World Bank announces plans to help Roma

WASHINGTON, Jan. 31 (UPI) -- World leaders will meet Wednesday in Bulgaria to begin the first international support program to aid Roma, the Washington-based World Bank announced Monday.

Roma, Europe's most vulnerable region, represents nearly 2 percent of the 450 million people who live in the European Union. Roma includes Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro.

The poverty rate in Roma is four to 10 times higher than in non-Roma nations and nearly 40 percent of citizens in Romania and Bulgaria live on less than $2.15 a day.

Leaders meeting Wednesday in Sofia plan to introduce a recovery program called the Decade of Roma Inclusion, which will help to alleviate poverty levels, grant greater access to education, labor markets, social and health services.

"It is one of the great moral issues facing Europe today," said James Wolfensohn, World Bank president. "If we do nothing, we will see continued disaffection and suffering. If we succeed, the decade offers an opportunity to turn the tide of history and harness the political will to include the Roma as full citizens in European societies."

Each country is expected to make improvements in four identified areas, including education, employment, health and housing.