Diversity in the CityUrban Policies of Inclusion

- Final Report -

Andres Montiel CanalesAnaëlle Charrière

Hanna EriksoonVera Georgieva

Charlotte KremerFrancisca Mota

Angeliki Stamatelou

INDEX

1. Introduction 2

2. Social Inclusion in the city 2

3. Vulnerable groups: Drug-addicts 5

4. Migrants: Gipsies 8

5. Conclusion 12

6. Bibliography 13

1. INTRODUCTION

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In this report you will read about the social inclusion in different countries, which are Belgium,

Bulgaria, Greece, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden and Switzerland. The aim of this report

is to get an idea of the social inclusion and exclusion of people in different countries in

Europe. We will give our own idea about this subject.

In the second chapter we will try to give a definition of social inclusion, and we will study the

differences of this definition between the people from the different countries.

In the third chapter we will talk about a specific situation of social inclusion, which is the

social inclusion of drug-addicted. We will give an outline of the different policies in the

countries mentioned above.

Also in the fourth part we will investigate the social inclusion of a different subgroup, which

are the gypsies. Again we will give an outline of the different policies for this social in- or

excluded group among the countries.

Whereas the fifth chapter will provide a conclusion of our paper, in the fourth you can read

about the different sources we have used.

2. SOCIAL INCLUSION IN THE CITY

Promoting the integrating of all people in society, in particular those on the margins is a

fundamental goal of the EU. The social welfare and support systems in places across Europe

reflect this shared value of social cohesion. Yet, many groups of people in the Union are

socially excluded. It could be because of a disability, because they are low-skilled, because

they live in deprived areas with limited access to services or because of health problems

(European Union, 2012).

But when is a person included? Well, social inclusion is a very wide concept. Someone could

be included in society on certain areas, but excluded on other areas. For example, a person

that is gay is included in society, because he is able to participate in society by having a

house, working and getting married with another man. On the other hand, he is excluded,

because he and his partner are not able to adopt a child in certain countries.

Another example are women. They are able to participate in society by voting and working.

However, because of their gender, they are discriminated in certain countries. For instance,

they do not earn as much money for jobs as man, even if they have the same educational

level and they have the same experiences.

When you look at these examples, you might think that social inclusion means that you have

every right in the world. The right to adopt a child, the right to earn as much money as other

people or the right to have a job, house, food, dog, computer, television, etc. (Un)fortunately

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having every right in the world is impossible, as is giving a clear definition of social inclusion

or social exclusion. That is why we mainly will give our own opinion about the mean of those

concepts.

2.1 Who is included?We think that everyone who is living in a society should be included. It is very important to be

part of a society, otherwise living in it is difficult. When someone is excluded, that person is

not able to develop herself/himself and her/his own skills.

We also think that it is not only interesting to know what social inclusion is, but also what

social exclusion is. If we know what kind of people are excluded and why, we could try to

make policies that would enable them to be included in society.

Groups of people can experience social exclusion for many reasons: because they have a

physical disability which causes others to doubt their capacities, because they are

immigrants who are perceived as being low-skilled compared to others, or because they

have health problems that need daily attention. An example of minorities who may be

excluded through direct discrimination is the Roma. All these disadvantaged groups can

suffer social exclusion from mainstream society, including employment. As an example of

exclusion, over 70% of the Roma population has less than a primary school level of

education, which not only includes them from jobs, but also creates a negative perception of

their employability (European Union, 2012).

As you can read, the concept of social exclusion is used to describe many things, but it

primarily refers to problems encountered in modern welfare states, such as poverty. As

Kloprogge (1999) says, such problems may lead to people being excluded from participation

in all kinds of institutional, social, cultural and political associations. They lack the resources

that people commonly use to participate in society. Such resources are not only financial

ones (income and consumption) but also non-financial ones (health, welfare, social

participation, housing, education and paid employment).

