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15 August 2000
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CERD
57th session
15 August 2000
Morning
NGOs Decry Conditions of Roma in Many Countries
The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination started this morning a two-day thematic discussion on racial discrimination against Roma people by hearing representatives of non-governmental organizations decrying the conditions in which the Roma lived in.
In his opening statement, Committee Chairman Michael E. Sherifis said
that the members of the Committee were painfully aware that the Roma or Gypsies, Tsiganes, Yeniches or Chicanes had been for centuries subjected to ill-treatment, rejection, exclusion and discrimination of various forms.
He said that there were examples of Roma children being placed in schools for mentally disabled pupils, depriving them of dignity and opportunities for the future in terms of higher education and employment.
The Commission on Human Rights Special Rapporteur on Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, Maurice Glèlè-Ahanhanzo, said that the Roma people were subjected to discrimination in terms of employment, education and health, and they were the target of police brutality; and they were being more and more marginalised in the societies in which they were living. States should abandon segregating Roma children who were systematically directed to specialized schools because of their parents' background. That practise was in violation of the principles of equal access to education, which was one of the fundamental human rights.
Committee experts Mahmoud Aboul-Nasr and Regis de Gouttes also participated in the discussion.
The following non-governmental organizations contributed statements: Save the Children and Roman Centre for Social Policy (Romania); International Movement against Discrimination and Racism; Save the Children (United Kingdom); Romani CRISS (Romania); Medicins du Monde; Roma-Lom Foundation (Bulgaria); European Roma Rights Centre (Budapest); Greek Helsinki Monitor (Greece); Society for Threatened Peoples (Göttingen); Romani Union - Communauté Mondiale Roma (Croatia); Minority Rights Group International (Hungary); and Central Unified Salvation of Bulgaria.
When the Committee reconvenes at 3 p.m., it will continue its discussion on the subject of discrimination against the Roma people.
Opening Statement by Chairman of Committee
MICHAEL E. SHERIFIS, Chairman of the Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination, said that during the consideration of the periodic reports of several contracting parties, it had emerged that the Roma people were discriminated against in many countries, the legislation and government practices of which were found wanting for the adequate protection of the Roma. The standards of the Convention were not met and in fact many of its provisions were directly and constantly violated.
There were examples of Roma children being placed in schools for mentally disabled pupils, depriving them of dignity and opportunities for the future in terms of higher education and employment, Mr. Sherifis went on to say. There were examples of forced relocation of Roma in certain countries and of the existence of Roma settlements or camps in isolated locations, sometimes close to rubbish deposits or contaminated industrial sites, surrounded by walls or fences and lacking the very basic sanitary facilities.
Mr. Sherifis continued to say that the Committee had also received reports about excessive use of force by the police against Roma, and physical violence by members of racist organizations against them. Also, and this might be the most disconcerting, the Committee knew that discriminatory acts against Roma often went unpunished. The members of the Committee were painfully aware that the Roma or Gypsies, Tsiganes, Yeniches or Chicanes had been for centuries subjected to ill-treatment, rejection, exclusion and discrimination of various forms. But it was distressing to know that at the beginning of the third millennium, the problem was still there.
Statements
A representative of Save the Children and Roman Centre for Social Policy (Romania) said the present condition of Roma children in Romania was a direct consequence of six centuries of slavery. The collective memory still preserved the racial discrimination based on stigmatization, prejudice and negative stereotypes, keeping the Roma people out of history. Not being recognized as a national minority until 1990, the Roma were denied by law the right to express their identity and were forced to neglect, forget and reject their own cultural pattern. The only survival strategies for many Roma were ethnic dissociation, conversion to the hegemonic majority model of reference, or migration. The anti-Roma State policy reached its peak during the Second World War when more than 35,000 Roma were sent to the extermination camps. That tragic event was called in Roma history -- the big fire -- "porajmos", similar to the Jewish Holocaust.
A representative of the International Movement against Discrimination and Racism said that based on the traditional clichés about "travelling Gypsies", Roma and Sinti continued to be classified as alleged "marginal social groups" while Roman and Sinti issues were treated as "social problems". Their situation was reported by the Subcommission on the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights with global declarations and without differentiation of their situations. In Eastern and Western European
countries, the very needy situation of many Roma families came not from their own responsibility and their origin. It depended on the situation in the different countries with their long-term discriminatory policies that the working paper of the Subcommission partly described.
