Women were coerced into signing consent forms, often while they were in labour or recovering from C sections

Barbora Černušáková, Amnesty International

Barbora Černušáková, Amnesty International’s researcher on the Czech Republic, said:

“Thousands of women, the majority of whom were Roma, were sterilized in the former Czechoslovakia. Women were coerced into signing consent forms, often while they were in labour or recovering from Caesarean sections. In many cases they were not told what they were agreeing to. This was a gross violation of their rights, including the right to be free from torture, or ill-treatment; and a shameful chapter in the country’s history.

“Today’s vote will finally establish a path to justice for survivors of unlawful sterilizations. For decades these brave women have had to live with the trauma they were subjected to at the hands of the authorities, yet they never gave up fighting for their rights.”

No amount of money will bring us back the chance to have more children, but the compensation is important for justice

Elena Gorolová, a survivor of unlawful sterilization

Elena Gorolová, a survivor of unlawful sterilization who has been campaigning for justice for years, said:

“The compensation bill means a lot for me after all these years of struggle. Although the government apologized to us in 2009, it wasn’t enough. What kept me going was the fellow women who suffered sterilizations and had to live with it.”

“No amount of money will bring us back the chance to have more children, but the compensation is important for justice. A lot of things happened during all those years. We got older and some of us have died, but I kept telling myself: you cannot just let it be.”

“The struggle is not over. Our group of volunteers will now be helping survivors to prepare the evidence and submit their applications for compensation. It won’t be easy, but these women deserve it.”

Unlawful sterilizations happened in a context of widespread discrimination against Roma people, which impacted every aspect of their daily life and continues to do so: from schools, through employment to housing where they routinely experience racial segregation and being pushed to the margins.

The UN Special Rapporteur on torture made it clear that sterilizations amount to a treatment of intrusive and irreversible nature. When lacking a therapeutic purpose and administered without the free and informed consent, they constitute torture or ill-treatment, prohibited by Article 3 of the European Convention of Human Rights.

For more information or to arrange an interview contact Amnesty International press office at press@amnesty.org or call +44 (0) 20 7413 5566. 

Background

After years of campaigning by survivors including Elena Gorolová, the Czech government in 2009 apologized to them for the unlawful sterilizations. However, until now their human right to redress for the severe harm they endured has been denied, and any form of judicial remedy has been inaccessible for most survivors due to the statute of limitations.

According to the Czech Ombudsman, thousands of Roma women were sterilized in the former Czechoslovakia. The compensation bill adopted by the Senate applies to any person who was unlawfully sterilized between 1966 and 2012.

Survivors of unlawful sterilizations will be eligible for compensation of 300,000 CZK (10,000 GBP), which must be applied for through the Ministry of Healthcare, within three years of the law entering into force.

The new law establishes a process for women who were subjected to this procedure to apply  for compensation, which includes requirements  to provide evidence supporting the claim; and a description of the case, including the name of the hospital where the unlawful sterilization was carried out.

As documented by the European Roma Rights Centre, the sterilization procedure was often performed at the same time as caesarean sections or women were presented with consent forms when in great pain or distress during labour or delivery. However, there were also cases when Roma women underwent the procedure after threats to institutionalize their children or withdraw welfare benefits.

The post Czech Republic: Hard won justice for women survivors of unlawful sterilization appeared first on Amnesty International.

The climate crisis does not respect borders and our laws and policies must reflect this

Ashfaq Khalfan, Amnesty International's Law and Policy Director.

The Court will decide on whether it agrees to proceed with the case filed not only against Portugal, where the applicants live, but also 32 other countries – which comprise of EU members as well as Norway, Russia, Turkey, Switzerland, UK and Ukraine.

“The climate crisis does not respect borders and our laws and policies must reflect this. To ensure justice for people most affected by heatwaves, drought and forest fires – particularly children – states must be required to tackle climate change and its impacts at home and abroad,” said Ashfaq Khalfan, Amnesty’s Law and Policy Director.

“Governments can no longer act as if people outside their borders do not matter when they design their climate policies.”

The crowdfunded case, Duarte Agostinho and others v. Portugal and others, in which the group is intervening, has been brought by six youth from Portugal who are accusing 33 European countries of violating their human rights, including their right to life, by not taking adequate steps to limit greenhouse gas emissions.

To ensure justice for people most affected by heatwaves, drought and forest fires states must be required to tackle climate change and its impacts at home and abroad

Amnesty International

“Those affected by climate change should be allowed to make claims against governments other than their own. If governments are only required to act on the rights of people living within their borders, it is easier for them to ignore the impacts on people in the most affected countries and be more lethargic in their work to reduce greenhouse gas emissions” said Professor Mark Gibney, of the University of North Carolina Asheville.

If allowed to proceed, the case could set an important precedent, clearing the way for other climate lawsuits based on human rights arguments.

