|
PRESS RELEASE
EUROPEAN
ROMA RIGHTS CENTER
STATEMENT
ON FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT AND MIGRATION
25 October 2000
[ENDORSED ALSO AND PRESENTED AT THE OSCE MEETING
BY GREEK HELSINKI MONITOR]
|
Å |
|
EUROPEAN
ROMA RIGHTS CENTER
P.O.Box
906/93 - 1386 Budapest 62 - Hungary -
Phone: + (36 1) 42 82 351 Fax: + (36-1) 42 82 356
STATEMENT
ON FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT AND MIGRATION
Session 11, 25 October 2000
[ENDORSED ALSO AND PRESENTED AT THE OSCE MEETING
BY GREEK HELSINKI MONITOR]
|
|
|
The post-1989 era has been punctuated by episodes in which groups of
Roma have fled countries in Central and Eastern Europe and sought
international protection. In many instances, reception of Romani
refugees in the countries to which they have fled has been inadequate.
Asylum in Europe has become a right often not available in practice,
and much of the asylum system in Europe appears infected by racism in
general, and anti-Romani sentiment in particular.
Many Roma are presently in flight from their country of origin. Romani
individuals may be able to demonstrate a well-founded fear of
persecution in their country of origin. Particularly at risk are:
· Roma from Kosovo: During the course of 1999, ethnic Albanians
ethnically cleansed the greater part of the Romani population from
Kosovo, and as of October 2000, Kosovo remains a very dangerous place
for Roma.
· Roma from countries in which cases of serious harm by public
officials or members of racist groups have been reported: Roma have
fled other countries of Europe, often due to the fear of physical
attack by public officials or members of racist groups in their
country of origin. Often such attacks remain without adequate judicial
remedy. Countries in which serious incidents of violence against Roma
have occurred in recent years include: Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina,
Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy,
Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Ukraine and Yugoslavia.
· Roma unable to live with dignity in their country of origin due to
extreme levels of discrimination: Roma face intense discrimination in
many countries of Europe, in such areas as housing, education,
employment, health care and social welfare. Many Romani children are
placed in effectively segregated schools or classes, including classes
for mentally disabled children. In some areas, unemployment of Roma
rises near 100%. The UNHCR has made clear that refugees are not only
those persons fleeing torture or other serious harm on racial, ethnic
or religious grounds, but that non-violent discriminatory measures may
also rise to the level of persecution. Roma whose grounds for flight
include the inability to earn a living due to anti-Romani
discrimination may be refugees under the Geneva Convention.
The low levels of refugee recognition in Europe give rise to fears
that European standards in the area of asylum and refugee protection
are too strict to provide real and effective protection to those who
need it. In recent years, Roma who have sought international
protection due to anticipation of serious harm in their country of
origin have often not received such protection, and even found it
close to impossible to gain access to a fair and open procedure in
which to have their claims heard.
ERRC Recommendations:
1. Without delay, and with the objectives of alleviating pressure on
the international system of refugee protection and bringing
legislation into conformity with international law, European
governments should assess and remedy the significant deficiencies in
domestic and EU law in the fields of immigration, individual
establishment, family reunification and the rights of long-term
factual residents.
2. Roma who can demonstrate a well-founded fear of persecution in
their country of origin on grounds of race, religion, nationality,
political conviction or membership in a social group should be
provided the international protection guaranteed them under the 1951
Geneva Convention. In the present circumstances, all Roma from Kosovo
should be provided Convention refugee status.
3. It is impossible for states to comply with their commitments under
the 1951 Geneva Convention if individuals are unable to have access to
a fair hearing of their asylum claims. Practices aimed at preventing
individuals, including Romani individuals, from having access to a
fair and unbiased asylum procedure should be discontinued forthwith.
4. In applying the 1951 Geneva Convention, states must recognise that
the character of persecution often entails non-violent measures by
non-state state actors; at issue is a sustained or systemic violation
of basic human rights demonstrative of a failure of state protection.
Finally,
8. Protection should always consist of more substantive rights than a
mere temporary ban on expulsion. Regardless of whether individuals
have been provided with Convention refugee status, are in the process
of review to determine a refugee claim, are sheltered under a group
protection scheme, or have not managed to secure any form of legal
status whatsoever, authorities should recognise that persons who have
fled their country of origin and spent periods of more than six months
in a country of exile are already forming ties to that country;
efforts to remove them may violate Article 8 of the European
Convention of Human Rights, protecting private and family life. Rights
should accrue incrementally to all persons factually in a given
country, and within five years of factual residence in a country, the
possibility of citizenship and/or permanent residence status should
come clearly into view. All domestic legal provisions stipulating
forms of protection should include an augmentation of rights over
time, including in the short term the right to work, and ultimately
participation in local decision-making and access to citizenship.
________________________________________________________________________________
Board of directors :
Eva Orsos (Hungary) (co-chair) Lord Lester of Herne Hill Q.C.(UK)
(co-chair) Isabel Fonseca (UK)
Gabor Halmai (Hungary) Deborah Harding (USA) Monika Horakova (Czech
Republic) Khristo Kyuchukov (Bulgaria)
Rumyan Russinov (Bulgaria) Joseph Schull (Canada) Ina Zoon (Spain)
|
|
