Saturday, May 16, 2009

'The Roma are the most discriminated ethnic group in Europe'

Class 55 Campaign

Translations: Español

On 17 May 1954, the United States Supreme Court delivered a landmark decision in the case of “Brown v. Board of Education” thus bringing an end to the segregation of black students in the American education system. While America is celebrating the 55th anniversary of the judgment, Central and Eastern European countries segregate their own second class citizens – the Roma. Civil Society organizations repeatedly point at the segregation practices, as well as direct and indirect discrimination of the Roma, however their voices are rarely heard. Class 55 is an advocacy group of Roma and pro-Roma activists making an effort to bring an end to the segregation of Roma at schools.

The Roma are the most discriminated ethnic group in Europe in all spheres of life, including education. Various excuses are used by teachers, directors and education authorities to segregate Roma, instead of simply admitting that schools are mono-cultural, and unable to cope with any kind of difference. Due to their differences, various labels are given to Roma children: “socially disadvantaged”, “of low cultural background”, “lacking socio-cultural capital”, etc, often meaning that the child is not suitable for mainstream education.

In the well known case of “D.H. and others vs. the Czech Republic” the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg confirmed in November 2007 that in the Czech Republic, Roma children were misdiagnosed and sent to special schools for mentally handicapped children. A year and half after the decision, which obliged the Czech Republic as well as other Council of Europe member states to stop and prevent ethnically biased diagnosis’, the placement of Roma children into schools of lower quality education remains in practice. Even though the schools are not called “special” anymore, the majority of pupils still follow the special curriculum, different and at a lower intellectual level the normal curriculum.

“All kinds of excuses are used to segregate Roma children and put them into Roma-only schools or classes in Central and Eastern European countries. This practice is wrong and has absolutely no justification. For example in the United Kingdom the same children, after emigrating with their parents, attend mainstream schools in a language they never spoke before,” says Scott Elliott, Canadian pro-Roma activist from the Roma Rights Network.

Class55.org believes that the 55th anniversary of one victory in human rights is the right time to show the governments of Europe that segregation of Roma is not acceptable in any way, and this practice must end immediately. Anyone can join Class 55 and support the cause by sending a message to the ministers of education, signing the petition and spreading information among their friends and family using whatever technologies they choose. The website will be available in various languages in order to be accessible to anyone interested in supporting the initiative. “It is about the time to show the politicians that it is not bad to speak in favour of Roma. It may not be popular to defend Roma, but it is right! And we want to do the right thing!” encourages Stano Daniel, Slovak Roma activist in support of Class55.org.

Still Separate, Still Unequal


Romani children in Slovakia are being denied the right to a proper education by a system that routinely discriminates against them.


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