The regional conference “Roma Women Then and Now” was held today in Serbian city Novi Sad on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the First Roma Congress, within the project „For Active Inclusion And Rights of Roma Women in the Western Balkans III“, which is financially supported by the Austrian Development Agency.

At the conference, which aims to reduce prejudices and stereotypes towards Roma women by presenting positive results in the work of the Roma Women’s Network, Roma women who made great strides showed by their personal example that they can overcome barriers and that it is time to overcome all prejudices and obstacles to the full equality of all citizens.

The project manager of the CARE International organization on the previously mentioned project Jadranka Miličević, pointed out that for nine years now this organisation have been trying to create better conditions for all Roma women.

“Through the support of Roma women, we support complete families, we care about the elderly and the infirm. This was best demonstrated in the past 2020 and will continue in 2021. We realized during the pandemic of virus COVID-19 that support to local communities is very important, and in a way, thanks to the support of our donors, we helped more than 20,000 of direct beneficiaries, which would not be possible without your support in the field. I am happy and honored that we will continue our work this year also, so we could cross borders, and to be able to empower many women. The Balkan Roma women’s network is very important for all of us”, Milicevic pointed out.

Apart from Miličević, the Minister of Human and Minority Rights in Serbia Gordana Čomić and the President of the Roma Women’s Network of the Republic of Serbia Ana Saćipović addressed the gathering.