Friday

29th Mar 2024

Watchdog warns of 'blatant racism' against Roma

  • Discrimination against Roma is on the rise (Photo: Council of Europe)

Europe's Roma population is subject to growing discrimination and more and more attacks by extremist groups, according to the Strasbourg-based human rights watchdog, the Council of Europe (CoE).

The council in a 250-page report published on Monday (27 February) said they suffer from "blatant racism" and have a life expectancy 10 years less than the average in several EU member states including Hungary, Spain and the United Kingdom.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

"They remain far behind others in education, employment, access to decent housing and health," the CoE's human rights commissioner Thomas Hammarberg told reporters in Brussels.

He noted that a cycle of disadvantage, exclusion, segregation and marginalisation feeds into a growing "anti-gypsyism" that uses Roma as a scapegoat to explain away society's ills while simultaneously depriving them of any chance to improve their lives.

The council report cited as examples of the trend recent marches into Roma camps by Hungarian exremist groups wearing paramilitary uniforms. Extremists in the country between 2008 and 2009 murdered six Roma, including a five-year-old child.

It added that in Sofia, Roma families were 10 years ago forced out of homes they legally owned to make way for a commercial centre. The families were placed in shipping containers, described as temporary housing units by the government until more adequate lodging could be found. But after nearly a decade, the families are still in the containers where they share a single outdoor faucet. None have toilets.

The stories are not unique.

In Italy in 2008 the image of Italian holidaymakers sunbathing on the beach next to the corpses of two Roma girls drew widespread condemnation.

Meanwhile, Ivan Ivanov, the executive director of the Brussels-based European Roma Information Office, said it is a popular misconception that Roma-related problems are concentrated solely in eastern and central Europe.

"Roma civil society in eastern and central European countries are generally better developed and more vocal than their western counterparts," he told EUobserver, noting that severe problems exist in the Netherlands, Ireland, Spain, Italy and France.

The French authorities are for instance still deporting Roma migrants from other EU countries despite the uproar in 2010 when it was discovered they were officially targeting the ethnic group and had labeled them as a "threat against public security."

Integrating Roma starts by Europe coming to terms with the crimes committed against the population, the CoE noted. "The apology and recognition of crimes against the Roma is the first step," said Hammarberg.

The Roma population was decimated by Nazi Germans but this was never acknowledged at the 1946 Nuremburg trials which sentenced Hitler's inner circle to death for crimes against humanity.

The European Commission has requested all EU member states to submit strategy reports and actions plans on how to best integrate the around 10 million Roma into their respective societies.

The plans should present a set of policy measures to improve their education, employment, healthcare and housing.

Nineteen final texts have been submitted to the commission while the remainder are either draft versions or have yet to be submitted. Member states are scheduled to discuss the national strategies at the end of March.

"To be honest, some of the strategies are far from the European Commission’s criteria," said Ivanov, noting that the final draft version of the submitted Dutch action plan is only six-pages long.

EU becoming less tolerant, NGO says

Racist mobs in Greece and Hungary, mistreatment of Roma, Arab migrants and Muslim terrorist suspects and a feeble reaction by EU institutions point to a worrying right-wing shift inside the EU, Human Rights Watch says.

EU Parliament set to sue EU Commission over Hungary funds

The European Parliament will likely take the European Commission to court for unblocking more than €10bn in funds for Hungary last December. A final nod of approval is still needed by European Parliament president, Roberta Metsola.

EU Commission clears Poland's access to up to €137bn EU funds

The European Commission has legally paved the way for Poland to access up to €137bn EU funds, following Donald Tusk's government's efforts to strengthen the independence of their judiciary and restore the rule of law in the country.

Opinion

Potential legal avenues to prosecute Navalny's killers

The UN could launch an independent international investigation into Navalny's killing, akin to investigation I conducted on Jamal Khashoggi's assassination, or on Navalny's Novichok poisoning, in my role as special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, writes the secretary-general of Amnesty International.

Opinion

I'll be honest — Moldova's judicial system isn't fit for EU

To state a plain truth: at present, Moldova does not have a justice system worthy of a EU member state; it is riven with corruption and lax and inconsistent standards, despite previous attempts at reform, writes Moldova's former justice minister.

Latest News

  1. Kenyan traders react angrily to proposed EU clothes ban
  2. Lawyer suing Frontex takes aim at 'antagonistic' judges
  3. Orban's Fidesz faces low-polling jitters ahead of EU election
  4. German bank freezes account of Jewish peace group
  5. EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania
  6. 'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told
  7. Moscow's terror attack, security and Gaza
  8. Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  2. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries
  3. European Citizen's InitiativeThe European Commission launches the ‘ImagineEU’ competition for secondary school students in the EU.
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  5. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  6. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us