Statement by Amnesty International calls on European governments to end separate and unequal education of Romani children

In a public statement released yesterday by Amnesty International, the organisation called on governments across Europe to end what it calls “unequal and separate“ education of Romani children.

On the 20th October 2010, the Council of Europe High Level meeting on Roma resulted in the “Strasbourg Declaration on Roma“, which calls on member states to “take fully into account the relevant judgements of the European Court of Human Rights…in developing their policies on Roma“.

Despite this recommendation, Romani children continue to suffer discrimination in schools and in their access to education. This discrimination, Amnesty noted, “is deeply ingrained in many educational systems“ and has resulted in policies and practices that have excluded thousands of Romani children from accessing good quality education.

The idea that separate can be equal has long been discredited. Amnesty International’s research indicated that in Slovakia, Romani children were trapped in an educational system that continuoulsy failed them. A 2009 survey revealed that 3 out of every 4 children attending special schools were Roma, yet Roma comprised only 10 percent of Slovakia’s total population. The statement noted that in some schools visited by Amnesty International, “Romani children were literally locked into separate classrooms, corridors or buildings to prevent them from mixing with non-Roma pupils“.

In the week beginning 30th November, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe will be reviewing the progress made by Croatian, Czech and Greek governments to implement separate judgements of the European Court of Human Rights against them, each of which concluded that the government was violating the rights of Romani children to education without discrimination.

On the 13th of November 2007, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights issued a landmark judgement in a case brought by 18 Romani children against the Czech republic. The ruling in the case of D.H and Others v the Czech Republic concluded that placing Romani children in special schools for children with “mild mental disabilities“ on the basis of their ethnic origin violated the governments obligation to ensure the children’s access to education without discrimination. The Court reminded the Czech government of its obligations under the European Convention for Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, and advised to put an end to this practice and redress its effects as far as possible.

A similar judgement was passed against Greece, months after the ruling against the Czech Republic. The Court found that Greek authorities violated the rights of Romani children from the Psari area of Aspropyrgos, Attica, to education without discrimination. The conclusion was reached on account of the authorities failure to provide schooling for applicants’ children in local primary schools and their subsequent placement in an ‘annex’ of prefabricated containers. In the judgement of Sampanis and Others v Greece, the Court further found that the occurence of certain “incidents of racist character“ (from non-Romani parents in the area) had an impact on authorities decision to place Romani children in segregated schools.

The most recent finding of discrimination in education of Romani pupils was in the case of Oršuš and Others v Croatia, issued in March 2010. The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights concluded that the placement in 2002 of 14 Romani children in separate classes purportedly based on their command of the Croatian language amounted to discrimination on the basis of ethnicity. The Grand Chamber concluded that rather than assesing their language skills, the assessement tests which were supposed to determine placement of children in Roma only classes, assessed only their psycho-physical conditions.

In June 2010, the Commissioner of Human Rights of the Concil of Europe said that “de facto segregation“ of Roma pupils persisted in some schools in the country.

The statement continued that “Amnesty International is concerned that desegregation and elimination of separate and unequal education have yet to be placed at the centre of Czech educational policy, and are still not seen as an objective by relevant educational authorities“.

Amnesty International calls on the governments of Europe to end discriminatory practices that result in segregation of Romani children in separate and unequal education. Action must be taken as a matter of priority to ensure the full inclusion of Romani children in mainstream integrated schools.