Left Out - Violations of the Rights of Roma in Europe

Amnesty International has just come out with a 30 page report on current discrimination that many Romani people are currently facing across Europe. It details the violations in respect to the right to adequate housing, healthcare, education, work and the failure to protect the Roma against discrimination.

Here are some excerpts from the publication:

Numbering between 10 and 12 million people, the Roma are one of Europe’s largest and

most disadvantaged minorities. On almost every indicator of human development, in almost

every country, the Roma fall far below the national average. On average, they have lower

incomes, worse health, poorer housing, lower literacy rates and higher levels of

unemployment than the rest of the population. These are not, simply, the inevitable

consequences of poverty. They are the result of widespread, often systemic, human rights

violations. They are, in particular, the result of prejudice - of centuries of societal,

institutional and individual acts of discrimination, that have pushed the great majority of

Roma to the very margins of society – and which are keeping them there.

Overcoming the chronic exclusion of Europe’s Roma, requires an understanding of the

interconnectedness of all human rights. All too often, the violation of one right can expose

victims to the violation of several others. Thus, millions of Roma, living in isolated slums,

often without access to electricity or running water, are at greater risk of illness, but less able

to access the health care they need. Receiving inferior education in segregated schools, they

are, in turn, severely disadvantaged in the labour market. Unable to find jobs, millions of

Roma cannot access better housing, afford medication, or pay the costs of their children’s

schooling. Socially marginalized, the Roma are also politically excluded. And so the cycle

continues, aggravated all the while by the discrimination that is routinely denying Roma

equal opportunity, equal treatment and the full enjoyment of all their rights.

Governments can and must do something about this. By eliminating discrimination by public

authorities, by implementing effective programmes to promote the social inclusion of

marginalized Roma and combating societal discrimination, governments can break the

vicious cycle of prejudice, poverty and human violations that Roma are all too often trapped

in. The dignity of Europe’s Roma demands it.

 Discrimination within education systems continues to be a significant cause of the

educational underachievement of Roma. In many countries discrimination is not limited to

individual acts of prejudice by teachers and education professionals. It is often deeply

ingrained in education systems, reflecting, in part, broader patterns of societal

discrimination. However, it is also the result of policies and practices that have the effect of

excluding many Roma from accessing quality education.

‘IT IS TOO LATE NOW’ – THE CASE OF JAKUB

Jakub is 16 years old and lives with his family at the Romani settlement on the outskirts of Plavecký Štvrtok, a

village 20km north of Bratislava. His story is the same as thousands of Romani children in Slovakia who have

been unjustly placed in inferior education. Jakub started school in the mainstream class, where he stayed until

grade four. An excellent student, Jakub even received a scholarship for his achievement. But when he reached

the fifth grade, Jakub was sent for assessment following a disagreement with his teacher. His parents were

not informed about the assessment and he was immediately transferred to the special class. His mother was

later told it was a class for “slower pupils”, but she wonders how her son can be ‘slow’ when he received good

grades before.

One of Jakub’s former teachers spoke to Amnesty International: “Some of the children, as I see it, are wrongly

placed. For example, [Jakub] had been placed in [a class for children with mild] mental disability… on the

grounds of hyperactivity... at the Malacky [assessment centre] they are classified by people who, in fact, have

never worked with them. The kid should have been in a normal class. He was a genius.”

Having now finished elementary school, Jakub clearly feels frustrated by the injustice he suffered: “What they

did to me was nasty… They made an idiot out of me. I was getting a scholarship of 100 crowns per month. I

was one of the best pupils in fourth grade. If I could turn the time back, I would do it. But it’s too late now.”

~ Robin Andreae