Ensuring the right to education for Roma children : an Anglo-Swedish perspective

Access to public education systems has tended to be below normative levels where Roma children are concerned. Various long-standing social, cultural, and institutional factors lie behind the lower levels of engagement and achievement of Roma children in education, relative to many others, which is reflective of the general lack of integration of their families in mainstream society. The risks to Roma children’s educational interests are well recognized internationally, particularly at the European level. They have prompted a range of policy initiatives and legal instruments to protect rights and promote equality and inclusion, on top of the framework of international human rights and minority protections. Nevertheless, states’ autonomy in tailoring educational arrangements to their budgets and national policy agendas has contributed to considerable international variation in specific provision for Roma children. As this article discusses, even between two socially liberal countries, the UK and Sweden, with their well-advanced welfare states and public systems of social support, there is a divergence in protection, one which underlines the need for a more consistent and positive approach to upholding the education rights and interests of children in this most marginalized and often discriminated against minority group

Impact of the efficiency of the tax administration on tax evasion

In this paper, we analyse the performance of the tax administration using data envelopment analysis (DEA) and regression analysis in 13 European countries. In the first phase, a DEA input- oriented model with the three input and two output parameters for the efficiency evaluation has been used. The influence of selected independent variables on the grey economy, which represents an approximation of tax evasion and efficiency of tax administration, was conducted by regression analysis in the second phase. The main goal is to investigate the influence of the relative efficiency and number of employees in tax administration as well as country employment rate on the grey economy level

Managing health professional migration from sub-Saharan Africa to Canada: a stakeholder inquiry into policy options

BACKGROUND: Canada is a major recipient of foreign-trained health professionals, notably physicians from South Africa and other sub-Saharan African countries. Nurse migration from these countries, while comparatively small, is rising. African countries, meanwhile, have a critical shortage of professionals and a disproportionate burden of disease. What policy options could Canada pursue that balanced the right to health of Africans losing their health workers with the right of these workers to seek migration to countries such as Canada? METHODS: We interviewed a small sample of émigré South African physicians (n = 7) and a larger purposive sample of representatives of Canadian federal, provincial, regional and health professional departments/organizations (n = 25); conducted a policy colloquium with stakeholder organizations (n = 21); and undertook new analyses of secondary data to determine recent trends in health human resource flows between sub-Saharan Africa and Canada. RESULTS: Flows from sub-Saharan Africa to Canada have increased since the early 1990s, although they may now have peaked for physicians from South Africa. Reasons given for this flow are consistent with other studies of push/pull factors. Of 8 different policy options presented to study participants, only one received unanimous strong support (increasing domestic self-sufficiency), one other received strong support (increased health system strengthening in source country), two others mixed support (voluntary codes on ethical recruitment, bilateral or multilateral agreements to manage flows) and four others little support or complete rejection (increased training of auxiliary health workers in Africa ineligible for licensing in Canada, bonding, reparation payments for training-cost losses and restrictions on immigration of health professionals from critically underserved countries). CONCLUSION: Reducing pull factors by improving domestic supply and reducing push factors by strengthening source country health systems have the greatest policy traction in Canada. The latter, however, is not perceived as presently high on Canadian stakeholder organizations' policy agendas, although support for it could grow if it is promoted. Canada is not seen as "actively' recruiting" ("poaching") health workers from developing countries. Recent changes in immigration policy, ongoing advertising in southern African journals and promotion of migration by private agencies, however, blurs the distinction between active and passive recruitment

Social dialogue in the hospital sector at EU level

The increasing presence of the private sector in public health care systems has made social partners question the effectiveness of existing national social dialogue arrangements. The emergence of issues such as patient mobility, workers' mobility and cross-border health care, which all required action at European level, led social partners at European level to build an informal process of social dialogue. This article examines the process of developing an informal sectoral social dialogue committee for the hospital sector at EU level, from 2000 until 2006, drawing on an analysis of documents, key informant interviews and participant-observer reflections. The findings show that developing the content of social dialogue is as important as the process itself and adequate representation is central to success. The most outstanding achievement of the informal process of social dialogue was that partners became more articulate about developing shared positions and gradually gained access to European institutions. [La présence grandissante du secteur privé dans les systèmes publics de soins de santé a conduit les partenaires sociaux à s'interroger sur l’efficacité des accords de dialogue social existant au niveau national. L’émergence de questions telles que la mobilité des patients, la mobilité des travailleurs et les soins de santé transfrontaliers, qui toutes exigent une action au niveau européen, a conduit les partenaires sociaux à construire un processus informel de dialogue social au niveau européen. Cet article examine le processus de développement, entre 2000 et 2006, d’un comité sectoriel informel pour le dialogue social dans le secteur hospitalier au niveau de l’UE. Il se base sur une analyse des documents, des entretiens avec des informateurs clés et des réflexions en tant que participant/observateur. Il montre que le développement du contenu du dialogue social est aussi important que le processus lui-même, et qu’une représentation adéquate est un facteur clé de succès. Le résultat le plus frappant de ce processus informel de dialogue social est que les partenaires sont devenus plus enclins à développer des positions communes et qu’ils ont obtenu progressivement accès aux institutions européennes.] [Angesichts der zunehmenden Präsenz privater Leistungsanbieter in den öffentlichen Gesund-heitsversorgungssystemen haben die Sozialpartner die Wirksamkeit der bestehenden Regelungen für den sozialen Dialog auf nationaler Ebene hinterfragt. Das Aufkommen von Themen wie Patientenmobilität, Arbeitnehmermobilität und grenzüberschreitende Gesundheitsversorgung, die auf europäischer Ebene angegangen werden mussten, brachte die Sozialpartner dazu, auf europäischer Ebene einen informellen Prozess für den sozialen Dialog einzurichten. Dieser Beitrag untersucht anhand von Dokumenten, Interviews und Beobachtungen von Teilnehmern, wie der Ausschuss für den informellen sozialen Dialog im Krankenhaussektor auf europäischer Ebene im Zeitraum 2000 bis 2006 aufgebaut und entwickelt wurde. Diese Untersuchung zeigt, dass die inhaltliche Entwicklung des sozialen Dialogs ebenso wichtig ist wie der Aufbauprozess selbst und dass die Frage der angemessenen Interessensvertretung eine maßgebliche Rolle für den Erfolg dieses Dialogs spielt. Die wichtigste Errungenschaft des informellen sozialen Dialogs besteht darin, dass die Partner sich deutlicher für die Entwicklung gemeinsamer Positionen eingesetzt und schrittweise Zugang zu den europäischen Institutionen erlangt haben.