ERRC Letter to the OSCE High Commissioner for National Minorities Max van der Stoel

15 April 1997

Dear Mr. van der Stoel,

The ERRC noted with pleasure the fact that during your recent visit to Romania you made explicit OSCE concerns with respect to Roma in Romania. It is the position of the ERRC that the human rights situation of the Romanian Roma is utterly unacceptable. In a recent report (enclosed here) which was based on independent investigation of recent cases of human rights violations, the ERRC found that in many localities throughout Romania, the police had begun carrying out raids against Roma communities. These raids have been characterised by the excessive use of force and the legal basis for such raids was highly dubious. Additionally, the resort to the use of the firearm against Roma seemed to have increased markedly. Finally, most of the numerous episodes of community violence which occurred in Romania in the years immediately following the Ceauşescu regime remain without legal remedy.

The ERRC believes that facilitating the redress of human rights violations against Roma is a sine qua non for the integration of the Roma minority in Romania, and that a department aimed at the integration of Roma such as the one you propose must therefore contain mechanisms for facilitating the legal remedy of grievances by Roma. We thank you for your continuing consideration of the issue.

Respectfully,

Dimitrina Petrova
Executive Director