EUROPEAN ROMA RIGHTS CENTER

1386 Budapest 62, P.O. Box 906/93, Hungary
		Phone: (36-1) 413-2200; Fax: (36-1) 413-2201
E-mail: office@errc.org; 
       http://errc.org

Executive Summary

European Roma Rights Center Country Report 

State of Impunity: Human Rights Abuse of Roma in Romania

In the latest census in Romania, conducted in January 1992, 409,111 people out of a total population of approximately 23 million identified themselves as Roma. It is widely acknowledged, however, that this figure is inaccurate and a gross underestimate; unofficial estimates of the actual figure of Roma in Romania range between 1.8-2.5 million. If these are accurate, Roma constitute the largest minority in Romania and Romania has the most Roma of any country in Europe. 

In the period following the violent end of the Ceauşescu regime in 1989, the human rights situation of Roma in Romania received extensive attention in human rights reports as well as in popular culture. The main engine for such attention was a wave of anti-Romani pogroms taking place primarily in the period 1990-1993. Due to the large Romani population in Romania and the extremity of the situation of Roma there, the European Roma Rights Center (ERRC) has made Romania a priority country since beginning activity in 1996. 

ERRC monitoring of Roma rights in Romania has established that Romani victims have been overwhelmingly denied the right to justice and compensation for crimes committed against them, including crimes committed during the savage pogroms in the early 1990s. Intensive field missions conducted in May 2000 and January 2001, as well as regular reporting by ERRC local monitors in Romania, reveal that:

1. When Roma rights violations occur, non-prosecution of perpetrators is the norm. Cases are frequently denied justice for the following reasons: 
•	authorities do not open criminal investigations when Roma fall victim of human rights abuse;
•	police conduct inadequate and purely formal investigations lacking even rudimentary substance;
•	prosecutors intervene to cancel investigations or bring non-indictment decisions; 
•	authorities retaliate against Roma who file complaints by pressing charges against them. 

Immunity from prosecution is nearly guaranteed when the suspected culprits are police officers. Where the Romanian judicial system has been slow, biased, and handed down unsatisfactory rulings in instances of violence against Roma by non-state actors, police violence against Roma is remedied only in the absolutely exceptional case. In the overwhelming majority of cases in which allegations of police abuse are made, Romanian investigation and prosecution authorities have ignored their obligation to ensure the right of Roma to an effective remedy. Prosecutors commonly refuse to open criminal investigation into allegations of police abuse against Roma. Where criminal proceedings against police officers have been initiated, investigation procedures are often extensively delayed and/or the cases have been closed with no indictment decisions. Magnified by frequent occurrence at every step of the criminal justice system, subtly or intensely biased decisions produce an overall effect of denial of justice where Roma are victims and police officers the alleged perpetrators. 

2. As a result of a climate of impunity, violence against Roma continues to be reported with worrying frequency and intensity. The majority of serious abuses reported concern incidents involving police officers. Reported police abuse of Roma includes: 

•	abusive police raids targeting Romani communities;
•	torture and ill-treatment of Roma in police custody; 
•	racist intimidation and harassment of Romani victims of police abuse; 
•	instances of unwarranted use of firearms causing injury and sometimes death. 

ERRC monitoring of police attitudes towards Roma in Romania suggests that racial prejudice on the part of law enforcement authorities is a determining factor in the abusive treatment of Roma by the police. Police violence against Roma in Romania persists in an environment in which racist stereotyping of Roma is rampant. The relationship between Roma and the police in Romania is burdened from the outset by the widely held belief that Roma are criminals. Police abuse proceeds from a basic suspicion of guilt of the Roma by police officers, as well as an overall tendency to use force as a component of criminal investigations. Judicial authorities tacitly endorse such practices by lending undue weight to confessions in criminal cases, as well as by their inactivity in prosecuting officers for reported physical abuse of suspects. The status of the police as an organ of the military, and its concomitant position within the jurisdiction of military courts, also contributes to its insulation from accountability.

3. The climate of impunity pervading the Romanian criminal justice system is not hermetically sealed from the rest of Romanian society. Impunity -- an unwritten covenant that actions pertaining to Roma are not governed by the same rules as those for non-Roma -- extends to nearly all spheres of social life in Romania. Little effective work has been undertaken to date by Romanian authorities on issues such as:

•	Abuse of political rights of Roma in Romania: As a result of not having valid identification papers, many Roma are denied the right to vote and therefore the right to effective participation in a democratic society. In addition, violations of Romani voting rights and manipulation of Roma during elections have been reported in both local elections in May and June 2000, and national elections in November 2000. 

