ERRC Press Release: CERD Czech Republic
To: MINELRES list submissions <[email protected]>
Date: Tue, 03 Mar 1998 11:13:29 -0800
From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Subject: ERRC Press Release: CERD Czech Republic
From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Original sender: Claude Cahn <[email protected]>
ERRC Press Release: CERD Czech Republic
March 2, 1997
Press Release: European Roma Rights Center Submits Written
Comments Concerning the Czech Republic to the Committee on the
Elimination of Racial Discrimination
The European Roma Rights Center (ERRC), an international public
interest law organisation, which monitors the situation of Roma in
Europe and provides legal defence in cases of human rights abuse,
this week submitted written comments concerning the Czech Republic
for consideration by the United Nations Committee on the Elimination
of Racial Discrimination (CERD), at its 52nd Session on 6 and 9
March, 1998 in Geneva. CERD, the United Nations organ monitoring
compliance with the International Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Racial Discrimination, considers reports from member states
on a regular basis. The upcoming session marks the first time the
CERD will review developments in the Czech Republic since the
dissolution of the former Czechoslovakia in 1993.
To date, efforts undertaken by the government of the Czech Republic
have been insufficient to ensure the effective implementation of the
Convention's main provisions. A summary of the comments presented
to the CERD Committee by the ERRC follows:
Twenty-nine years after the Convention's entry into force in the
territory of the Czech Republic, discrimination against Roma remains
widespread, and the government has yet to enact legislation or
administrative regulations expressly prohibiting racial discrimination.
Accordingly, notwithstanding the existence of constitutional provisions,
and criminal code sections directed primarily against racist speech
and propaganda, victims of racial discrimination have no effective civil
or criminal remedies available to them for acts of discrimination as
such.
"Clean" criminal record and residency requirements have rendered
the 1993 Czech Citizenship law susceptible to arbitrary and
discriminatory application with respect to Roma. As a result, large
numbers of Roma have been denied access to citizenship, deprived
of voting rights and social benefits, and - for those convicted of crimes
- put at risk of expulsion from the country.
Prominent public officials have continued to disseminate racist hate
speech, suggesting, among other things, that Roma must be
housed in separate areas, preferably, outside the Czech Republic.
The Czech government has failed to ensure Roma and other racial
minorities equal protection of the law. Roma suffer widespread
discrimination in the justice system, and are the victims of an
unchecked wave of violence at the hands of law enforcement
authorities, skinheads, and others. Notwithstanding the routine
practice of denying Roma admission to restaurants, pubs and similar
establishments, the government has yet to secure by law the right
of access on a non-discriminatory basis to public accommodations.
Educational discrimination is particularly egregious, with grossly
disproportionate numbers of Roma children - 15 times more than
the numbers of white children, according to recent statistics -
assigned to dead-end special schools for students branded
"intellectually deficient". Roma experience large-scale discrimination
in employment, and existing legal protections are ineffective.
In view of these deficiencies, the ERRC makes the following
recommendations: the government should adopt and implement
legislation expressly outlawing acts of racial discrimination and
providing for civil criminal and administrative remedies; abolish the
practice of race-based educational segregation; adopt effective
measures to prevent and punish manifestations of racial bias in
the justice system; and intensify efforts to promote racial tolerance,
in part through the conduct of educational and media campaigns to
familiarise the public with the Convention and its standards.
Copies of the submission are available from ERRC upon request.
European Roma Rights Center
P.O.Box 10/24 - 1525 Budapest 114 - Hungary
Phone: + (36 1) 327-98-77
Fax: + (36-1) 138-37-27
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