البيان الافتتاحي الذي أدلت به السيدة فلافيا بانسيري، نائبة المفوض السامي لحقوق الإنسان، في الاجتماع الجانبي بشأن "الاستراتيجيات والسياسات الفعالة للنهوض بحقوق أفراد الروما في جميع أنحاء العالم"

Side-event at the 27th session of the UN Human Rights Council

12 September 2014
Palais des Nations XXI

Your Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a pleasure to address you on the occasion of this side event, which has been organized by the Delegation of the European Union to Geneva, to discuss the important question of how best to advance the human rights of persons belonging to the Roma minority.

I would like to congratulate the EU, because over the years, its Fundamental Rights Agency has developed an excellent body of research regarding minorities. In particular, the ground-breaking EU-MIDIS minorities and discrimination survey of 2009 was the first to map the actual experience of minorities with discrimination. For many people around Europe, these studies have been an eye-opener – particularly with respect to the extensive discrimination suffered by the Roma – and they make it clear how urgent it is to roll back this discrimination and advance their human rights.

[EU policies and international human rights mechanisms]

Commendable efforts have been made by EU institutions to create a dynamic of Roma inclusion in EU Member States. Non-discrimination legislation has been adopted at the European level , so that it can then be transposed into national legislation and overseen by a network of Equality Bodies.

Several important policy documents have also been adopted at EU level since the first EU Roma Summit of 2008. And there has been useful deployment of powerful EU financial instruments, such as the Structural Funds and the Instrument for Pre-Accession.

However, I cannot help noting with regret that the issue of Roma inclusion is being addressed by EU institutions – and most EU member states – in a way which is largely self-referential, in the sense that it does not take into account the wealth of guidance that emanates from the international human rights mechanisms and which could – I would argue should – be employed more often as a source for policy development.

For instance, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, or CERD, has paid consistent attention to the rights of Roma. A key element of its General Recommendation XXVII s is the recommendation “to develop and implement policies aimed at avoiding segregation of Roma communities in housing” . This, in my view, is a recommendation worth emphasizing, because in many EU Member States, Roma remain effectively segregated in urban or rural neighbourhoods or even shantytowns, and this may be the result of deliberate policies, particularly on local level.

In its concluding observations addressed to a number of States, including EU Member States, CERD has highlighted many forms of human rights violations that Roma continue to face, including forced evictions, police violence, deliberate segregation in housing and education, discrimination in the labour market, hate speech and extremist attacks. Regarding Travellers, CERD has noted the difficulties they face in exercising a number of rights, including freedom of movement and the right to vote. These are all eminently actionable observations.

Other Committees, such as the Committee on the Rights of the Child, and Special Rapporteurs on Racism, Minorities, Housing and other important issues, have also addressed recommendations to EU Member States. Many of these recommendations have not yet been acted upon, and remain valid today.

[The SG’s Guidance Note on Racial Discrimination and Minorities]

Last year, the Secretary-General’s Guidance Note on Racial Discrimination and Protection of Minorities emphasised the need to focus on those minorities who are politically, economically and/or socially most marginalized, and whose rights are therefore most at risk. This is precisely the case of the Roma and related people – Sinti, Kale, Ashkali and Travellers. There is widespread prejudice against them in many States, and in particular, anti-Roma stereotypes are still widely disseminated in the media, to a degree that would most likely be condemned if used against other ethnic groups. This harmful and unjustifiable prejudice is sometimes shared by politicians and other duty bearers, and the needs of these often vulnerable minorities are therefore unremarked or neglected.

Before we can overcome this prejudice, it will be important to acknowledge its existence. One characteristic of discrimination and prejudice is denial – the reassuring cliché that Roma have the same rights and opportunities as everyone else, so that that any failure to progress on their part is essentially, in some ill-defined way, their fault. In reality, for Roma growing up in urban or rural ghettos – often in dramatic poverty, with sub-standard and sometimes segregated education and facing widespread discrimination – opportunities for advancement are often extremely restricted.

Only once we acknowledge that they face specific obstacles can we then make a vigorous, concerted and effective effort to eliminate those barriers – an effort that must involve national, regional and local authorities as well as the media and the Roma themselves.

This effort is not a question of charity but a vital and burning question of human rights. The marginalization of the Roma is a human tragedy. It is simply unacceptable that Roma children, who form about half of this young population, have such poor chances of attaining a decent education, so few opportunities to develop talents and skills, and such small probability of self-expression in valuable and secure employment. It is deeply tragic that these children will so often, in effect, face a choice between ill-paid jobs, begging, or crime.

[Inclusive, evidence-based, projects]

I am heartened by the knowledge that throughout the EU there are decision-makers who agree that duty-bearers must make much more vigorous efforts to reverse this tragic situation. I urge them to consider fully involving in such efforts both non-governmental and intergovernmental organizations, and also, more importantly, the Roma rights-bearers concerned. They must be co-authors of each policy intervention, not merely its passive objects, and this holds true for programmes and policies within EU Member States or in its candidate countries. As rights-holders, the Roma must assist in the design, implementation and evaluation of all projects that are intended to benefit their own communities.

Too many top-down projects do not adequately consult the Roma communities whose situation they aimed to address, and achieve problematic results. But there have also been success stories, both local and national, which demonstrate that if projects involving Roma are inclusive, culturally sensitive and results-oriented, they can generate real progress – with improved enjoyment of human rights by the Roma, and more harmonious coexistence between communities. The Secretary General’s Guidance Note on Racial Discrimination and Protection of Minorities urges States to “pursue evidence-based actions and policies”, and the evidence in this regard is thus very clear.

I am confident that as Member States follow the principle of evidence-based policies, and work with the recommendations of the international human rights mechanisms, they will see rapid advancement in the enjoyment of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of the Roma. And by harnessing the skills and talents of all individuals, and expanding participation in key decision-making arenas throughout society, this progress will benefit not only the Roma themselves, but the entire population.

I look forward to a fruitful discussion.

Thank you.