•	Child homelessness: The presence of Romani children living in the streets is visible, and figures available from non-governmental organisations indicate overrepresentation of Romani children in this group in comparison with the percentage of Roma in the total population of Romania. According to reports, many – though not all – street children in Romania live in the open, without sanitation, suffer from malnutrition and lack of medical care, and are often exposed to drug abuse and violence.

•	Child Institutionalisation: The Romanian government has not published any statistics on the ethnicity of children taken into state care. Non-governmental organisations' and intergovernmental organisations' estimates of the percentage of Roma among children in state care range between 20 and 90 percent. Even the low estimate is striking, given that Roma comprise probably only 5-8% of the total population of Romania. One particularly noteworthy aspect of allegations of overrepresentation of Romani children in children's homes in Romania is that they take place in an atmosphere of popular myth to the contrary; it is widely believed by non-Roma in Romania that Roma have many children in order to receive more social benefits and that this interest precludes them from consenting to the institutionalisation of their children. 

•	Denial of the right to education: ERRC research indicates that the majority of Romani children in Romania are significantly hindered in their ability to claim the right to a substantive and meaningful education. In Romania, although by law the right to education is guaranteed, education is practice inaccessible for many Romani children. Romani children in Romania are often excluded from school. Where Romani children are in school, they frequently attend racially segregated classes or schools. In some cases they are segregated in schools for mentally handicapped children. Where Romani children attend regular schools, incidents of physical abuse and humiliating treatment by both the school staff and the non-Romani children are common.

4. Racial Discrimination against Roma occurs with alarming frequency in Romania. Areas of particular concern include:

•	Discrimination in the field of housing, notably:

•	Local authorities in Romania have recently announced plans to segregate Roma. 
•	Romanian authorities regularly engage in forced evictions of Roma. 
•	Many Roma live under threat of eviction. 
•	Some flat-owners refuse to rent or sell housing facilities to Roma. 
•	Although many non-Romani settlements, especially non-Romani settlements in rural areas, lack basic infrastructure, Romani settlements in Romania are often characterised by a lack of basic utilities such as electricity and running water, and the degree of deprivation is extreme. 

•	Discrimination in access to medical care, including:
•	Roma have on numerous occasions been denied access to medical facilities on racist grounds.
•	Additionally, as many Romani communities live in isolated villages or on the outskirts of the cities, in areas with neither public transport nor readily available telephone, their access to health services is severely impeded.

•	Discrimination in employment, including: 
•	Roma are frequently explicitly excluded as potential applicants in job announcements.
•	Even where discrimination is not explicit, racial animus plays a significant role in the failure of Roma to secure gainful employment.
•	Those Roma who are employed have, during the course of ERRC research, frequently reported abusive treatment in the work place.
•	Many Roma who practice traditional Romani crafts, such as smithing, face numerous obstacles in receiving the necessary certificates in order to render their practices legal.

•	Discrimination in access to goods and services, most notably that in numerous places throughout Romania, Roma are banned from access to, or refused service in shops, restaurants, discotheques, and other public places.

•	The present inadequacy of Romania's legal provisions in the area of anti-discrimination. In particular, the Ordinance on Preventing and Punishing All Forms of Discrimination (Ordinance No 137/2000), adopted by decree by the government in August 2000, although important in remedying the dearth of domestic legal provisions available to combat discrimination, does not conform to the requirements of the Council of the European Union Directive 2000/43/EC, “implementing the principle of equal treatment between persons irrespective of racial or ethnic origin” (the “Race Equality Directive”), a component of the acquis communautaire -- the body of law which candidate states such as Romania must adopt during the process of accession to the European Union. Most notably:
•	The Ordinance does not include an explicit ban on indirect discrimination. 
•	The Ordinance does not provide for a reversal of the burden of proof in civil cases once a prima facie case of discrimination has been established.
•	More than nine months following the adoption of the Ordinance, the body provided for within the law to oversee the effective implementation of its provisions has yet to be established. The deadline set by the government for the creation of the “National Council for the Prevention of Discrimination” was May 24, 2001, and as yet there is little indication of when this body will come into existence. As this report went to press, a draft governmental decision on the form of the National Council reportedly existed but had not been published. 
•	In addition, the Romanian government has signed but not yet ratified Protocol 12 to the European Convention on Human Rights, which provides a comprehensive ban on discrimination in the exercise of any rights protected by law, nor made the declaration under Article 14 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), accepting the competence of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination to receive communications from individuals or groups alleging violation of the Convention. 

