Roma and Traveller
Inclusion in Europe.
Green questions
and answersEditor: Kati Pietarinen
Roma and Traveller
Inclusion in Europe.
Green questions
and answers
Editor: Kati Pietarinen
Printed in Belgium, November 2011
© Green European Foundation asbl
and the Finnish Green Cultural and
Educational Centre Visio
All rights reserved
Project coordination:
Marina Barbalata (GEF) and Ville Ylikahri (Visio)
English language editing: Denis Mahon
Production: Micheline Gutman
Cover picture: Philippe Leroyer
Printed on 100% recycled paper
The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors alone.
They do not necessarily reflect the views of the Green European Foundation.
This publication has been realised with the financial support of the European Parliament.
The European Parliament is not responsible for the content of this project.
This publication can be ordered at:
The Green European Foundation – Brussels Office: 15 Rue d’Arlon – B-1050 Brussels – Belgium
Tel: +32 2 234 65 70 I Fax: +32 2 234 65 79 – E-mail: info@gef.eu I Web: www.gef.eu
Green European Foundation asbl: 1 Rue du Fort Elisabeth – L-1463 Luxembourg
The Green European Foundation is a European-level political foundation
whose mission is to contribute to a lively European sphere of debate and
to foster greater involvement by citizens in European politics. GEF strives
to mainstream discussions on European policies and politics both within
and beyond the Green political family. The foundation acts as a laboratory
for new ideas, offers cross-border political education and a platform for
cooperation and exchange at the European level.
796. Racism and extremist aggression
Anti-Gypsyism (also called anti-Tziganism) is a
demeaning attitude toward Roma on the grounds
of a presumed or actual shared feature amongst
those thought to belong to this ethnic group. Similarly
to anti-Semitism and other forms of racism,
anti-Romanism is a way of venting frustrations on
an easily recognizable target group, ranging from
contempt to abuse, and exploiting deep-rooted
historical stereotypes. Using the mechanism of
anti-Gypsyism, Romanies are oftentimes alienated
from their human characteristics, portrayed
as a danger to self and society, regarded not as
individuals but as an indiscriminate mass whose
negative, anti-social behaviour directly follows
from their inherited or cultivated immoral selves.
A history of anti-Gypsyism in Europe
In a number of significant ways, the Romani
peoples have constituted a unique, albeit noncohesive,
ethnic group within (and outside of)
Europe ever since their arrival to the continent
in the Middle Ages. An examination of historical
conjunctures between Roma and non-Roma
in changing cultural contexts is vital in order to
grasp the wider systemic exclusions of our current
realities. Transnationally scattered, with no
motherland to protect their rights, controlling
few resources and endowed with little political
power,277 and, to this day, occupying the bottom
place in the social hierarchy in almost every
country, much of their severe marginality stems
from a series of historical exclusions fuelled by
widespread social rejection.278
Living in disrespect:
discrimination against Roma
and anti-Gypsy sentiments
in contemporary Europe
Edit Szénássy
6. RACISM AND EXTREMIST AGGRESSION
As a consequence of particular historical trajectories,
individual Romani groups and communities
have, even within the same geographical
area, encountered racist and discriminatory practices
in distinct ways. Yet in general, tolerance for
this ethnic group was the exception rather than
the rule. Even under Turkish rule in the Ottoman
Empire, where they had a relatively better position
compared to other states, Roma nevertheless
suffered from profound societal contempt
and prejudice.279
Historical evidence suggests that Roma were
enslaved in Moldavia and Wallachia (principalities
of Romania) from as early as the 14th century
until 1864 when, due to Western pressure,
the institution of slavery was fully abolished.280
A more tolerant attitude prevailed in 15-16th
century Hungary where large numbers of Roma
settled after having been expelled from and persecuted
in the West, only to face overt persecution
during the Habsburg era.281 An example of
these sentiments was a 1782 trial of an entire
Romani community accused of cannibalism. After
41 Roma were tortured into confession and executed,
the presumed victims of cannibalism were
found unhurt.282 The 19th century saw a slight
improvement in the social acceptance of Roma
in the region, though this was largely based on a
mixture of romantic mystification and paternalism
and was coupled with an increasing stratification
within the ethnic group itself.
