MINELRES: ERRC: Landmark discrimination lawsuit in Bulgaria

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


Landmark lawsuit filed with a Bulgarian court alleges racial
discrimination in the provision of electricity to a Romani neighborhood
in Sofia

- 18 February 2004 -

With the assistance of the European Roma Rights Center (ERRC), the 
Bulgarian Helsinki Committee (BHC) and the Romani Baht Foundation (RBF) 
have today filed a landmark lawsuit against the Sofia state-owned
electric company concerning a discriminatory denial of electricity to
bill-paying Romani consumers.

On 9 January 2004, a breakdown in the power grid in the segregated
Romani neighborhood of "Fakulteta", Sofia, discontinued the power supply
to more than 100 Romani households. The provider refused to repair the
network contending that many of the affected consumers had unpaid debts
to the company. Along with the debtors, however, more than 30 Romani
households with no outstanding debts, have also been denied restoration
of their power supply.

In court, BHC and RBF, with the assistance of the ERRC, will argue that
the company's refusal to restore the power supply constitutes a
collective sanction imposed on debtors as well as non-debtors, that such
a sanction is discriminatory because it is imposed on residents of a
Romani neighborhood, and that the power supply in non-Romani
neighborhoods is never denied to bill-paying consumers on account of
their neighbors' unpaid debts.

Discrimination, as described above, is in breach of numerous
international standards such as those contained in the United Nations
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and
the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. It is also in
breach of the Bulgarian anti-discrimination act. Adopted in September
2003, this act prohibits discrimination by public as well as private
parties in all fields of public life including the provision of
services. It provides for a special legal remedy against discrimination
and also grants human rights groups standing to file lawsuits on their
own behalf, in the absence of individual plaintiffs, in situations where
"the rights of many parties are breached". The law also importantly
forces alleged discriminators to prove that illegal acts have not taken
place, relieving victims of a major obstacle in obtaining justice.

The ERRC, BHC and RBF are public interest law organizations with long
and successful track records of fighting for Roma rights before both
domestic and international courts. This is the first time that these
human rights groups will be doing so in their own right before a
domestic court and on the basis of the relevant European Union
anti-discrimination standards contained in the new Bulgarian
anti-discrimination act.

On the occasion of the filing of the lawsuit, ERRC Executive Director,
Dimitrina Petrova, said: "The time has come for Bulgarian courts to act
to combat racial discrimination. Events such as the deprivation of
electricity to hundreds of people in the dead of winter, based on the
fact that they are Romani, must finally become a thing of the past."

For additional details regarding the above lawsuit, please contact 
Branimir Plese, ERRC Legal Director. 
(Email: branko@errc.org, Phone:+361 413 2200)
_____________________________________________

The European Roma Rights Center is an international public interest law
organization which monitors the rights of Roma and provides legal
defense 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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