2.2 In what are these people included?Thus, if we talk about the opposite of social exclusion, social inclusion, we could think of

people that participate in society at institutional, social, cultural and political level. Those

people have the opportunity to provide themselves work, a house, education, good health

and participation in society. Besides that, those people should be able to maintain their own

identity and specific cultural attitudes or beliefs.

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2.3 By whom and by which means are these people included?The government should help these people by trying to create an environment, in cooperation

with the European Union, which promotes more and better jobs, supports the integration and

participation of disadvantaged groups, and develops an inclusive society accessible to all.

These are overarching objectives which underpin EU investment.

For example, the government should try to make policies that brings people from different

backgrounds and different status together, or policies that should attract higher-educated

people to areas with lower-educated people. For example, in the Netherlands there is a

special plan, called ‘’Empowered Neighbourhoods’’ that involves bringing people together

with a different ethnicity, culture, status, etc. Neighbourhoods with a high rate of crime, bad

housing and other bad facilities are renovated. The purpose of this is that other, higher

educated people, will move to those neighbourhoods, so the social problems mentioned

above will disappear.

The municipalities should practise these policies, because they are closer to the people and

know more about the situation in certain areas.

The European Union is also working on different plans that should include people in society.

The aim of the European Social Fund (ESF) is promoting access to employment and social

inclusion for various groups. Especially younger and older workers, migrant and ethnic

minorities are emphasized. Besides that, specific actions are also aimed at women to help

them get into work, reduce gender-based segregation of the labor market and better

reconcile work and private life.

ESF funding is supporting the sustainable integration of the disadvantaged and people with

disabilities into the workforce. Activities to achieve this include:

- Counselling and training that is adapted to the specific needs of disadvantaged and

disabled people;

- Providing pathways for integration and entry into employment, and job creation for

disadvantaged and disabled people in the social economy;

- Support for the entrepreneurship of disadvantages and disables people;

- Awareness campaigns to fight discrimination, change attitudes and promote diversity

in the workplace.

The NGO’s also play an important role in social inclusion. For example, in Portugal the

NGO’s work together in cooperation with the social security system, implementing the

measures of the state. It is an important aspect because the NGO’s are closer to the people

and that is why it is easier for them to adapt the public policies to the population they are

working with.

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2.4 With what purpose are they included?We also think that it is important that there is an environment that accepts, evaluates and

sees the opportunities that differences and similarities involve. If the society is like this,

people are able to develop themselves and they will be included in society. Besides that,

including people in society is also an economic issue. In view of the demographic challenge

of an ageing population that the European Union is facing, supporting the disadvantaged by

helping them contribute to economic growth is in Europe’s interest. So including people in

society will improve the living-standard of the society as a whole. But we think that this is an

impossible goal and ideal situation. It will be a project that never will finish.

2.5 Conclusion.As we told before, it is hard to give a clear definition of social inclusion or social exclusion.

There is no simple solution to inclusion and there is an on-going process of an internal and

cultural process.

But in our opinion, people are included if they are able to participate in society at institutional,

social, cultural and political level. Those people should be able to maintain their own identity

and specific cultural attitudes or beliefs. That is why the climate should create participation

on each individual’s own terms. This is not only desirable but a human right.

3. VULNERABLE GROUPS: DRUGS ADDICTS

When we think of vulnerable groups and socially excluded people, a few prominent groups of

people pop into our mind. Elderly people, disabled people, migrants and so on. This is

because this problem is indeed more prominently visible in our society today. Not only

because of the size of the problem but also because these problems with social exclusion

are pretty near to our own habitat, so to say. This is why we opted to discuss and write a part

of our dissertation about a group that might sometimes be forgotten, namely the drug

addicts. There is no doubt that mind altering substances have formed an important part of

mankind’s social, cultural and medical and even religious history. While in ancient cultures

the focus lied on connecting or communicating with the gods, in more recent decades, drugs

have been frequently created to treat certain medicals needs but quite often there is also a

darker side to this. Addictions to substances have spread beyond all borders and even within

the sphere of medical treatment, some substances are part of a big debate. An example of

this might be the Ritalin pills that are widely prescribed to treat children with a disease called

ADHD. While there seems to have been an unlimited growth of support of this substance,

more recently the debate about whether this is the right solution, has been growing.

