoyanova, 2013). The Roma population also faces wider social exclusion with growing nationalism and racism, as well as a general fear of ‘difference’ (Amnesty International, 2007; Sobotka & Vermeersch, 2012; Brown et al, 2013). After nearly 10 years of donor supported programs throughout Central and Eastern Europe with mixed and inconsistent results, a meeting was held in 2003 in Budapest to develop a mor