ERRC Continues Cooperation with the Swedish Ombudsman against Ethnic Discrimination for Human Rights Training of Roma in Sweden

11 March 2005

Larry Olomoofe¹

In November 2004, the ERRC travelled to Sweden on a five-day programme of initiatives that involved a presentation on Roma rights and the ERRC work at the University of Uppsala, a presentation on testing as a method to prove racial/ethnic discrimination for lawyers at the Office of the Swedish Ombudsman against Ethnic Discrimination, and a two-and-a-half day training on Roma Rights and Advocacy for a diverse group of Romani activists at the Roma Cultural Centre in Stockholm. This was part of an earlier arrangement between the ERRC and the Ombudsman's office that saw members of the ERRC staff conducting a similar initiative in September 2003². The 2004 programme was well received and appreciated by the various audiences and groups that attended and the ERRC and the Ombudsman's office are currently developing similar programmes to be implemented in 2005.

University of Uppsala

This part of the programme presented the genesis of the European Roma Rights Centre and the evolution of the Roma rights discourse since the organisation's inception in 1996. Mr Claude Cahn, ERRC Programmes Director, provided a historical account of the place of the Romani issue within the international human rights discourse before the launch of the ERRC, explaining that despite a number of activities focusing on Roma undertaken at the time, there was a need for i) a public interest litigation organisation defending the rights of Roma similar to the Legal Defense Fund of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP) in the United States and ii) coherent and substantive research on the situation of Roma in various fields. He also used the opportunity to stress that in the course of time the ERRC has broadened its mandate of a legal defence organisation, evolving into a multi-dimensional organisation that conducts training, produces publications, conducts research, and provides policy reviews and recommendations for/to various governments and international institutions. All of this, he concluded, suggests that the ERRC is the foremost authority on Romani issues in Europe and continues to play an important role in constructing the Roma rights discourse and in advocating Roma rights in Europe.

Mr Larry Olomoofe made an overview of the organisation's training initiatives and the important role initiatives such as the one being conducted at the time played in the ERRC's outreach agenda and contact with grassroots, community-based non-governmental organisations and activists. He reiterated Mr Cahn's earlier point that the ERRC had evolved from being an organisation primarily concerned with litigation on behalf of Roma in Europe, into a multifaceted, diverse (and at times complex) integrated organisation that participates in a number of social, political, and cultural fields promoting the primacy and importance of Roma rights, internationally and locally.

Office of the Swedish Ombudsman against Ethnic Discrimination (D.O.)

Mr Claude Cahn conducted a comprehensive presentation on the merits of Testing as a method for substantiating discrimination claims by Roma before lawyers working at the D.O.'s office. His presentation covered the methodology involved in this kind of action. He explained the need for coherence and consistency regarding the details of specific cases that are tested. For example, in cases of perceived discrimination in employment, it was important to replicate the circumstances and factors of the case, leaving the ethnic background as the sole feature differentiating the two compared individuals/groups in order to draw a conclusion based on the merits of the situation. So, if a Romani person with no qualifications had been allegedly discriminated against, the testers would have to present a comparator of a similar profile as the original victim with only their ethnicity being the one characteristic that was different, ensuring consistency with the original scenario. Mr Cahn provided a litany of examples drawn from the ERRC's case files (especially the Prague airport case³) to highlight the usefulness of testing as a method. This anecdotal material proved useful for the participants allowing them to comprehend exactly how this method could be applied in the Swedish context.

Training Programme at the Roma Cultural Centre

This was the final, but most substantive, part of the five day trip by the ERRC staff members that involved providing an introduction to the rights-based approach to Romani issues adopted by the ERRC. Broadly speaking, the programme in Sweden was premised upon the successful methodology devised and implemented by the ERRC during their annual Roma Rights Summer workshop. The aims and objectives of the Swedish programme were similar to those of the summer workshop and were as follows:

• To analyse issues and situations affecting Roma in Sweden based on internationally accepted human rights values and principles;
• To develop skills in using domestic mechanisms (such as national legislation) and international human rights instruments (i.e., United Nations Treaties, the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, etc.) to protect and promote the rights of Roma;
• To strengthen skills in monitoring and reporting human rights violations and racial discrimination as well as advocacy skills;
• To increase the trainees' capacity to apply their learning within their organisations and their communities;
• To explore opportunities for networking and developing partnerships with NGOs and government officials to further advance the cause of Roma rights in Sweden and throughout Europe.

The sessions were attended by 25 participants comprising local Romani activists in Sweden, the Deputy Ombudsman, and two lawyers from the D.O.'s office. The programme began with an introduction of ERRC activities, moving into a broad discussion of international, regional and national human rights standards. The ERRC human rights education staff had developed an integrative manual specifically for the three-day programme in Sweden that was used by the participants to allow a more detailed engagement by the group in the topics covered and that the participants could use as a resource when/if conducting similar initiatives locally within their communities. The training programme was planned by the organisers so that each day's activity was the basis for the following day's activity thereby allowing for an incremental development of material and knowledge by the participants.

After the general introduction to the programme and the various human rights standards, the programme progressed to a topic by topic engagement of the issues focussing on cultural rights, rights violations within Romani communities, differences between a rights-based approach and a needs-based approach, examination of various patterns of discrimination and the Swedish anti-discrimination legislation, testing, and the various dimensions of successful advocacy approaches to anti-discrimination. Perhaps the most evocative topic discussed over the three-day training was the issue of traditional practices within the Romani communities that contravene universal human rights norms. This particular topic was an extremely sensitive issue to discuss in an open forum and credit must be given to the participants for embarking upon such a discussion.

The main issue that aroused passionate reactions amongst the group was that of the cultural practice of early marriages and whether it constituted a violation of the rights of the child (as defined by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child). This was rejected by some, but the majority of the participants saw this practice as inherently wrong and when viewed from the perspective of the human rights framework, paradoxical to the basic tenets underpinning the human rights standards. It was also interesting to observe that the disagreements on this issue amongst the participants occurred along generational lines with the older participants proclaiming the practice an integral part of Romani culture and resisting criticism against it, and the younger participants voicing opposition to the practice and insisting that it must be ended, especially if Romani communities wanted to pursue the full enjoyment of their rights.

The training ended with an evaluation of the workshop by the participants and the ERRC staff. This was a useful exercise since it allowed the group to assess the topics covered during the period and reflect on the expected outcome of the programme. Many expressed the desire to continue their engagement with the Roma Rights/human rights paradigm suggesting that they would like to conduct similar trainings within their own communities. Lars Lindgren, Commissioner of the office of the Ombudsman on Ethnic Discrimination and the ERRC's primary interlocutor at that institution, expressed his wish to continue the collaboration with the ERRC and hoped that the current workshop would have a similar impact as the previous workshop in 2003. The workshop was closed with the collective expression of goodwill and the hope that the participants and the ERRC would convene again to continue the good work carried out there.

Endnotes:

1. Larry Olomoofe is ERRC Human Rights Trainer.
2. A direct outcome of this workshop was an exponential and unprecedented increase in the number of cases brought before the Ombudsman's office. That year, the Ombudsman against ethnic Discrimination ('DO') indicated that Roma had brought approximately 140 claims for discrimination to that office, and attributed the reason for this increase to the training held in Stockholm by the ERRC.
3. For details on the case, see the ERRC press release 'European Roma Rights Centre and Six Czech Romani Plaintiffs Win Landmark Racial Discrimination Case against UK Government', at: http://www.errc.org/cikk.php?cikk=2058.