Despite improvement in the past two decades, Roma children and adolescents living in Europe continue to be denied full access to their rights – a violation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Successful efforts to improve Roma children’s access to health and education services have not been widely adopted, and governments have been slow to address the structural and systemic barriers that prevent Roma children from realizing their rights. As a result, progress for Roma children over the last 20 years has been slow, sporadic and insufficient.

Europe’s Forgotten Children: Roma children and their families in Europe 2000 – 2020 – a  child rights perspective, outlines gaps in health, education, protection and welfare indicators that still exist between Roma and non-Roma children across Europe.

Ultimately, the report recommends that social protection programmes for Roma children need to be based on the principals in the Convention on the Rights of the Child rather than boundaries of European law. This would mean that governments would need to meet higher targets when it comes to meeting the social protection needs of Roma children.