All over Europe, Roma were described as villains,
savages, sorcerers, enemies of the Christian
churches at best, and as thieves, vagabonds, subhuman
and merciless murderers at worst. They
were a “threat of disorder”, embodiments of “the
strange and different”, something to be avoided,
shunned, or overcome.283 Unprotected by the
law, Roma could be punished, killed or expelled
without any consequence to the perpetrator. In
277 Zoltan Barany, The East European Gypsies: Regime Change, Marginality and Ethnopolitics. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 2002, p. 2. For a detailed analysis on the political mobilization of Central European Roma see Peter Vermeersch,
The Romani Movement: Minority Politics and Ethnic Mobilization in Contemporary Central Europe. New York: Berghahn Books, 2006.
278 Also see in general Ian F. Hancock, The Pariah Syndrome: An Account of Gypsy Slavery and Persecution.
Ann Arbor: Karoma, 1987.
279 Zoltan Barany, 2002, p. 84.
280 Ibid, p. 85-6. Also see Nicolae Gheorge, “Roma-Gypsy in Eastern Europe, “ Social Research 58:4, 1991.
281 Ibid, 2002, p.86.
282 Cited in Ibid, 2002, p.87.
283 See Jean-Pierre Liegeois, Roma, Gypsies, Travellers. Strasbourg: Council of Europe Publications, 1994, p. 122.
80 Roma and Traveller Inclusion in Europe. Green questions and answers
17th century Sweden, Roma were ordered to be
banished or executed with no trial, while Norway
ordered the incarceration of Roma and the
confiscation of their possessions.284 Forced assimilation
and the outlawing of nomadism were
often-used anti-Gypsy measures as well. An infamous
example is Maria Theresa’s 1761 decree,
according to which Roma were forcibly settled
and prohibited from leaving their assigned villages.
Its harsh assimilationist politics prevented
Romanies from exhibiting cultural difference in
any way, including speech, dress or occupation.
As a “civilizing” measure, Romani children were
forcibly taken from their families to be raised.285
It is uncertain how many Roma fell victim to the
Roma Holocaust (also called Porajmos) during
World War II. A possible reason for the striking
lack of documentation on the number of executed
Roma may lie in the fact that they were regarded
as too marginal to mention and the idea of their
extermination too void of controversies286 in Nazi
Germany. Rough estimates range from 885,000287
to several millions of victims. Roma fared better
under communist regimes, yet strong assimilationsit
measures meant that unlike other minorities
in socialist Europe, they were not granted
sufficient cultural rights. For instance, Bulgarian
authorities denied the very existence of a Romani
minority in the country, and Czechoslovakia did
not recognize the group as a nationality in censuses.288
In the Czech and Slovak lands a 1958
law mandated universal settlement and employment
for all Romani groups.289
Racism against Roma in the Present –
Hate Speech
Coupled with a rising national consciousness
amongst non-Roma populations, anti-Roma sentiments,
repressed by the communist regime, began
to thrive after the fall of the Iron Curtain. Early
on in the transitional period right wing political
forces were quick to notice the popular support
for anti-Gypsy rhetoric throughout East-Central
Europe, fostering a climate of verbal and physical
violence against Romanies. Especially in the immediate
years following the regime change there
was little use (and, undoubtedly, little awareness)
of politically correct wordings, and thus national
television broadcasted as local residents cheered
in the Czech town of Ústí nad Labem, when in
1993 a 17-year-old beauty pageant proclaimed
that she would like to see her city cleansed of
the Gypsies.290
Hate speech and anti-Roma agitation in the media
serves as a legitimisation for exclusion or insult
on both the structural level and in everyday settings.
