Your identity: A chance for legal rights

Non Profit ID card: present your project/organisation/campaign

Questions answered by Ramona Sclavone, Chief of Foreign Funded Projects Bureau- Development Department, Vrancea County Council.

 

– Where are you based? We are based in Focsani, the capital city of Vrancea County in Romania.

– What are you called? “Your identity – a chance for legal rights”, which is a project managed by Vrancea County Council.

The project has been implemented in partnership with the following institutions: “The Public County Department for Census”, Vrancea, the “Rom Pentru Rom” association, based in Panciu, Vrancea, and the local councils of Adjud, Marasesti, Panciu, Homocea, Racoasa, Timboiesti and Vulturu.

– What are you doing and why? Ourproject “Your identity – a chance for legal rights” addressed the need to release identity documents for Roma people in Vrancea County. Roma people are a social class exposed to social exclusion because of the lack of documents proving their birth or marital status.

Roma people who never had civil status acts are in a very difficult situation, as the absence of these documents leads to the impossibility of relating with Romanian State authorities and also excludes them from exercising the rights derived from citizenship: social assistance, social security, political rights, legal employment. Basically, a person who was not registered at birth does not exist in terms of administration for the Romanian State. Consequences and risks for the society: human trafficking, illegal adoptions, incomplete realization of political rights, poor access to social and economic rights.

– Do you have a website/email? www.cjvrancea.ro; contact@cjvrancea.ro.

– What makes you so special? We think this project has been really efficient: although the grant has been quite small (only 26,153 euros) the impact has been important. In fact we legalized with ID and civil status documents 1,113 Roma citizens. Plus, we tried, through the project, to solve a social problem that had never been on the public agenda until then. At the same time, we have been the first institution involved in solving the cases of late registration of birth (Roma citizens who didn’t have birth certificates and who did not exist for the Romanian State from an administrative point of view).

 

The turning point

– How did you start? The project “Your identity – a chance for legal rights” has been launched in January 2008 and it lasted until November the same year. The main stages of the project were:

– The partners’ meeting and the project team creation

– The promotion of the awareness campaign and legalization of the Roma citizens

– Elaboration of informative materials

– Offering information service and legalization of Roma citizens

– Informing the public opinion and the responsible institutions on the problems of the Roma communities within the areas targeted by the project.

– Monitoring and evaluating the project

-Disseminating the project’s results

– Who is your target? Roma citizens aged between 1 and 60 living in the Vrancea’s cities of Adjud, Marasesti, Panciu, Homocea, Racoasa, Timboiesti and Vulturu.  The final beneficiaries of the project were 1113 Roma citizens without ID papers, 550 of which were women and 563 were men. The project benefited from the unconditional support of the “Rom Pentru Rom” association. This NGO has a central role in achieving effective project activities thanks to its knowledge on lifestyle, communication and culture of the Roma community.

– How are you financed? The project “Your identity – a chance for legal rights” has been financed through EU and Romanian government contributions.

 

The challenge

– A proud moment? When I handed Roma children birth certificates. This way they became citizens with full rights. Contributing to improve these children’s lives made us proud.

– A problem you face? The bureaucracy, the difficulties encountered during the process of birth registration (for those who never had birth certificates), the indifference of some public institutions regarding the problem of the target group. With support from our partners and due to the media support, we have managed to overcome them. A problem we face in general is the indifference of policy makers at national level towards the real problems of the population.

– Your personal motto when things get hard? It doesn’t matter where you are, but the direction you’re going.

Another cool project/organisation/campaign you would like to recommend? Rom Pentru Rom, an association based in Panciu, Vrancea, with which we work and that is very active at county level (www.rompentrurom.eu ).

www.cjvrancea.ro

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