MINELRES: ERRC: UN Race Discrimination Body Reviews Hungary

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Original sender: European Roma Rights Center <errc@errc.org>


ERRC Submits Written Comments Concerning Hungary's Roma Rights Record to
the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
August 15, 2002

Today, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial
Discrimination reviews Hungary�s compliance with the International
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
(ICERD). In the run-up to today�s meeting, the European Roma Rights
Center (ERRC) submitted written comments to the Committee for
considerations during its review. Today in Geneva, representatives of
the ERRC, as well as the Budapest-based non-governmental organisations
Hungarian Helsinki Committee and Roma Press Center are holding a joint
briefing on Hungary's record on discrimination before Committee members
in Geneva.

The ERRC submission documents patterns of systematic racial
discrimination against Roma in Hungary, as well as the failure of
national and local authorities to protect Roma from violence and
discrimination and to offer Romani victims of human rights abuse access
to effective remedies. Discrimination pervades all aspects of life for
Roma in Hungary, most egregiously in the fields of education, housing,
and access to public services.

On the occasion of the review, ERRC Executive Director Dimitrina Petrova
said, "The UN CERD review could not be more timely. The international
organ charged with assessing race discrimination issues will have the
unique opportunity to set the agenda on Roma rights for Hungary's new
government."

ERRC concerns as they relate to specific articles of the ICERD and as
described in its written submission to the CERD, follow in summary:

As to Article 2, according to documentation by the ERRC and that of
other non-governmental organisations, Roma suffer widespread
discrimination in virtually all spheres of public life. Legal
prohibitions and other legal and administrative measures against racial
discrimination and racially-motivated violence have to date been
ineffective in prohibiting and bringing to an end racial discrimination.

As to Article 3, the Government has failed "to prevent, prohibit and
eradicate all practices of [racial segregation and apartheid]." A system
of racially-segregated education in Hungary effectively denies equal
education to Roma. Romani children are over-represented in schools or
classes for the mentally disabled. Where Romani children are educated in
the mainstream school system, they are frequently placed in so-called
"catch-up classes" - separate classes originally designed as a temporary
measure but which in effect function as a permanent form of racially
segregated education - or in so-called "private student" arrangements,
through which Romani children are effectively forced out of school
altogether. Racial segregation of Roma is also widely reported in other
areas, such as housing.

As to Article 4, public officials in Hungary have engaged in racist
speech against Roma, promoting racial hatred and/or inciting to
discrimination, hostility or violence. These acts as a rule remain
unpunished and frequently pass entirely without comment by authorities.

As to Article 5, Roma are frequently victims of racially motivated
violence committed by law-enforcement officials as well as by non-state
actors. In addition, Roma suffer racial discrimination with respect to
the realisation of a broad range of rights to which all persons are
entitled. Most egregiously and systematically, Roma suffer
discrimination in the exercise inter alia of the right to equal
treatment before the law, the right to adequate housing, the right to
education, and the right to access to public accommodations and
services.

As to Article 6, the Government does not ensure in practice that Roma in
Hungary have access to effective protection and remedies against racial
discrimination. The current remedies available to victims of racial
discrimination are inadequate or ineffective and are not sufficient to
act as a deterrent.

In its submission, the ERRC recommends that Government undertake the
following measures:

- Investigate promptly and impartially incidents of violence against
Roma and prosecute perpetrators of such crimes to the fullest extent of
the law, whether the perpetrators are law enforcement officers or
private parties; make public guidelines to law-enforcement and judicial
authorities on identifying racially-motivated crime; publish detailed
statistics, at minimum yearly and in a format readily understandable to
a lay person, on the number of racially-motivated crimes occurring and
prosecuted;

- Adopt a comprehensive body of legislation prohibiting discrimination
in all fields of public life and providing civil, criminal and
administrative remedies for breach thereof;

- Without delay, ratify Protocol No. 12 to the European Convention on
Human Rights;

- Establish an enforcement body empowered both legally and through the
provision of adequate resources to secure full compliance with the
country�s international obligations and domestic legal provisions
pertaining to racial discrimination;

- Adopt effective measures to prevent, identify and, where occurring,
punish manifestations of racial bias in the judicial system;

- Abolish the practice of race-based segregation of Romani children in
special schools, special classes, including remedial "catch-up" or
"supporting" classes, and other forms of racial segregation in the
school system;

- Conduct systematic monitoring of access of Roma and other minorities
to education, housing, employment, health care and social services, and
establish a mechanism for collecting and publishing data in these
fields;

- At the highest levels, speak out against racial discrimination against
Roma and others, and make clear that racism will not be tolerated.

The full text of the ERRC submission is available by contacting the
offices of the ERRC. Further information on the situation of Roma in
Hungary is available on the Internet at:
http://errc.org/publications/indices/hungary.shtml.

_____________________________________________

The European Roma Rights Center is an international public interest law
organisation which monitors the rights of Roma and provides legal
defence in cases of human rights abuse. For more information about the
European Roma Rights Center, visit the ERRC on the web at
http://www.errc.org.

European Roma Rights Center
1386 Budapest 62
P.O. Box 906/93
Hungary

Phone: +36 1 4132200
Fax:   +36 1 4132201

_____________________________________________

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