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As a first remark, we can say, that our focus lies on that part of the group of drug addicts,

who are in fact socially excluded in some ways. These people are usually pretty unanimously

viewed and treated as a group that causes a social problem. This social problem has to do

with a lot of things. Drugs are a profound social problem. Drug use has serious effects on the

user’s environment and the community too. Among these are numerous accidents, suicides,

crime, reduction of productivity, families falling apart, adverse effects on the development of

children whose parents are drug addicts.

It is therefore interesting and useful to discuss what we can do to pull people out of this

social exclusion caused by drug abuse through the right social policy.

We are now going to present you some interesting examples of policies. The first one is a

system that was implemented in 1955 in Sweden. The so called SystemBolaget is a state

controlled shop where citizens can buy alcohol. Because it is not a private organization it is

not interested in promoting the sale of their products. Furthermore the SystemBolaget is

limiting the availability of alcohol because it is only opened from Monday till Saturday and is

not opened at night. Recently the World Health Organization mentioned that they are on the

same page of the Swedish politics concerning alcohol. They stated amongst the two things

we mentioned before about marketing and limitation of availability, that the higher prices of

alcohol, limiting the availability have a decreasing effect on alcohol abuse. There is some sort

of progressive taxation on alcohol which means that the higher the percentage of alcohol is,

the more expensive it is. Vodka has almost 100% taxation for example.

Later, another law passed in Sweden, which implied that everyone, except medical

institutions is obliged to report drug abusers. If a user gets reported, an investigation starts

and a user might be forced to go to rehab if he answers to certain objective criteria (4§

LVM1). Firstly, the person has to be in need of treatment regarding a continuous abuse.

Secondly there must be stated that that care cannot be met under the Social Services Act or

in another way. Furthermore the user must be physically or mentally exposed to a threat of

the drug. Additionally, he must run an obvious risk to destroy his life. Lastly the person must

be liable to seriously harm himself or someone else. Looking at this policy and its application,

we all agree that SystemBolaget is an effective method. Although the freedom of the people

is limited because the state is intervening in the citizen’s private sphere, the impact on

alcohol consumption is important. If Sweden removes SystemBolaget, people will be more

absent from work, which makes the days of illness rise. The control of the age of people

would also become less restricted. The prevention toward youths is weakened due to the fact

that they can buy it more easily. This part of the population is indeed essential to protect to

11 The act for care of abuse in Sweden

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prevent alcoholism issues in the future. Due to this system, the citizen’s become less

vulnerable and excluded in society and that result in better physical and psychological health,

which can lead to more people are participating in the labor market.

In comparison to the above example, the Netherlands has quite a special policy which is

much more liberal than our Swedish examples. The policy states that some drugs are legal.

Marijuana and a range of other psychedelic drugs are freely available from coffee shops or

smart shops. This drug policy officially has four major objectives:

- Prevent recreational drug use and threat and rehabilitate recreational drug users.

- Reduce harm to users.

- Diminish public nuisance by drug users (the disturbance of public order and safety in

the neighbourhood).

- Combat the production and trafficking of recreational drugs.

A problem, like drug addiction, has proven to be unsolvable in traditional ways, according to

the policymakers in the Netherlands. That is why they think that it is better to try controlling it

and reducing harm instead of continuing to enforce laws with mixed results. By contrast,

most other countries take the point of view that recreational drug use is detrimental to society

and must therefore be outlawed.

