UN organisations report on racial discrimination against Roma
11 July 2000
The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) reviewed France and Spain during its sessions this spring. A UN press release of March 23, 2000, states that although the Committee approved of several new measures against racial discrimination adopted by France on July 29, 1998, the Committee expressed concern about several issues, including negative images of Roma in the mass media. The Committee recommended that the next periodic report include statistics of racially-motivated offences, their investigation, and the punishment of perpetrators, and that France ensure the effective prohibition of actions which were discriminatory on grounds of race, ethnic or national origin. The Committee also reiterated earlier recommendations to ensure that there was effective protection of the rights to work and to housing, as well as to provide compensation to victims of racial discrimination. A UN press release dated March 6, 2000, reported that Michael Parker Banton, the Committee expert who served as country rapporteur to the report of France, stated "that it appeared that there were a significant number of rejected Roma asylum applicants illegally resident in France whose children were being brought up in insalubrious conditions and were unable to attend school."
Regarding Spain, concerns were expressed by the Committee over the relatively small number of racial discrimination cases before national courts, despite the general increase in juvenile violence, including attacks on foreigners by extremist groups, neo-Nazis and gangs. Concerning employment, the Committee highlighted the prevailing discrimination against people of foreign origin, and recommended that the state ensure the rights to work, to equal opportunities of promotion and career development, to education and to housing for ethnic and national minorities. Concern was expressed about the position of the Roma minority, and reports of racist attitudes on the part of authorities. In a UN press release dated March 13, 2000, Yuri A. Rechetov, the Committee expert who served as country rapporteur to the report of Spain, said that "one could conclude from the report that the Roma population were not full-fledged Spanish citizens." The press release further noted that some Roma individuals do not have identity documents similar to those of Spanish nationals. The Committee underlined the importance of the treatment of the Romani population in general and plans to hold a discussion about the socio-economic situation of the Romani populations in Europe and in the rest of the world during its August session. Other Committee members also commented on the situation of the Romani population in Spain. Some experts regretted "that members of the population were painted as individuals who did not want to work and to learn."
The annual report of the UN Special Rapporteur on Racism, including the findings of the missions to the Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania in September 1999, expresses concern about the situation of the Roma in Europe. The summary of the report notes that "discrimination against the Roma persists in a number of European countries, where they are subjected to exclusion and marginalisation." The conclusions and recommendations of the report suggest that "the Commission on Human Rights, in cooperation with the Governments concerned, should pay particular attention to the Roma in order to secure their integration in the countries where they live [...]." The section of the report focusing on Roma discusses the discrimination experienced by Roma who, after experiencing violent attacks in their Central or Eastern European homes, particularly in the Slovak Republic and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, seek asylum in Western European counties. "Obstacles arise at frontiers, however (reintroduction of visas, for example, between Finland or Norway and Slovakia), and when they do manage to enter a country they are collectively deported after a summary review procedure [...]."
The Special Rapporteur transmitted some specific allegations to the governments responsible, for example, the special registration of Sinti and Roma in Bavarian police databases and records using the terms "Roma/Sinti type", "Gypsy type" or the old Nazi term "Landfahrer" ("vagrant"). According to the Special Rapporteur, "the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma has been informed of the report of the Bavarian Data Protection Commissioner of 16 December 1998 which states that Sinti and Roma are being registered generally on special police files without reason or legal basis by their personal details and even the number plates of their cars and further data. The police justify this storage as supposedly 'vorbeugende Verbrechenbekämpfung' ('preventive crime combat') and explain that Sinti and Roma 'could be a public danger'."
(United Nations)