“This case is also important to ensure governments are required to design climate policy in a way that recognises the particular climate risks to children and take the ambitious climate protection measures needed to protect their rights,” said Gamze Erdem Türkelli, of the University of Antwerp. 

For more information contact Ashfaq Khalfan, Twitter: @ashfaqkhalfan

Gamze Erdem Türkelli, Twitter: @GamzeErdmTrklli

Amnesty International press office: Twitter @StefSimanowitz

For more details about the intervention, see:https://www.etoconsortium.org/en/news/news/first-climate-change-case-at-the-european-court-of-human-rights-justice-must-not-stop-at-borders-182/ . The submission is available here.

For more information on the case, see http://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng?i=001-206535 and https://youth4climatejustice.org/the-case/.

BACKGROUND

The six applicants in this case, Cláudia Agostinho (21), Catarina Mota (20), Martim Agostinho (17), Sofia Oliveira (15), André Oliveira (12) and Mariana Agostinho (8), are suing the 27 European Union member states, as well as the UK, Switzerland, Norway, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine for failing to make deep and urgent emissions cuts to safeguard their future.

The group intervening today as a third party in the case is made up of members of the Extraterritorial Obligations Consortium which advocates for rights beyond borders.

It includes: Amnesty International; the Center for Legal and Social Studies (CELS); the Center for Transnational Environmental Accountability (CTEA); the Economic and Social Rights Centre (Hakijamii); FIAN International; the Great Lakes Initiative for Human Rights and Development (GLIHD); the University of Antwerp Law and Development Research Group; Prof. Dr. Mark Gibney; Dr. Gamze Erdem Turkelli; Dr. Sara Seck; Prof. Dr. Sigrun Skogly; Dr. Nicolas Carrillo-Santarelli; Prof. Dr. Jernej Letnar Cernic; Tom Mulisa; Dr. Nicholas Orago; Prof. Dr. Wouter Vandenhole; and Jingjing Zhang

The post Europe: “Climate justice must not stop at borders” human rights organizations tell ECHR in landmark case appeared first on Amnesty International.

People’s rights are being violated by governments in Europe and Central Asia, who are cracking down on protests and seeking to erode the independence of the judiciary to avoid accountability, Amnesty International said today as it published its annual review of human rights in the region.

The organization praised those brave people who took to the streets to defend their own and others’ rights but warned that governments continue to perpetrate human rights violations with impunity across the region.

In 2019, people in Europe and Central Asia were threatened, intimidated, prosecuted, subjected to excessive use of force by police, and suffered discrimination. However, the grassroots mobilization of courageous people who dared to stand up and hold states accountable provides a ray of hope for the future,

Marie Struthers, Europe Director at Amnesty International

Independence of the judiciary under threat

In Poland, the independence of the judiciary – essential for ensuring fair trials and upholding human rights – was threatened as the ruling party took bolder steps to control judges and courts.

Judges and prosecutors found themselves at risk of disciplinary proceedings for speaking out in defence of the judiciary and risked becoming victims of human rights violations themselves. Many were subjected to smear campaigns on state and social media.

Concerns also mounted about the independence of the judiciary in Hungary, Romania and Turkey. Judges in Hungary came under attack from multiple directions as the government continued its attempts to undermine the independence of the judiciary. In May, the European Commission warned Romania that it should address issues including interference with judicial independence by the executive, or potentially face having some of the member state’s rights suspended for persistent breach of the EU’s founding values. In Turkey, a judicial reform package was passed by Parliament. The reforms failed to address the extreme political pressure on the judiciary or to end unfair and politically motivated prosecutions and convictions.

Freedom of peaceful assembly

Independent courts were vitally needed in 2019 to safeguard individual freedoms as state overreach came to the fore, with restrictions on protests in France, Poland and Turkey as well as prosecution of protesters in many more.

Major protests took place in numerous countries across Europe including France, Austria, Poland, Romania, the Czech Republic and Hungary, with people protesting against austerity measures and corruption, and in defence of social justice and the independence of the judiciary. Protests and strikes urging governments to take measures against climate change became a regular occurrence in major European cities. 

Many states repressed the demonstrations through measures that breached the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and expression. In France, Austria and Spain, hundreds of people were injured by the police during protests. Police resorted to excessive force in France, and violently disrupted peaceful gatherings in Turkey where blanket bans on gatherings were often used to deny the right to freedom of peaceful assembly. States frequently failed to hold their security forces accountable for violence perpetrated during the protests.

Some judges adjudicating in cases relating to protests were harassed or demoted by the Polish authorities.

In Moscow, and other Russian cities, the largest numbers of peaceful protesters seen in many years stood up against the authorities’ refusal to allow opposition candidates to take part in the city elections. The resultant crackdown led to criminal convictions for two dozen participants, simply for exercising their right to protest.

“The reprisals against participants of mass protests in Moscow kick-started an unprecedented solidarity campaign that signals the further awakening of human rights awareness and people power in Russia,” said Marie Struthers.

