Related news from the media

Landmark ruling finds Czech state guilty of violating rights of Roma school children
2007-11-14 · Radio Prague
In a landmark verdict, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the Czech Republic violated the rights of Roma children by placing them in special schools for children with learning difficulties. The state has to pay the families who took the case 4,000 euros each in compensation. Roma rights campaigners are demanding measures to address the segregation that still exists, despite changes to the law.

Bulgarian discrimination commission agenda
2007-11-01 · The Sofia Echo
The Bulgarian anti-discrimination commission will review five complaints that the Romani Bach foundation brought against the Krasna Poliana municipality. Children from the local Roma neighbourhood were left off the list for mandatory pre-school education, and Romani Bach blames discriminatory policies by local officials and school managers. The Commission will also review a complaint against BBT television.

Čaplovič wants to focus on Roma education
2007-10-11 · The Slovak Spectator
Slovak deputy PM Dušan Čaplovič has said he will focus on education when dealing with problems faced by the Roma minority. He said he would press for the placement of Roma children in boarding schools, although he foresaw problems getting their parents to agree. He promised to unveil a strategy up to 2015 for tackling the conditions experienced by the Roma later this month.

European expert conference plans better education for Roma children
2007-09-05 · Romservis
European education experts are to meet under the aegis of the Council of Europe and UNESCO to devise policies to help ensure that Roma children receive high quality education in their early years. The conference will look at innovative methods such as specialised teaching kits, developing a curriculum to reflect Roma children's needs, and the role of the family and the community.

Racist crime on the up in eight EU states
2007-08-27 · Romservis
A report from the EU's Fundamental Rights Agency concludes that ethnic discrimination continues in employment, housing and education, especially against migrants and Roma. Racist violence has increased in several EU countries, and "there are continuing reports of violence and malpractice" by police, immigration and border control personnel. But EU legislation is stimulating change.

Bulgarian Social Min Seeks to Integrate Roma School Dropouts
2007-08-01 · Novinite
Bulgaria's Social Ministry has demanded changes in the education law, which should allow Roma people who have graduated from 5-month specialized courses to receive a diploma equalling that of fourth graders. The measure is intended to help them receive a professional qualification and find employment faster and easier.

ÚOOÚ: Data on Czech Romanies to be collected with their consent
2007-06-26 · Prague Daily Monitor
Czech institutions can collect statistical data on Romanies but only with their consent, the Personal Data Protection Office has said. The Minister in charge of minorities, Dzamila Stehlikova, has said that the state should try to collect such data, in particular on Romany unemployment and education, in order to make its projects for Romanies effective.

Roma: education is the only answer
2007-06-18 · EU Observer
A massive investment in education is the only way that the Roma minority in Romania can emerge from poverty and marginalisation. If better educated, the Roma people could fill the gap created by the country's falling population and provide future generations of entrepreneurs, scientists and skilled workers. Comment by Rupert Wolfe Murray.

When Prejudice Begins With ABC...
2007-06-18 · The Sofia Echo
"My children are becoming racist and I am starting to panic!", writes British expat Libby Gomersall in Bulgaria. She uses the occasion to investigate the situation of the Bulgarian Roma, focusing in particular on the prejudice and racism that are still prevalent in the education system.

DecadeWatch Monitoring Report Notes Significant Progress on Roma Inclusion Policies
2007-06-12 · Romservis
Roma inclusion has progressed in nine Central and Southeast European countries since the launch of the Decade of Roma Inclusion in 2005, according to the DecadeWatch monitoring report. Hungary has done best; Montenegro worst, with Serbia and Macedonia lagging behind as well. However, countries must move from sporadic measures based on pilot projects to integrated policies and programs.

Soros Questions Bulgarian Progress on Roma Inclusion
2007-06-12 · Balkan Insight
George Soros urged the EU to establish targets evaluating the success of the Decade of Roma Inclusion, after a report about the first two years concluded that governments "think of Roma inclusion in terms of projects and sporadic measures but not .. integrated policies". Meanwhile, a Bulgarian policy institute said a poll it carried out to measure attitudes towards Roma and housing, crime and education "showed that the assumption of a radical and intolerant Bulgarian society is false."

