MINELRES: ERRC Actions: Roma Rights in Poland

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


ERRC ACTIONS ON ROMA RIGHTS IN POLAND
MARCH 7, 2003

Timed for the upcoming review of Poland�s compliance with the
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial
Discrimination during the 62nd Session (March 3-21, 2003) of the United
Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD),
the European Roma Rights Center (ERRC) has organized the following
coordinated actions:

- Today in Warsaw, the ERRC together with the Warsaw-based
non-governmental organisation Polish Association for Legal Education are
launching a Polish-language version of "The Limits of Solidarity: Roma
in
Poland After 1989", a comprehensive report on human rights situation of
Roma in Poland published by the ERRC in English in September 2002;

- March 7-8, 2003, in Warsaw, the ERRC together with the Polish
Association for Legal Education are organizing a legal workshop on human
rights and anti-discrimination litigation, bringing together lawyers,
government officials, members of the judiciary, representatives of human
rights and other non-governmental organisations and other key civil
society figures;

- In the run-up to the CERD review, the ERRC sent "The Limits of
Solidarity: Roma in Poland After 1989", as well as an outline overview
of
the concerns detailed in the report, to the members of CERD for
consideration during the review of Poland�s record on racial
discrimination, March 14-17, 2003;

- On the first day of the CERD review, March 14, 2003, in Geneva,
representatives of the ERRC, as well as of the Warsaw-based
non-governmental organisation Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights will
be holding a joint briefing on Poland's record on racial discrimination
before CERD members.

The ERRC believes that the CERD review offers an opportunity to
highlight some of the most significant respects in which the Polish
Government has failed to fulfil its international human rights
commitments where Roma are concerned. The Government of Poland has thus
far failed to act to guarantee Roma equal rights and to take effective
measures to overcome widespread discrimination against Roma. In
particular, the Polish Government has failed to date to:

- Adopt comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation;
- Combat racial segregation in education and housing;
- Take adequate action against a dramatic outbreak of racially motivated
crime in Poland after 1989.

The report submitted by the ERRC draws the attention of the CERD to
violations of Articles 2, 3, and 5 of the Convention, and highlights the
following concerns relating to the human rights situation of Roma in
Poland:

Racial discrimination against Roma:
Roma in Poland are subject to discrimination in nearly all areas of
public 
life. Polish anti-discrimination provisions are at present grossly 
inadequate. In the absence of anti-discrimination legislation, and in
the 
circumstances in which a culture of prejudice and stereotyping has 
developed deep roots in Polish society, Roma find themselves repeatedly 
blocked from accessing basic rights and social services.

Racial segregation:
The ERRC has documented the segregation of Roma from mainstream Polish 
society in the fields of housing and education. The majority of Roma in 
Poland live segregated from the rest of the population, inhabiting 
sub-standard housing, barracks or shanties located on the outskirts of 
municipalities or in de facto ghettos inside major cities. Moreover,
racist 
pressure from non-Romani neighbors sometimes precludes Roma from moving 
into integrated housing, and/or causes local authorities to threaten to 
evict Roma from areas dominated by non-Roma. In the sectoral field of 
education, the practice of segregating Romani children into so-called
�Roma 
classes�, or into special classes for the developmentally retarded was 
documented in many areas of Poland during the 1990s. Poorly equipped and 
staffed, with curricula that reflect racist stereotypes and prejudices, 
these classes offer substandard education to their students and in
effect 
promote further marginalisation and exclusion for Romani children.

Racially-motivated crime:
The ERRC report documents a disturbing level of racially motivated crime 
against Roma in Poland. Police and other authorities in Poland have
abused 
Roma by engaging in outright violence, unlawful arrests, searches,
seizure 
of property, or harassment. Roma in Poland have also been frequent
targets 
of skinhead attacks, racially motivated violence, and harassment by 
non-Romani persons. Incidents in which groups of non-Romani persons with 
reported neo-Nazi sympathies have attacked Romani persons, communities,
or 
households have been reported with increasing frequency throughout
Poland 
during the late 1990s.

Failure to protect Roma and denial of justice:
Polish authorities have failed to protect Roma and have denied justice
to 
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. Polish authorities
have 
often failed to react to such reports at all, leaving the victims 
unprotected from further violence and unable to seek remedy for crimes 
against them. When investigations into racially motivated crimes have
been 
launched, they have frequently been stalled or discontinued altogether, 
often with the justification that the authorities did not find
sufficient 
evidence to issue arrest warrants, indictments, or judicial sentences.

