The Department for the Execution of Judgement of the European Court of Human Rights of the Council of Europe has published a new factsheet on cases regarding Roma and Traveller community members. This is the 12th of a series of thematic factsheets presenting an overview of specific legislative, case-law, and policy developments in EU member states, and summarises measures to protect the rights of people from the two disadvantaged communities, taken by nine member states.
The introduction of the factsheet mentions the vulnerable and disadvantaged position in which Roma people have been put in by their history, and states that the Traveller and Roma communities have been facing anti-Gypsyism and discrimination. The report goes on to analyse 17 judgments from the European Court of Human Rights which strengthen the protection of human rights for members of the disadvantaged communities.
Access to justice for Roma people has been defended in a case where an applicant’s imprisonment sentence was refused suspension due to her Roma origin. The domestic Supreme Court of Cassation in that case made a new assessment, finding that the conditions to have the three-year sentence suspended were met, and stated that the decision of the previous court had been a ‘blatant violation of the principles of equal treatment and prohibition on discrimination’.
The respect for the private and family life of Roma and Traveller people has also been strengthened, along with their protection against hate crimes. Court judgments on the forced sterilisation of Roma women prompted authorities to adopt the Health Care Act 2004, which presents prerequisites to sterilisation such as written request and written and informed consent. The Housing rights of Travellers have been defended when the proportionality of a decision to evict 25 members of the community was found not appropriately examined. Measures to provide suitable housing for Travellers have also been taken, in the form of a 2017 Law on equality and citizenship which provides for the consideration of rented family sites, and a decree from December 2019 providing for publicity to inform Traveller individuals of permanent reception areas and family rental plots.
The report speaks of a 2007 Law which recognised the right to a widower’s pension where the beneficiary would have led an uninterrupted life with the deceased for at least 6 years before the decease. This legislation was adopted after the Court found authorities’ refusal to recognise a Roma applicant’s marriage and her entitlement to survivor’s pension as valid, to be discriminatory.
Lastly, the right to education has been vindicated in numerous cases concerning discrimination of Roma children. In one instance, Roma children had been placed in special schools for children with intellectual deficiencies, which was found to be discriminatory. In response to this, authorities replaced special schools with a reduced educational programme. However, the Education Act was amended in 2016, so that it abolished the reduced educational programme entirely. This resulted in the increase of Roma children's participation in mainstream classes. Monitoring bodies were also instituted to oversee the work of school counselling centres, and one year of pre-school education was made compulsory. The effect of these measures on the education of children from disadvantaged backgrounds are to be evaluated.