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European
Roma Rights Center
1386 Budapest 62 P.O. Box 906/93 Hungary
Telephone: (36 1) 42 82 351 Fax: (36 1) 42 82 356
ERRC: UNITED NATIONS CALLS ON GOVERNMENTS TO IMPROVE THEIR TREATMENT
OF ROMA
21/8/2000
The European Roma Rights Center (ERRC) welcomes the thematic
discussion held last week
by the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) concerning racial discrimination against
Roma. Upon release of the
CERD's general recommendation at the conclusion of the discussion, outlining a number of measures that governments
should take to improve
the situation of the Roma, Dimitrina Petrova, Executive Director of ERRC, stated, "This event properly underscores the
international community's
concern about widespread government failure to combat racism and discrimination against Roma. The numerous shortcomings
identified by the
Committee require urgent action by many European governments to bring their legislation and practice into compliance with
international law."
The
CERD is a United Nations body charged with responsibility for overseeing
compliance with the International Convention on the Elimination of
All Forms of Racial Discrimination. It has been ratified by virtually all
European governments (the only exceptions are Andorra, Ireland, San Marino
and Turkey). Composed of eighteen internationally-recognised experts,
the CERD reviews states' compliance with the Convention through a reporting
procedure which obliges governments to submit reports on a periodic
basis. The August session marks the first time in the Committee?s 30-year-long
history that it has held a discussion on a thematic issue and adopted
a general recommendation dedicated to a specific ethnic group.
According
to Michael E. Sherifis, Chairman of the Committee, "during the consideration of periodic reports of several contracting
parties, it had emerged
that the Roma people were discriminated against in many countries [...]. The standards of the Convention were not met and in
fact many of its provisions
were directly and constantly violated." Among the specific violations highlighted by Sherifis were "Roma children
being placed in special
schools for mentally disabled pupils, depriving them of dignity and opportunities for the future in terms of higher education and
employment;" "forced
relocation of Roma" and "the existence of Roma settlements
or camps in isolated
locations, sometimes close to rubbish deposits or contaminated industrial
sites, surrounded by walls or fences and lacking the very basic sanitary
facilities;" "excessive use of force by the police against
Roma, and physical violence by members of racist organisations
against them," and that
"discriminatory acts against Roma often went unpunished."
The Committee was
"painfully aware" that "for centuries," the Roma
had been subjected to "ill-treatment, rejection, exclusion and
discrimination of various
forms. [...] It was distressing to know that at the beginning of the third millennium, the problem was still there,"
Sherifis said.
In
its general recommendation addressed to states parties to the Convention,
the Committee called on governments to undertake a number of specific
measures, including the following: * "review and enact or amend
legislation [...] to eliminate all forms of racial
discrimination against Roma;" * "take appropriate measures
to secure to members of Roma communities effective
remedies and to ensure that justice is fully and promptly done in cases
concerning violations of their fundamental rights and freedoms;"
* "adopt and implement national strategies and programmes and
express determined
political will and moral leadership, with the view to improving the
situation of Roma and their protection against discrimination by state
bodies, as well as by any
person or organisation;" * "develop and encourage [?]
dialogue between Roma [?] and central and local
authorities;" * "ensure that legislation regarding
citizenship and naturalization does not
discriminate against members of Roma;" * "take all necessary
measures [?] to avoid any form of discrimination against
immigrants or asylum seekers of Roma origin;" * "acknowledge
wrongs done during the Second World War to Roma communities by
deportation and extermination and consider ways of compensating for
them;" * in the field of racial violence, "ensure protection
of security and integrity
of Roma, without any discrimination by adopting measures for preventing
racially motivated acts of violence against them;" "ensure prompt
action by the police, the prosecutors and the judiciary for investigating
and punishing such acts and [...] that perpetrators, be they public
officials or private persons, do not enjoy any degree of
impunity;" "take
measures to prevent use of illegal force by the police against Roma, in
particular in connection with arrest and detention;"
"encourage [...] communication
and dialogue between the police and Roma;" "encourage recruiting
members of Roma [...] to the police and other law enforcement agencies;"
* in the field of education, "act with determination for
eliminating any discrimination
or racial harassment of Roma students;" "prevent the segregation
of Roma students, while keeping open the possibility for bilingual
or mother tongue tuition;" "cooperate actively with Roma
parents, associations and local communities;" "include in
text-books, at all appropriate
levels, chapters about history and culture of Roma;"
"recruit school
personnel from among members of Roma [...] and [...] promote inter-cultural
education;" * in the field of employment, "adopt and make
more effective legislation prohibiting
discrimination in employment, and all discriminatory practices in
the labour market affecting members of Roma [...] and [...] protect
them against such
practices; take special measures for promoting employment of Roma
in public administration and institutions, as well as in private companies;"
* in the field of housing, "develop and implement policies and
projects aimed at
avoiding segregation of Roma [...] in housing;" "act firmly against
local measures of denying residence to, and unlawful expulsion of Roma,
and [...] refrain from placing Roma in camps outside populated areas, isolated
and without access to health care and other facilities;" * in the
field of health care and social protection, "ensure equal access of
Roma to health care and to social security services and [...]
