ERRC Letter to Slovak Prime Minister
Reply-To: [email protected]
Sender: [email protected]
From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Date: Mon, 6 Mar 2000 16:36:58 +0200 (EET)
Message-Id: <[email protected]>
Subject: ERRC Letter to Slovak Prime Minister
From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Original sender: European Roma Rights Center <[email protected]>
ERRC Letter to Slovak Prime Minister
DATE OF RELEASE: FEBRUARY 28
On February 23, 2000, the European Roma Rights Center (ERRC), an
international public interest law organisation which monitors the
situation of Roma in Europe and provides legal defense in cases of
human rights abuse, sent a letter to Slovak Prime Minister Mikulas
Dzurinda to express concern at the human rights situation of Roma in
Slovakia, as well as at the failure of government measures to date to
combat abuses.
The ERRC letter provides detailed information on political abuses of
Roma in the village of Petrova; police abuses of Roma in Hermanovce,
Kosice, Poprad and Zehra; attacks on Roma by non-Romani Slovaks -
including attacks by racist skinheads - in Bratislava, Car and
Hermanovce; and failures of the judicial system to provide remedy
where Roma have fallen victim of serious abuses in Banska Bystrica,
Hontianske Nemce, Lucenec and Poprad. The letter notes that despite a
disturbing pattern of racially motivated attack by non-Romani Slovaks
on Roma, according to statistics published in the Slovak press, Slovak
authorities managed to solve only eleven racially motivated crimes in
1999. Where ethnically motivated crimes have been solved, in many
cases Slovak authorities have apparently made little effort to inform
the public, including the Romani communities.
The ERRC letter additionally notes that Romani women who fell victim
to a systematic sterilization campaign sterilised until 1990 have
never received justice or any form of compensation for their
suffering. The ERRC letter indicates with alarm active efforts to
segregate Roma in Slovakia and notes that the present President of
Slovakia, Mr Rudolf Schuster, was mayor of Kosice during a campaign to
remove Roma living in various places in and around Kosice and to
segregate them in a massive substandard ghettoised housing project
called "Lunik IX". The ERRC letter additionally calls attention to
deep patterns of discrimination especially in the areas of education
and housing. Documentation on several instances in which Slovak
officials have obstructed efforts to remedy the dire housing situation
of Roma is presented. The ERRC notes that according to information
originating from the Office of the President, Slovakia is dramatically
failing to live up to its commitments under the International Covenant
on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights with respect to the education
of Romani children.
The ERRC letter notes with alarm the fact that according to recent
surveys, 60.4% of Slovaks say they favor separating Roma from the
majority population. The ERRC decries the fact that a number of
prominent Slovak politicians have made anti-Romani statements or
statements attempting to downplay the gravity of the human rights
situation of Roma in Slovakia.
The ERRC letter also expresses concern that to date Slovakia has not
yet adopted adequate anti-discrimination legislation.
The letter expresses disappointment that to date budgetary allocations
aimed at Roma in Slovakia remain severely inadequate. Also, some
expenditures listed under Roma-related budgets are extremely
questionable.
The ERRC letter concludes with six recommendations to the Slovak
government:
1. Call the problem by its true names of racism, discrimination,
segregation and the legacy of centuries of humiliating treatment;
2. Act firmly to counter instances of discriminatory treatment and
racist abuse;
3. Seriously evaluate communicative practices between police and
judicial authorities and the Romani communities with a mind to
informing Roma of successful prosecutions of racist crimes;
4. Adopt comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation necessary to
equip individuals to pursue justice when they believe they have
suffered racist harm;
5. Open and fund adequately legal advisory and legal defense centres
in every major town in Slovakia with the purpose of providing free
legal aid to Roma;
6. Adopt long-term strategies to overcome the problem of racism in
Slovak society and the patterns of discrimination and segregation
resulting from it, and fund them adequately.
***
The full text of the ERRC letter:
http://www.errc.org/publications/letters/2000/slovak_febr_28_2000.shtml
.........
***
Persons wishing to express similar concerns to the Slovak government
are urged to contact:
Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda
Nam. Slobody
813 70 Bratislava 1
Slovakia
Fax: (421 7) 54 41 54 84
Deputy Prime Minister for Human and Minority Rights and Regional
Development Pal Csaky
Nam. Slobody
813 70 Bratislava 1
Slovakia
Fax: (421 7) 52 49 20 27
Government Commissioner for the Resolution of the Problems of the
Romani Minority Vincent Danihel
Lomacka cesta 8
P.O. Box 22
811 04 Bratislava
Slovakia
Fax: (421 7) 59 36 44 21
*****************
The European Roma Rights Center is an international public interest
law organisation which monitors the rights of Roma and provides legal
defence in cases of human rights abuse. For more information about the
European Roma Rights Center, visit the ERRC on the web at
http://errc.org.
European Roma Rights Center
1386 Budapest 62
P.O. Box 906/93
Hungary
Telephone: (36 1) 42 82 351
Fax: (36 1) 42 82 356
*****************
SUPPORT THE ERRC!
The European Roma Rights Center is dependent upon the generosity of
individual donors for its continued existence. If you believe the ERRC
performs a service valuable to the public, please join in enabling its
future with a contribution. Gifts of all sizes are welcome; bank
transfers are preferred. Please send your contribution to:
European Roma Rights Center
Budapest Bank Rt.
99P00402686
1054 Budapest
Bathory utca 1
Hungary
--
==============================================================
MINELRES - a forum for discussion on minorities in Central&Eastern
Europe
Submissions: [email protected]
Subscription/inquiries: [email protected]
List archive: http://www.riga.lv/minelres/archive.htm
==============================================================