For years any children aged 3 and younger have been taken into institutional care in the Czech Republic. The majority of them are Roma. Michal Ďorď was one of them. He was taken into state care when he was only 8-months-old. He tells us his story of growing up in an institution and the childhood he, and his parents, missed out on.

We are releasing a series of videos exposing the grim situation Romani children face in state care systems across different EU countries.

The ERRC is releasing a series of videos exposing the grim situation Romani children face in state care systems across different EU countries. 

We are releasing a series of videos exposing the grim situation Romani children face in state care systems across different EU countries.

In 1996, a group of activist lawyers came together to create a new organisation in Europe. Inspired by the legal successes of the American civil rights movement, the European Roma Rights Centre was born. A human rights litigation centre, created in response to widespread human rights abuses against Roma who until then rarely, if ever, received justice.

The European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) have released a census of forced evictions of Roma in Italy today, covering the period from January 2017 to March 2021. It shows that Italian authorities have carried out at least 187 evictions of living places inhabited by Romani people, affecting 3,156 people who were in most cases made homeless, or otherwise put into unstable housing solutions.

Today, on International Romani Day, the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC), Hope and Homes for Children, and Eurochild call on European states to commit to closing down institutions for children, and providing appropriate child and family support services for Romani children who are overrepresented in state care.