The consequences of hate speech are all
the graver when undignified language is used
by high-standing officials, such as in the 2007
case of the Romanian president Traian Basescu,
who addressed a Romani female journalist with
the words “You pussy, don’t you have anything
to do today?” and, unaware of the recording in
progress, privately remarked “How aggressive
that stinky Gypsy was”.291 Exploiting stereotypes,
using demeaning imagery and supposedly innocent
jokes is an often deployed method to ridicule
Roma indiscriminately, as a group. Recently,
television footage captured Slovak MPs in the
parliament handing around and giggling over a
sheet of paper with an image of a Roma man who
PhilippeLeroyer
284 See Ibid, p. 128
285 Angus Fraser, The Gypsies. Oxford: Blackwell Publications, 1995, p. 156-8.
286 Cited by Zoltan Barany, 2002, p. 103. For more on Nazi Germany’s anti-Gypsy politics see Zoltan Barany, “Memory and
Experience: Anti-Roam prejudice in Eastern Europe,” Woodrow Wilson Center (Washington, DC), Occasional Paper No. 50
July 1998), pp. 7-12.
287 Henry R. Huttenbach, “The Romani Porjamos: The Nazi Genocide of Gypsies in Germany and Eastern Europe,”
n Crowe and Koltsi, eds., The Gypsies of Eastern Europe. Armonk: M. E. Sharpe, 1991, p. 45.
288 Zoltan Barany, 2002, p. 115.
289 Will Guy, “Ways of looking at Roms: The Case of Czechoslovakia,” in Farham Rehfisch, ed., Gypsies, Tinkers,
and Other Travellers. London: Academic Press, 1975, p. 222.
290 Michael Stewart, The Time fo the Gypsies. Westview Press, 1997, p. 2.
291 Henry Scicluna, “Anti-Romani Speech in Europe’s public Space – The Mechanism of Hate Speech”.
European Roma Rights Centre, 21 Nov 2007, available at: http://www.errc.org/cikk.php?cikk=2912
816. Racism and extremist aggression
reminiscences about the large amount of groceries
that one could get in supermarkets with little
money during state socialism. The joke proceeds
by the man lamenting that this is not possible
anymore, as shops are now equipped with video
cameras.292 Playing on the image of the Roma as
predisposed to crime is frequently supplemented
with other demeaning representations, namely
that of Roma as mentally inferior or Roma as inherently
violent. The European Roma Right Centre
(ERRC) has documented a case when the mayor of
the Romanian town Craiova proclaimed on television
that “if you put [Roma] in the zoo and showed
them to kids saying ‘look at the monkeys’, they
wouldn’t see any difference”.293 Poverty and low
social status were equated with a criminal disposition
in another case documented by the ERRC,
when after a visit to Romani camps around the city
Achille Serra, the Prefect of Rome, subsequently
alleged that presumably the women from the
camp were “at the metro stealing purses and the
men were sleeping because perhaps they worked
all night robbing apartments”.294
Similarly, a 1997 print media survey in Hungary
found that 62 percent of all articles dealing with
Roma-related issues report a conflict of some
kind, while 90 percent of these conflicts are
portrayed as conflicts between Roma and nonRoma.295
The authors remark that the number
of articles implying “Roma criminality” is on the
rise. In the early 2000s, EU enlargement was preceded
by an intensive anti-Roma campaign in the
United Kingdom, peaking in 2004. Amid a general
mistrust of the potential adverse effects of
migration from the Eastern EU countries, suspicion
of Roma flowing to Great Britain to abuse the
social benefit system was a prominent topic.
Opinion polls all over Europe assist in demonstrating
similar anti-Gypsyist sentiments,
showing predictably repugnant images of the
coexistence of Roma and majority populations.
Even in countries where there is limited or no
contact with the Roma such as Luxembourg,
Malta and Denmark, between 15 and 30 percent
of respondents declared that they do not wish to
have Roma as their neighbours.296
Increasing education, visibility and awareness of
the harmful effects of skewed representations
of Roma in the media are central to the development
of a more healthy self-consciousness of
Roma and a friendlier perception of Romanies by
majority populations. Encouraging examples of
pro-Roma media initiatives are the weekly online
newsletter of the European Roma Information
Office (www.erionet.org) which collects and processes
media coverage on Roma as well as current
events and issues pertaining to their lives.
Supported by the Council of Europe, the Dosta!
campaign aims to deconstruct already existing
stereotypes of Roma (www.dosta.org).
