Positive discrimination of the Roma minority

In its Constitutional Charter, Europe, as a multicultural society, advocates and guarantees the protection of minorities and emphasizes the establishment of the conditions for preserving cultural diversity. The protection of minorities is especially important, given the large number of different nationalities that have often not only settled within the boundaries of their motherlands but also coexist on common European territory. One of the most problematic concerns here is the displaced Roma community. The rights of the Roma minority are regulated by each individual country within its legislative borders but always in compliance with the related EU guidelines. The purpose of the article is to provide an in-depth evaluation of the current state of the Roma's participation at the local level in Europe, and specifically in Slovenia. The authors thereby seek to identify how the Roma question is being resolved, based on an empirical analysis of opinions of decision-makers at the local level

Integration of Family Planning in HIV/AIDS Program in Solwezi District, Northwestern Zambia : Status and Perspectives

The aim of this study was to assess the status of Family Planning (FP) service uptake through its integration in HIV program for identification of determinants of its low use in Solwezi district of Zambia. Comparative quantitative FP/HIV data was gathered during quality improvement process from database at Zambia Prevention Care and TreatmentPartnership (ZPCT) Consortium for 2012 and 2013. Qualitative data was collected using semi-structured interviews with 29professionals, at the main urban clinic in the district, from January to June 2013. Two key indicators were assessed: HIV/FPreferrals at facility level and male partners’ involvement in seeking HIV/FP services. Referrals between HIV and FP servicesduring the first semester of 2013 increased by 1.0% compared to 2012, whilst male involvement in integrated FP/HIV services remained stagnant at 11%. Low male involvement in FP/HIV service was linked to busy spouses’ work schedules(74%), and lack of knowledge (16%). FP/HIV couple counseling was offered on selected clinic days in 74%, whilst lackof policy implementation encouraging male involvement was noted in 58% of responses. Fear of FP side effects (89%), longdistances to the clinic (74%), lack of adequate health information on FP (17%) and unavailability of the preferred FP method(11%) were essential obstacles to service accessibility. Internal systems improvement indicated slight progress incross-referrals reported. Interventions on the demand side are required, such as in strengthening male involvement in FP/HIVservice. FP services in the district would also benefit from increased variety of accessible FP methods

L'Europe humanitaire en question(s)

La revue Humanitaire lance le débat sur la politique humanitaire de l’UE, les attentes et les craintes qu’elle peut susciter du côté des ONG. La Commission européenne est en effet l’un des plus importants donateurs humanitaires dans le monde. Son action s’inscrit aussi bien dans l’urgence qu’en dehors. La Commission finance également des projets de préparation aux catastrophes et de réduction des risques de désastres naturels dans les régions exposées. Pour l’aide humanitaire, la Commission européenne agit au travers de quelque 200 partenaires opérationnels comprenant les agences spécialisées des Nations unies, le mouvement de la Croix-Rouge et du Croissant-Rouge et des ONG, les financements étant régis par un contrat cadre de partenariat, un véritable accord contractuel entre ECHO et ses partenaires. Fin décembre 2007, la Commission européenne a adopté le « Consensus Européen sur l’aide Humanitaire » qui constitue désormais le texte de base en la matière. Ce « Consensus » est le premier texte politique de référence de l’Union européenne en matière d’aide humanitaire, intégrant depuis ce printemps un projet de feuille de route pour les années à venir, afin de ne pas rester lettre morte