Migration

European states continued to avoid accountability for human rights violations resulting from their migration policies by “outsourcing” border control to countries with questionable human rights records. In 2019, migration policies continued to prioritise the protection of borders over the protection of human lives. Despite the deteriorating security situation there, European countries continued cooperating with Libya to contain migrants and asylum-seekers in the country.

In November, the Italian government extended its agreement with Libya on migration for a further three years, despite continuing evidence pointing to systematic human rights violations including torture in Libya’s detention centres.

Reports of grave human rights violations against asylum-seekers and refugees, and their continued denial of access to protection, failed to deter the EU from partnering with Turkey to curb migration via the 2016 EU-Turkey Deal. Ahead of Turkey’s incursion into north-eastern Syria in October, Amnesty International conducted dozens of interviews which suggested hundreds of Syrians were likely forcibly deported from Turkey between May and September, under the guise of “voluntary returns”. The deal is also causing unprecedented overcrowding of the camps in the Aegean islands, where tens of thousands of people live in destitute conditions.

Human rights defenders under attack

Civil society, journalists and others responsible for holding governments to account faced pressure in 2019.

“Human rights defenders, journalists, NGOs and other people campaigning for a fairer and more just society were all at the sharp end of government crackdowns in 2019,” said Marie Struthers.

Their work to hold authorities to account, will only be more vital during the COVID-19 crisis and in its aftermath. The humanity and solidarity they show towards the most marginalized members of our societies are needed now more than ever, and will continue to be essential during the post-COVID-19 recovery.

Marie Struthers

For more information or to arrange an interview, contact Amnesty International press office on press@amnesty.org +32 2 548 27 73 or +32 483 680 812

The post Europe: Mass protests provide hope as rights and judicial independence eroded appeared first on Amnesty International.

Such activities continue because of loopholes in the decade-old European regulation aimed at restricting the trade in these goods.

Grasping the nettle: Ending Europe’s trade in execution and torture technology details these gaps and spells out how EU institutions and member states can and must close them. It is being launched as the European Parliament opens fresh debate on 28 May over proposed amendments to the EU’s “Torture Trade Regulation” in force since 2006.

“Europe has come a long way towards ending the repugnant trade in some of the world’s most sinister tools and technologies which can be used to torture and execute people,” said Marek Marczynski, Head of Military, Security and Police at Amnesty International.

Europe has come a long way towards ending the repugnant trade in some of the world’s most sinister tools and technologies which can be used to torture and execute people. But significant loopholes remain and companies can still profit from human misery despite the prohibitions and controls already in place.

Marek Marczynski, Head of Military, Security and Police at Amnesty International

“But as this new report shows, significant loopholes remain. This means that companies can still profit from human misery despite the prohibitions and controls already in place. If Europe is serious about leading the charge to eradicate torture and abolish the death penalty, it must close these loopholes urgently.”

Since 2006, the EU has had the world’s only regional mechanism to prohibit or control the trade of equipment which could be used in torture or capital punishment.

Amnesty International and Omega have subsequently highlighted the serious limitations in the Regulation and its patchy implementation by EU states. In recent years the EU has sought to address these failings, including by greatly expanding the lists of goods that are either prohibited or controlled.

The European Commission has presented further proposals for strengthening the Regulation, which are now being considered by member states and the European Parliament. Amnesty International and Omega support many of these proposals and urge their adoption.

However, the organizations’ new report identifies remaining gaps in these proposals, which would still allow EU companies to:

• Broker the sale and transfer of security equipment to non-EU countries, as long as the deals are made outside the EU and the devices don’t touch European soil;
• Openly promote previously prohibited equipment – such as net beds (a cage-like structure built into a bed frame), body-worn shock devices or restraints attaching prisoners to fixed objects – at EU arms fairs and exhibitions, as well as on the internet;
• Market security equipment to police – such as electric shock stun guns, shock batons and shock shields – that is completely inappropriate for law enforcement;
• Provide police and military forces inappropriate technical assistance, including training in techniques that in some cases could facilitate torture and other ill-treatment; and
• Introduce new technologies and devices onto the market even if these items could be used in the death penalty, torture or other ill-treatment.

“Whilst the Commission proposals are significant, they fail to effectively address a number of crucial weakness and loopholes in the Regulation and its attendant control regime. If these issues are not tackled directly now by the EU Member States and the European Parliament, this rare opportunity to comprehensively strengthen the control regime and close loopholes that can be exploited by unscrupulous traders will be missed,” said Dr Michael Crowley of the Omega Research Foundation.

It is now time for the European Union to ‘grasp the nettle’ and end Europe’s trade in torture technology for good.

Dr Michael Crowley of the Omega Research Foundation

“It is now time for the European Union to ‘grasp the nettle’ and end Europe’s trade in torture technology for good.”

Background

With the entry into force in 2006 of Council Regulation 1236/2005, the EU introduced unprecedented and binding trade controls on a range of equipment which is often used in capital punishment, torture and other ill-treatment (“tools of torture”), but which has not usually been included by EU member states in their military, dual-use or strategic export control lists.