In the health care system in Holland there is a special department for addiction, including

drug addiction. Eventually this help existed of providing help with going in rehab and giving

methadone to heroin-addicted. Since 1990 the help got professionalised, because the

perception of the addiction-problem changed. The drug-issue got bigger and bigger, because

of new kinds of drugs. Besides that, many addicted people had a drug-problem and

psychological problems, sometimes caused by the drugs or other medication.

Nowadays the addiction care provides a big parcel to different kinds of health care. For

example, there is psychological help, there are full- and part-time treatments and help is

provided on financial level and re-socialisation. Besides that, a lot of attention is paid on

preventing and informing partners and family members of addicted people.

We are now going to present you an example that even exceeds the Dutch liberal thinking.

Regarding drugs, Switzerland revised the LStup, the Swiss federal law on Narcotics, in 2008.

It was the first time that such a revision has been introduced in Europe and it has therefore

raised lots of critics. This legislation indeed consists of prescribing heroin to addicts who

have failed all other treatment options. Under supervision, drugs addicts are injected doses

measured to satisfy a craving but not enough to cause a high. The purpose of this is to

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reduce crime and improve the health and daily lives of addicts. In line with that there are

worldwide programs of needle exchange. The initial Dutch program was motivated by

concerns regarding an outbreak of hepatitis B, the AIDS pandemic motivated the rapid

adoption of these programs around the world.

As a conclusion to all these interesting projects, laws and policies, we can provide you with

the European vision on drug policy for the future. This vision focuses both on reduction of

demand as on reduction of supply. This demand reduction system implies that the following

complementary measures exploit all available opportunities, according to the most recent

scientific knowledge, like taking measures to prevent people starting to use drugs, early

intervention to prevent dangerous usage patterns, provision of treatment programs, provision

of rehabilitation and social reintegration and reduction health and social consequences

associated with drugs.

4. MIGRANT PEOPLE: GYPSIES

Social inclusion supports the inclusion of a group or individual in the broader field of social

institutions and social and economic processes of domestic economy, while maintaining the

distinct identity and their specific cultural attitudes and beliefs of its members and promotes

equal access to opportunities work, education, health, social care and consumption, and

removal of social and economic disparities in weight.

However, Roma people are the largest ethnic minority in Europe, which continues to face

discrimination and segregation.

Addressing the phenomenon of social exclusion is the key policy priority of all Member

States of the European Union. Social inclusion and equal treatment of groups with cultural

features represent a particular challenge, since the charge of the harmony within the wider

social fabric, in terms of justice, democracy and respect for personality are necessary

prerequisites for social cohesion and prosperity.

Action taken in the area of regional policy includes investments through mainstream

programs in social inclusion activities under the ERDF (European Regional Development

Fund) and the ESF (European Social Fund), the introduction of new opportunities to improve

housing for Roma, and the launch in 2009 of a pilot project, called 'Pan-European

Coordination of Roma Integration Methods - Roma Inclusion'.

The EU Member States focused on developing anti-discrimination laws and more effective

EU funding to promote the integration of Roma. This includes the fight against discrimination,

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segregation, and support programs to address the vicious circle of poverty, social

marginalization, low educational achievement and poor housing and health.

For instance, the Commission initiated legal proceedings against 24 Member States to

ensure that EU law against discrimination based on race transferred correctly into national

law. Of these cases, 12 are still pending, while 12 were completed successfully. To promote

the efficient use of structural funds by Member States, the Commission is conducting two

studies to identify successful projects, programs and policies for Roma inclusion, covering

the funds in total and a second support of the European Social Fund for Roma.

That's why some policies implemented to protect this vulnerable group, policies meeting the

needs of the target group of Roma to acceptable education, housing and health.

Important is developing a supportive network of social intervention (in employment,

education, health and social inclusion). The second overall objective of interventions includes

education, that increase the number of Roma children entered, and attend mandatory

training acquisition of relevant knowledge.