eliminate any
discriminatory practices against them in this field;"
"initiate and implement
programmes and projects in the field of health for Roma" and "involve
Roma associations and communities and their representatives, mainly
women, in designing and implementing health programmes and projects concerning
Roma groups;" * in the field of access to public accommodations,
"prevent, eliminate and adequately
punish any discriminatory practices concerning access of members of
the Roma communities to all places and services intended for the use
of the general public,
including restaurants, hotels, theatre and music halls, discotheques
and others;" * in the field of media, "act as appropriate
for the elimination of any ideas
of racial or ethnic superiority, of racial hatred and incitement to discrimination
and violence against Roma in the media, in accordance with the
provisions of the Convention;" raise awareness among media professionals
"of the particular responsibility to not disseminate prejudices
and to avoid reporting incidents involving individual members of Roma
communities in a way which blames the community as a whole [and] encourage
methods of self-monitoring by the media, such as respect for a code
of conduct for media organisations, in order to avoid racial, discriminatory
or biased language;" "develop educational and media campaigns
and educate the public about Roma life, society and culture and the
importance of building an inclusive society [...] respecting their human
rights and their identity;" "encourage and facilitate Roma
access to media [...] and
the establishment of their own media, as well as the training
and formation of Roma journalists;" * in the field of
participation in political life and policy-making, "take the necessary steps, including special measures, to secure
equal opportunities for
the participation of Roma minorities or groups in all central
and local governmental bodies;" "develop modalities and
structures of
consultation with Roma political parties, associations and representatives,
both at central and local levels, when considering issues and adopting decisions on matters of concern to Roma;"
"involve Roma [?] at the
earliest stages in the development of Roma policies and programmes and
in their implementation
and ensure [...] transparency about such policies and
programmes;" "organise training programmes for Roma public
officials and
representatives, as well as for prospective candidates to such responsibilities."
The
Committee further recommended that governments "include in their periodic reports [...] data about the Roma communities within
their jurisdiction,
including statistical data about Roma participation in political life and about their economic, social and cultural
situation, including from
a gender-perspective, and information about the implementation of this General Recommendation."
Finally,
in three final recommendations not addressed to governments, the Committee requested that: * "intergovernmental
organisations address, in their projects of cooperation
and assistance to different States parties [...], the situation of
Roma communities and favour their economic, social and cultural advancement;"
* "the High Commissioner for Human Rights consider establishing a
focal point for Roma
issues within the Office of the High Commissioner;" * "the
World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and
Related Intolerance give due consideration to the above recommendations,
taking into account the place of the Roma communities among
those most disadvantaged and most subject to discrimination in the contemporary
world."
ERRC
and other non-governmental organisations contributed with written and oral information to the Committee?s thematic discussion.
ERRC?s written submission,
as well as other information concerning the human rights conditions of Roma and the activities of ERRC, are available
on the Internet at
http://errc.org or from ERRC upon request.
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The
European Roma Rights Center is an international public interest law
organisation which monitors the rights of Roma and provides legal
defence in cases of human rights abuse. For more information about the
European Roma Rights Center, visit the ERRC on the web at
http://errc.org.
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