Amnesty International and the Omega Research Foundation produced three previous reports in 2007, 2010 and 2012, which identified specific loopholes in the EU regulation and omissions in the EU’s two lists of prohibited and controlled items that have allowed the trade in “tools of torture” to continue.

Advocacy at the EU level around the 2010 report led to a decision by the European Commission the following year to expand the two lists to include other pieces of equipment, for example body worn electric-shock devices, spiked batons and certain drugs used for lethal injections. Experts recognized that this was still insufficient to curb the trade and the Commission undertook a comprehensive review of the Regulation.

On 16 July 2014, Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No. 775/2014 further expanded the lists of prohibited and controlled goods covered by the Regulation.

This latest report by Amnesty International and Omega highlights remaining loopholes that need to be closed urgently. It is intended to feed into a debate due to begin at the European Parliament’s Subcommittee on Human Rights (DROI) on 28 May and at the Committee on International Trade (INTA) in the following weeks. The Rapporteur in INTA is Marietje Schaake MEP (NL, ALDE), whilst Barbara Lochbihler MEP (DE, Green/EFA) is providing the Opinion for DROI. Proposed amendments to the EU Torture Trade Regulation resulting from this debate will subsequently be voted on in Committee and will then go to a plenary vote at the European Parliament later this year.

Take action

The EU torture trade: Sale must end now – Sign the petition

The post EU companies still trading in ‘tools of torture’ appeared first on Amnesty International.

Such activities continue because of loopholes in the decade-old European regulation aimed at restricting the trade in these goods.

Grasping the nettle: Ending Europe’s trade in execution and torture technology details these gaps and spells out how EU institutions and member states can and must close them. It is being launched as the European Parliament opens fresh debate on 28 May over proposed amendments to the EU’s “Torture Trade Regulation” in force since 2006.

“Europe has come a long way towards ending the repugnant trade in some of the world’s most sinister tools and technologies which can be used to torture and execute people,” said Marek Marczynski, Head of Military, Security and Police at Amnesty International.

Europe has come a long way towards ending the repugnant trade in some of the world’s most sinister tools and technologies which can be used to torture and execute people. But significant loopholes remain and companies can still profit from human misery despite the prohibitions and controls already in place.

Marek Marczynski, Head of Military, Security and Police at Amnesty International

“But as this new report shows, significant loopholes remain. This means that companies can still profit from human misery despite the prohibitions and controls already in place. If Europe is serious about leading the charge to eradicate torture and abolish the death penalty, it must close these loopholes urgently.”

Since 2006, the EU has had the world’s only regional mechanism to prohibit or control the trade of equipment which could be used in torture or capital punishment.

Amnesty International and Omega have subsequently highlighted the serious limitations in the Regulation and its patchy implementation by EU states. In recent years the EU has sought to address these failings, including by greatly expanding the lists of goods that are either prohibited or controlled.

The European Commission has presented further proposals for strengthening the Regulation, which are now being considered by member states and the European Parliament. Amnesty International and Omega support many of these proposals and urge their adoption.

However, the organizations’ new report identifies remaining gaps in these proposals, which would still allow EU companies to:

• Broker the sale and transfer of security equipment to non-EU countries, as long as the deals are made outside the EU and the devices don’t touch European soil;
• Openly promote previously prohibited equipment – such as net beds (a cage-like structure built into a bed frame), body-worn shock devices or restraints attaching prisoners to fixed objects – at EU arms fairs and exhibitions, as well as on the internet;
• Market security equipment to police – such as electric shock stun guns, shock batons and shock shields – that is completely inappropriate for law enforcement;
• Provide police and military forces inappropriate technical assistance, including training in techniques that in some cases could facilitate torture and other ill-treatment; and
• Introduce new technologies and devices onto the market even if these items could be used in the death penalty, torture or other ill-treatment.

“Whilst the Commission proposals are significant, they fail to effectively address a number of crucial weakness and loopholes in the Regulation and its attendant control regime. If these issues are not tackled directly now by the EU Member States and the European Parliament, this rare opportunity to comprehensively strengthen the control regime and close loopholes that can be exploited by unscrupulous traders will be missed,” said Dr Michael Crowley of the Omega Research Foundation.

It is now time for the European Union to ‘grasp the nettle’ and end Europe’s trade in torture technology for good.

Dr Michael Crowley of the Omega Research Foundation

“It is now time for the European Union to ‘grasp the nettle’ and end Europe’s trade in torture technology for good.”

Background

With the entry into force in 2006 of Council Regulation 1236/2005, the EU introduced unprecedented and binding trade controls on a range of equipment which is often used in capital punishment, torture and other ill-treatment (“tools of torture”), but which has not usually been included by EU member states in their military, dual-use or strategic export control lists.

