Five More Years of Injustice: Segregated Education for Roma in the Czech Republic

08 November 2012

Five More Years of Injustice: Segregated Education for Roma in the Czech Republic

In 2007, the European Court of Human Rights found that the Czech Republic had violated the right of Romani children to an education free from discrimination, by placing them in “special schools”, which offered lower quality education.

Five years on, very little progress has been made to guarantee equal access to education for Romani children. Instead of making systemic changes, the Czech government opted for a piecemeal approach that failed to address the root of this injustice. The system continues to channel Romani children into “practical” and/or segregated schools. It has devastating consequences for their future.

Amnesty International and the European Roma Rights Centre are calling on the Czech government to immediately put an end to the discrimination that Romani children experience in education and take all necessary measures to end this injustice in order to avoid yet another generation being trapped in the cycle of poverty and deprivation.

Five More Years of Injustice: Segregated Education for Roma in the Czech Republic (PDF)