ERRC v Czech Republic, Collective Complaint 190/2020 (discrimination, children in care)

25 February 2020

Facts

It is well known that Romani children are over-represented in the State care system in the Czech Republic. In other words, Romani children make up a much larger percentage of the population of children in State care institutions and foster care than in the population as a whole. We say this is discrimination. The only way to combat it is to collect data about the ethnicity of children in care. But the Czech authorities will not collect the data. 

So in cooperation with another NGO, the Forum for Human Rights, in early 2020 we lodged a collective complaint with the European Committee of Social Rights. We claim that the Czech Republic's failure to collect this kind of data violates the country's obligations under the European Social Charter.

You can find our complaint here.