A representative of Save the Children (United Kingdom) said that accommodation was the most important issue facing Travellers in Northern Ireland. Conditions even on the officially serviced sites were a disgrace; perhaps worst of all for an official Traveller site run by a local council was the Middlebank sit in Newry, stationed between the river and a canal; the site was built less than 12 years ago when it was thought to be unfit for any other use, and almost 200 Travellers were thrown together on that small, environmentally unhealthy patch of land. In the last two years, the Council had discovered a new use for the site, as a proposed multi-million pound office and leisure development, and had been forcing families to move into housing estates in Newry in order to demolish and sell the site.
A representative of Roma CRISS-Roma Center for Social Intervention and Studies (Romania) said that with regard to Romania, matters of equal chances between the citizens of the country had been questioned. What was the chance of a Romanian citizen of Roma origin to get a job in order to ensure survival in the society which promoted racism and discrimination against such a disadvantaged people?
A representative of Medicins du Monde said that the health situation of Roma was very alarming. They suffered because the lack of access to health was difficult. In many European countries, Roma associations had been created to deal with health and related matters affecting the Roma. There had been attempts to establish health indicators on infant maternal mortality among the Roma families. Because of the social difficulties faced by this community, members of the Roma had to go into the streets to beg in order to survive. Medicins du Monde had been endeavouring to hold symposiums designed to expose the actual situation of the Roma people and to denounce the discrimination they were facing. Since there was no effective health system for the Roma in the States where they lives, the mortality rate had been on the rise.
A representative of the Roma-Lom Foundation (Bulgaria) said that Roma people were marginalized and their chances to be employed were reduced because of the prejudice toward that segment of the society. Young people under forty were without adequate educational backgrounds and because of that, they were unable to pursue further education. Roma children were also not admitted into normal Bulgarian schools. In matters of health, many of the Roma children were not immunized and several of them had no access to health facilities. For that reason, the life expectancy of the Roma people was less than average.
A representative of the European Roma Rights Centre (Budapest), said that at the highest level of States, a political will was essential to deal with discrimination against Roma. The criminalization of racially motivated violence should be another step in the fight against discrimination against the Roma people. Effective and clearly defined legislative acts should be enacted to contribute to the fight against racism and racial discrimination. In addition, States should take measures of positive discrimination to fight against racial bias. In addition, a dialogue between governments and members of the Roma communities were necessary in order to advance the cause of the Roma people. The functions of Ombudsman should also focus on monitoring racial discrimination against the Roma people.
A representative of the Greek Helsinki Monitor (Greece) said that the few Roma living in the Aspropyrgos-Ano Liosia settlements, near Athens, who were registered in those municipalities had been offered money or better conditions to move away, while the vast majority of the other Roma, who had migrated from the rest of the country, had been summarily, brutally and illegally evicted. All efforts to prevent the evictions or to find alternative sites to house those Roma had failed as local authorities claimed they wanted the land on which Roma were settled to build sports facilities for the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. Would the international community, including the International Olympic Committee, tolerate a cleansed, Roma-free, greater Athens as the host of those games?
A representative of the Society for Threatened Peoples (Göttingen) said that the attacks by Albanian extremists on Roma and Ashkali in Kosovo were the worst ever seen, and in the absence of urgent counter-measures, the systematic collective expulsion of that ethnic group would soon reach its almost final conclusion. For one year now, the Roma, Ashkali and Kosovo Egyptians had endured persecution and expulsion from their homes in Kosovo. Of some 150,000 members of that minority originally living in Kosovo no more than between 10,000 and 20,000 still remained. The rest had been hunted out of the country and approximately 14,000 Roma, Ashkali and Kosovo Egyptian homes had been set on fire while 74 of the 314 villages and communities where those minority groups lived had been completely destroyed.
A representative of Romani Union - Communauté Mondiale Roma (Croatia) asked Governments to be reasonable in their treatment of Roma people, particularly those coming from Eastern and Central Europe to seek political asylum in Western Europe. All those countries which did not respect and abide by the law should reconsider their positions.