Racism against Roma in the Present –
Racially Motivated Violence
Allowing racist, populist discourse to flourish is
tantamount to open support for violent articulations
of anti-Gypsyism. Expressions of racial animosity
in the media go hand in hand with hate
crimes in the form of mob violence, arson attacks
against life or property, or support of physical assault
against Roma. Members of Roma communities
all over Europe are particularly vulnerable
to unequal treatment by the police, but are often
subject to scapegoating in schools, hospitals or
other public spaces, too. Instances of violence
against this ethnic group have, however, transformed
in nature throughout the last two decades.
Remarkably, the ad hoc, impromptu mob violence
against Roma of the 1990s has given place to
carefully organized anti-Gypsy demonstrations,
threats or other violent assaults, serving clearly
identifiable political needs.297 It must be noted
that first-hand experiences of racially motivated
crimes or distress about the safety of one’s family
are some of the main impetuses driving Romanies
to migrate westwards.298 When deliberating
292 TV Noviny.sk, “KDH-áci sa priamo v parlamente zabávali rasistickým vtipom o Rómoch”. 28 March 2011, available at
http://tvnoviny.sk/sekcia/spravy/domace/kdh-aci-sa-priamo-v-parlamente-zabavali-rasistickym-vtipom-o-romoch.html
293 See Henry Scicluna, 2007.
294 Ibid.
295 Minority and Human Rights Foundation, KEJA pamphlets 2, “Roma Representation in the Media”, 2007, pp. 7-8.
296 Cited in Valeriu Nicolae, “Towards a Definition of Anti_Gypsyism,” available at:
www.ergoentwork.org/media/userfiles/media/ergo/Towards%20a%20Definition%20of%20Anti-Gypsyism.pdf
297 Andrzej Mirga, “The Extreme Right and Roma and Sinti in Europe: A New Phase in the Use of Hate Speech and Violence?,”
Roma Rights Journal, European Roma Rights Centre No. 1, 2009, p.6. According to the author, these political parties include,
but are not limited to, the Bulgarian Ataka party and the Bulgarian National Union, in Romania the New Right party, in Slovakia
the Slovak National Party, in Hungary the Jobbik party and its associated Hungarian Guard, in Italy the Northern League, and the
Worker’s Party in the Czech Republic.
298 For the unlawful and degrading treatment of recent Romani migrants in France see ERRC, “Always Somewhere Else:
Anti_Gypsyism in France” Country Report Series No. 15, November 2005.
82 Roma and Traveller Inclusion in Europe. Green questions and answers
the relationship between migration and violence
against Roma, a note is due concerning the plight
of hundreds of thousands of Roma who became
internally displaced people or fled to the West
from the South-East European regions, as they
were frequently caught between and assaulted
by both Serbian, Croatian, Albanian and Bosnian
military forces during the Balkan wars.299
In Central Europe the number of brutal, violent
crimes against Roma rose sharply between 2008
and 2011.300 A sad inventory of these cases is the
following: in Hungary 48 violent attacks against
Roma, in the Czech Republic 19 attacks, and at
least 10 attacks in Slovakia with a total number
of 11 fatalities.301 Within this time frame, in the
Czech Republic alone the ERRC documented
16 serious casualties, the use of eight Molotov
cocktails and one tear gas grenade, two attacks
on Romani minors, six cases when Roma were
beaten and one case when shots were fired at
Roma.302 An infamous case of merciless racial
violence took place in 2009 in the Czech town of
Vítkov, when Molotov cocktails were thrown into
the house of a Romani family. The three people
injured included the family’s two-year-old daughter
Natálka, who suffered serious burns and was
in critical condition for many months to come. The
case shocked the Czech public and the three perpetrators
received an exceptionally harsh prison
sentence.303 Within the same period in Slovakia, 8
injuries were suffered by Roma as a consequence
of racially motivated violence, two Roma were
murdered, shots were fired in five cases and in at
least one case Roma were attacked by a group.304
nother disturbing case involving the torture of
a group of Romani children came to light in the
spring of 2009, after the mobile phone recordings
of police abuse were publicized. Recorded by the
perpetrators themselves, the footages show policemen
in the city of Košice ordering six Romani
minors between 11 and 16 years of age to strip,
kiss, and beat each other under the threat of
further punishment, amid laughter and derogatory
remarks.305 Yet in contemporary Europe the
gravest documented attacks on Roma were committed
in Hungary, which left dozens of Roma injured,
claimed nine lives (including two children),
saw 12 instances of Molotov cocktail and two cases
of hand grenade use, and 12 cases of shots at
Roma.306 Recent years has seen an unprecedented
increase in extremist marches in Hungary, a
leading example of which were those of the Hungarian
Guard, which was banned in 2009. Wearing
uniforms and with the support of local civilians,
volunteer members of the Guard conducted regular
marches in a number of Hungarian villages,
thereby further escalating the tensions between
Roma and non-Roma villagers.307 The serial murders
of Roma started in November 2008 and continued
until August 2009, until four suspects were
arrested in September 2009.308 The scenario of
the killings was similar in most cases: Roma were
shot dead when escaping as a grenade or Molotov
cocktail was thrown at their houses. Seven deaths
resulted from these attacks, including the death
of a 5-year-old Roma boy who, after their home
was set on fire by an exploding Molotov cocktail,
was shot together with his father as they were
fleeing the building. Ineffective and insufficient
police and governmental response to this exceptionally
brutal series of killings came under heavy
criticism by non-governmental organizations.