***

Publication of State of Impunity: Human Rights Abuse of Roma in Romania is timed to coincide with an ad hoc meeting on Roma issues of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), held in Bucharest September 10-13, 2001. At the 1999 Istanbul Summit, the OSCE Heads of State declared that: “We deplore violence and other manifestations of racism and discrimination against minorities, including Roma and Sinti. We commit ourselves to ensure that laws and policies fully respect the rights of Roma and Sinti and, where necessary, to promote anti-discrimination legislation to this effect.” In addition, in the Charter for European Security adopted at the same Istanbul Summit the OSCE participating States declared: “We recognize the particular difficulties faced by Roma and Sinti and the need to undertake effective measures in order to achieve full equality of opportunity, consistent with OSCE commitments, for persons belonging to Roma and Sinti. We will enforce our efforts to ensure that Roma and Sinti are able to play a full and equal part in our societies, and to eradicate discrimination against them.” In the 1992 Helsinki Document the CSCE participating States “express[ed] their concern over recent and flagrant manifestations of intolerance, discrimination, aggressive nationalism, xenophobia, anti-semitism and racism” and “reaffirm[ed], in this context, the need to develop appropriate programmes addressing problems of their respective nationals belonging to Roma and other groups traditionally identified as Gypsies and to create conditions for them to have equal opportunities to participate fully in the life of society, and will consider how to co-operate to this end.”

Romania presently aspires to the status of Member State of the European Union. Inclusion in this organisation requires strict adherence to the highest human rights standards, including but not limited to rights set down in the European Convention on Human Rights. Romania must protect, in law and in practice, the rights set down in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and must use all appropriate means to achieve progressively the full realisation of the rights recognised in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights without discrimination of any kind, taking particular care to ensure that no person suffers the serious harm of racial discrimination.   

In January 2001, Romania took up the chair of the OSCE. In light of its record to date on Roma rights, concrete and determined action in the area of improving the human rights situation of Roma in Romania could send a positive message that Romania is engaged to begin a new era in its treatment of Roma. The OSCE chair additionally provides the opportunity for Romania to prove that, despite its economic difficulties, it is intent on taking a leading role in Roma rights issues in the OSCE area. A proactive anti-discrimination programme must be affirmed explicitly in public, worked out in detail as policy, and implemented in practice. The next period will indicate which direction Romania has chosen: engaged government action aimed at remedying the human rights situation of Roma in Romania, or a continued state of impunity, in which Roma rights are violated as a matter of course. 

The full text of State of Impunity: Human Rights Abuse of Roma in Romania is available on the internet at: http://www.errc.org/publications/reports/index.shtml. ERRC recommendations to the Romanian government follow:

1.	Take public stands against violence and discrimination against Roma, and condemn any instances of human rights abuse; ensure that all parties responsible for abuse are brought swiftly to justice.

2.	Conduct adequate investigation into the pogroms carried out against Roma in 1990-1993 and bring all those responsible, including officials who may have acted in complicity with the civilian mobs, to justice.

3.	Carry out prompt, thorough and impartial investigation into all allegations of police abuse of Roma; conclude criminal investigation against members of Romanian police within a reasonable length of time and bring all those responsible for human rights abuse of Roma to justice; award damages to Romani victims when property has been damaged or destroyed. Set up an independent commission for reviewing complaints about police misconduct. Conduct human rights training and sensitivity training of police officers as a measure to prevent racist treatment of Roma.

4.	Ensure that Romani victims of police violence are adequately protected against ill-treatment or harassment as a consequence of their complaints. 

5.	Halt arbitrary use of firearms against Roma and abusive police raids on Romani neighbourhoods. 

6.	Bring legislation into conformity with international standards for the use of lethal force by law enforcement officials set down in the UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials.

7.	Guarantee that Romani detainees have access to legal counsel from the moment of their detention and throughout the preliminary investigation. For those who cannot afford legal counsel, provide such assistance free of charge, as required by Article 6(3) of the ECHR. 

8.	Implement measures to ensure that all Romani children have access to adequate schooling.

9.	Act without delay to end racial segregation of Romani children in schools; sanction effectively all instances of abuse of Romani children by school authorities and non-Romani children.

10.	Introduce programmes in both primary and secondary school in order to counter racism in the classroom.

11.	Allocate sufficient resources to government agencies and non-governmental organisations working to overcome the exclusion of Romani children from adequate schooling.

12.	Ensure that Romani children attend kindergarten to improve their chances of full integration into mainstream schooling. 

