Hosted under the Serbian Presidency of the Decade of Roma Inclusion, the international conference "The Right to Education for Every Child: Removing Barriers and Fostering Inclusion for Roma Children" (Belgrade, June 2-3, 2009) brought together governments, Roma civil society, international agencies, and education experts to share experience and chart a new agenda in breaking down barriers of Roma children to quality education, and foster inclusion.

Education has been widely recognized as a key pathway out of poverty and a major means to overcoming intergenerational transmission of deprivation. Inclusive education has also been a pathway out of social exclusion. Yet Roma, across all Decade countries, continue to face high rates of exclusion from quality education and low education outcomes. Poverty and marginalization of Roma communities, reinforced by segregated schooling, placement in special schools, classrooms and discrimination continue to reinforce such disadvantage. Few Roma children benefit from Early Child Development services. Low quality education does not prepare young people for jobs, so little value is attached to school attendance.

Equal access to quality education, then, becomes particularly salient for Roma children and young people.

The conference did not aim to describe once again the problems faced by Roma children. Broad consensus exists on the nature of the barriers to be overcome; in particular that segregation of education is detrimental not only for Roma children but for all children. The discussions concentrated on how to make progress in critical areas, what we know and what we don’t know about strategies that work in promoting inclusive education, how to accelerate these, and how to make actions happen at a scale that will make a difference.