Violations of economic, social and cultural rights:
The ERRC has identified the discriminatory practice of refusing to
register 
Roma as residents in local administrative units as one of the sources of 
the denial of the rights for Romani people in Poland. Since registration
as 
a resident in a particular locality is often a precondition for access
to 
housing, social aid and other public services, the systematic refusal of 
some local authorities to register Roma as residents effectively bars
Roma 
from the realisation of fundamental social and economic rights.

In the field of housing, Roma in Poland are also denied access to public
housing, security of tenure, and the right to enjoyment of private
property. The ERRC has also documented discriminatory practices in the
allocation of public housing, as well as in the provision of basic
public services to Romani settlements, such as water, sanitation or even
electricity by municipal authorities.

As to employment, many Polish employers refuse to hire Romani
applicants, and state labour offices often treat Roma as responsible
for, rather than as the victims of, discriminatory practices in the
workplace. While the national government recognises that unemployment is
rampant among Roma, there is no official acknowledgement of racial
discrimination as an underlying factor for this state of affairs.

The ERRC has documented violations of the rights of Roma to medical care
and social security. In some instances, health care providers have
refused to treat Romani patients as a result of their ethnic background.
Additionally, persons living in segregated Romani communities in Poland
frequently encounter serious difficulties in accessing adequate and
timely medical care. The ERRC report also documents instances of
discriminatory treatment of Roma in the provision of social welfare
support.

As to education, the efforts of authorities to combat truancy and school
abandonment have been ineffective to date. Additionally, Romani children
in Poland suffer discrimination and abuse from teachers and non-Romani
peers in integrated schools. The ERRC has found that, in such instances,
school authorities often fail to protect the victims of abuse or to
punish those responsible for it.

Finally, public and private providers often refuse to allow Roma access
to goods and services, based on their skin colour and/or ethnic
background. In restaurants, bars, nightclubs, or airports, Roma are
often denied service and asked to leave.

Based on its findings, the ERRC urges Polish authorities to act on the
following recommendations:

1. 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.

2. Carry out thorough and timely investigations into 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.

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

4. Sign and ratify Protocol 12 to the European Convention of Human
Rights without delay.

5. Without delay, sign and ratify the revised Social Charter of the
Council of Europe, and make the declaration accepting the collective
complaints procedure under Article D, paragraph 2 of Part IV of the
revised Charter.

6. Ensure effective remedy for cases of discrimination against Roma in
the field of housing, employment, health care, as well as access to
social welfare payments and to public goods and services.

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

8. Provide security of tenure for residents of Romani communities and
settlements, and protect the inhabitants from forced and arbitrary
evictions, as well as segregationist local practices.

9. 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 �Roma
classes� or into 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.

10. Design pre-school programmes for Romani children to learn the
primary language of schooling and to attain a level ensuring an equal
start in the first class of primary school.

11. Develop and implement catch-up or adult education programmes aimed
at remedying the legacies of substandard education and non-schooling of
Roma.

12. Where instances of abuse in the school system are reported�abuse
including exclusionary practices, physical and verbal assault,
humiliating treatment, and failure by teachers and school administrators
to protect Romani children from peer abuse�without delay, punish school
authorities responsible, and implement measures aimed at preventing
further abuse.

13. Develop curriculum resources for teaching Romani language, culture,
and history in schools, and make them available to all schools, so that
all children in Poland learn of the valuable contributions Roma have
made to Polish society.

14. Provide free legal aid to members of weak groups, including Roma and
the indigent.

15. 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,
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.

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

17. Proactively recruit qualified Roma for professional positions in the
administration, the police force and the judiciary.

The full text of the ERRC submission is available on the Internet at:
http://errc.org/publications/legal/index.shtml.

The ERRC is an international public interest law organisation which
monitors the situation of Roma in Europe and provides legal defence in
cases of human rights abuse. Since its establishment in 1996, the ERRC
has undertaken first-hand field research in more than a dozen countries,
including the Poland, and has disseminated numerous publications, from
book-length studies to advocacy letters and public statements. ERRC
publications about the Poland and other countries, as well as additional
information about the organisation, are available on the Internet at
http://www.errc.org.

_____________________________________________

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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