Social Inclusion Projects, Targeting Roma People
2007-06-03 · Divers (via Dzeno)
The EU will grant EUR 11,2 million worth of financing for social inclusion projects in Romania, through its PHARE programmes. Most of the budget targets projects addressed to ethnic Romanies who graduated from secondary education, disabled persons, and youngsters who left or aim to leave the state child protection system.

Poverty of children becoming permanent
2007-05-25 · Szabolcs Online
Hungary is the most likely EU country after Italy to show regional differences in poverty. 96% of the poorest children go to special schools, and only 2% get as far as high school, sociologist Ágnes Darva said at a conference. Socialist politician Lajos Kórózs emphasized that a five-party consensus will be created on a national strategy outlining the tasks for the next 25 years regarding the fight against child poverty.

Czech municipalities say Romany issues agency unnecessary
2007-05-25 · Prague Daily Monitor
Representatives of Czech municipalities think that a new government agency to deal with Romany issues would be unnecessary, a survey says. The mayors would rather welcome new laws on education and employment. "Attendance of education programmes is .. fundamental .. In our computing skills project for Romanies, attendance was negligible .. after one or two lessons," said Iva Liedermanova from Pardubice.

High school fosters Roma
2007-05-23 · The Prague Post
The Czech Republic's only high school especially for Romany teens today has 600 students attending seven branches throughout the country, plus another 500 who take distance-education courses. Besides the regular courses, it offers Romany language, literature and history classes. The school says it is needed, when few Czech Romanies attend or complete high school.

EU's new fundamental rights agency urges end to bias against Gypsies
2007-04-04 · The International Herald Tribune
The EU's new rights agency called for a quick end to discrimination against Gypsies, urging governments to take rigorous steps. Unemployment among Gypsies runs as high as 70-90% in some countries, and they frequently are victims of racially motivated violence, it said. "They face systemic discrimination in education, public health care, services and employment."

Roma Education Conference will highlight Best Practice and Future Plans
2007-03-26 · Romservis
Hungarian PM Ferenc Gyurcsány, World Bank Vice President Shigeo Katsu, and European Commissioner Jan Figel will address Eastern Europe’s largest conference on the education of Roma children, organized by the Roma Education Fund (REF). The conference will discuss the achievements and the lessons learned since the launch of the Decade of Roma Inclusion in 2005; there is much evidence that the quality of education that Roma children receive is actually decreasing.

UN Demands Results on Racism in the Czech Republic
2007-03-19 · Prague Daily Monitor
The UN has let the Czech government know that it is failing in the basic job of preventing racial discrimination – and the country had better start cleaning up its act. The CERD recommendations leave little “wiggle room”, and require the government to report back within one year on four key areas, including the adoption of the Anti-Discrimination Act, reparations to victims of coercive sterilization, and ending segregated education.

Over 18% of adult roma population illiterate in Bulgaria
2007-03-15 · Social Rights Bulgaria
More than 18% of the Bulgarian Roma are illiterate and if the current trend continues half of the Roma will not be able to read or write in 15 years, notes a new report by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation. A 2005 survey by the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences already showed that 16% of ethnic Bulgarians, 2% of Turks and almost 0% of Roma are university graduates.

UN urges EU to help Roma children
2007-03-06 · BBC News
About one million Roma children "remain invisible" in South-East Europe, without documents or adequate healthcare, a Unicef report says. Unicef urges the EU to help improve the condition of Roma children. It found that in Romania and Bulgaria up to one-third of Roma children were not in school, a proportion which reaches 80% in Bosnia-Hercegovina.  

Ethnic Roma in Romania: less discriminated, but still poor
2007-02-26 · Dzeno Association
45% of the Roma in Romania think of themselves as assimilated to Romanian culture, according to the Roma Inclusion Barometer released by the Open Society Foundation. It shows the Roma to be an inconsistent group culturally, but one which shares a poor standard of living, reduced access to public services, limited educational capital and precarious housing. Romanian society, however, became much more tolerant towards the Roma, it found.

