Fanny Ardant joins Council of Europe for summer spotlight on Roma
French actress Fanny Ardant will join forces with the Council of Europe
later this month at the start of a summer campaign highlighting Roma
concerns.
The Council of Europe sees its partnership with Fanny Ardant, 61, as
providing a “public face” for its Dosta! Campaign, which aims to combat the
anti-gypsyism and social exclusion which affects the region’s 10 to 12
million-strong Roma community.
“Fanny Ardant’s high profile and her commitment to human rights are
important assets in our efforts to change opinions and attitudes,” said a
spokesman.
“Discrimination is often based on ignorance. Ms Ardant’s endorsement of the
Dosta! Campaign will make the public more aware of Roma lifestyles, culture
and language.”
Ms Ardant has starred in more than 50 films. These include François
Truffaut’s ‘La Femme d’à Côté’ (The Woman Next Door), ‘Chimeras Absentes,’
and the Franco Zeffirelli production ‘Callas Forever,’ in which she
portrayed the opera singer Maria Callas.
On 7 June, Ms Ardant joins the Council of Europe’s Deputy Secretary General
Maud de Boer Buquicchio, for the launch of the Dosta! Campaign in Rome. She
will address the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly on 22 June.
The Italian launch of the Dosta! Campaign is well-timed according to
Donatella De Vito, a sociologist with the charity Casa Della Carità, which
helps Roma in Milan.
“I hope this will encourage the media to take a deeper interest in this
subject,” she said.
“In Italy, there is huge ignorance about Roma. The situation is getting
worse and worse.”
Other highlights of the summer calendar include a Roma conference in
Skopje, in “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia,” attended by
government representatives from the Balkans region and an exhibition on
Roma migrants in Lyon, France.
A public hearing in Strasbourg on 21 June will focus on the treatment of
Roma and Sinti communities by the Italian authorities.
A complaint brought before the European Committee of Social Rights by the
Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) alleges that Italy is in
breach of its responsibilities under the terms of the revised European
Social Charter.
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