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Description
The Roma people in our society continue to face discrimination or other violations of their rights. The project aims to contribute to the observance of the human rights of the Roma minority, with an emphasis on marginalized groups, while taking into account the current state of protection of the rights of the Roma minority and the wider social reality and related challenges in this area. The project will contribute to reducing manifestations of discrimination against the Roma minority through the active application of legal remedies in specific strategic cases and the implementation of other closely related activities, such as monitoring and advocacy in relation to responsible state institutions. The counseling center will implement the project activities in close cooperation with Roma activists.
Litigation as a tool is key to applying anti-discrimination and human rights law in legal practice so that people whose rights have been violated effectively seek justice. This increases people''s confidence in the judiciary and also increases the number of people who actively defend themselves against the violation, leading to its prevention in society.
Summary of project results
Roma men and women in our society continue to face discrimination or other violations of their rights. Many Roma children face unequal access to education and segregation, which negatively affects the realization of their other guaranteed rights and reduces their chances of breaking out of the environment of intergenerational poverty and marginalization. Serious deficiencies also persist in the observance of other guaranteed social rights of disadvantaged Roma, such as the right to housing and drinking water. Cases of police brutality are documented. Marginalized Roma women, who face multiple discrimination, especially in the field of reproductive health care, remain at particular risk. Effective measures of state institutions to improve the situation in this direction are either only declared or lack sustainability.
They are negatively perceived by the majority, which significantly hinders the interest of elected representatives of the state and local governments in accepting them. The need to protect the rights of the Roma minority is a public interest and a legal obligation.
The project wanted to contribute to the observance of human rights of the Roma minority, with an emphasis on marginalized groups. The activities of the project developed the long-term activity of the project implementers, taking into account the current state of the protection of the rights of the Roma minority as well as the wider social reality and related challenges in this area. The strategy and activities of the project were based on the following starting points
- measures in favor of disadvantaged minorities, which can be implemented in the framework of cooperation with state institutions and municipalities, are generally limited to partial steps in the long term that do not threaten their electoral potential and do not require greater investments from public resources and sustainability. This is when the importance of strategic litigation increases as a supporting tool for enforcing effective measures towards institutions. Litigation makes it possible to maintain or attract the attention of the responsible institutions to the given issues, to give the proposed measures more relevance and to promote their importance in the public debate. Court decisions can also provide state institutions with a valuable opportunity to better defend the need to take measures to protect the rights of minorities towards the majority.
- litigation is also key to the application of anti-discrimination and human rights legislation in legal practice so that people whose rights have been violated can effectively seek justice. This increases people''s trust in the judicial power and also increases the number of people who actively oppose the given violation, which leads to its prevention in society.
- the need to solve unequal access Roma children''s access to education remains important, but at the same time it is necessary to simultaneously and comprehensively promote equal access to housing, employment and health care.
- Roma men and women who defend themselves against violations of their rights face obstacles such as the quality of court decisions or the length of court proceedings. In some cases, filing a lawsuit brings personal risks for them, and these can be mitigated by filing a public lawsuit by an NGO. We consider it a valuable legal tool to protect the rights of a larger group of persons, which is important to develop. But the active protection of rights by injured persons is key - their individual authentic determination and perseverance can motivate other persons to stand up for their rights and positively influence the public''s view of how they view the violation of the rights of Roma men and women. In the same perspective, we consider it essential to cooperate closely with Roma men and women on other activities aimed at protecting their rights to the greatest extent possible.
The project was important for eliminating manifestations of discrimination and other violations of the human rights of Roma and Romani women in Slovakia. For a long time, the responsible state institutions did not take effective measures that would lead to ensuring the equality of socially excluded Roma and their full integration into society. Barriers to access to justice also persisted. With this project, the project implementers tried to contribute to positive changes through interconnected activities.
During the entire duration of the project, cases of discrimination and other violations of the rights of the Roma minority were monitored, which documented ongoing cases, with an emphasis on excluded Roma communities in eastern Slovakia. The findings from the monitoring were subsequently used in the strategic management of court cases and in advocacy activities towards the responsible state institutions and international human rights institutions.
The project implementers led several strategic actions initiated by discriminated Roma men and women in Slovak courts and at the European Court in Strasbourg, public lawsuits directed against systemic manifestations of discrimination and criminal proceedings in cases of alleged police violence. With them, we actually improved the application of anti-discrimination legislation, access to justice and contributed to the prevention of these cases in the future. The reached strategic judgments of the courts resonated in the media, public and political debate and created pressure towards the elimination of discrimination against the Roma minority, including its deep systemic manifestations such as segregation and racially motivated police violence.
Findings from the monitoring were subsequently used in strategic litigation and advocacy activities with responsible state institutions and international human rights institutions. The Civil and Human Rights Counsellor‘s Office has addressed various institutions‘ 29 suggestions for improving policies in this area, organised 14 advocacy meetings and was heavily involved in advocacy activities towards the UN CERD Committee, which addressed relevant recommendations to the Government.