Stehlikova promotes agency to prevent emergence of ghettos
2007-01-10 · Romservis
Dzamila Stehlikova, the Green minister responsible for minority and human rights issues in the new Czech government, wants to establish an agency that would prevent the emergence of ghettos. According to recent analysis, up to 80,000 Czechs, mainly Romanies, live in blocks of flats and neighbourhoods where most inhabitants are jobless, families live on social benefits, and children end up in special education.

No influx of Romanies from Bulgaria, Romania to CzechRep expected
2007-01-09 · Romservis
Bulgarian and Romanian Romanies are not planning to leave en mass for the Czech Republic now their countries have joined the EU. With EU accession in 2004, Czech authorities expected thousands of Slovak Romanies to arrive, but that didn't happen. A UNDP analysis of the region found Czech Romanies to live in the best conditions. Three-quarters of Romanian, half of Bulgarian, and a quarter of Czech Romanies live below the poverty line.

Romanies to be helped in education, employment - Council
2006/09/11 · Romservis
The government should focus on employment and education when approaching Romany localities threatened with poverty, says a resolution of the Czech Government Council for Romany Affairs. It recommends ordering firms employing over 25 people to hire a Romany with long-term unemployment. A similar regulation should refer to the disabled. It also recommends increasing the number of assistant teachers at kindergartens, elementary and secondary schools.

Brno police organise summer camp for Romany children
2006/08/22 · Romservis
Czech police in Brno organised a summer camp for Romany children where young Romanies as well as children from socially-weak families could get acquainted with police work. Police organised the camp for the first time this year, in cooperation with organisations that work with these children. Eighty children attended; the costs were paid by the organisers and sponsors.

UN: Grim Prospects For Roma, Displaced In Balkans
2006/06/26 · Serbianna
A UNDP report paints a bleak picture of job, health and education prospects for the Roma in the Balkans and those left internally displaced after the wars of the 1990s. Governments have sought to address this problem without setting "clear measurable objectives" and often focusing on "treating symptoms rather than causes," the study said. It noted that almost 45% of Roma households live in poverty, and two out of three Roma don't complete primary school.

Roma's bid for equality equated to blacks' effort
2006/06/25 · Washington Times
Roma engage in a struggle for equal rights comparable to that of US blacks in the 1960s, according to testimony at a Helsinki Commission hearing. Witnesses from Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania discussed the issues of segregated education, unequal housing opportunities and racist extremist political parties, hoping to raise awareness and gain American support.

Save the Children UK Starts Campaign to Enrol Roma Children in School
2006/05/26 · One World Southeast Europe
According to the survey, "Denied a Future? 2001-2006: The Right to Education for Roma Children in B&H", which was published by Save the Children UK in April 2006, there are still Roma communities in Bosnia and Herzegovina in which not a single child goes to elementary school. Based on the survey's findings, Save the Children UK has started a campaign in the country to enrol Roma children in elementary education.

Slovakia bars Romanies from studying - AI
2006/05/23 · Romservis
Slovakia discriminates against Romanies and bars them from education and from housing, says the annual report by Amnesty International (AI). AI subjected Slovakia to a similar criticism last year, but then it highlighted police actions against Romany disturbances.

AI Criticizes Bulgaria for Discrimination of Roma People
2006/05/23 · FOCUS News Agency
The annual report of Amnesty International still criticizes Bulgaria for its discrimination of the Roma population. The document rebukes the living conditions of people with mental disabilities living in social care homes. The report does point out progress in the opportunities of Romani children in the education system.

Young Romanies from Ostrava appeal Strasbourg court verdict
2006/05/08 · Prague Daily Monitor
A group of young Romanies from the Ostrava area have appealed the February verdict of the European Human Rights Court that turned down their complaint about the Czech Republic´s alleged discrimination against them in terms of education. The 18 young Romanies, whom Czech authorities in the past placed in special elementary schools for children with learning difficulties, say that Romany children in Czech schools are treated differently from other kids.