A representative of Minority Rights Group International (Hungary) said that despite the existence of laws prohibiting racial discrimination in Hungary, discrimination by municipal and regional authorities continued in many cases. The negative opinion against Roma people was being expressed openly in conversations and semi-official manners. The constitutional prohibition did not hinder individuals from practising discrimination against the Roma people. The vast majority of the Roma lived in extreme poverty and in destitution. In addition, Hungarian Roma were subjected to underdevelopment and marginalization.
A representative of Central Unified Salvation of Bulgaria said that discrimination against Roma in Bulgaria was systematic and such incidents were taking place every day. Administrative and judicial bodies, including the police and the courts, continued to practice discrimination against the Roma people. In addition, the representatives of the State had been taking actions which went against the interest of the Roma people. Complaints lodged by Roma people against police violence rarely arrived at court, and if they did, they were only classified without any follow-up. The Bulgarian authorities were not concentrating on the human rights of Roma people and there was no mechanism to prevent violations against them.
MAURICE GLELE-AHANHNZO, Special Rapporteur on Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, said the issue of the Roma people had to do with his mission to Romania and Bulgaria, where he learned a lot about the Roma. The States where those nationals lived had ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and despite that a large number of complaints of racial discrimination had been received from victims of racial violence. The European Union had been aware of the situation since it started to receive members of the Roma community who sought political asylum in most European countries. In some countries like the Czech Republic, one found a wall constructed by local authorities to separate Roma families from the rest of the inhabitants. His negotiations with the authorities had resulted in bringing down the wall.
Mr. Glèlè-Ahanhanzo said that the Roma people were subjected to discrimination in terms of employment, education and health, and they were the target of police brutality; they were more and more marginalized in the societies where they lived. States should abandon segregating children who were systematically directed to specialized schools because of their parents' background. That measure was in violation of the principles of equal access to education, which was one of the fundamental human rights. The racial discrimination against Roma would only be resolved when States took measures to prohibit racial discrimination in its entirety.
MAHMOUD ABOUL-NASR, Committee expert, said that none of the speakers referred to situations in the rest of the world and the suffering of the Roma nationals. All the representatives who spoke this morning were from Europe and they did not mention the plight of those Roma who lived outside Europe.
REGIS DE GOUTTES, Committee expert, wanted to know about the Roma situation under the Communist regimes and asked about the recent concept of a Roma Nation.
* *** *
57th session
15 August 2000
Morning
NGOs Decry Conditions of Roma in Many Countries
The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination started this morning a two-day thematic discussion on racial discrimination against Roma people by hearing representatives of non-governmental organizations decrying the conditions in which the Roma lived in.
In his opening statement, Committee Chairman Michael E. Sherifis said
that the members of the Committee were painfully aware that the Roma or Gypsies, Tsiganes, Yeniches or Chicanes had been for centuries subjected to ill-treatment, rejection, exclusion and discrimination of various forms.
He said that there were examples of Roma children being placed in schools for mentally disabled pupils, depriving them of dignity and opportunities for the future in terms of higher education and employment.
The Commission on Human Rights Special Rapporteur on Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, Maurice Glèlè-Ahanhanzo, said that the Roma people were subjected to discrimination in terms of employment, education and health, and they were the target of police brutality; and they were being more and more marginalised in the societies in which they were living. States should abandon segregating Roma children who were systematically directed to specialized schools because of their parents' background. That practise was in violation of the principles of equal access to education, which was one of the fundamental human rights.
Committee experts Mahmoud Aboul-Nasr and Regis de Gouttes also participated in the discussion.
The following non-governmental organizations contributed statements: Save the Children and Roman Centre for Social Policy (Romania); International Movement against Discrimination and Racism; Save the Children (United Kingdom); Romani CRISS (Romania); Medicins du Monde; Roma-Lom Foundation (Bulgaria); European Roma Rights Centre (Budapest); Greek Helsinki Monitor (Greece); Society for Threatened Peoples (Göttingen); Romani Union - Communauté Mondiale Roma (Croatia); Minority Rights Group International (Hungary); and Central Unified Salvation of Bulgaria.
When the Committee reconvenes at 3 p.m., it will continue its discussion on the subject of discrimination against the Roma people.
Opening Statement by Chairman of Committee
MICHAEL E. SHERIFIS, Chairman of the Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination, said that during the consideration of the periodic reports of several contracting parties, it had emerged that the Roma people were discriminated against in many countries, the legislation and government practices of which were found wanting for the adequate protection of the Roma. The standards of the Convention were not met and in fact many of its provisions were directly and constantly violated.
