Court Approves Compensation for Discrimination against Roma
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From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Date: Mon, 1 Nov 1999 09:09:42 +0200 (EET)
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Subject: Court Approves Compensation for Discrimination against Roma
From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Original sender: European Roma Rights Center <[email protected]>
Court Approves Compensation for Discrimination against Roma
October 29 - The European Roma Rights Center (ERRC), an international
public interest law organisation based in Budapest, applauded the
court-approved settlement earlier this week of a lawsuit initiated in
1998 against a hotel restaurant for refusing to serve Roma. On 26
October, 1999, the Regional Court in Ostrava accepted the offer of the
Hotel Imperial, in the North Moravian industrial city of Ostrava,
Czech Republic, to pay 25,000 Czech crowns (the equivalent of
approximately $800 USD) as compensation for having refused service to
three Roma. At the same time, the hotel director acknowledged that
hotel staff had improperly discriminated against the Roma in denying
them service almost a year earlier. The Court's approval of this
settlement ends successfully the first legal case to challenge racial
discrimination in access to public accommodations in the Czech
Republic.
On 18 November 1998, three Roma entered the restaurant of the Hotel
Imperial, sat at a table and ordered coffees. A non-Roma legal staff
member of the European Roma Rights Center sat at a neighbouring table
and also ordered coffee. Shortly thereafter, a waiter approached the
Roma and said, "We do not serve Roma here." The waiter then asked the
Roma to leave the hotel, explaining that he was following the orders
of the hotel director. Following the departure of the three Roma, the
ERRC lawyer was served her coffee.
One of the Romani victims, Petr Horvath of the Association for Roma in
Moravia, launched a lawsuit against Hotel Imperial for infringement of
his human dignity and racial discrimination, in violation of Article
11 of the Czech Civil Code. Horvath's claim was supported by
statements from the other three witnesses present. The ERRC assisted
Czech lawyer, Vladimir Jezek in bringing the action. Mr Jezek stated:
"Petr Horvath was humiliated. He had never previously visited this
hotel, and there is simply no justification for a refusal of service
based on ethnicity."
The hotel director maintained that this waiter's denial of service was
an isolated incident. However, according to Czech newspaper reports,
other hotel employees have confirmed having received orders from
management not to serve Roma.
According to the terms of the settlement approved by the Regional
Court this week, the Hotel Imperial will pay 10,000 Czech crowns to
Petr Horvath and 15,000 Czech crowns to the civic association "Mutual
Co-Existence", to support construction of an integrated Romani and
non-Romani housing project called "Village Co-Existence in Ostrava".
Petr Horvath has stated that he will dedicate his 10,000 crown damages
to the Association for Roma in Moravia.
Debbie Winterbourne, ERRC staff attorney and witness in the case,
stated: "I was living in Ostrava for eight months. The racism and
discrimination against the Roma in this city is frightening. The
behaviour of the waiter in Hotel Imperial reflects the racist
attitudes of most of the non-Roma people that I encountered in the
city of Ostrava. If I was to walk down the street with a Romany
friend, non-Roma would glare at us. Whilst on the trams, my Roma
colleagues were kicked. And Hotel Imperial was not the only
establishment that refused to serve Roma during my time in this
city."
*****************
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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