EU says Czech Republic discriminates against Romany children
2006/05/04 · Radio Praha
The EUMC has criticized the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary for discriminating against Romanies from an early age by sending many to special schools for people with learning difficulties. Its report suggests that this practice is at the root of the government's inability to deal with the integration of Roma into society, because wrongful assignment to special education has far reaching consequences for future employment opportunities.

Roma community discriminated in education
2006/05/04 · Bucharest Daily News
The Romanian government is negotiating a loan with the World Bank for a social inclusion program for the Roma community. It will be used to finance projects that focus on improving the life of the minority and encouraging Roma parents to send their children to school. European educational systems fail as far as the Roma community is concerned, according to a recent study that shows the minority is discriminated against, which makes many children abandon school.

Conference participants issue recommendations to improve Roma access to education
2006/05/03 · Dzeno Association
At the end of a well-attended international conference organised by the European Network against Racism (ENAR) and the European Roma Information Office (ERIO), a list of concrete proposals and suggestions were made to improve access to quality education for Roma, Sinti and Travellers in Europe.

Slovakia: There are more women studying at the Social-Jural Academy in Kosice
2006/04/03 · Romservis
More than half of the students of the Social-Jural Academy in Kosice are women. A large proportion of the Roma community believes a Roma woman does not have to be educated, says Academy director Adamova, but she thinks Roma have gradually started to realize the need of education. Sixty percent of the women attend the school as an external student. There are even women of middle age who need the A level in order to keep their current occupation.

Lack of teachers hinders education of Romanies in Slovakia
2006/02/10 · Romservis
Slovakia lacks teachers qualified to teach pupils living in impoverished Romany settlements, which is one of the reasons why a disproportionate number of Romany children end up in special schools and struggle to find a job later in life. This should be prevented by preparatory school-years and psychological tests. "It is necessary to retrain thousands of teachers for dealing with children from different cultural environments," says Miron Zelina. But he knows only a few dozen teachers with such training.

Hungary tells school to end Roma discrimination
2006/01/28 · RomNet
Hungary's Ombudsman has told a primary school it must stop discriminating against its Roma pupils after finding that it separated them from other children and listed them all as having learning disabilities. The school in Kerepes erected bars down a corridor to segregate Roma children and barred their access to the fire escape on the ground that they used it to truant from lessons.

Ministry to continue supporting low-income Romany students
2006/01/05 · Romservis
The Czech Education Ministry will provide further support to Romany secondary school students from low-income families in the next half of the school year, said Ondrej Gabriel. Students can receive up to 7,000 crowns as a subsidy for tuition fees, catering and accommodation costs, fare and school aids. Under the project, launched in 2000, the state supports only students who regularly attend school. The Education Ministry has about 11 million crowns for the project this year. It can subsidise over 1,000 students in both the first and the second half of the school year.

Number of Romany assistants to teachers rise in Slovakia
2005/11/29 · Romservis
The number of Romany assistants to teachers, who help them with problem children, has risen by a half to 900 in Slovakia since last year. Last year the Education Ministry earmarked 88 million crowns for their salaries. They now work in hundreds of primary schools, mainly in localities with dense Romany population. The project, launched in 2002, was initiated by the Association of Young Romanies. So far some 200 Romanies with completed secondary education have worked as assistants via the foundation.

Slovakia bans positive discrimination
2005/10/19 · EU Observer
Positive action providing advantages for people of an ethnic or racial minority group is to be banned in Slovakia, striking a blow against EU policy. The constitutional court ruled against such provisions. The ruling means that measures such as preferential access to education or the requirement to hire a designated quota of minority group members would be illegal. It ended a 15-month legal dispute between government and parliament, with the cabinet keen to dump Article 5 of the European Council Race Discrimination Directive.

EC has no comment on van der Linden's Roma statements
2004/05/14 · Slovak Spectator
THE EUROPEAN Commission has still not issued any comments on statements by Eric van der Linden, its ambassador to Slovakia, who allegedly proposed that children from poor and uneducated Roma communities be taken from their parents and placed in boarding schools to enhance their education.