“The “practical schools” in the Czech Republic perpetuate segregation of Roma
children, inequality and racism. They should be phased out and replaced by
mainstream schools that need to be properly prepared to host and provide support
to all pupils, irrespective of their ethnic origin. There are certain examples
in the country that show the feasibility of this necessary paradigm shift, which
will require the government’s political will and sustained commitment”, stated
the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Nils Muižnieks, after his
four-day visit to the Czech Republic.
The Commissioner visited an elementary school in Kladno, near Prague, which
has a capacity of 309 pupils but currently hosts only 93 Roma schoolchildren.
“This big school is an example of the ethnically segregated practical schools
for which the Czech state spends more than double the expenditure ofmainstream
schools, while their graduates as a rule end up unemployed and dependent on
state benefits”. Commissioner Muižnieks regretted that five years after the D.H.
judgment by the Strasbourg Court’s Grand Chamber, the violations found therein
have not been redressed. “I urge the Czech government to provide a realistic
budget, concrete timeline and indicators in order to bring to an end the vicious
circle of segregated education that affects Roma children and costs the whole
country so much , both financially and socially. The commitment expressed by the
Ministry of Education to fully execute the D.H. judgment and provide quality
education to Roma is promising and needs to be fully supported”.
Commissioner Muižnieks welcomed the Interior Ministry’s ongoing efforts to
enhance pluralism and participation of members of national minorities, including
Roma, in the Czech police forces. “I was interested to learn that seven more
Roma graduates are expected to earn their degrees next year from the police
academy, and that there is cooperation of the police with a group of Roma
assistants. These are trust-building measures and good practices that reinforce
social cohesion and harmonious inter-ethnic relations, so much needed in a
country where incidents of racist violence and intolerance are far from uncommon”.
The Commissioner was also pleased to note that the Czech Republic will soon
accede to the Additional Protocol to the Council of Europe Convention on
Cybercrime concerning the criminalisation of acts of racist and xenophobic
nature committed through computer systems.
During his visit Commissioner Muižnieks also visited the psychiatric hospital
of Bohnice, the largest such institution in the country accommodating some1 300
patients, and held discussions with experts on the human rights of persons with
intellectual and psycho-social disabilities. “The judgments delivered by the
Strasbourg Court in the cases of Ťupa and Bureš in 2011 and 2012, as well as my
discussions with experts, make clear the need to overhaul and transform
psychiatric care in the Czech Republic. Promoting de-institutionalisation, fully
protecting persons with disabilities from involuntary hospitalisation through
effective judicial review, and preventing and eliminating ill-treatment of
persons deprived of their liberty are priority tasks”.
The Commissioner noted that each year in the Czech Republic around 2 000
persons are stripped of their legal capacity. “New legislation that will enter
into force in 2014 appears to be a step in the right direction, providing for
abolition of full deprivation of legal capacity and the review by courts of
around 22 000 such cases. However, this is a herculean challenge that requires
sustained efforts to properly train and inform all legal and other professionals
who will be called upon to apply the new law and give effect to the standards
contained in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, a key
human rights treaty that binds the Czech Republic. In this context, the
government needs to consult and make full use of the valuable expertise of
specialist national non-governmental organisations”.
The Commissioner’s report on this visit is forthcoming.
Read earlier reports on the Czech Republic
here
