European Roma Rights Centre and six Czech Romani Plaintiffs Win Landmark Racial Discrimination Case against UK Government

10 December 2004

House of Lords
Hearing: 25 October 2004 1 November 2004
Judgment: 9 December 2004

Today the House of Lords decided that the UK Government had discriminated on racial grounds against Czech citizens of Romani origin in preventing them from travelling to the UK in order to stop them from claiming asylum upon arrival. The practice was described by the Lords as "inherently and systematically discriminatory" against Roma. The decision itself is certainly the most important one ever in terms of condemning racial discrimination in the area of UK border regulation.

Commentating on the ruling, Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty, and Dimitrina Petrova, executive director of the European Roma Rights Centre, said:

'This ruling exposes the racism at the heart of the Government's asylum policy. The message was absolutely clear: 'Roma not welcome in UK'.'

The decision has international implications as the House of Lords decided that the practice was unlawful not only under UK's domestic race discrimination law, but also under international conventions, including the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, as well as customary international law. Significantly, the decision also highlights that states in general do not enjoy unfettered discretion in terms their border policies, legislation and/or practices.

Facts:

In 2001 the Czech Republic agreed that the UK could station immigration officers at Prague Airport to screen all passengers travelling to the UK. The aim was to detect people who wanted to claim asylum in the UK and prevent them from travelling. The overwhelming number of passengers who were refused permission to enter the UK under this operation were Roma, regardless of whether or not an individual Czech citizen of Romani origin actually intended to claim asylum in the UK. Statistics showed that Roma were 400 times more likely to be refused entry to the UK than non-Roma. Liberty represented six Czech Roma individuals, one of whom wanted to travel to the UK for a family visit, and the European Roma Rights Centre, an international public interest law organization engaged in strategic litigation across Europe.

The High Court had decided that the practice did not discriminate against Roma. The Court of Appeal decided that the practice almost inevitably discriminated against Roma, but that that discrimination was effectively justified because Roma were more likely than non-Roma to seek asylum.

For additional details regarding this case, please contact Branimir Plese,
ERRC Legal Director (e-mail: , phone:+361 413 2200)