EU Experts Reccomend Directive on Roma Integration - European Union Network of Experts in Fundamental Rights Calls for Roma Integration Directive
1 June 2004
In among the most significant developments in Roma rights to date, the European Union Network of Experts in Fundamental Rights has recommended the adoption of a "Directive specifically aimed at encouraging the integration of Roma". The EU Network of Experts in Fundamental Rights is an august body established by the European Commission at the request of the European Parliament, charged with monitoring fundamental rights in the Member States and in the Union. It is comprised of leading jurists from all of the EU Member States.
In its "Report on the Situation of Fundamental Rights in the European Union for 2003", dated January 2004 but only published last week on May 26, the EU Network has called on the European Union to develop a binding legal instrument for Member States in the area of Roma integration.
In making the case for a Roma Integration Directive, the EU Network of Experts offered the following explanation (detailed footnotes have been removed from the following text, but can been seen, together with the full report, at: http://ec.europa.eu/index_en.htm).
"The concept of universal service [...] should in particular take account of the special situation of communities living in conditions of segregation, isolated from the rest of the community, especially when low income forms an obstacle to the use of paid transport. The case of the Roma presents itself in those terms in several States. With regard to Italy, the Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities thus considered in its Opinion of 14 September 2001, 'For years the Roma have been isolated from the rest of the population by being assembled in camps where living conditions and standards of hygiene are very harsh. Numerous concurring reports suggest that problems of overcrowding persist: in several camps some huts have neither running water nor electricity and proper drainage is often lacking. While some Italian Roma do undeniably continue to lead an itinerant or semi-itinerant life, the fact remains that many of them aspire to live under housing conditions fully comparable to those enjoyed by the rest of the population'. With regard to the problem of school absenteeism of Roma children in that country, the Committee notes, 'The transportation problems facing Roma pupils who live in camps remote from schools, and the precarious financial circumstances of many parents, are also factors of absenteeism which should be addressed'. A concern for the protection of national minorities would have made it possible to take better account of these data when defining the requirement of universal service. This cannot be conceived as an obligation to supply services to all people, without discrimination, on the same 'affordable' terms: it should take into account the special situation of certain groups with specific needs."
The EU Network of Experts report continues: "The most important contribution which the European Community could make to the protection of minorities, within the framework of its existing powers, would be the adoption of a Directive specifically aimed at encouraging the integration of Roma. The Opinions of the Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities leave no doubt as to the inadequacy of Directive 2000/43/EC of 29 June 2000, even though it protects the Roma against all discrimination on the ground of membership of an ethnic group. The urgent need to adopt a specific Directive based on Article 13 EC in order to encourage the integration of the Roma minority not only stems from the grave concerns that have been expressed in the evaluation reports on the situation of this minority in several Member States of the European Union, and not just in the acceding States where the question of integration of the Roma arises with particular acuteness. This urgency also stems from the inappropriateness in several respects of Directive 2000/43/EC, which was not specifically aimed at achieving the integration of groups that are traditionally excluded, such as the Roma. On the one hand, as has already been pointed out, the Directive does not give the Roma the guarantee of having access to reasonable accommodation matching their specific needs. However, the Roma should, for example, be able to have access to employment or obtain services without being prevented from doing so by the fact of them wearing traditional clothing, even there where a justification may be given to support the prohibition of such clothing. What should be justified, however, is the refusal to make an exception to a general prohibition measure, whereas this measure prevents the Roma from preserving an essential element of their identity. The Roma should be able to choose to lead an itinerant or semi-itinerant lifestyle, even there where there are good justifications for country planning legislation which in principle denies them the availability of stopping places for their caravans. Considering that the itinerant lifestyle is part of the Roma identity, nondiscrimination in access to housing as in principle imposed by Directive 2000/43/EC (Article 3 § 1, h)) should be understood as obliging the authorities to provide sufficient stopping places for caravans. The obligation to provide effective accommodation where it is reasonable should be imposed, too, in the sphere of education. The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, for instance, has recommended to the Member States of the Organisation that 'Educational policies for Roma/Gypsy children should be accompanied by adequate resources and the flexible structures necessary to meet the diversity of the Roma/Gypsy population in Europe and which take into account the existence of Roma/Gypsy groups which lead an itinerant or semi-itinerant lifestyle. In this respect, it might be envisaged having recourse to distance education, based on new communication technologies.'"