Amnesty International and the Omega Research Foundation produced three previous reports in 2007, 2010 and 2012, which identified specific loopholes in the EU regulation and omissions in the EU’s two lists of prohibited and controlled items that have allowed the trade in “tools of torture” to continue.

Advocacy at the EU level around the 2010 report led to a decision by the European Commission the following year to expand the two lists to include other pieces of equipment, for example body worn electric-shock devices, spiked batons and certain drugs used for lethal injections. Experts recognized that this was still insufficient to curb the trade and the Commission undertook a comprehensive review of the Regulation.

On 16 July 2014, Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No. 775/2014 further expanded the lists of prohibited and controlled goods covered by the Regulation.

This latest report by Amnesty International and Omega highlights remaining loopholes that need to be closed urgently. It is intended to feed into a debate due to begin at the European Parliament’s Subcommittee on Human Rights (DROI) on 28 May and at the Committee on International Trade (INTA) in the following weeks. The Rapporteur in INTA is Marietje Schaake MEP (NL, ALDE), whilst Barbara Lochbihler MEP (DE, Green/EFA) is providing the Opinion for DROI. Proposed amendments to the EU Torture Trade Regulation resulting from this debate will subsequently be voted on in Committee and will then go to a plenary vote at the European Parliament later this year.

Take action

The EU torture trade: Sale must end now – Sign the petition

The post EU companies still trading in ‘tools of torture’ appeared first on Amnesty International.

Romani children face daily discrimination and segregation in schools due to the Czech government’s longstanding failure to address deeply engrained prejudice within the education system, said Amnesty International in a new report launched today.

Must try harder: Ethnic discrimination of Romani Children in Czech schools, documents how the the Czech authorities are violating the human rights of Romani children in schools across the country. Romani children are segregated in mainstream education in Roma-only separate classes, buildings and schools and even placed in schools for pupils with “mild mental disabilities”. Those in ethnically mixed schools experience bullying, and harassment.

“The widespread segregation of Romani children is a horrifying example of systematic prejudice, with schools introducing children to bitter discrimination at an early age,” said Salil Shetty, Amnesty International’s Secretary General, who launched the report in Prague, Czech Republic today.

“By failing to properly address this issue for years the Czech government is not only breaching European Union and human rights law but is restricting the life chances of tens of thousands of Czech citizens. Let’s call this what it is: racism, pure and simple.”

By failing to properly address this issue for years the Czech government is not only breaching European Union and human rights law but is restricting the life chances of tens of thousands of Czech citizens. Let’s call this what it is: racism, pure and simple.

Salil Shetty, Secretary General, Amnesty International.

The report comes as the European Commission (EC) prepares to assess the progress made by the Czech Republic in addressing the issue. In September 2014, the European Commission initiated an unprecedented infringement procedure against the Czech Republic for breach of EU anti-discrimination legislation. If the government fails to carry out the necessary measures, the Commission could refer the Czech Republic to the European Court of Justice.

Segregation
Amnesty International found that Romani children are routinely placed into schools for pupils with “mild mental disabilities” with reduced learning possibilities.

Nearly a third of pupils in these so-called “practical schools” are Roma, despite the Romani community making up less than 3% of the Czech Republic.

Andrej was sent to a “practical school” when he was in 5th grade. He is now 15 and told Amnesty International he did not understand he was being moved to a school designed for pupils with mental disabilities. “They make idiots of us at the practical school. It’s really easy. They teach slower and I don’t think I can go to a good high school from here,” he said.

Romani children also suffer from segregation in mainstream education, often ending up either in Roma-only schools or within mixed schools in a separate building or classroom.

Failure to support learning and prevent racial bullyingRomani children who are in mainstream mixed education often find they are treated differently by their classmates and teachers.

They are not offered language support, despite the fact many do not have Czech as their mother tongue.

Petr, a Romani boy in 5th grade in a mixed mainstream school in Dìèín told Amnesty International that he often faces bullying: “They call me names because I’m Roma. The teacher doesn’t deal with it and when I tell her, she accuses me of starting it. She treats us differently.”

“The solution to children struggling in school is not to segregate on ethnic lines, but to find ways to support all children in an inclusive manner so that they can equally enjoy their right to education. This is not a ‘luxury’ but a legal requirement and moral imperative,” said Salil Shetty.

Must try harder
In February 2015 the government announced plans to get rid of “practical schools” and announced that it will review its funding policies for education.

However, as yet, there are no plans for how these moves will be enforced, nor concrete timelines for when they will be delivered.

“Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka and his government have shown more willingness than their predecessors to address this problem, but there is still an awfully long way to go. We have seen empty promises to reform the Czech educational system come and go before. The discrimination of Romani children has been going on for decades. It is time for it to end,” said Salil Shetty.

Amnesty International is calling on the Czech government to create a system to monitor and enforce the changes promised, with school inspectors being tasked with holding individual schools to account.

