Thematic Reports
The Impact of Legislation and Policies on School Segregation of Romani Children
(Last modified: 2007-04-16 15:30:37)

The ERRC wishes to announce the publication of "The Impact of Legislation and Policies on School Segregation of Romani Children". Segregated education of Roma remains a prevalent feature of the educational systems in Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia. This situation has been repeatedly condemned by human rights bodies supervising state's compliance with international human rights law as well as by public institutions at national level which monitor human and minority rights.

In recent years, inequalities facing Roma in education, including segregated education, have been given attention by governments in Central and Eastern Europe as a result of which a number of policy documents on Roma in general as well as on education, in particular, have been developed.

In 2006, the European Roma Rights Centre undertook to document the state of government actions to desegregate education of Roma. The study presents an overview of legislation and policy measures which are directly aimed at or may have an impact on desegregating education of Roma. We discuss the effectiveness of these policies exploring their scope, sustainability and potential to reverse segregated education. The study also includes a discussion of Roma-specific educational measures seeking to assess their impact on segregated education.
Social Inclusion Through Social Services: The Case of Roma and Travellers
(Last modified: 2007-04-03 13:18:22)

This report contains the results of an impact assessment conducted by the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) and the Portuguese social research centre Númena Centro de Investigaçăo em Cięncias Sociais e Humanas in 2006 on government policy in the area of social services and the social inclusion of Romani and Traveller people in the Czech Republic, France, and Portugal. The research was aimed at exploring, highlighting and evaluating the impact of National Action Plans for Social Inclusion (NAPs) in the aforementioned countries as well as providing a gauge of the effectiveness of the NAPs. The report provides a compelling case for action by all actors in the field of social services in the target countries as well as useful quantitative and qualitative data for the reader’s digestion.
The Glass Box: Exclusion of Roma From Employment
(Last modified: 2007-02-21 16:29:36)



This report presents the results of groundbreaking factual research in five countries, as well as legal and policy research from various contexts. The central finding of the research is that explicit, open and unconcealed racial discrimination against Roma is a fact in hiring procedures in all five of the countries at issue. A stunning 64% of all Roma survey believe that they have personally suffered discrimination on the labour market. Close to half of those persons reported to researchers that they had been explicitly told by prospective employers that the company at issue did not hire Roma. The research further revealed that public labour offices charged with assisting the unemployed in finding work in the main magnified discriminatory hiring policies by undertaking no actions whatsoever to
challenge these.

 View it (Acrobat pdf format)!
Ambulance Not on the Way: The Disgrace of Health Care for Roma in Europe
(Last modified: 2006-11-03 11:29:36)
A Report by the European Roma Rights Centre

Racial discrimination against Roma in health care is manifested in exclusion
from health services and/or in the provision of health services of inferior quality. Racial discrimination against Roma magnifies existing inequities establishing separate and independent barriers for Roma to enjoy the right to the highest attainable standard of health. Roma are often not covered by health insurance. Roma frequently lack one or more personal documents crucial for gaining access to health care, and in some cases may even lack the citizenship of any state. In some cases, access to health care is obstructed by the physical separation of Roma from the mainstream of social and economic life, in segregated communities where public services are restricted or entirely unavailable. In its most egregious forms, racial discrimination in the provision of health care manifests itself as denial of treatment of Romani patients by health care providers and/or in inappropriate and negligent treatment. Reports of segregation of Roma in medical facilities, verbal abuse and degrading treatment reveal a pattern of substandard level of health care provided to Roma. Finally, Roma have been subjected to extreme, race-based violations of fundamental human rights, through practices such as the coercive sterilisation of Romani women.


  • The full text of Ambulance Not on the Way: The Disgrace of Health Care for Roma: View it (Acrobat pdf format)!
    • Stigmata: Segregated Schooling of Roma in Central and Eastern Europe, a survey of patterns of segregated education of Roma in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia.
    (Last modified: 2005-01-17 14:21:38)
    Racial segregation of Roma in education in Central and Eastern Europe has persisted if not worsened, causing irreparable harms to generations of Roma. Roma have been raised with the stigma of inferiority. Numerous Roma have been denied equal education and life opportunities. They have been prevented from enjoying the benefits of studying and living in a multicultural society. Segregated schooling of Roma is a complex phenomenon which has emerged as a result of the interplay of a number of factors such as deep-seated anti-Romani racism, the indifference of the educational systems to cultural diversity, and a lack of effective protections against discrimination and equal opportunity policies. In some places, segregated school facilities for Roma appeared as a result of patterns of residential segregation. Racial segregation has also arisen as a result of the exclusion of Roma by virtue of their specific language and culture. Finally, racial segregation has resulted from the conscious efforts of school and other officials to separate Romani children from non-Romani children for reasons ranging from their personal dislike of Roma to responding to pressure from non-Roma.
      European Commission
    Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the United Kingdom
    Hungarian National Civil Fund (NCA)Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs
    Open Society InstituteThe Sigrid Rausing Trust
    Swedish International Development Agency

    The ERRC was the recepient of the Max van der Stoel Award (2007)
    and the Geuzenpenning Award (The Geuzen medal of honour) (2001).

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