The adoption of the new Roma and Traveller Inclusion Strategy 2026–2030 marks an important and long‑awaited commitment to strengthening the rights, dignity and participation of Europe’s largest minority, who continue to face systemic discrimination, antigypsyism, and significant barriers in areas such as education, health, housing and political participation. For social work, this strategy represents both a challenge and an opportunity: a challenge to confront and transform the structural inequalities and harmful stereotypes that have historically shaped practice, and an opportunity to embed human‑rights‑based, culturally informed and restorative approaches that amplify Roma and Traveller voices, promote equality, and support meaningful inclusion.
The strategy’s emphasis on knowledge, awareness, gender equality, and the centrality of community participation aligns closely with emerging social work frameworks, such as restorative practice models, such as the Reflection, Objective, Movement, Action (ROMA) Model (Allen, D., & Hulmes, A., 2025). The Reflection, Objective, Movement and Action (ROMA) Model: a new paradigm for anti-racist social work practice in Tanya Moore and Glory Simango (Eds) The Anti-Racist Social Worker in Practice. London: Routledge (pp69 – 78). https://doi.org/10.4324/9781041057413-10) that aim to counter antigypsyism and create more accountable, relational, and empowering forms of engagement with Roma and Traveller communities.
Read more: https://www.coe.int/en/web/roma-and-travellers/-/new-council-of-europe-strategy-puts-awareness-equal-rights-and-political-participation-of-communities-to-the-fore