Regarding education, the majority of the population (especially at older ages) is still illiterate,

and it appears that non-attendance is a phenomenon showing progressive decrease from

generation to generation, however their participation in education is not presented sufficient

to strengthen and improve their professional status and mobility. Most students, 12 and over,

leaving school to work in order to supplement their family income.

Therefore, policies are being implemented by reducing leakage of Roma school, intervening

for the integration of Roma children in education system, supporting the attendance of Roma

children in preschool, integrating school programs, which are strengthening the relationship

between Roma family and school, social actions of integration and establishment of

reception classes.

On the other hand, the housing issue is a major problem as the vast majority housed in

makeshift accommodation construction. For that reason, there are policies that focus on

acquisition of Housing Loans, insurance of basic living conditions, improvement existing

housing and shelters and interventions for housing rehabilitation of population living in

irregular settlements.

Furthermore, the health problems are directly intertwined with the socio-economic profile,

living and working with the educational and general educational level, resulting in impaired

health population, the low life expectation and achieve high child mortality. So, the existing

policies focus on increasing immunization rate, improving access to healthcare and health

education activities and providing services for social inclusion.

On a practical level, all these policies are implemented through various programs. One of the

major projects at a local level is the “Support Center of Roma Minority Groups”, which is part

of the Operational Program “Human Resources Development” in “Full Integration of the

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entire Human Resources at a Society for Equal Opportunities”. It requires the collaboration

with social services of the municipality, and develops networks with relevant agencies, which

contribute to tackling social exclusion and the provision of appropriate services.

Moreover, another important program is the Day Center of Roma people which provides

prevention and rehabilitation therapy to treat mental disorders and psychosocial problems of

the particular community of people. It aims to "the preparation" of mental health units to

accept the above patients to social and occupational integration and ensuring respect for

cultural differences.

According to the last Census in 2011 the Roma people according to ethnic self-determination

are 320 761 or 4,9% of the whole population of Bulgaria. It makes this community the second

biggest ethnic minority in Bulgaria after the Turkish one. In Bulgaria there are several ways of

integration and social inclusion policies of Roma people and the effective ones are mostly

those leaded by non-profit and non-governmental organizations as well as volunteer

organizations. Although the state policy is not that effective and sufficient there are some

strategies aiming to include the Roma people into the society.

The main features which are included in the Bulgarian social policy for Roma affiliation are

reduction of poverty among the Roma community, providing participation in the labor market,

providing equal terms and access to education, providing of housing and improving the

infrastructure of Roma neighborhoods, health care and health education and information,

antidiscrimination and human rights of the Roma women. There are several programs and

strategies for Roma social inclusion and integration:

- Framework program for equal integration of Roma people into the Bulgaria society

- National action plan: Decade of Roma inclusion 2005-2015

- Strategy for educational integration of children and pupils from the ethnic minorities

- Health strategy for disadvantaged ethnic minorities

- National program for improving of housing conditions of Roma people (Part of the

National housing strategy)

There are several problems coming out of the way those programs are formulated and thus

prevent the successful implementation of the integration process. According to the Roma

organizations there are problems with the legal status of the regulatory framework and in this

way all adopted rules could be canceled by the next government. Also there is no financial

funding and support from the national budget (except the National program for improving of

housing conditions of Roma people) which makes all actions dependable from the EU

structure funds, program Phare and other sources. Other problems seen are the lack of

appropriate administrative structure for implementation of the provisions and the lack of

mechanisms for engagement of the Roma community with those strategies and programs.

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Despite the national policies for Roma inclusion there is also a variety of NGOs whose main

goal is to support and take care of this minority.

At first place it’s probably reasonable to mention the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee which

was established as an independent non-governmental organization for the protection of

human rights. The Committee is managing projects connected not only with integration of

Roma people but also of all kinds of vulnerable groups.

Another efficient organization working on solving the minority’s problems, especially

problems of the Roma community, is Open Society Institute. The organization has few

programs, most of which are including policies about Roma people.

