Statement of the European Roma Rights Center 

Prepared on the occasion of the Thematic Discussion on Roma 

Organised by the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination at its 57th Session, Geneva, August 15-16, 2000

	Thank you. My name is Veronika Leila Szente and I am the Advocacy Director of the European Roma Rights Center, an international non-governmental organisation which monitors the situation of Roma throughout Europe and provides legal defence in cases of abuse.

	Let me begin by stating that ERRC welcomes the Committee’s initiative in convening this thematic discussion which appropriately highlights the grave human rights conditions that afflict Roma throughout much of Europe today. 

	We hope that this session will provide the opportunity not only for increasing awareness about the problems that Roma face, but also for the Committee to make recommendations for specific actions that Governments can now take to improve the situation of Roma. 

	I am going to use my time to present a list of ten such specific recommendations for your consideration, in the hope that you will find them useful when preparing the concluding document following today’s and tomorrow’s discussion.

	1. Involvement - In designing, implementing and evaluating policies to combat and prevent discrimination, Governments must involve representative groups of Roma at all stages.

	2. Political will - The foundation for any successful anti-discrimination policy is political will at the highest levels of Government. Absent moral leadership in the fight against discrimination, all other steps risk being mere window dressing. Senior Governmental officials must frequently and publicly acknowledge that racism against Roma is a grave and pervasive problem which afflicts, not Roma, but majority society. Governments and the public at large must first acknowledge the extent of racism in order to combat it.

	3. Legislation - Although European constitutions uniformly prohibit discrimination and guarantee equality, many Governments have yet to follow through on these constitutional promises by enacting implementing legislation specifically prohibiting racial discrimination. This is so, even though a number of countries have criminalised incitement to, and acts of, racially-motivated violence. Governments which have not yet done so should enact comprehensive legislation specifically prohibiting non-violent discrimination – and providing civil and criminal remedies therefor – in all spheres of public life, including but not limited to education, employment, housing, health care, social services, and access to citizenship and public accommodations.

	4. Enforcement - Governments must do more to ensure consistent and adequate enforcement of existing legal standards in the field of discrimination.
		a) On the one hand, Governments must effectively discipline public officers – including police, prosecutors and other investigative authorities – who fail adequately to enforce discriminatory norms.
		b) On the other hand, Governments must arrange for training of public officers – including police, prosecutors and judges – to educate them in binding international law prohibiting racial discrimination, and its applicability in domestic fora. In short, law enforcement officers must be aware that racial discrimination is against the law, and that it is their duty to enforce that prohibition.

	5. Positive Action - International law authorises and in some cases mandates affirmative action by Governments to ensure equality in fact, as well as in law, for those groups including Roma who have historically suffered systematic discrimination. Among the most important measures which Governments can take in this regard are the active recruitment, identification and capacitation of Roma into the ranks of public employment, including the police, prosecutorial corps and the judiciary.

	6. Specialised bodies - Governments must establish specialised official bodies with specific responsibility to act in the field of racial discrimination. In a number of countries, Ombudsmen have been established to address these questions, and in some instances, Ombudsmen have played a useful role in highlighting and focus public scrutiny upon abuses. But this is not enough. Governments must establish state organs with the legal power to investigate and prosecute acts of discrimination.

	7. Race Statistics - Governments can hardly comply with international obligations to eradicate racial discrimination absent data showing the racial impact of policies in the fields of, inter alia, employment, housing, education, and criminal justice. Governmental efforts to combat racial discrimination should therefore be based on reliable statistical data and other quantitative information reflecting as accurately as possible the situation of Roma and other minorities in society. Such information should be collected in compliance with human rights principles, and protected against abuse for purposes other than reversing racial discrimination and improving the overall situation of the Roma.

	8. Dialogue - Governments should pursue and intensify programmes to facilitate dialogue and understanding between groups of Roma and various public officials, including the police, prosecutors and the judiciary.

	9. Anti-racism and human rights education - Governments should intensify efforts at popular education about the extent of anti-Roma racism, about the contributions of Romani culture and history, and about the binding nature of international and domestic prohibitions on racism and discrimination.

	10. International commitments - Governments must demonstrate their commitment to combat racism and discrimination by making full use of existing international instruments, in particular: 
a) Article 14 of the Convention: All Governments which have not done so should declare, pursuant to Article 14 of the Convention, that they accept the competence of the Committee to consider communications from individuals and groups concerning violations of the Convention; 
b) European Union Race Directive: Governments throughout Europe should expeditiously bring their legislation and practice into conformity with the Council Directive implementing the principle of equal treatment between persons irrespective of racial or ethnic origin, adopted by the Council on June 29, 2000, and; 
c) Protocol No. 12 to the ECHR: All Council of Europe Member States should proceed with a speedy ratification of Protocol No. 12 to the European Convention on Human Rights, broadening the scope of Article 14 on non-discrimination, adopted by the Committee of Ministers on June 26, 2000.

Those are ten concrete recommendations for Government action which we urge this Committee to adopt as part of the concluding document following this session.

Thank you.