ERRC: UN Committee Reviews Czech Republic

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From: MINELRES moderator <minelres@mailbox.riga.lv>

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

Subject: ERRC: UN Committee Reviews Czech Republic


United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
Reviews Czech Republic

Today and tomorrow, April 30 and May 1, 2002, the United Nations
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights is reviewing the
Czech Republic's compliance with the International Covenant on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. To assist the Committee with its
review, on April 12, 2002, the European Roma Rights Center (ERRC) sent
written comments on the situation of Roma in the Czech Republic. On
the occasion of the review, ERRC Executive Director Dimitrina Petrova
said, "Where Roma are concerned, we have observed with alarm the
steady erosion of any progress made previously in the Czech Republic
in the area of social and economic rights. Particularly in the areas
of housing and education, racial segregation is clearly increasing."

The full text of the ERRC written submission is available on the
Internet at: http://errc.org/publications/indices/czechrepublic.shtml.
A summary of the ERRC's written comments follows:

In the Czech Republic, Roma continue to face racial discrimination in
nearly all aspects of their economic and social rights. To date, there
has been a lack of political will to bring about effective change.
Most noticeable is the absence of adequate legislative measures to
combat racial discrimination, making it difficult for victims of
racial discrimination to secure remedy and compensation when their
rights have been violated.

Roma in the Czech Republic face an unemployment rate at least seven
times the national average. In addition to discrimination and
segregation in the education system, which severely limit future
employment opportunities, Roma suffer from ingrained discrimination on
the job market, particularly in hiring practices. While laws have been
introduced which make legal remedies a potential option, existing
legal remedies available are insufficient to address the problem at
hand. Legal amendments to the Czech labour code have failed to define
the kind of conduct that amounts to racial discrimination or to
provide effective sanctions for its breach. Additionally, it is at the
discretion of national authorities to initiate legal proceedings.

Many Roma who were citizens of the Czechoslovak Federal Republic were
denied Czech citizenship under the 1992 Czech Act on Citizenship, even
though their family and other ties were to the Czech Republic.
Amendments to the law in 1999 have resolved most of the issues
relating to those who had permanent residence in the Czech Republic or
had been continuously present since 1992. However, some persons denied
Czech citizenship under the 1992 Act but legitimately deserving Czech
citizenship under international norms may still be excluded from
access to Czech citizenship now. Additionally, many Roma denied
citizenship under the 1992 law have spent the better part of a decade
forced - through legal measures - into social and economic exclusion
in their own country. The Government has adopted no measures to remedy
or to compensate for that exclusion.

Roma continue to face systematic discrimination of their right to
adequate housing. Many Roma face forced eviction, particularly as
tenants' rights are eroded as a result of recent legal amendments.
Roma are increasingly subjected to residential segregation,
particularly by being housed in extremely substandard accommodations
called "holobyty".

The state of health of Roma in the Czech Republic falls far below that
of the average Czech citizen. Life expectancy is over 10 years lower
and infant mortality rates are distinctly higher for the Romani
population. Discrimination in the health care system remains an
obstacle to higher standards of health, as do the deplorable housing
conditions in which many Roma live.

Roma suffer racial segregation in the Czech school system. A
particularly debilitating form of this segregation is the practice of
placing Romani children in so-called "special schools" or "special
classes" for the mentally handicapped. During research in the eastern
Czech city of Ostrava, the ERRC found that Romani children in Ostrava
outnumbered non-Roma in special schools by a proportion of more than
twenty-seven to one. Although Roma represented fewer than 5% of all
primary school-age students in Ostrava, they constituted over 50% of
the "special school" population. Nationwide, as the Czech Government
itself conceded, approximately 75% of Romani children attend "special
schools", and during the 1998/1999 school year, more than half of all
special school students were Romani. This massive over-representation
of Romani children in schools for the mentally handicapped embodies
the triple harm of racial segregation, substandard education and the
stigma of mental handicap. There is no indication that the situation
has changed substantively in the intervening three years since the
ERRC conducted intensive research into the situation of Roma in the
educational system in the Czech Republic. Despite repeated
pronouncements by the Czech authorities that far-reaching changes to
the school system are planned, to date the Czech school system remains
segregated.

_____________________________________________

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

_____________________________________________

SUPPORT THE ERRC!

The European Roma Rights Center is dependent upon the generosity of
individual donors for its continued existence. If you believe the ERRC
performs a service valuable to the public, please join in enabling its
future with a contribution. Gifts of all sizes are welcome; bank
transfers are preferred. Please send your contribution to:

European Roma Rights Center
Budapest Bank Rt.
99P00402686
1054 Budapest
Bathory utca 1
Hungary

For correspondence, to subscribe and unsubscribe from this list,
please use
office@errc.org.

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