There were examples of Roma children being placed in schools for mentally disabled pupils, depriving them of dignity and opportunities for the future in terms of higher education and employment, Mr. Sherifis went on to say. There were examples of forced relocation of Roma in certain countries and of the existence of Roma settlements or camps in isolated locations, sometimes close to rubbish deposits or contaminated industrial sites, surrounded by walls or fences and lacking the very basic sanitary facilities.
Mr. Sherifis continued to say that the Committee had also received reports about excessive use of force by the police against Roma, and physical violence by members of racist organizations against them. Also, and this might be the most disconcerting, the Committee knew that discriminatory acts against Roma often went unpunished. The members of the Committee were painfully aware that the Roma or Gypsies, Tsiganes, Yeniches or Chicanes had been for centuries subjected to ill-treatment, rejection, exclusion and discrimination of various forms. But it was distressing to know that at the beginning of the third millennium, the problem was still there.
Statements
A representative of Save the Children and Roman Centre for Social Policy (Romania) said the present condition of Roma children in Romania was a direct consequence of six centuries of slavery. The collective memory still preserved the racial discrimination based on stigmatization, prejudice and negative stereotypes, keeping the Roma people out of history. Not being recognized as a national minority until 1990, the Roma were denied by law the right to express their identity and were forced to neglect, forget and reject their own cultural pattern. The only survival strategies for many Roma were ethnic dissociation, conversion to the hegemonic majority model of reference, or migration. The anti-Roma State policy reached its peak during the Second World War when more than 35,000 Roma were sent to the extermination camps. That tragic event was called in Roma history -- the big fire -- "porajmos", similar to the Jewish Holocaust.
A representative of the International Movement against Discrimination and Racism said that based on the traditional clichés about "travelling Gypsies", Roma and Sinti continued to be classified as alleged "marginal social groups" while Roman and Sinti issues were treated as "social problems". Their situation was reported by the Subcommission on the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights with global declarations and without differentiation of their situations. In Eastern and Western European
countries, the very needy situation of many Roma families came not from their own responsibility and their origin. It depended on the situation in the different countries with their long-term discriminatory policies that the working paper of the Subcommission partly described.
A representative of Save the Children (United Kingdom) said that accommodation was the most important issue facing Travellers in Northern Ireland. Conditions even on the officially serviced sites were a disgrace; perhaps worst of all for an official Traveller site run by a local council was the Middlebank sit in Newry, stationed between the river and a canal; the site was built less than 12 years ago when it was thought to be unfit for any other use, and almost 200 Travellers were thrown together on that small, environmentally unhealthy patch of land. In the last two years, the Council had discovered a new use for the site, as a proposed multi-million pound office and leisure development, and had been forcing families to move into housing estates in Newry in order to demolish and sell the site.
A representative of Roma CRISS-Roma Center for Social Intervention and Studies (Romania) said that with regard to Romania, matters of equal chances between the citizens of the country had been questioned. What was the chance of a Romanian citizen of Roma origin to get a job in order to ensure survival in the society which promoted racism and discrimination against such a disadvantaged people?
A representative of Medicins du Monde said that the health situation of Roma was very alarming. They suffered because the lack of access to health was difficult. In many European countries, Roma associations had been created to deal with health and related matters affecting the Roma. There had been attempts to establish health indicators on infant maternal mortality among the Roma families. Because of the social difficulties faced by this community, members of the Roma had to go into the streets to beg in order to survive. Medicins du Monde had been endeavouring to hold symposiums designed to expose the actual situation of the Roma people and to denounce the discrimination they were facing. Since there was no effective health system for the Roma in the States where they lives, the mortality rate had been on the rise.
A representative of the Roma-Lom Foundation (Bulgaria) said that Roma people were marginalized and their chances to be employed were reduced because of the prejudice toward that segment of the society. Young people under forty were without adequate educational backgrounds and because of that, they were unable to pursue further education. Roma children were also not admitted into normal Bulgarian schools. In matters of health, many of the Roma children were not immunized and several of them had no access to health facilities. For that reason, the life expectancy of the Roma people was less than average.
