Violations of Roma Rights in the Russian Federation
13 November 2004
October, 2004
Statement prepared by the European Roma Rights Center and the International Helsinki Federation on the occasion of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Human Dimension Implementation Meeting, October 2004, Warsaw.
The Statement summarises the main conclusions of ERRC monitoring in Russia and makes recommendations to the Russian government to improve the human rights situation of Roma in Russia. Issues documented in the course of ongoing ERRC research in Russia include:
- Torture and Ill Treatment of Roma by Law Enforcement Officials
- Arbitrary Police Raids on Romani Settlements
- Abduction and Extortion of Money by the Police
- Racial Profiling by Police and Other Officials
- Discrimination against Roma in the Criminal Justice System
- Denial of Fair Trial in Cases in which Roma are Accused of Crimes
- Denial of Access to Justice
- Hate Speech against Roma in Russian Media
- Lack of Personal Documents
- Obstructed Access to Social and Economic Rights
- Blocked Access to Education
- Denial of Access to Adequate Housing
The magnitude of the abuse is only comparable to that of the perpetrators' impunity. Violence by state officials, paramilitary and nationalist-extremist groups, and discriminatory treatment of Roma in the exercise of their civil, social and economic rights are aggravated by the complete absence of governmental action to address these problems.
The full text of the Statement on the occasion of the OSCE Human Dimension Implementation meeting is available:
