British officials continue policy of stopping Roma at Czech airport; Czech Roma and ERRC sue U.K. government
07 November 2001
The ERRC and several Czech Roma have filed a law suit against the British government because of a policy of discriminatory checks at the Prague airport aimed at preventing Roma - who may be refugees - from reaching the United Kingdom. The ERRC first received word that U.K. officials had been stationed at the airport in Prague through reports in the media: On July 19, 2001, the electronic e-mail bulletin Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reported that on July 18, 2001, British immigration officials had begun subjecting passengers bound for London from Prague's Ruzyne Airport to additional checks. Shortly thereafter, the ERRC learned via Radio Prague that because of these pre-clearance procedures, airlines operating direct flights to the U.K. had refused to board around fifty people as of July 24, 2001, most of whom were Roma; airline tickets were reportedly no longer regarded as valid without a stamp from U.K. officials. There was then a flurry of local and international media activity surrounding the issue. Most of the articles appearing concurred that the persons being refused boarding were overwhelmingly Roma, although at one point it was noted that two young women - ethnic Czechs - were also denied entry to the U.K. The ERRC also learned from the media that Czech government officials had stated that the pre-clearance procedure had been agreed upon with the Czech government in February 2001.
On July 30, 2001, Channel 1 of the Czech state television broadcast in its regular programme "Fakta" a report about the U.K. officials at the Prague airport. This report portrayed events beginning on July 23, 2001, when two reporters from Czech television went to the airport in order to leave for London. One was an ethnic Czech named Nora Novakova and the other was a Romani man named Richard Samko. Both journalists were in possession of valid tickets for a flight to London. Using a hidden camera, they filmed U.K. officials interviewing the two journalists and then allowing Ms Novakova onto the plane, while refusing to allow Mr Samko to board. He was not offered any explanation as to why he was denied permission to board. According to the television report, on the following day Mr Samko again went to the airport and requested a written statement confirming his ban on entry into Britain. The official then put a stamp in his passport indicating that he was forbidden to enter the United Kingdom.
By July 31, 2001, the Czech daily Mlada Fronta Dnes had reported that, according to officials of the U.K. embassy in Prague, as of that date approximately one hundred Czech citizens had not been allowed to board planes bound for London at the Prague airport, despite being in possession of valid tickets. The daily stated that the overwhelming majority of such persons were Roma. On August 7, 2001, media reported that the British government had announced the abolition of the airport screening procedure due to widespread criticism by politicians, media and members of the public. However, on August 24, 2001, the British government once again reportedly began posting immigration officers at Ruzyne Airport in Prague. On September 8, 2001, Mlada Fronta Dnes reported that, as a result of the checks, a five-member Romani family had been blocked from boarding an airplane at the Prague airport and not permitted to fly to Mexico via London. Also as of this date, 136 people had reportedly been rejected at the airport, despite the fact that they all had valid tickets.
The ERRC has conducted a number of interviews with Roma who were refused permission to board by British immigration officials stationed at the Prague airport. For the most part, their testimony, provided independently, is remarkably similar. They state that they were interviewed for several minutes through an interpreter about their reasons for wishing to go to Britain, the amount of money they had with them and their precise destination in Britain. Then they were told to wait and shortly thereafter informed that they would not be allowed to board the plane. Later most had their airline tickets reimbursed, but many were not reimbursed for "reservation fees" as well as for insurance they had purchased, and none were reimbursed for the cost of travelling to the airport inside the Czech Republic. Some of the people the ERRC interviewed had travelled from towns as far away as five hours by train from Prague. More importantly, however, these people had suffered disappointment - often extreme disappointment, for example as a result of not being able to travel to see relatives living abroad - as well as the extreme humiliation of being singled out for treatment probably on the basis of their ethnicity.
Czech and U.K. officials have responded variously to accusations that the pre-boarding checks were discriminatory. For example, Mr David Broucher, U.K. ambassador in Prague, reportedly told the media on July 26 2001, that there was "no racial discrimination" being undertaken by British employees on the airport. Czech Minister of Foreign Affairs Jan Kavan similarly denied that the airport checks were discriminatory, both to the media and to a delegation of Romani activists sent by the ERRC to the World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa. Mr Jan Jarab and Mr Roman Kristof, chair and deputy chair of the Czech government's Inter-Ministerial Commission for Roma Community Affairs respectively, have both made similar statements, denying the discriminatory character of the checks.
More honest assessments have been provided by Czech Deputy Prime Minister Martin Palous, as well as by Czech Prime Minister Milos Zeman. On July 24, 2001, Mlada Fronta Dnes quoted Mr Palous as stating, by way of explanation for the checks: "ninety-nine percent of Czech applicants for asylum (in the U.K.) are Roma." Similarly, on August 23, 2001, RFE/RL reported that Prime Minister Milos Zeman told journalists in the context of announcing the reintroduction of the airport checks that, "about 100 percent of the asylum seekers are Roma," adding that "Should 100 percent of asylum seekers be mailmen, the U.K. would focus on mailmen during the checks and nobody would then complain of discrimination." These statements clearly indicate that the checks are in fact designed to preclude Roma from coming to the U.K. where they may apply for asylum, and that these checks are therefore a discriminatory measure by the U.K. government to preclude potential refugees from having access to a substantive asylum procedure.
Some Czech authorities have condemned the airport checks as discriminatory. For example, according to Mlada Fronta Dnes, the Chair of the Lower House of the Czech Parliament Mr Vaclav Klaus told the media on July 30, 2001, that "It is obvious that British officials are paying more attention to Roma and thus committing ethnic discrimination. That has not been changed by the farce of rejecting of two non-Romani girls." Mr Giles Portman, an official at the U.K. embassy in Prague, reportedly stated, by way of response, "There is certainly no ethnic discrimination being undertaken, since all the travellers have to go through the same control." The ERRC is of the position that the simple fact that U.K. officials are subjecting all persons to a given procedure in no way dispels allegations that said procedure is being applied in a discriminatory manner.
According to Czech media, on October 2, 2001, U.K. officials once again temporarily suspended the pre-boarding clearance procedure at the Prague airport. It was reported that, if the number of asylum seekers from the Czech Republic again rose in the U.K., the pre-clearance boarding procedure would be reintroduced. Mlada Fronta Dnes reported that as of that date, during the existence of the pre-clearance procedures in the summer months of 2001, almost 150 persons - almost all of them Romani - were stopped from flying from Prague to the U.K.
On October 16, 2001, British officials again resumed checks of passengers departing from Prague's Ruzyne Airport to destinations in the U.K., only to again leave the airport on October 18, 2001. British authorities gave no reason for the resumption of the checks, and told the ERRC on October 24, 2001 that, in agreement with Czech counterparts, "coincidental controls" would be implemented at Prague's Ruzyne Airport to deter potential asylum seekers from entering U.K. territory. On October 24, 2001, a lawsuit was filed on behalf of the ERRC and six anonymous Czech Roma, by the U.K. organisation Liberty, against the U.K. government, to challenge the discriminatory procedures and secure damages for the victims.
In related news, on August 6, 2001, it was reported on RFE/RL that Czech Airline (CSA) employees were stopping Roma attempting to fly to Ireland from Prague. Airline employees reportedly took members of Romani families aside and asked them where they would stay and how much money they had. A CSA spokesperson has stated that its employees acted in accordance with agreements with Irish Immigration Officials, but the Irish Embassy's Charge d'Affaires James O'Connel denied the existence of such agreements.
(Europe-Roma, ERRC, Mlada Fronta Dnes, Radio Prague, RFE/RL)
