MINELRES: ERRC Publication Announcement: Report on Roma in Poland

[European Roma Rights Center]

September 16, 2002
Announcement of Publication
ERRC Country Report:
The Limits of Solidarity: Roma in Poland After 1989

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, announces
publication of the Country Report The Limits of Solidarity: Roma in
Poland After 1989.

Intensive field missions conducted by ERRC staff and partner
organisations, as well as regular reporting by ERRC monitors, revealed
that the human rights of Roma are frequently violated in Poland, where
national and local authorities offer little protection from violence and
discrimination and often block victims� access to effective remedies.
The government has thus far failed to act to guarantee Roma equal rights
and to take effective measures to overcome the exclusion of Roma from
Polish society.

On the occasion of publication of The Limits of Solidarity, ERRC
Executive Director Dimitrina Petrova said, "We have long been concerned
that the prevalent discourse about race issues in Poland has downplayed
the extent of Roma rights abuses in Poland. Our publication aims to set
the record straight."

The report details ERRC concerns in Poland, including:

- Racially motivated violence: Roma in Poland have been frequent targets
of skinhead attacks, racially motivated violence and harassment by
non-Romani persons. Reporting such violence and harassment to the
authorities frequently led to further attacks and threats against the
Romani victims. As a result, many Roma live in a climate of fear that
pervades all aspects of their lives, from their interaction with
authorities to their ability to access public spaces and services and to
participate fully in the lives of the communities in which they live.

- Failure to protect Roma and denial of justice for Romani victims of
racially motivated crimes: The Polish police and judiciary have been
slow to react to reports of crimes against Roma and to acknowledge the
racial motivation of such crimes. When investigations into racially
motivated crimes were launched, they were frequently stalled or
discontinued altogether, often with the justification that the
authorities did not find sufficient evidence to issue arrest warrants,
indictments or judicial sentences � even in cases in which the alleged
perpetrators had been identified by victims and/or witnesses.

- Police abuse: Police and other authorities in Poland have frequently
abused members of the Romani communities by engaging in outright
violence, unlawful arrests, searches, seizure of property, harassment or
biased investigation. When reporting racially motivated crimes to the
police, victims sometimes find themselves charged with crimes they did
not commit. Another disturbing pattern of police abuse documented by the
ERRC consists of abusive raids upon informal settlements of Romanian
Roma in Poland. These often resulted in group deportations, separation
of children from their parents and arbitrary seizures of property. The
perpetrators of police abuse are rarely investigated and even more
rarely punished for their deeds.

- Racial discrimination in the fields of housing; access to medical
care; access to employment; access to social welfare payments; access to
goods and services; and access to education: Direct and indirect
discrimination pervades all aspects of the relationship between the
non-Romani majority and the Romani minority in Poland. Polish
anti-discrimination provisions are at present grossly inadequate. In the
absence of such legislation, and in the circumstances in which a culture
of prejudice, stereotyping and disenfranchisement has developed deep
roots in Polish society, Roma find themselves constantly blocked from
accessing basic rights and social services.

The ERRC has established that local authorities systematically refuse to
register Roma as residents in local administrative units and thus
effectively bar Roma from the realisation of fundamental social and
economic rights. Moreover, Roma appear to be the only group in Poland
subjected to this discriminatory practice.

The proportionally small number of Roma in Poland�at least in comparison
with other Central and Eastern European countries�has been used by
Polish authorities to downplay the problems that Romani communities face
and to deny the persistent and pervasive nature of anti-Romani sentiment
among the majority population. Moreover, throughout the 1990s, Polish
authorities have systematically failed to respond to a wave of
anti-Romani crime, as well as to ingrained patterns of racial
discrimination. Roma in Poland are consequently correct to presume that
they cannot rely on the state to shield them from abuse or to provide
justice when their fundamental rights have been violated. Roma are also
correct in claiming that they are in effect excluded from Polish society
as a whole. Measures to date to remedy the human rights situation of
Roma in Poland have been inadequate, where such measures have been taken
at all.

The ERRC report The Limits of Solidarity: Roma in Poland After 1989
concludes with 17 recommendations to the Polish government, including:

- Promptly bring those responsible for racially motivated crimes against
Roma to justice, and ensure that when racial animosity motivates or
otherwise influences a crime, it receives due judicial recognition.

- Carry out thorough and timely investigations in all alleged instances
of police abuse of Roma, including violence, unlawful searches and
seizure of property, malicious investigation of violence against Roma,
harassment and failure to investigate racially motivated crimes and/or
protect potential victims of violent attacks.

- Bring Polish law into conformity with the requirements of the Council
Directive 2000/43/EC, �implementing the principle of equality between
persons, irrespective of racial or ethnic origin�. Ensure that the
implementing body mandated by the Directive is strong, fully independent
and adequately staffed and funded.

- Undertake effective measures to ensure that local authorities register
all persons actually residing in a given municipality, without regard to
race.

- Implement a comprehensive school desegregation plan, such that all
Romani children may fully realise the right to education. Without delay,
end the practice of segregating Romani children into so-called �Gypsy
classes� or classes for mentally disabled students. Integrate all Romani
students into mainstream classes and, where necessary, design and
implement adequately funded and staffed programmes aimed at easing the
transition from segregated to integrated schooling.

- At the highest level, speak out against the problem of anti-Romani
sentiment and racially motivated crimes against Roma; at all levels,
acknowledge and speak out against racism, racially motivated crime and
patterns and practices of discrimination and segregation. Address the
root problem of anti-Romani racism in Poland by developing and
implementing anti-racism curriculums for schools and campaigns for the
media, so as to address widespread negative attitudes against Roma and
racism generally.

- Conduct comprehensive human rights and anti-racism training for the
national and local administration, members of the police force and of
the judiciary.

Copies of the report are available by contacting the offices of the
ERRC.

The full text of the report is also available on the Internet website of
the ERRC, at: http://errc.org/publications/reports/index.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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