Vijesti ROMI.HR

Univerzalni i trajni mir može se uspostaviti samo ako se temelji na socijalnoj pravdi.

To je prva rečenica preambule Ustava Međunarodne organizacije rada (ILO) napisanog prije nešto više od 100 godina. Nakon Prvog svjetskog rata, mir je značio mnogo više od izostanka sukoba između država. Vođene su bitke za pravednu raspodjelu bogatstva, mogućnosti za osobne aktivnosti i stvaranje mreža socijalne sigurnosti, te se može reći kako su borbe za socijalnu pravdu obilježile prošlo stoljeće.

Urugvaj je, 1915. godine, postao prva država koja je usvojila osmosatni radni dan u cijeloj zemlji. Pokret za pošteno radno vrijeme nastao je u Britaniji nakon industrijske revolucije i nakon desetljeća borbe uspio je osmosatni radni dan učiniti međunarodnim standardom. Velik udio zaposlenih u cijelom svijetu još uvijek rade znatno više od osam sati. Na primjer, u Kini mnogi radnici u tehnološkim kompanijama rade od 9 do 21 sat, šest dana u tjednu, što je poznato kao raspored "996".

Studija koju je prošle godine objavila Kampanja Clean Clothes pokazala je kako tisuće zaposlenih u prodavaonicama odjeće u nekoliko država EU često nisu plaćeni za prekovremeni rad, a plaće koje inače primaju su vrlo niske. Istodobno, prema UN-u, manje od 45 posto zaposlenik ima sigurne plaće i ugovore o radu na neodređeno vrijeme, ali i taj skroman udio stalno opada.

Nakon Drugog svjetskog rata, širom svijeta počeli su se uspostavljati opći zdravstveni sustavi namijenjeni svim građanima. U srpnju 1948. godine Velika Britanija je pokrenula svoju opću Nacionalnu zdravstvenu službu.Do sada je većina zemalja svijeta uspostavila neki oblik javne zdravstvene zaštite. Međutim, posljednjih godina priroda pružanja javne zdravstvene zaštite u Europi i širom svijeta dovedena je u pitanje nizom reformi. Tržište u području zdravstva raste u cijelom svijetu, što rezultira većim profitom privatnih kompanija i manjim pristupom zdravstvenoj skrbi većini građana.

„Danas u većini država postoji neki oblik obaveznog obrazovanja. Zbog porasta stanovništva i širenja obaveznog obrazovanja, UNESCO je izračunao da će u narednih 30 godina više ljudi dobiti formalno obrazovanje nego u cijeloj dosadašnjoj ljudskoj povijesti", piše Joshua Campbell, sociolog obrazovanja, u jednoj od svojih knjiga iz 2018. godine.

Međutim, mnoga djeca i danas nemaju pristup obrazovanju zbog kontinuirane nejednakosti i marginaliziranosti. U zemljama u razvoju, kao i u razvijenim zemljama, djeca nemaju pristup osnovnom obrazovanju zbog nejednakosti uzrokovanih ekonomskim statusom, spolom, etničkom pripadnošću, jezikom ili vjeroispoviješću. Ta se djeca nalaze na margini obrazovnog sustava i često su osuđena živjeti u neizvjesnosti u globalnoj „ekonomiji znanja“. Nezaposlenost, bolest i nepismenost roditelja, čimbenici su koji udvostručuju rizik od nepohađanja i napuštanja škole od strane djece. Osim toga, mnogi učenici iz siromašnih obitelji prisiljeni su napustiti obrazovanje zbog zdravstvenih problema ili kako bi mogli raditi i pomoći svojim obiteljima.

Sve do 1963. godine, Sveučilište u Alabami u Sjedinjenim Državama bilo je rasno isključivo, te studenti koji nisu bijelci nisu mogli pohađati ovo Sveučilište. Diskriminacija na temelju etničke pripadnosti odnosno nacionalnosti, podrijetla i boje kože bila je, ne tako davno, ‘’normalna’’ i eksplicitna. Diskriminacija i danas postoji u formi ekonomskog, institucionalnog i kulturnog rasizma, te tako utječe na živote milijuna ljudi kroz reprodukciju predrasuda i stereotipa.

Prva europska zemlja koja je uvela biračko pravo za žene bilo je Veliko Vojvodstvo Finska, nakon općeg štrajka organiziranog u studenom 1905. godine. Kao rezultat parlamentarnih izbora 1907. godine, finsko biračko tijelo po prvi put je izabralo 19 žena za svoje predstavnice u parlamentu. Nakon odluke Saveznog vrhovnog suda u Švicarskoj, Appenzell Innerrhoden, najmanji kanton u Švicarskoj, postao je posljednji kanton koji je ženama dao pravo glasa o lokalnim pitanjima. U Saudijskoj Arabiji su 2015. godine održani prvi izbori na kojima je ženama dopušteno da biraju i budu birane. No, kako ženama u Saudijskoj Arabiji nije dopušteno obraćati se muškarcima s kojima nisu u srodstvu, kandidatkinje se mogu obraćati samo ženskim biračima. U toku kampanje, na sastancima na kojima je bilo muškaraca, kandidatkinje su morale ili govoriti iza zastora ili bi muškarci pročitao njihove poruke umjesto njih.

