ERRC Demands - Halt Czech Apartheid
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Date: Sat, 9 Oct 1999 11:40:29 +0300 (EET DST)
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Subject: ERRC Demands - Halt Czech Apartheid
From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Original sender: European Roma Rights Center <[email protected]>
ERRC Demands - Halt Czech Apartheid
ERRC NEWS STATEMENT
For immediate release:
7 October, 1999
ERRC DEMANDS EFFECTIVE ACTION IN HALTING CZECH APARTHEID
Budapest, Hungary - With construction of a wall to segregate Roma in
the north Bohemian town of Usti nad Labem proceeding apace, the
European Roma Rights Center (ERRC), an international non-governmental
public interest law organisation, today expressed its dismay at the
continued inaction of the Czech government. The ERRC is appalled at
the apparent paralysis of the Czech government in the face of clear
evidence that local authorities in Usti nad Labem intend to defy the
law and segregate Roma on the basis of race. In view of the clearly
illegal nature of racial segregation, official attempts to explain
away continued national government inaction amount to an apology for
apartheid.
In May 1999, the ERRC called on the Czech government to halt municipal
plans for construction of a wall which would cordon off a Roma
"ghetto" in Usti nad Labem. Since that time, far from heeding appeals
for compromise, the municipality has brazenly stampeded ahead. Earlier
this week, construction of the wall actually commenced, provoking a
situation of extreme danger and inter-ethnic tension. Months of
dialogue and hand-wringing have proven ineffective. It is time for the
national government to make clear that segregation and racism are not
tolerated in the Czech Republic. National authorities should use all
appropriate administrative, judicial, and/or other legal measures to
prohibit - immediately and unequivocally - this illegal action and
terminate once and for all the prospect of racial segregation in Usti
nad Labem.
Since May 1998, municipal officials in Usti nad Labem have publicly
voiced their intention to construct a wall to segregate Romani
residents. Nonetheless, the Czech government has consistently dragged
its feet, with officials first denying that the wall amounts to
segregation, then - when that claim proved untenable - suggesting with
a straight face that, as a democracy, the Czech Republic cannot
forestall this action. But a democracy is hardly powerless to prevent
and prohibit racial segregation. Either racial segregation is an
offence in the Czech Republic - in which case the national government
has abandoned its responsibility to enforce the law - or it is not, in
which case the government is in breach of its obligations under the
International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
and other international law. Either way, for more than a year, the
Czech government has effectively stood by and watched as the Roma of
Usti nad Labem have been subjected to the continuing and humiliating
threat of racial segregation.
There should be no doubt that the contemplated action of the Usti nad
Labem authorities is unlawful. Racial segregation and discrimination
infringe Articles 3(1) and 24 of the Czech Charter of Fundamental
Rights and Freedoms, as well as binding international law. Article 3
of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Racial Discrimination obliges "States Parties" to "condemn racial
segregation and apartheid and [to] undertake to prevent, prohibit and
eradicate all practices of this nature in territories under their
jurisdiction." Furthermore, racial segregation constitutes "degrading
treatment" in violation of Article 3 of the European Convention on
Human Rights, which governments have an obligation to prevent and
prohibit. These provisions of international human rights treaties,
duly ratified by the government of the Czech Republic, are, by virtue
of Article 10 of the Czech Constitution, "applicable as directly
binding regulations, having priority before the law."
Furthermore, it is equally clear that the Czech government must and
can act to prevent segregation. In March 1999, during consideration of
the question under its early warning procedure, members of the United
Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination voiced
concern that the Government was not doing enough to prohibit an
unlawful act of racial segregation. Ion Diaconu, the Committee expert
serving as country rapporteur on the situation in the Czech Republic,
criticized the Government for having decided to take legal measures
only if and when the local authorities started actually to build the
fence: "The Government should have declared the decision to build the
fence illegal and should have requested its annulation. The country's
constitutional system provided that the higher authority could nullify
a local decision," he said. Another Committee expert said that he
would be satisfied only when the decision of the local authorities to
build the fence was in fact nullified. Promises to act in the event
construction commenced were deemed insufficient. Indeed, the Czech
government's own Commissioner for Human Rights has affirmed that Czech
law grants the national government the power effectively to cancel the
decision to build a wall.
In view of the foregoing, the inaction of the Czech government is
inexcusable. On May 26, 1999, buffeted by a wave of international
protest over the wall, the Czech cabinet went so far as to recommend
that the local government of Usti nad Labem rescind its decision - but
pointedly avoided any further measures which might actually stop the
wall's construction. Instead, the issue was simply left for Parliament
to address later this month. Meanwhile, construction of the wall
continues and the world watches.
*****************
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
H-1525 Budapest 114
PO Box 10/24
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
tranfers are preferred. Please send your contribution to:
European Roma Rights Center
Budapest Bank Rt.
99P00402686
1054 Budapest
Bathory utca 1
Hungary
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