Please join SIHRLA for a lunchtime discussion with Madga Matache, a Roma Rights activist.

For over a decade, Magda has been a powerful voice of the Roma in various grassroots national and international contexts. Her views on the Roma plight have been captured and conveyed throughout the world by outlets such as The Time, Financial Time, BBC, EuroNews, Le Monde, Le Figaro, as well as by national media in Romania.

From 2005 to 2012, Margareta Matache was the Executive Director of Romani CRISS (www.romanicriss.org), a leading Roma NGO that defends and promotes the rights of Roma. During her mandate, Romani CRISS took a stand against discrimination in landmark cases targeting the President, Prime Minister, and Foreign Minister of Romania at that time. Their advocacy and litigation efforts have also contributed to the approval of the domestic School Desegregation Bill.