Međutim, zastupljenost žena u politici samo je mali dio borbe za ravnopravnost spolova. Pored kontinuirane spolne diskriminacije širom svijeta u pogledu plaća i profesionalnih mogućnosti, seksualno i obiteljsko nasilje ostaju najveći rizik za žene na globalnoj razini. Prema podacima koje je 2018. godine objavio Ured Ujedinjenih naroda za drogu i kriminal, u prosjeku je 137 žena širom svijeta svakodnevno ubijeno od strane partnera ili člana obitelji.

Romske zajednice u Europi i šire izrazito su ranjive na sve gore pomenute sfere socijalne (ne)pravde. Kontinuirano reproduciranje nepravednih odnosa moći u kojima su Romi na dnu „društvene piramide“ stvara ogromne probleme unutar romskih zajednica i obitelji u kojima je nepravdu teško ne ponavljati. U prigodi kao što je današnja, dobro je podsjetiti se kako su socijalna pravednost i socijalne piramide po prirodi nespojive.

The World Day of Social Justice is observed every year on February 20th by many organizations, including the United Nations. The question of justice has been at the core of philosophical discussions long before the idea of the UN and it has always included the concepts of equality and impartiality. Besides being used by many as an empty cliché nowadays, social justice has very practical and everyday dimensions which affect every member of society.

Universal and lasting peace can be established only if it is based upon social justice.

That is the first sentence of the preamble of the Constitution of the International Labour Organization written a bit more than 100 years ago. In the aftermath of WWI, peace meant much more than lack of conflict between states. The struggles for fair distribution of wealth, opportunities for personal activity, and the creation of social safety nets have marked the last century as fights for social justice.

It was in 1915, when Uruguay became the first country to adopt the eight-hour working day nationwide. The movement for fair working hours originated in Britain in the wake of the Industrial Revolution and after decades of struggle it succeeded to make the eight-hour working day an international standard. A great share of the employees around the world, however, still work significantly more than that. In China, for instance, many workers in the tech companies have a schedule from 9AM to 9PM, six days a week, notoriously known as the “996” schedule.

A study published last year by Clean Clothes Campaign showed that thousands of garment workers in several EU counters often work unpaid for overtime labour and earn poverty wages. At the same time, according to the UN, fewer than 45 per cent of wage and salaried workers are employed on a full-time, permanent basis, and even that share is declining.

Following World War II, universal health care systems began to be set up around the world. In July 1948, the United Kingdom launched its universal National Health Service and since then most of the countries in the world have established some form of public health coverage. In the last years, though, the public nature of healthcare provision in Europe and across the globe has been challenged through a series of reforms. The marketization of health is on a rise worldwide which results in higher profits for private companies and lower access to care for the majority of citizens.

“Today, there is some form of compulsory education in most countries. Due to population growth and the proliferation of compulsory education, UNESCO has calculated that in the next 30 years more people will receive formal education than in all of human history thus far”, Joshua Campbell, a sociologist of education, writes in one of his books in 2018.

However, many children today still do not have access to education due to persisting inequality and marginalization. In developing and developed countries alike, children do not have access to basic education because of inequalities that originate in economic status, sex, ethnicity, language, or religion. These children find themselves on the margins of the education system and are often doomed to precarious living in the global “knowledge economy”. Factors linked to poverty such as unemployment, illness and the illiteracy of parents, multiply the risk of non-schooling and the drop-out rate of children by 2. Additionally, many students from disadvantaged backgrounds are forced to abandon their education due to health problems or in order to work and provide support for their families.

Until 1963, the University of Alabama, U.S. was still racially segregated and non-white students were not allowed to attend. Discrimination based on ethnicity, national origin, descent, and skin colour was, until not very long ago, normalized and explicit. Yet, it persists today in forms of economic, institutional, and cultural racism and determines the lives of millions because of the reproduction of prejudices and stereotypes.

Following a general strike organized in November 1905, the first European country to introduce women's suffrage was the Grand Duchy of Finland. As a result of the 1907 parliamentary elections, Finland's voters elected 19 women as the first female members of a representative parliament. In 1991, after a decision by the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland, Appenzell Innerrhoden, the smallest canton in Switzerland, became the last canton to grant women the vote on local issues. In 2015 was the first election in Saudi Arabia in which women were allowed to vote and to run for office. Yet, as women in Saudi Arabia are not permitted to address men who are not related to them, women candidates could only speak directly to women voters. At campaign meetings where there were men, female candidates had to either speak from behind the curtains, or have a man read their message on their behalf.

The political representation of women, however, is just a small part of the struggle for gender equality. Besides the continuous gender discrimination around the world in terms of payment and professional opportunities, sexual and domestic violence remain the single greatest risk for women on a global scale. According to data published by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in 2018, an average of 137 women across the world are killed by a partner or family member every day.

All of the above-mentioned spheres of social justice are prominently sensitive to the Roma communities in Europe and around the world. The continuous reproduction of unjust power relations in which Roma are at the bottom of the “social pyramid” create immense problems within Roma communities and families where injustice is hard not to replicate. On an occasion such as this Day, it is good to remind ourselves that social justice and social pyramids are incompatible in nature.