299 See United Nation Development Programme, “At Risk: Roma and the Displaced in Southeast Europe,” Bratislava, 2006.
300 Based on Eurostat statistics of the 27 EU member states, Mirga notes the lack of evidence pointing to a correlation between the
increase of hate crimes and the current economic crisis. See Mirga, 2009, p. 7.
301 European Roma Rights Centre, “Factsheet: Roma Rights Record,” 8 April 2011, available at:
http://www.errc.org/cikk.php?cikk=3828
302 European Roma Rights Centre, “Attacks against Roma in the Czech Republic: January 2008 – April 2011,” 4 May 2011, p.1.
303 For details of the affair see Idnes.cz, “yharstvi ve Vitkove”, available at:
http://zpravy.idnes.cz/zharstvi-ve-vitkove-0l1-/krimi.aspx?o=0&klic=64086
304 European Roma Rights Centre, “Attacks against Roma in Slovakia: January 2008 – December 2010,” 8 February 2011, p. 1.
305 Sme, “Policia mucial romskych chlapcov,” available at: http://www.sme.sk/c/4383566/policia-mucila-romskych-chlapcov.html
306 European Roma Rights Centre, “Attacks against Roma in Hungary: January 2008 – July 2011,” 11 July 2011, p. 1.
307 A similar paramilitary group patrolled the village Gyongyospata for 16 days in March 2011.
308 European Roma Rights Centre, “Imperfect Justice”, 2002, p. 24. Although there is little doubt that these killings were racially
motivated, there is no evidence of the perpetrators’ relation to the Hungarian Guard. Currently, court hearings are in progess.
©WolfgangMachreich
836. Racism and extremist aggression
ge’shmally
State response to violence against Romanies is
often weak or contingent on international media
attention.309 A large amount of race crimes, however,
remain unreported by victims or unidentified
by the police as racially motivated atrocities.
Seldom collected and rarely publicly available
in the form of statistical figures, a comprehensive
monitoring on racially motivated violence
against Roma is essential if the precise extent
of this pressing problem is to be mapped. Accessible
data is fragmentary, yet recently, cases of
hate crime were reported by non-governmental
organizations, for example, in Bulgaria, Croatia,
the Czech Republic, Georgia, Hungary, Italy,
Latvia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Sweden,310
Slovenia,311 Turkey and Northern Ireland.312 Governments
are reluctant not only to collect data on
hate crimes, but also to implement programmes
or activities in response to such incidents.313
Suggestions to curb the incidence of violence
against Roma include the further education of
law enforcing officials to achieve an easier recognition
of hate crimes, and support for a growing
minority group membership in police forces.314
Furthermore, it would be advisable for national
courts to make a fuller use of the legal frameworks
provided by the European Court of Human
Rights concerning hate crimes and racist violence.315
Amongst OSCE states, the Contact Point
for Roma and Sinti Issues within the Office for
Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR)
serves as an active promoter of Roma rights and
anti-discrimination measures.
