As part of the final Student Project Presentations of the Roma Graduate Preparation Program for the 2014-2015 academic year, the Roma Access Programs unit, had the pleasure to invite Margareta Matache as a keynote speaker. Matache discusses state biased approaches which contributed to failures in addressing the challenges of Romani people in Europe. She argued that although states have committed to equality and non-discrimination legislation, the acknowledgment and the radical break with the past of Roma injustice, key elements for inclusion, have been neglected. She explored the levels of participation of various Roma strata in designing policies, programs, and research in Europe. She briefly touched upon competitiveness and collaboration between Roma and non-Roma scholars. She called upon urgent reminder of the majority population of their responsibility, and attain reparation: symbolic, monetary or otherwise.
Dr. Margareta (Magda) Matache is a Roma rights activist from Romania. In 2012 she was awarded a Hauser fellowship at Harvard University, FXB Center for Health and Human Rights, where currently she works as an instructor.