13.	Provide Romani children of poor families with the services necessary for their integration in the mainstream schools.

14.	Initiate measures to ensure that Roma are provided with identity documents and legal residence permits.

15.	Apply affirmative measures in securing employment for Roma at all levels of the administration, police force and judiciary.

16.	Launch public education programmes aimed at reducing widespread negative attitudes against Roma, and racism generally. Allocate sufficient human and financial resources to the National Office on Roma and guarantee that it is adequately equipped to perform its duties.

17.	Bring the Ordinance on Preventing and Punishing All Forms of Discrimination into conformity with the requirements of the Directive 2000/43/EC, “implementing the principle of equal treatment between persons irrespective of racial or ethnic origin,” adopted by the Council of the European Union on June 29, 2000 ("European Union Race Equality Directive"), in particular by amending the Ordinance to provide explicit recognition that indirect discrimination is illegal, as well as by adopting provisions to shift the burden of proof to the respondent in prima facie cases. Ensure that parliament speedily ratifies the Ordinance.

18.	Establish the National Council for the Prevention of Discrimination without delay, ensuring that: (i) the body is vested with the necessary powers to enable it to investigate effectively and to sanction adequately discriminatory treatment, through measures including but not limited to imposing punitive fines on discriminators and awarding adequate compensatory damages to victims; (ii) it is sufficiently independent and includes adequate representation by all minority groups subjected to discrimination in Romania, especially Roma. Allocate sufficient human and financial resources to the National Council for the Prevention of Discrimination and guarantee that it is adequately equipped to perform its duties.

19.	Ensure that the National Council is by no means the only body charged with hearing and ruling complaints of discrimination, and that the Ordinance is enforceable by the courts. Provide appropriate guidance to administrators to ensure that Romania complies with its international obligations in combating all forms of racial discrimination. Guarantee that any and all procedures ultimately enacted are accessible, not overly bureaucratic, and do not require victims of discrimination to apply at multiple instances to receive adequate just remedy. 

20.	Make the declaration under Article 14 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, accepting the competence of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination to receive communications from individuals or groups alleging violation of the Convention.

21.	Without delay, ratify Protocol 12 to the European Convention on Human Rights.

The ERRC report is published simultaneously in English and Romanian. 

***

Persons wishing to receive copies of the ERRC report in English or Romanian are urged to contact the ERRC at: 

European Roma Rights Center
1386 Budapest 62
P.O. Box 906/93
Hungary

Phone: +36 1 4132200
Fax:   +36 1 4132201
E-mail: office@errc.org

The ERRC requests donations of 20 USD or 25 euros per report, to be made by bank transfer to:

European Roma Rights Center
Budapest Bank Rt.
99P00402686
1054 Budapest
Bathory utca 1
Hungary

Simply making a bank transfer will not activate a request for reports. Please notify the ERRC office upon making such a bank transfer, including total number of copies of the report desired, as well as total sum transferred.

Summary in Romani

E Europako centro vaš e rromane čačimata si internacionalno čačipaski institucia savi kerel monitoring pala e situacia e rromengi ande Europa thaj lengi legalno protekcia. Kava centro del  raporto pala e situacia e rromengi ande Rumunia.  

Ande relacia pala majpaluno Rumuniako cenzuso, savo si kerdino  ando Januari 1992-to berš, 409,111 manuša katar e sasti rumuniaki populacia (ande Rumunia trail dži kaj 23 milionura manuša) phende kaj si Rroma. Kadava oficielno numbri ande savo phenelpe sode Rroma train ande Rumunia naj precizno; Na-oficielne analize phenen kaj ande akanutni vrama ande Rumunia train maškar 1.5 dži kaj 2.5 milionura Rroma. E Rroma ande Rumunia si majbaro minoriteto thaj majbut Rroma train ande kava them. Kadi bari diferencia maškar o čačutno numbri rromane manušengo save train ande Rumunia thaj maškar o oficielno numbri ande savo phenelpe sode Rroma train ande Rumunia sikavel amen kaj ande kava them si bari anti-diskriminacia kontra e Rroma. Kadi diskriminacia tradel e rromen te avel len dar thaj te či troman te phenen kaj si Rroma.

