MINELREL-L Archive (04292001-11:23:49-7112)

Desegregation: Joint press release of the OSI, ERRC, BHC, and the HRP


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Date: Sun, 29 Apr 2001 11:23:48 +0300 (EEST)
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Subject: Desegregation: Joint press release of the OSI, ERRC, BHC, and the HRP


From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>

Original sender: European Roma Rights Center <[email protected]>

Desegregation: Joint press release of the OSI, ERRC, BHC, and
the HRP


Joint press release of the Open Society Institute, European Roma
Rights Center, Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, and the Human Rights
Project
 
Sofia, April 27, 2001

Bulgarian President Petar Stoyanov stated in his opening address at
the conference "The Desegregation of the "Romani Schools" in Bulgaria
a Condition for an Equal Start of Roma": "I fully endorse the idea of
desegregation of Romani schools in Bulgaria and congratulate the
successful Vidin desegregation project, which is a first step in a
process to which the Bulgarian government is committed". On September
15, 2000, about 300 Romani children from the Nov Pat Romani
neighbourhood of Vidin started the school year by being bussed to one
of the six mixed regular schools in the town. This initiative was a
major challenge to the pattern of continued educational segregation of
Romani children in Bulgaria, by offering the Romani children an
opportunity to integrate in the mainstream educational system. The
conference opened with a documentary about the integration of pupils
from one Romani school in the Romani neighbourhood in the town of
Vidin, Bulgaria, that was initiated through the efforts of the
Vidin-based Romani non-governmental organisation "Drom" and was
supported by the Open Society Institute.

The conference was held on April 27, 2001 in Sofia and was
co-organised by the Open Society Institute's Roma Participation
Program, the European Roma Rights Center, the Bulgarian Helsinki
Committee, and Human Rights Project. This first major debate on the
prospects of equal educational opportunities for Roma through
integrated schooling,  convened Romani educational experts and
activists, governmental officials, diplomats, representatives of the
World Bank, as well as international and domestic human rights
organisations.

A broad consensus over the need to desegregate the "Romani schools" in
Bulgaria was reached among Romani organisations, educational experts,
and human rights activists, already in October 1998, when about 70
Romani organisations proposed to the government of Bulgaria the
Framework Program for Equal Integration of Roma in Bulgarian Society,
which envisages a long-term strategy of school desegregation. The
Framework Program was adopted by a decision of the Bulgarian
government on April 22, 1999. However, no action towards the
desegregation of the Romani schools has been undertaken to date by the
authorities.

Rumyan Russinov, Director of the Roma Participation Program of the OSI
stated that the success of the desegregation initiative in Vidin had
demonstrated that Roma want to integrate in the schooling system of
the majority. The desegregation project in Vidin should become a model
for a nationwide drive towards eliminating the segregation of Romani
schools, said he, and urged Bulgarian authorities to start immediate
action in this direction. Deborah Harding, Vice President of OSI,
spoke of the high social cost of maintaining a dual school system
whose graduates are semi-literate and have no productive future. She
stressed integrated schooling is in the interest of society as a
whole, not just of the minority and that international donors would be
interested in helping Bulgaria to desegregate its educational system.
The accession of Bulgaria to the European Union is a priority in the
country's foreign policy and the integration of Roma is high on our
agenda in this context, was the view of Foreign Minister Nadezhda
Mikhailova. Dimitrina Petrova, Director of the European Roma Rights
Center, emphasised that segregated education of Roma, as it currently
exists, constitutes a violation of the constitutional right to
non-discrimination and that Bulgarian government has an obligation to
provide remedy. Directive 2000/43 of the Council of the European Union
"on implementing the principle of equal treatment between persons
irrespective of racial or ethnic origin" obliges Bulgaria as an
accession country to enact legislation which outlaws not only direct
discrimination but also the indirect discrimination. Minister
Alexander Pramatarski, Chair of the National Council for Ethnic and
Demographic Issues, described the current work of the Bulgarian
government on a comprehensive anti-discrimination law, which is
expected to meet EU standards.

Participants agreed that the existence of the substandard all-Romani
schools in Bulgaria is arguably a case of indirect discrimination
because the inferior quality of education in the all-Romani schools,
which are being tolerated by the Bulgarian authorities, put Romani
children at a particular disadvantage compared to their peers
attending the mixed regular schools. A lively discussion between
officials of the Educational Ministry, other institutions, and Romani
experts and activists ended in a confirmed joint commitment to
desegregation despite anticipated obstacles.

_____________________________________________

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

Phone: +36 1 4132200
Fax:   +36 1 4132201

_____________________________________________

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

For correspondence, please use mailto:[email protected].

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http://errc.org/publications/mlist/index.shtml

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