MINELRES: ERRC: UN Concerned at Situation of Roma in Germany

[MINELRES moderator]

Original sender: European Roma Rights Center <errc@errc.org> 

Subject: UN Concerned at Situation of Roma in Germany 



Human Rights Committee speaks out on Roma Rights in Germany

The European Roma Rights Center (ERRC) welcomes the Concluding
Observations of the United Nations Human Rights Committee on Germany's
compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights.

The Committee expressed concern that "the Roma continue to suffer
prejudice and discrimination, particularly with regard to access to
housing and employment", and recommended that the German government
"intensify its efforts to integrate Roma communities in Germany in a
manner respectful of their cultural identity, in particular through the
adoption of positive action with regard to housing, employment and
education".

The Committee also noted that "Roma are disproportionately affected by
deportation and other measures to return foreigners to their countries
of origin (article 26 and 27 of the Covenant)", and recommended that the
State party "should guarantee the principle of non-discrimination in its
practice relating to deportation and return of foreigners to their
countries of origin".

On the occasion of the release of the Committee's findings, ERRC
Executive Director Dimitrina Petrova said: "The Committee joins a
growing chorus of voices very concerned at Germany's treatment of
migrants and refugees -- Romani migrants and refugees in particular --
as well as its failure to date to combat racial discrimination against
Roma. We in the Roma rights community call on the German government
finally to join the ranks of governments taking seriously the need to
act positively and in thorough-going fashion to combat human rights 
abuse of Roma."

Petrova went on to note specifically that "It is to Germany's shame that
the European Union's most powerful Member State has not only missed
deadlines to adopt a comprehensive anti-discrimination law in conformity
with EU rules, but also apparently does not at present have a publicly
available draft law."

Commenting on Germany's general failure to date to combat human rights
abuse of Roma, ERRC Advocacy Officer Virgil-Cristi Mihalache said:
"Germany has explicitly excluded non-citizen Roma from minority rights
protections in Germany. We wonder when the German government will remove
this arbitrary distinction, which in practice has only served to divide
Roma into 'deserving' and undeserving'."

ERRC Programmes Director Claude Cahn added: "Germany is among those
governments which have not yet identified Roma as a target group for
social inclusion, within European Union National Action Plan frameworks
to combat social exclusion, despite evident need. The Human Rights
Committee findings provide an important opportunity for the German
government to act finally to combat the social exclusion of Roma, by
committing publicly to include Roma in its next National Action Plan."

The full text of the UN Committee's Concluding Observations is available
at:
http://www.ohchr.org/tbru/ccpr/Germany.pdf

An ERRC submission presented to the UN Human Rights Committee in advance
of the  review summarises a number of concerns with respect to the
treatment of Sinti and Roma in Germany in areas of relevance to the
Covenant. The full text of the ERRC written comments is available on the
Internet at: 
http://errc.org/publications/legal/index.shtml

For further information, please contact the offices of the ERRC: (36 1)
41 32 200


_____________________________________________

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://www.errc.org.

European Roma Rights Center
1386 Budapest 62
P.O. Box 906/93
Hungary


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

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