Brussels, 24th May 2021: The European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) have released a census of forced evictions of Roma in Italy today, covering the period from January 2017 to March 2021. It shows that Italian authorities have carried out at least 187 evictions of living places inhabited by Romani people, affecting 3,156 people who were in most cases made homeless, or otherwise put into unstable housing solutions. The census is a non-exhaustive list of evictions of formal and informal camps, compiled from media, activist, and NGO reports over the past four years. There are very likely more evections, which because of limitations in the methodology and resources, were not recorded in this census.

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.

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.