Diskriminacia kontra e Rroma sas butivar kerdini ande Rumuniaki themeski historia. Ande angluni vrama e Rromen ande Rumunia naj sas čačimata sar averen pal ande dujto themesko maripen von sesa tradine katar o Ion Antonescu savo sasa šerutno ande Rumuniako governo, majpalal kana avile e komunistura von sesa tradine te train po agor  rumuniake amalipasko. Kana e Rumuniake manuša kerde revolucia kontra o Nikolae Čaušesku thaj kontra lesko režimo ando decembri 1989-to berš e Rumuniake manuša lije te keren majbari diskriminacia kontra e Rroma. Duj berš majpalal kana nakhli e revolucia  kava bi-hatjaripe kontra e Rroma anda sar rezultato te či nakhel ni jekh čhon bi varesavi tortura kontra e Rroma.E rromane gava sesa dukhadine, e rromane khera sesa phabardine, pala-dadeske barvalipena sesa litjhardine, e manuša sesa tradine andar pire khera thaj varesave či džangle te irinpe palpale gothe kaj traisarde.     

Adjes či-patjavipe thaj či- kamipe kontra e Rroma si but buvljardo ande Rumuniako amalipen. Na dumutani  anketa  savi kerda e agencia  pala o rodipen thaj inter-etnikani ralacia  ando foro Cluj-Napoca sikada kaj 38.8 procentura katar e Rumunikae manuša save si anketirime thaj 40.7 procentura ungrikane manuša save train ande Rumunia či denas šaipen e Rromen te train ende Rumunia. Na dumutani anketa savi si kerdini katar o žurnalo  Agence France-Presse sikada kaj trin katar štar manuša save si anketirime či kamenas e rromen te aven lenge perutne. Rasno diskriminacia si akanutno rromano problemo ande Rumunia.

E policiaki tortura pala o dukhavipen e rromengo džal kade dur thaj varekana e policajcura vazden e jagale pe Rroma vi kana godo či trubun. Sar rezultato e Rroma si dukhadine katar e policajcura pal varekana vi mudardine. Varekana e policajcura korkore-vojako džan ande thana kaj train e Rroma thaj keren bilačhimata. E Europako centro vaš e rromane čačimata kerda monitoring te dikhel sarsavi si e relacia maškar e policajcura thaj e Rroma thaj majpalal phangla kaj e Rumuniako zakono si problemo thaj del e policajcuren šaipen te keren bilačhmata kontra e Rroma. E Rumuniako governo phenel kaj si baro kriminalo maškar e Rroma thaj godolese e piolicia kerel kadale intervencie kontra e Rroma. Varesave dukhavimata save e policajcura kerde kontra e Rroma naj si raportirime/phendine godolese kaj e Rromen si dar e policajcurendar, thaj pe dujto rig varesave Rroma či patjan kaj lenge rovipaske lila ka krisinpe korektno.

Bare dukhavimata save si kerdine kontra e Rroma sesa svakodjivesutno problemo ande Rumunia ande 1990-to berš, baxtasa kadi violencia naj majbut akana bari sar sas. Numaj violencia/zor e gadžengi kontra e Rroma vi majdur kerelpe pal varekana e gadže kadi violencia/zor keren korkore vojako.Kana si e Rroma dukhadine vol kana vareko dukhavel len e šerutne insitucie či keren lačhe akcije tha či došaren vol roden e manuša save kerde došalipen. E Europako centro vaš e rromane čačimata phangla kaj e dukhadine Rromen naj sas šaipen te keren kompenzacia pala o kriminali kaj sas kerdino kontra lende ande 1990-to berš. Varesave rromane krisimata sesa vazdine po internacionalno nivo sar e rromengo tradipen ando foro Hădăreni, varesave jurisdikane aktivitetura si kerdine numaj na vi agorime.

E Europako centro vaš e rromane čačimata kerel vi aver butja ande relacia pala e Rroma:

Šaipen e rromengo te alosaren e politikake reprezentantura
Baro numbri rromane čhavrenge save si pe ulica
Rasizmo kontra e rromane čhavre kana šuvenpe/thonpe ande specialne institucie te vareko aver lel sama pe lende
Rasizmo kontra e Rroma ande Rumuniako edukaciako sistemo, či-kamipen e gadžengo te thon e rromane čhavren ande škole rasno segregacia rromane čhavrenge ande rumuniake škole, rasizmo kontra e rromane čhavre ande rumuniake škole
Rasizmo ande relacia te e Rromen avel adekvatne khera
Rasizmo kontra e Rroma ande medicinake institucie
Diskriminacia kontra e Rroma te si len čačipen te butjaren
Diskriminacia kontra e Rroma te si len sar averen tretmano kana džan ande varesave oficielne insitucie.                

Po agor kadale raportosko si but rekomendacia pala e Rumuniako governmento, sar te shukarel situacia e Rromengi ande Rumunia.