Roma Inclusion in Greece: From Policy Promises to Measurable Action

The Roma population in Greece continues to face deep-rooted systemic discrimination and marginalization, a phenomenon widely recognized as antigypsyism. Despite decades of policy discussions, exclusion persists across multiple spheres—housing, education, employment, justice, and access to basic services—hindering the country's progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

According to the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), more than 60% of Roma in Greece experience discrimination, yet only 7% report it. Roma communities frequently live in segregated housing areas, with poor access to essential services such as clean water, electricity, and secure land tenure. This exclusion extends into the labour market, schools, and judicial systems, leaving many Roma invisible in official statistics and unable to fully participate in public life.

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Persistent Inequality and Antigypsyism

Roma children are disproportionately affected by poverty, with around 34% living below the poverty line. Many reside in informal settlements that lack even the most basic infrastructure. Education, a key driver of social mobility, is still marked by segregation despite legal measures to prevent it. Only about 57% of Roma children attend preschool, and school dropout rates remain high—particularly among Roma girls, who also face early marriage and layered gender discrimination.

Roma women are doubly marginalized, with limited representation in public life and higher vulnerability to economic exclusion. The absence of targeted, gender-responsive programs in many regions compounds these inequalities.

SDG Gaps and Data Deficits

The exclusion of Roma undermines Greece's progress on several SDGs:
SDG 1 (No Poverty): Persistent deprivation in housing and services.
SDG 4 (Quality Education): Continued school segregation and low early childhood enrolment.
SDG 5 (Gender Equality): Early dropout and lack of representation for Roma women.
SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities): Lack of ethnicity-disaggregated data in official reporting.
SDG 16 (Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions): Limited legal protections and low birth registration rates, leaving many Roma children without legal identity.

Greece's national statistical authority, ELSTAT, has acknowledged significant data gaps, including the absence of Roma-specific indicators in core surveys and the lack of disaggregated data on education, housing, gender, and crime. Hate crimes remain underreported, and access to justice is limited.

The Role of Civil Society and Good Practices

NGOs such as ARSIS, ActRom, and Roma Civil Monitoring have been instrumental in highlighting gaps and piloting solutions. Housing upgrades with legal tenure, educator training, Roma-led policy design, and women's empowerment projects have shown positive results. For example, the Empowerment Project under EEA Grants delivered 2,000 counselling sessions and provided economic support to Roma women.

In the justice sector, initiatives like mobile birth registration campaigns and community-based legal clinics have helped address the challenge of “legal invisibility.” However, such projects require institutional support and long-term funding to achieve nationwide impact.

Monitoring, Accountability, and the Path Forward

A major weakness in Greece's Roma inclusion strategy is the absence of a robust monitoring mechanism. Without clear, disaggregated key performance indicators (KPIs) and transparent reporting, progress cannot be adequately tracked or evaluated.

The United Nations recommends that Greece:

Publish baseline and annual Roma-specific SDG indicators.
Integrate disaggregated KPIs into ELSTAT's SDG reports.
Involve Roma civil society organizations in designing and monitoring indicators.
Leverage EU funds such as ESF+ and the EU Child Guarantee to close data and implementation gaps.

Toward 2030: Turning Commitments into Action

If Greece is to ensure that Roma communities are not left behind in the 2030 Agenda, it must move from policy declarations to measurable, enforceable action. This means closing data gaps, enforcing anti-discrimination laws, investing in inclusive infrastructure, and building accountability through community participation.

Cross-institutional actions should prioritize ending school segregation, registering all Roma children at birth, investing in Roma women's economic empowerment, and linking EU funding to measurable inclusion benchmarks. Only by embedding Roma rights into the core of its SDG strategy—backed by transparent, ethnicity- and gender-disaggregated data—can Greece make credible progress toward equality and social inclusion for all.

Also Read: Unequal Progress: Roma Inclusion in 2025 SDG Reviews Remains Incomplete Across Europe