“Segregation in education will not be resolved by tinkering with a flawed system. This has been tried and failed. Until the government tackles the ethnic prejudice that is the rotten core of this issue, the problem will continue,” said Salil Shetty.

Segregation in education will not be resolved by tinkering with a flawed system. This has been tried and failed. Until the government tackles the ethnic prejudice that is the rotten core of this issue, the problem will continue.

Salil shetty.

Read more:

Must try harder: Ethnic discrimination of Romani Children in Czech schools (Report, 23 April 2015)

Amnesty International’s campaign Must Try Harder

Segregation, bullying and fear: The stunted education of Romani children in Europe (Feature, 8 April 2015)

The post Czech Republic: Systematic discrimination against Romani children in schools appeared first on Amnesty International.

The 4th primary, a school tucked away in a corner of Sofades, a small town near the city of Karditsa in central Greece, looks like an old, decrepit prison.

The building is so dilapidated, no child should be spending any time there. With not enough classrooms and regular power cuts, it is almost unbelievable that anyone can learn anything within those walls. However, every day, around 200 boys and girls between six and 14 years of age cross the rusty gates of the school which is built inside the Roma settlement and try to make the most of it.

The children are all Roma. For them, the “ghetto school” (as they call it) is their only shot at an education.

In countries across Europe – Greece, the Czech Republic, France, and Slovakia, to name but a few – Roma are too often treated as second-class citizens. Enduring systematic social exclusion, extremely poor living conditions, racially motivated attacks and forced evictions, Romani children rarely have a fighting chance of progressing in life. They are trapped in a vicious cycle of poverty and marginalization.

As if time had stood still, segregation is still taking place, with too few people questioning it.

Discrimination against Romani children in education is multifaceted. Romani children are either disproportionately placed in schools designed for pupils with “mild mental disabilities” or relegated to Roma-only classes and schools. Those attending mixed mainstream schools often face unbearable bullying and harassment.

For many Roma families, things become so desperate that their children miss school altogether, seriously hindering their future opportunities.

Container schools
On a recent visit to Slovakia, Amnesty International found the that the authorities are building schools in metal containers close to Romani settlements – effectively boxing children off completely from the wider society.

The container schools are built from material resembling shipping containers and consist of a large one or two-storey building with flat roofs and inner space limited to corridors and classrooms. Costing 200,000 euros each, they are much cheaper than brick and mortar schools. Only Romani children attend classes in these container schools.

The father of Imrich, a boy attending a mixed high school in the Slovakian town of Kežmarok, is worried about the consequence of Romani children being segregated:

If all the classmates of our children are other Romani pupils, how can we expect them to mingle and integrate with non-Roma people once they move on to the secondary school?

Father of Imrich, a boy attending a mixed high school in the Slovakian town of Kežmarok

No place to call homeIn some other European countries, such as France, municipal authorities refuse even to register many Romani children in school.

Regular forced evictions of entire Roma communities mean families do not have a fixed address, which some French municipalities consider a requirement to enrol a child in school.

Even for those lucky enough to have a place to call home, living conditions and access to proper sanitation and hygiene are often so poor that some parents feel discouraged from sending their children to school as they are concerned they will be further discriminated against.

Bullying concernsRomani children enrolled in mixed mainstream schools also face bullying and harassment.

Katka (not real name), a Romani girl attending a mixed mainstream school in Ostrava, Czech Republic, said: “One day we were listening to a Roma singer in a music class and the teacher asked us if we knew who Roma were and if any of us was Roma. I raised my hand. After that many things have changed. The boy who used to sit next to me pulled away his chair, and said he did not want to sit next to a Gypsy. When we were about to go on a school trip, nobody wanted to share a room with me, so I did not go. None of the girls wanted to be friends with me, but eventually I made one friend and it’s alright now. Still, every week I am reminded that I am Roma, that I am dirty and that I am different.”

The boy who used to sit next to me pulled away his chair, and said he did not want to sit next to a Gypsy.Every week I am reminded that I am Roma, that I am dirty and that I am different.

Katka (not real name), a Romani girl attending a mixed mainstream school in Ostrava, Czech Republic.

Bullying is similarly an issue for Romani children in Greece. Amnesty International, together with the Greek Helsinki Monitor, recently visited the informal settlement of Sofos, in the town of Aspropyrgos, near Athens, where they met children too scared to attend the local mixed school they were assigned to after the government shut down the Roma-only school.

Anna (not her real name) is 13 years old and lives with her parents and older sister at the settlement. She attended the segregated school for a few years and has now been registered to the mixed school. While the headmistress makes the children feel welcome, Anna’s mother and father are scared of the local parents’ violent reaction to past attempts to integrate Romani children to regular schools. Anna said: “They (members of the local community) chased us away from the town’s playground.”

Empty promisesSo far, authorities in Greece, the Czech Republic, France, and Slovakia have failed to sufficiently act upon their limited promises for change.