Unequal before the Law
Of all high risk groups, Roma are emphasized as
especially vulnerable to discrimination.316 The
impression of being discriminated against is a
frequent experience among Roma,317 and translates
into practice in a myriad ways. Unfortunately,
this often includes legal measures that are
identifiably discriminatory towards this ethnic
group. Out of the ample international evidence
of discrimination on racial/ethnic grounds, two
case studies are introduced, which point to the
im/possibilities of justice.
In Italy, accompanied by strengthening prejudice
and xenophobia, explicitly discriminatory government
policies318 exacerbate the everyday lives of
Roma. An estimated 140 000 Roma live in Italy, of
whom 80 000 possess an Italian passport, the rest
being recent migrants mostly from Romania.319
The erroneous perception of Roma as nomads
who prefer to live in camps, separated from the
majority population lies at the core of a number
of discriminatory policies.320 Preceded by an intensive
media campaign with the active support
of the Italian right wing, a set of repressive antiRoma
measures were taken, starting in 2007.321
After a series of presumed or actual criminal activities
of Romanian Roma, the Council of Minis-
309 Concerning state response to the recent upsurge of violence against Roma in the CEE region see “Imperfect Justice:
A Report by the European Roma Rights Centre – Anti-Roma Violence and Impunity,” March 2011.
310 See OSCE/ODIhR, “Hate Crimes in the OSCE Region – Incidents and Responses.” Warsaw, 2009, pp.53-55, available at:
www.osce.org/odhir/73636.
311 For Slovenia see European Roma Rights Centre, “Romani Community Relocated Following Death Threats in Slovenia,” 18 May,
2007, available at: http://www.errc.org/cikk.php?cikk=2787.
312 European Roma Rights Centre, “Violence Against Roma,” 8 April 2011, available at: http://www.errc.org/cikk.php?cikk=3828.
313 In 2009 the OSCE/ODIHR did not recieve any official infomation from national governments on this issue. See OSCE/ODIHR, 2009,
p. 55.
314 Ibid, p. 86. Also see ERRC, “Imperfect Justice”, 2002, p. 31.
315 Andrzej Mirga, 2009, p. 9.
316 European Network Against Racism, “Racism in Europe: ENAR Shadow Report 2009-2010,” Brussels, March 2011, p. 5.
317 See European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, “EU-MIDIS European Union Minorities and Discrimination Survey 2009:
Main Results Report,” Vienna, 2009.
318 For a detailed account and analysis of these policies and their aftermath see the joint report of the European Roma Rights
Centre, The Roma Center for Social Intervention and Studies, Roma Civic Alliance, The Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions,
and The Open Society Institute, Security a la Italia: Fingerprinting, Extreme Violence and Harassment of Roma in Italy. Budapest:
Fo-Szer Bt, 2008.
319 Henry Scicluna, “The Life and Death of Roma and Sinti in Italy: A Modern Tragedy,” Roma Rights Journal, European Roma Rights
Centre No. 2, 2008, p. 9.
320 Ibid, p. 10.
321 Henry Scicluna aptly describes this process as “the abandonment of rule of law, allagedly in defence of law and order”. Ibid, p. 15.
84 Roma and Traveller Inclusion in Europe. Green questions and answers
ters endorsed an emergency decree, allowing for
the expulsion of citizens of other European Union
countries on the basis of fundamental rights
to public safety.322 This decree violated a number
of international treaties and met with unanimous
international disapproval.323 While the European
Commission’s reaction can be described as
equivocal at best, the European Parliament set
a radically different example by reasserting the
importance of free movement within the EU,324
and the Council of Europe pledged for the rights
of Roma.325 Yet this was of little effect when after
the 2008 elections, Prime Minister Berlusconi
publicly announced that a zero tolerance would be
implemented toward Roma and criminals.326 The
situation deteriorated when another decree was
passed, commanding the monitoring of Romani
camps as well as the identification and census of
those living in camps, allowing for the expulsion
of irregulars.327 In spite of international disapproval,
public sentiments radicalized culminating
in support for ethnic profiling by the police and the
fingerprinting of all Roma, including minors.328 In
spite of pressure by human rights organizations,
the situation of Roma in Italy remains desperate.
