Continued Segregation in Czech Schools Devastates Lives of Roma Children

Two Years after Landmark Discrimination Ruling, Government Statistics Confirm Roma Children Are Still Shunted into Separate Schools

STRASBOURG, France, November 11 - By following through on its commitment to integrate its educational
system, the Czech Republic can set a much-needed example for the rest of
Europe said human rights organizations today.

"The Czech government must take immediate steps-including adopting a
time-bound plan with targeted goals-to desegregate its schools," said James
A. Goldston, executive director of the Open Society Justice Initiative.
"Unless Roma are able to access quality education they will remain trapped in
poverty and isolated at society's margins."

In a recent filing
(www.soros.org/initiatives/justice/litigation/czechrepublic) before
the Council of Europe, the Open Society Justice Initiative and the European
Roma Rights Centre argued that the Czech Republic must do more to comply with
a 2007 European Court of Human Rights ruling on school segregation. Despite
ongoing efforts to address the problem, the government's own statistics
confirm that in some parts of the country Roma children are still 26 or 27
times more likely than non-Roma to be placed in practical schools for
children with mental disabilities.

Throughout parts of Europe, Roma children are routinely placed in schools
for the mentally disabled regardless of their actual intellectual abilities.
The European Court of Human Rights in 2007 ruled that the Czech Republic had
violated the European Convention of Human Rights by segregating Roma children
into schools for the mentally disabled. The court condemned segregation of
Roma in Greek schools in 2008, and a challenge to the school segregation of
Roma in Croatia is still pending.

"The court confirmed that the school segregation of Roma children is
illegal in Europe. The Czech government has an opportunity to take a
leadership role on the treatment of Roma children throughout Europe's
schools," said Robert Kushen, managing director of the European Roma Rights
Centre. "Racial discrimination has no place in today's Europe."

The filing calls for steps including passing legislation that would
require the government to integrate schools, ensuring the provision of early
childhood education for disadvantaged children that assists entry to standard
primary schools, and continuing to provide educational support and take other
measures such as language training for children whose home language is not
Czech.

More information about D.H. and Others v. the Czech Republic is available
on the European Roma Rights Centre
(www.errc.org/cikk.php?cikk=2945&archiv=1) and Open Society Justice
Initiative
(www.soros.org/initiatives/justice/litigation/czechrepublic) websites.

Rachel Hart, +1-212-548-0378, rhart at sorosny.org (New York); or Sinan Gokcen, +36-1-4132200, sinan.gokcen at errc.org (Budapest)