Despite a number of court rulings compelling governments to end the various forms of discrimination and ban the segregation of children into Roma-only schools or schools for pupils with “mild mental disabilities”, little has changed.

In November 2007, the European Court of Human Rights held that the disproportionate placement of Romani children in schools designed for pupils with mild mental disabilities in the Czech Republic violated the rights of Romani children not to be discriminated against when attempting to access education. The European Court required the government to put an end to this discrimination and address its effects. The process of reform initiated by the Czech authorities, however, has been so slow it has failed to address the situation in any significant way.

In Slovakia, the Regional Court in Presov in the east of the country issued a landmark judgment in October 2012 that the separation of Romani children into ethnically-segregated classes violated the country’s anti-discrimination law. In spite of this, the practice is still widespread today.

And in Greece, despite the adoption of a National Programme for the Education of Roma Children, progress made in some regions is being stalled due to lack of funding.

EU infringementAn unprecedented move in September 2014 saw the European Commission issue an infringement procedure against the Czech Republic for violating EU anti-discrimination law because of its discriminatory treatment of Romani children in education.

This enables the Commission to hold the Czech government accountable and to put pressure on it to end the ongoing systematic discrimination against Romani children in education.

Despite a first reaction from the government questioning the Commission’s competence to trigger an infringement procedure in the context of education, the government is now engaging with it, particularly on the legal reform of the Schools Act Amendment.

“The failure to tackle deeply engrained anti-Roma discrimination, which states are obliged to, is holding thousands of children hostage to a cycle of segregation, fear and missed opportunities,” said Gauri van Gulik, Deputy Director for Europe and Central Asia at Amnesty International.

“Instead of turning a blind eye to Roma segregation and discrimination in schools and communities, authorities in Greece, the Czech Republic, France, Slovakia, and all countries with Roma communities, must introduce systemic reforms to address what is effectively the root cause of these problems: ethnic prejudice. This requires a strong and unequivocal political message: to end the unlawful discrimination against Romani children in education.”

On 23 April, Amnesty International will publish a comprehensive report on the discrimination faced by Roma children in schools in the Czech Republic.

Read more:

Slovakia’s ‘container schools’ worsen segregation of Roma children from society (Blog, 13 March 2015)

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“For years, Amnesty International has documented systemic discrimination against Roma children in Czech schools. Yet the Czech government has so far failed to take effective measures to prevent, address and remedy this,” said Nicolas J. Beger, Director of Amnesty International’s European Institutions Office. “In agreeing to launch infringement proceedings, the Commission has sent a clear message to the Czech Republic and other member states – systemic discrimination towards Roma cannot and will not be tolerated.” 

The pre-litigation mechanism enables the Commission to hold the Czech government accountable for, and publicly and politically put pressure on it to end, the ongoing, systemic and unlawful practice of discrimination against Romani children in Czech schools.

The announcement comes one and a half years after Amnesty International and other civil society organisations called on the Commission to engage with the Czech government through infringement proceedings to tackle education discrimination against Romani children. The organisation presented a petition with nearly 100,000 signatures gathered in under three months calling on the Commission to take stronger action against EU member states failing to implement EU anti-discrimination legislation to protect Roma. These calls were based on evidence, gathered over a decade, of widespread unlawful discrimination against Romani children in Czech education, notably through segregation into schools for pupils with ‘mild mental disabilities’ or Roma-only schools, or classes offering lower educational standards. 

“Education is a human right that must be guaranteed to all children. Discrimination through segregated education is unlawful. It leads to poorer education and limits future employment opportunities, trapping Romani children in a vicious cycle of marginalisation and exclusion,” added Beger.

A 2013 survey by the Czech Schools Inspectorate (the national body responsible for ensuring schools comply with national legislation) exposed the disproportionately high number of Romani children in schools for pupils with ‘mild mental disabilities’. The monitoring of 483 schools with five or more pupils with this diagnosis found that a staggering 28.2% of them were Roma. However, Roma make up less than three percent of the total population. The Czech Ombudsperson (responsible for monitoring and ensuring compliance with anti-discrimination legislation) found this to be discriminatory in 2012.

The prospects for Romani children that do make it to ‘main-stream’ education are not much better. Many are segregated into schools and classes with lower educational standards.  In 2014, Amnesty International has continued to collect evidence of Roma-only mainstream schools in which the educational programmes followed differed very little from those of schools for pupils with ‘mild mental disabilities’. 

 “Today the Commission has lived up to its role as ‘guardian of the EU Treaties’, upholding EU law, and challenging member states for violating fundamental rights,”  said Beger. “The Commission’s words must now be followed by swift, concrete, and consistent action to hold the Czech Republic accountable and stop discrimination. This will be essential to protect not only the current and future generations of Roma in the Czech Republic, but across the EU, where they continue to face routine discrimination.”

Background

Infringement proceedings as established by Article 258 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union provide the Commission with an effective legislative tool to engage with the 28 European EU member states to ensure compliance with EU law. Member states found to be in breach of EU law may be brought to the Court of Justice for the European Union. If the Court finds a member state has failed to fulfil an obligation under the Treaties, it will require the state to take the necessary measures to comply.

