Brussels, 8 April 2021: Today, on International Romani Day, the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC), Hope and Homes for Children, and Eurochild call on European states to commit to closing down institutions for children, and providing appropriate child and family support services for Romani children who are overrepresented in state care.

Brussels, 24 March 2021: A court in North Macedonia has ordered national authorities to provide education for children at Tetovo Correctional Centre, the majority of which are Roma, from the beginning of the new school year 2021/2022. The Basic Court 2 in Skopje issued a first instance judgment that the denial of education in the Centre amounted to indirect discrimination against the children, both on account of their ethnicity and their status as youth offenders. The case was brought by the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) in its own name, representing all of the children affected. The judgment is not final and may be brought to an appeal.

Brussels, 22 March 2021: Local authorities in Eforie, a city on the Black Sea coast of Romania, have been ordered to provide adequate housing to Roma who were evicted in 2013 from their homes. The authorities must also pay compensation amounting to €20,000 per person for their failure to implement the judgment which was won by the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) in 2016 regarding the illegal eviction.

Brussels, 12 February 2021: The Government of North Macedonia will pay a total of €24,000 to the families of two Romani men who died under suspicious circumstances while in prison in 2017. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) struck out the two cases after a settlement agreement was reached between the family members and the government.

Brussels, 2 February 2021: Today, the ERRC published a report on the situation of Romani children in state care in five countries (Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania & Moldova) which highlights failures to address the overrepresentation of Romani children in state care, as well the lack of any meaningful progress on closing down child institutions for good. The research demonstrates the need for immediate action by Governments and the European Commission, in the context of the new EU Roma Framework 2020-2030, to ensure progress on deinstitutionalisation.

Brussels, 23 November 2020: The European Committee of Social Rights has today found the Czech Republic responsible for large-scale and discriminatory institutionalisation of children with disabilities and Romani children in early childhood care institutions, criticising the failure of the country to adopt and implement an appropriate deinstitutionalisation strategy. In a decision released today, the European Committee found violations of the rights of particularly vulnerable Roma children and children with disabilities under the age of 3, specifically the obligation to ensure appropriate social and economic protection to children, under Article 17 of the 1961 Charter.

Budapest, 9 November 2020: The European Court of Human Rights has ruled in favour of two Romani applicants, represented by the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC), who were brutalised as teenagers by police in Skopje in 2014. The court ruled on account of the lack of an effective investigation by the police regarding the police brutality against the two Roma. However, the court refused to rule on the inhuman and degrading treatment faced by the applicants (article 3 of the Convention) or that the actions of the public prosecutor or police officers were discriminatory (article 14 of the Convention). The government of North Macedonia have been ordered by the Court to pay the Roma, who are now twenty-three and nineteen-years-old, the sum of €7,500 each.