A representative of the European Roma Rights Centre (Budapest), said that at the highest level of States, a political will was essential to deal with discrimination against Roma. The criminalization of racially motivated violence should be another step in the fight against discrimination against the Roma people. Effective and clearly defined legislative acts should be enacted to contribute to the fight against racism and racial discrimination. In addition, States should take measures of positive discrimination to fight against racial bias. In addition, a dialogue between governments and members of the Roma communities were necessary in order to advance the cause of the Roma people. The functions of Ombudsman should also focus on monitoring racial discrimination against the Roma people.
A representative of the Greek Helsinki Monitor (Greece) said that the few Roma living in the Aspropyrgos-Ano Liosia settlements, near Athens, who were registered in those municipalities had been offered money or better conditions to move away, while the vast majority of the other Roma, who had migrated from the rest of the country, had been summarily, brutally and illegally evicted. All efforts to prevent the evictions or to find alternative sites to house those Roma had failed as local authorities claimed they wanted the land on which Roma were settled to build sports facilities for the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. Would the international community, including the International Olympic Committee, tolerate a cleansed, Roma-free, greater Athens as the host of those games?
A representative of the Society for Threatened Peoples (Göttingen) said that the attacks by Albanian extremists on Roma and Ashkali in Kosovo were the worst ever seen, and in the absence of urgent counter-measures, the systematic collective expulsion of that ethnic group would soon reach its almost final conclusion. For one year now, the Roma, Ashkali and Kosovo Egyptians had endured persecution and expulsion from their homes in Kosovo. Of some 150,000 members of that minority originally living in Kosovo no more than between 10,000 and 20,000 still remained. The rest had been hunted out of the country and approximately 14,000 Roma, Ashkali and Kosovo Egyptian homes had been set on fire while 74 of the 314 villages and communities where those minority groups lived had been completely destroyed.
A representative of Romani Union - Communauté Mondiale Roma (Croatia) asked Governments to be reasonable in their treatment of Roma people, particularly those coming from Eastern and Central Europe to seek political asylum in Western Europe. All those countries which did not respect and abide by the law should reconsider their positions.
A representative of Minority Rights Group International (Hungary) said that despite the existence of laws prohibiting racial discrimination in Hungary, discrimination by municipal and regional authorities continued in many cases. The negative opinion against Roma people was being expressed openly in conversations and semi-official manners. The constitutional prohibition did not hinder individuals from practising discrimination against the Roma people. The vast majority of the Roma lived in extreme poverty and in destitution. In addition, Hungarian Roma were subjected to underdevelopment and marginalization.
A representative of Central Unified Salvation of Bulgaria said that discrimination against Roma in Bulgaria was systematic and such incidents were taking place every day. Administrative and judicial bodies, including the police and the courts, continued to practice discrimination against the Roma people. In addition, the representatives of the State had been taking actions which went against the interest of the Roma people. Complaints lodged by Roma people against police violence rarely arrived at court, and if they did, they were only classified without any follow-up. The Bulgarian authorities were not concentrating on the human rights of Roma people and there was no mechanism to prevent violations against them.
MAURICE GLELE-AHANHNZO, Special Rapporteur on Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, said the issue of the Roma people had to do with his mission to Romania and Bulgaria, where he learned a lot about the Roma. The States where those nationals lived had ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and despite that a large number of complaints of racial discrimination had been received from victims of racial violence. The European Union had been aware of the situation since it started to receive members of the Roma community who sought political asylum in most European countries. In some countries like the Czech Republic, one found a wall constructed by local authorities to separate Roma families from the rest of the inhabitants. His negotiations with the authorities had resulted in bringing down the wall.
Mr. Glèlè-Ahanhanzo said that the Roma people were subjected to discrimination in terms of employment, education and health, and they were the target of police brutality; they were more and more marginalized in the societies where they lived. States should abandon segregating children who were systematically directed to specialized schools because of their parents' background. That measure was in violation of the principles of equal access to education, which was one of the fundamental human rights. The racial discrimination against Roma would only be resolved when States took measures to prohibit racial discrimination in its entirety.
MAHMOUD ABOUL-NASR, Committee expert, said that none of the speakers referred to situations in the rest of the world and the suffering of the Roma nationals. All the representatives who spoke this morning were from Europe and they did not mention the plight of those Roma who lived outside Europe.
REGIS DE GOUTTES, Committee expert, wanted to know about the Roma situation under the Communist regimes and asked about the recent concept of a Roma Nation.
* *** *