The Serbian Roma Forum invites you to discuss the possibilities and models of legalizing the work of unregistered collectors of secondary raw materials, the importance that collectors have in the recycling chain, and the possibilities of organizing collectors within a more structured area of work.
Place: Social Center Oktobar, Strahinjića Bana Street 33, 11000 Belgrade.
Time: Thursday, September 21 at 19:00.
The issue of the working position of Roma people as well as the issue of a proper access to education, health and social protection, is most often attempted to be addressed separately, or as an isolated matter of the position of Roma communities outside the broader social context.
Thus, the solutions for these key areas, which are necessary for the basic safety of Roma communities, very often turn out to be inadequate and only on paper.
In this sense, the 2016-2025 strategy for the Social Inclusion of Roma approaches in an abstract manner, the issue of employment of the minority and fails to consider the growing problem of the increasing work flexibility, the reduction of institutional protection of labour, the high unemployment rate in the country, as well as the general decline of the number of public services and the ubiquitous anti-social policy.
Viewing Roma people only as a vulnerable social group in each individual area, does not give a realistic chance to the inclusion of the Roma minority. One of the many consequences of such a closely observed issue lies in the fact that being a collector of secondary raw materials is a synonym for all Roma, and at the same time a derogatory term for the very role of collectors themselves.
This fact conceals the enormous social benefit for each local community and it comes directly from the collectors. Even more so, while the state publicly advocates the inclusion of the Roma minority, we are witnessing an increasing repression on the field: from the relocation of Roma communities from urban areas to the installation of “communal guards” of waste containers.On the other hand, there is still no word concerning the introduction of the collectors into legal workflows.
The Serbian Roma Forum invites you to discuss the possibilities and models of legalizing the work of ‘unofficial’ collectors of secondary raw materials, the importance that collectors have in the recycling chain, and the possibilities of organizing collectors within a more structured area of work.
Participants:
Jasmina Drmaku (The Roma Students Association, The Serbian Roma Forum. / The Left Summit of Serbia)
Marko Vasiljević (magazine Bajsologija)
Kristina Cvejanov (Serbian Association of Recycling Packaging Waste)
Moderated by: Tamara Baković Jadžić (The Serbian Roma Forum. / The Left Summit of Serbia ; Machine)