Even in cases when discrimination is confirmed
by a high level court decision, the implementation
of these victories outside the court room is immensely
difficult. Even victories at the European
Court of Human Rights level can often remain no
more than symbolic as in practice, many of the
measures imposed by the judgment are too general
and remain largely disregarded.329 For Czech
Romani pupils this holds true in spite of the fact
322 Directive 2004/38/EC concerns the right of free movement and residence of EU citizens within member states. See Ibid, p. 15.
323 It was strongly condemned by the European Council, The ERRC, the European Information Office, the Open Society Institute
and accused by the latter three organizations of violating the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, the spirit of Maastricht,
Amsterdam and Nieve Treaties and Directive 2004/38/EC. Cited in Ibid, p. 16.
324 Franco Frattini, the Commissioner for Justice and Civil Liberties was criticized for making demeaning remarks on the account
of Roma. See Ibid, pp. 16-17.
325 Ibid, p. 18.
326 Ibid, p. 19. This may have fed anti-Roma sentiments and resulted in a series of arson attacks and pogroms on Roma camps
throughout the country.
327 Ibid, p. 21.
328 Ibid, p. 23. As a result of international disapproval, Italy later announced that all its citizens were to be fingerprinted and their
fingerprint put on their ID, starting in 2010. Also see Piero Colacicchi, “Ethnic Profiling and Discrimination against Roma in Italy:
New Developments in a Deep-Rooted Tradition,” Roma Rights Journal, European Roma Rights Centre No. 2, 2008, pp. 35-44.
329 Robert Kushen, “Implementing Judgements: Making Court Victories Stick,” Roma Rights Journal,
European Roma Rights Centre No.1, 2010, p. 5.
330 See paragraph 15 of the “Strasbourg Declaration on Roma,” 20 October 2010. Cited in Amnesty International Public Statement,
“Romani children continue to be trapped in separate and unequal education, despite judgments by the European Court
of Human Rights,” 15 November 2010, available at:
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/EUR01/029/2010/en/dd0701df-fc2f-4fe0-8dd4-2c906e8d6d17/eur010292010en.pdf
331 In many of the special schools visited by the European Roma Rights Centre the ratio of Romani students was more than
80 percent. European Roma Rights Centre, Persistent Segregatin of Roma in the Czech Education System, 2008, p. 25.
332 Euroepan Court of Human Rights, D.H. And Others vs the Czech Republic, paragraph 209. Cited in Lydia Gall and Robert Kushen,
“What Happened to the Promise of D.H.?,” Roma Rights Journal, European Roma Rights Centre No.1, 2010, p. 39.
Each applicant received a compensation of 4,000EUR.
333 Ibid, p.40.
that a 2010 Council of Europe High Level Meeting
on Roma reminded all Member States to take
the Court’s decisions fully into account.330 A pivotal
example of how injustice remains in spite of
groundbreaking human rights victories on the judicial
level is the case of D.H. And Others vs. the
Czech Republic. In 1998 the ERRC started the litigation
of the case of inferior education for Romani
pupils in the country, where abundant evidence
suggests that Romani children are channelled
to special education facilities for the mentally
disabled in disproportionate numbers.331 Obviously,
gaining inferior education in comparison to
their peers hinders the chances of employment
and opportunities for personal growth for these
children. When the Constitutional Court failed to
acknowledge discrimination on racial grounds,
18 Romani applicants from the Czech city of Ostrava
filed a submission with the European Court
of Human Rights claiming that they were subjected
to psychological and emotional damage,
as well as educational disadvantage as a result
of their placement in these substandard schools.
The decision of the Court came in 2007, holding
the Czech Republic accountable for racial discrimination
with regard to access to public education,
being the very first decision of its kind.332
A further significance of this victory was that the
Court reminded that discriminatory/segregationist
tendencies in the education of Romani children
were prevalent in many other European states.333
While the case was still pending on court, as early
as 2005 the Czech government took measures to
transform its educational system by abolishing
the institution of special schools, and, instead,
856. Racism and extremist aggression
renaming them as practical school that are now
recategorized into mainstream primary education.334
Although this permitted access to secondary
education for those who completed this type
of school, the actual effect of this amendment
was nothing but symbolic – only the name of the
schools were changed. The proportion of Romani
pupils, the low level of education, and decreased
career chances after the completion of practical
schools remained identical to the situation before
the court case.335 This major breakthrough in the
field of human rights law thus holds little promise
of a fairer future for Romani children. The ERRC,
the Roma Education Fund and the Open Society
Institute continue to fight for the implementation
of the Court’s decision.