The decision to launch the proceedings against the Czech Republic was announced today, 25 September, following a meeting of the College of Commissioners. The proceedings call into question the Czech Republic’s compliance with: Article 21 (1) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU, which prohibits discrimination based on any ground such as race or ethnic origin; and the Race Equality Directive (2000/43/EC (RED)) Articles 2.2a, 2.2b, 2.3, 3.1.g, which prohibit discrimination in access to education on the grounds of race or ethnicity.

The Commission will now send a formal notice with its assessment of the situation to the Czech government which will be given a deadline to submit its observations. After that, the Commission will conclude whether the Czech Republic is indeed failing to comply with EU law. In case of an infringement, the Commission may bring the matter before the Court of Justice of the European Union.

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Angry mobs have been increasingly attacking their homes and harassing Roma communities across the country.

The first demonstration in České Budějovice took place on 29 June last year. More than 1,000 members of far-right groups gathered in the centre of town and marched to the Máj neighbourhood, chanting abuse against the Roma people living there.

They shouted “black swine” and “let’s get them” while throwing stun grenades and glass bottles at their homes and even at police officers trying to stop them.

“It was horrible. We were very much afraid… We were looking out of the windows and they were shouting at us, calling us ‘black swines’ and threatening to kill us,” said Michal, a 27-year old Romani resident.

“I thought, maybe this is what it was like during Hitler’s era.”

Most Roma residents watched helplessly from their windows at the violent demonstrations, completely terrified and hoping for the mob to leave.

But they didn’t.

In fact, they came back almost every Saturday for several weeks after that.

One of the largest marches took place on 6 July. The mob arrived as parents were playing with their children in the local playground.

“My sister was on her balcony overlooking the playground and she started to shout: ‘Run back home, they are here again!’. We took the children and started to run. They could not understand, they were crying and asking what was happening,” said Martina, one of the residents.

Once again, they chanted abuse, threw stones at the homes and threatened residents.

Protests eventually stopped in October but residents are still scared as rumours say new demonstrations might take place now that the winter is over.

Angela, who moved to Máj from Slovakia 25 years ago, said life has become almost unbearable in the area, with mothers and children afraid to go out because of the marches. They say discrimination, even from public officials, has increased since the demonstrations.

“After the demonstration I was stressed and afraid. The children were worried. They asked me not to go to work, but it is important for me to have money for my family,” she said.

After the first march, in June, some measures were taken by the police to protect the targeted Roma communities. However, the central government has been slow to unequivocally condemn racist marches taking place in České Budějovice and elsewhere in the Czech Republic. 

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Far right groups are staging anti-Roma protests in up to 13 different Czech towns. One demonstration is planned in the town of Vítkov. Here, in 2009, far-right supporters almost killed a two-year-old girl, Natalka, when they set fire to a house belonging to Roma.

“The government must ensure that these protests do not lead to violence against Roma communities, and that those at risk get the protection they need,” said John Dalhuisen , Europe and Central Asia Programme Director for Amnesty International.

The ERRC has documented nine anti-Roma marches and rallies in the Czech Republic since April 2013, some of them in the same towns.

“The situation is extremely tense in the Czech Republic at the moment, with far right groups rapidly gaining in influence. Many Roma families and activists we talk to fear for their safety, in particular ahead of demonstrations like those planned tomorrow,” said Dezideriu Gergely, Executive Director of the ERRC.

The mother of two-year-old Natalka recently told ERRC: “We are afraid of further attacks. We cannot understand how the government allows them to march in this town, when everybody knows who they are. These marches will fuel more violence against us and we are afraid that more Roma families will be attacked.”

There are between 150,000 and 300,000 Roma in the Czech Republic today, a community that has historically, and continues to be, subject to widespread discrimination, racism and prejudice.

Discrimination affects Roma in all aspects of society, including housing, health care and employment. The last years have seen an upsurge in violent attacks against Roma, with ERRC documenting at least 48 attacks between January 2008 and December 2012.

Recently, the Czech Intelligence Service (BIS) has raised serious concerns about the widespread anti-Roma atmosphere in the Czech Republic, while the Czech Government Human Rights Commissioner has called on 1 August a working group meeting to deal with the situation.

In July this year, the UN Human Rights Committee expressed concerns over the anti-Roma climate in Czech Republic – including discriminatory remarks against Roma made by politicians, in the media and at demonstrations by far-right groups.

“We have seen a deeply worrying trend over the past year with entrenched discrimination against Roma reaching new heights. This is a fundamental issue that the Czech authorities can’t ignore,” said Dalhuisen.

In July, the European Court of Human Rights ruled in respect of vigilante marches through Roma settlements in Hungary, that the right to peaceful assembly can be restricted where it is repeatedly exercised to intimidate local residents.

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