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Migration Never Stops! Part II
Start date: Oct 1, 2016, End date: Mar 31, 2017 PROJECT  FINISHED 

This project intents to investigate stories of (Roma) migration in all its facets in the past and present. Why did people want to migrate or under which circumstances were they forced to? What was the impact of migration on the lives, culture and identity of people? We believe that migration is a strong reflection of the human rights situation in a country. Why did this happen in the past, especially in the last 100 years, and why does this still happen today? But it also involved the question of human rights of migrants. In spite of their given rights, the reality shows a strong discrimination.Migration of Roma was mainly caused by discrimination, poverty and persecution in all centuries and most countries. When a "voice" strategy to change the existing system and society is not possible any more, migration appears as an "exist" strategy for a better life. During several centuries, Roma were kept in slavery in Romania, which afterwards resulted in the middle of the 19th centuries into a large emigration from Romania to the Balkan countries and Hungary, which is still visible in the linguistic uniqueness of Vlach Roma. While migration appears to the ones as an exist and strive for a better life, Roma have been stigmatized as nomads. This stereotype is used even today in many European societies to exclude Roma from being an integral and long-term part of our countries and European culture(s).A special attention will be given during the project to migration processes during the time of National-socialism, during and after Communism, the fall of USSR and during the Balkan wars. We will look into migration within Europe, but also beyond European borders, e.g. to Northern and South America. Globalization has encouraged the free movement of goods, services and capital, but barriers to the cross-border movement, e.g. of unskilled workers, remain and globalization of markets has not been accompanied by globalization of the work force. In many situations there is a gap between the rights which migrants, both regular and irregular, enjoy under international law, and the difficulties they experience in the countries where they live, work, and across which they travel. This gap between the principles agreed by governments, and the reality of individual lives, underlines the vulnerability of migrants in terms of dignity and human rights.There is a strong connection between international migration and human rights, both in countries of origin, transit and destination. Currently some borders are being closed even stronger and many people speak of the "Fortress Europe", while others are slowly being opened, e.g. in the Balkans through the visa liberation in 2010. An important question for our society is how migration can take place in conditions of dignity and become and informed choice, rather than a strategy of survival in an unjust and unequal world.This one-week long youth exchange, which brings together 27 young Roma and non-Roma from Macedonia, Germany, Romania, Lithuania and Bulgaria will discover personal stories and different dimensions of (Roma) migration in Europe and in the world through field visits, sharing of experiences between the participants and interviews with contemporary witnesses. We want to empower the young participants to use new creative methods and tools of Human Rights Education to engage and learn more about the history of migration and make a connection to the migration that is going on today. We want to empower young people to take a voice to defend their Human Rights and to develop strategies to overcome exclusion and discrimination. More over, the specific objectives of this project include:-raise the self-awareness, self-respect and self-esteem of the youngsters-support their personal development by the use creativity-raise their consciousness of inter-cultural situations and cultural diversity-raise their interest in their personal education through non-formal learning-give a new motivation and hope to young people concerning their future-raise young people’s awareness to be active citizens-development of social skills for a civic society
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