Edit Szénássy is a PhD candidate of sociocultural
anthropology at Charles University
Prague, Czech Republic. Her research interests
include the anthropology of Roma, gender, and
medical anthropology. She conducted a number
of qualitative researches among Roma, including
a long-term fieldwork research on the
intersection of population politics and the reproductive
decision-making of Romani women
in a poor Slovakian Romani settlement.
6.1 / Building defences against
the “brown sludge” –
Progressive responses to antiRoma
extremism in Hungary
Kristóf Szombati
My country, Hungary, made international headlines
in 2010 when the reservoir of the Ajkai
Timföldgyár alumina plant collapsed, freeing
about a million cubic meters of liquid waste from
red mud lakes and flooding the village of Kolontár
and the town of Devecser. The tragedy condensed
into one powerful symbol the deepening gloom of
a society gripped by recession, social polarization
and the near-ubiquitous feeling that its citizens
are victims of forces beyond their grasp. Tellingly,
334 Ibid, p. 40. For a detailed analysis of the Czech educational system, the case of D.H and Other vs. the Czech Republic and the
artermath of the Court decision see Amnesty International, Nedokonceny ukol: Romsti zaci v Ceske Republice stale
celi prekazkam ve vzdelani. Amnesty International Publications, 2010.
335 An identical elementary school system with identical “changes” to the system of special schools is in effect in Slovakia.
336 The civil guard was formed in April 2010 by members of the Hungarian Guard which was dissolved by Budapest’s Court of Appeal
on 2 July 2009. Attila László, head of the association, had previously been the Hungarian Guard’s captain in Békés County.
337 But see my analysis written for the Heinrich Böll Foundation (before the local election): www.boell.cz/web/52-989.html
338 For an overview of the case see the Athena Institute’s summary: www.athenainstitute.eu/en/infocus/read/8
Green initiatives
one day before the incident Hungarians had for
the first time elected representatives of a xenophobic
hard-right party (Jobbik) into the councils
of all 19 counties. The far right, which had vowed
to throw cold water on the nation’s internal and
external enemies and restore Hungarians’ sense
of pride, became the second largest political
force in the country’s North-eastern periphery.
While the red wave caused several injuries and
deaths and polluted a large area, the less visible
“brown sludge” presents a grave danger to the
whole society’s health.
In the village of Gyöngyöspata – where Jobbik organised
a demonstration “in defence of Magyars”
on 6 March 2011 and activists of paramilitary organizations
patrolled the streets to prevent “Gypsy
criminals” from stealing and harassing “innocent
people” – the intervention of far-right forces led to
the breakdown of interethnic relations and paved
the way for the success of Jobbik’s candidate who
was elected to the post of mayor at the elections
of 17 July 2011. The most dangerous aspect of this
dramatic turn is that citizens of Gyöngyöspata (and
other places “visited” by extremist groups) tend to
perceive members of Jobbik and the Civil Guard Association
for a Better Future336 as well-intentioned
people fighting for respectable goals – such as the
restoration of order and morality – with the help of
unorthodox, at times questionable, means. This benign
(mis)reading of far-right politics – the causes
of which I do not have space to examine here337 –
prompts members of the ethnic majority and local
politicians to remain passive in cases when the
rights of minority groups are threatened. This, in
turn, may lead to the outright oppression or dispossession
of these groups if and when the authorities
responsible for the protection of personal, political
and social rights fail to act swiftly and decisively.
The Gyöngyöspata case338 has demonstrated the
plausibility of such a negative chain reaction.
What can Greens do?
What can territorially unrooted progressive political
forces endowed with meagre human and financial
resources do to mitigate the damages caused
by the “brown sludge” and prevent its continued