Budapest, Skopje 5 April 2018: The families of four Roma who died unexpectedly in Macedonian prisons are suing the Directorate for Execution of Sanctions (DES), as well as the Ministry of Health, for discrimination in their access to healthcare and protection, resulting in the deaths of their family members. The European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) will represent them, and have filed a collective civil complaint before the Basic Court of Skopje II on the 29th March 2018.

Bratislava, Budapest, 22 March 2018: The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Nils Muižnieks, was the main guest at a roundtable organised by the Office of the Slovak Plenipotentiary for Romani Communities, the Office of the Commissioner for People with Disabilities, the European Roma Rights Centre, Validity, and the Forum for Human Rights. The event was also attended by the incoming Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatović. The focus of the roundtable was to agree on firm commitments towards inclusive education for all children in Slovakia. 

Skopje, Budapest 15 February 2018: Yesterday, a 13-year-old Romani girl, R.I, had to undergo an abortion after becoming pregnant from sexual abuse she faced while in the care of Skopje’s “25 May” state care institution. The European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) is calling on responsible authorities to act immediately and provide this girl with appropriate medical care to ensure her psychological and physical health and safety, as well as return her to her Romani family, from whom she was forcibly taken away in 2012 because of poverty.

Paris, Budapest 6 February 2018: In the last year 11,309 Romani people were evicted from their homes in France, the majority of which (8,161) were forcefully evicted by authorities. A further 2,055 left their homes before the arrival of authorities, under pressure of an imminent eviction.

Budapest, Skopje 18 January 2018: On 25th December 2017 a 39-year-old Romani man, Bekim Demir, died of a reported drug overdose in Idrizovo Prison, days before he was set to be released. The ERRC is taking his case to court as part of a collective complaint involving the deaths of three other Romani inmates, against the Directorate for Execution of Sanctions, within the Ministry of Justice. He is the eighth and final inmate to die in KPU Idrizovo in 2017, and the fourth Romani person to have died in Macedonian prisons in no fewer than 9 months.

Budapest, Bratislava 17 January 2018: The European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) is taking the Slovak Ministry of Interior to court over discriminatory policing relating to Roma. The ERRC has been collecting evidence of discriminatory practices carried out against Roma in recent years by police, including ethnic profiling and Roma-targeted police raids, to build a legal case against the Ministry.

The ERRC maintains a record of every public announcement we have made to the press. These provide information on human rights violations and ERRC legal actions, research and publications, submissions to international and national human rights bodies, other advocacy actions and human rights education outcomes. The press releases are listed by year and in reverse chronological order; click on the title to read the full version.