The EU Network of Experts go on to note: "Similarly, Part IV of the report Breaking the Barriers Romani Women and Access to Public Health Care, published by the Council of Europe in September 2003 but which was the outcome of a collaboration between this organization and the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities, the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), and the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia of the European Union , clearly highlights the mechanisms that would make it possible to take better account of the specific situation of the Roma, and particularly that of Romani women, in the access to health care services. The policy of 'openness' advocated by this report implies that health care workers become more familiar with Roma practices relating to health care and thus are able to make the necessary accommodations for those practices in order to ensure a non-discriminatory access to health care for the Roma."
The EU Network of Experts then note specifically the need for measures aimed at desegregation of education and housing, the need for measures to compensate for past discrimination, and the need for affirmative action measures: "On the other hand, with regard to the necessity of achieving the integration of the Roma, the mere prohibition of direct or indirect discrimination does not suffice. Equal treatment in this case involves taking into account a) the need to achieve desegregation of Roma in the area of housing and in particular of education, whether the situations of segregation that are encountered are the result of deliberate choices made by the public authorities or of personal preferences; b) the need to compensate for past discrimination which resulted in a particularly unfavourable situation for the Roma in social and economic life as a whole, by adopting a policy of affirmative action to integrate the Roma in the community; c) the need to encourage the integration of the Roma minority while respecting the attachment to an itinerant life which some of its members may still have. This calls for a policy that effectively promotes the free choice of members of that minority to either pursue an itinerant or semi-itinerant lifestyle or to adopt a sedentary lifestyle which should be allowed to develop in reasonable conditions. Directive 2000/43/EC of 29 June 2000 does not address the issue of segregation as such, that is to say, there where the separation of groups does not lead to one group being treated less favourably than another. It allows Member States to introduce measures of positive action (Article 5), yet without imposing this, that is to say, without making it an essential element of effective equal treatment. Furthermore, it does not answer the question of knowing how to allow members of a traditionally disadvantaged group to become integrated, without this resulting in a forced assimilation of the members of that group, to the detriment of their right to preserve the constituent elements of their identity. Finally, the scope ratione materiae of Directive 2000/43/EC is too limited for the needs of the Roma. Their exclusion from a number of public services and essential social goods is the result of their precarious administrative situation, their statelessness and, worst of all, the total lack of administrative documents attesting their legal status. These documents are often expensive to obtain for a highly impoverished people. A specific obstacle to their obtaining these documents is also the requirement to furnish proof of a fixed address to which social benefits can be paid, which de facto has the effect of excluding Roma who lead an itinerant or semi-itinerant life. Among the key findings from the important report mentioned above, Breaking the Barriers Romani Women and Access to Public Health Care, is this (p. 12): 'Many Roma lack identity cards, birth certificates and other official documentation of their legal status. Such documents are often required to access public services. Statelessness, and the lack of status within the State of residence, as well as problems with documentation impede access to a range of rights including access to health care. These situations are created by a variety of factors, including information and financial barriers, eligibility criteria that have a disproportionate impact on Roma, and discrimination by local authorities. There is need for greater awareness among authorities of the situation of Roma, and greater flexibility in application of legal status requirements for Roma (as for other discriminated groups) in order that they may enjoy equal access to public services.'"
Finally, the EU Network of Experts notes the fact that EU anti-discrimination law does not, at present cover issues related to access to personal documents, an area of particular focus of ERRC research: "Directive 2000/43/EC does not prohibit discrimination in the issuing of administrative documents. Such documents, however, are often required to access certain social benefits which constitute, particularly for marginalized peoples, an essential aid to integration. This is another reason why a Directive specifically aimed at Roma is indispensable. Article 13 EC forms the appropriate legal basis for such a Directive."
Welcoming the move by the EU Network of Experts, ERRC Executive Director Dimitrina Petrova said, "The recommendation brings Roma rights to a new level. We now look to the European Union institutions to act on these important recommendations."
The full text of "Report on the Situation of Fundamental Rights in the European Union for 2003" is available on the Internet website of the European Commission's Directorate General of Justice and Home Affairs.