They have specific policies about Roma inclusion in all parts of everyday life – health,

education, housing and employment, but they also work on a Roma program which aim is to

make connections between all Roma NGOs and to make them work together for bettering

the conditions of life of the whole community.

There are also a lot of NGOs concerning Roma inclusion with a Roma origin. The educated,

ambitious and solicitous for their own community Roma people are establishing a variety of

NGOs dealing with health, education, employment and housing problems of Roma people.

Most of them are working on a local level getting financed by local business or national

NGOs.

On one hand, in Portugal, there are some local programs to promote the gipsy's integration,

but the one that contributed the most to achieve this goal was the Social Minimum Income.

This is not specific for gipsy people, it is a right of every poor in Portugal.

For instance, when people receive the Social Minimum Income, they have to sign an

inclusion contract, where the commit themselves to actively search for a job and to send the

children to the school (one of the big issues among the gypsies). So, Social Minimum Income

is one of the most effective policies we have in Portugal concerning gipsy's inclusion.

Moreover, there are re-housing programs from the Municipalities that are especially

important to include those who lived in tents (like the gypsies).

On the other hand, in Sweden, Roma people are acknowledged as a minority, since 2000, to

improve their situation. This is to become a part of society and prevent social exclusion.

When you become a minority in Sweden you have rights, such as:

The agencies are obligated to inform about rights in what appears appropriate.

They keep and develop their culture, especially conserving the children´s culture

identity and use of their Romani chib.

They should be involved in questions regarding their situation.

And finally about Switzerland: As in Switzerland there are not living so many Roma people,

there are no special policies concerning this community.

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5. CONCLUSION

We hope you all liked our presentation and we also hope that we have provided you with

some new insights and ideas that might help you to look at the project of social inclusion

from another perspective. This week as a whole was pretty informative and very useful as

another building brick in our education. Even if it is not really quantifiable what we have

gained from this two week Erasmus program, we can at least speak for our group that we

have learned a lot. We have looked at policies in each other’s countries and this supplied us

with new views on social policy and dealing with increasing diversity in our cities. Lastly we

think our Erasmus project may have taught us how difficult it can be to unite all different

views on policy, in one European vision for the future. But difficult is not impossible and we

believe that through projects like the one we have been participating in this week, we once

again realize how important it is in our globalizing world, to work towards a more equal and

competitive Europe.

6. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Social inclusion

http://ec.europa.eu/esf/main.jsp?catId=50&langId=en

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http://ec.europa.eu/esf/main.jsp?catId=50&langId=en

 http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/20/20/1856931

http://ec.europa.eu/news/employment

Drugs addictshttp://www.bag.admin.ch/themen/drogen/00042/02942/02949/index.html?lang=fr

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/01/switzerland-drugs-heroinhttp://www.systembolaget.se/

http://www.vardguiden.se/Sjukdomar-och-rad/Omraden/Sjukdomar-och-besvar/Alkoholberoende/                  http://www.umea.se/umeakommun/kommunochpolitik/planerochstyrdokument/kommunalapolicysochprogram/kommunensmalochverksamhetsdirektiv.4.bbd1b101a585d704800082747.html

http://www.notisum.se/rnp/sls/lag/20090724.htm

Gypsies

http://www.mlsp.government.bg/bg/fmlsp2.asp

http://www.mh.government.bg/

http://www.minedu.government.bg/news-home/

http://www.bghelsinki.org/bg/

http://www.osf.bg/?cy=99

http://www.onderwijsachterstanden.nl/zoek.php/literatuur/zoekond002.html

http://www.vn.nl/Archief/Samenleving/Artikel-Samenleving/Roma-in-Nederland-Nu-is-het-opeens-zero-tolerance.htm

http://ec.europa.eu/justice/discrimination/files/roma_greece_strategy_el.pdf

http://europedirect.eliamep.gr/archives

http://new.synigoros.grhttp://www.europedirect.gr

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