What is the Unión Romaní?

The UNION ROMANI is a non-profit, non-governmental organisation which is concerned with defending the gypsy community. It carries out its activities throughout Spain and also works together with the INTERNATIONAL ROMANI UNION, on activities designed to gain recognition of the culture of the gypsy people, as an asset within the global culture.The Spanish UNION ROMANI is made up of the Federation of Associations of gypsies throughout the entire country.  

The UNION ROMANI is a genuinely gypsy organisation, managed by the gypsies themselves. Furthermore, the UNION ROMANI is a democratic gypsy associations Federation governed by Bylaws approved in General Assembly which establish the various governing and representative bodies in which the members may exercise their legitimate and democratic right to participate in all Federation activities. 

Central services for the UNION ROMANI are located in the following address:

UNIÓN ROMANÍ

Peracamps, 2 bis, bajos . 08001 BARCELONA (España)
Apartado de Correos 202. 08080 BARCELONA (España)
Tel.: +34 93 412 77 45
Fax: +34 93 412 70 40
E-mail: u-romani@pangea.org

Services

INFORMATION to Associations in order to provide answers to the most common problems found on a daily basis. 

LEGAL CONSULTING available from a team of legal experts which provides the gypsy community with the professional direction they need to respond to racist and discriminatory actions which require legal action. The majority of enquiries are related to problems encountered by inmates in the penitentiary institutions, labour conditions and relationships, housing, and discriminatory treatment. 

FOSTERING OF THE FORMATION OF ASSOCIATIONS. Ongoing campaign intended to make gypsies aware of the need to join together. “Together we can make it” is the motto illustrating the benefits of working together to reach our objectives. 

JOURNALISTS AGAINST RACISM. Ongoing campaign targeted at media professionals. Journalists are requested to endorse a manifesto against racism and also kept informed of the most noteworthy activities affecting the gypsy community. Health and housing. 

THE HEALTH AND HOUSING PROBLEMS suffered by a large portion of Spanish gypsies represent one of the fundamental goals of the activities of the UNION ROMANI, which helps to eliminate them through consulting services for the associations, claims to authorities and ongoing formal complaints of situations of marginalisation. 

Specific programmes 

• Education as well as labour and professional training.
• Courses for obtaining driving permit.
• Training of gypsy mediators and instructors.
• Activities defending the rights of street peddlers.
• Education of children in the schools.
• Fight against illiteracy.
• Training of gypsy leaders.
• Campaigns to foster intercultural understanding.
• Promotion of gypsy women.
• Gypsy language, culture and thinking.
• The standardisation, dissemination and protection of the gypsy language in Spain, Romanò-kalò, is one of the challenges taken on by the UNION ROMANI.

Objectives

The objectives of the Union Romani, are divided into five lines of action:

• Social and cultural promotion of the gypsy people with the goal of eliminating every form of discrimination which places our community in a position of inferiority or dependence upon the majority society. 
• Aid to federated gypsy associations, with the goal of enabling them to reach agreements with public or private organisations which carry out activities with the gypsy community. 
• Study, promotion, preservation and dissemination of the gypsy culture, language, history and customs. 
• Fostering of international relationships with gypsy associations throughout the world, through the interchange of experiences and projects. 
• Elimination of all forms of racism or marginalisation and a militant commitment towards working towards living in a society governed by the principles of justice, pluralism and freedom so loved by the gypsy people.