NEW COUNTRY PROFILES ON ROMA FROM ERRC

The European Roma Rights Centre has published new country profiles which outline some of the major issues affecting Roma in 10 countries. The short reports indicate that, despite some efforts to improve the situation of Romani individuals and communities, they still have to face violence and hate speech and cannot enjoy the same opportunities and standards as the rest of the society. The ERRC country profiles are produced to give a snapshot of the situation of Roma and the work of the ERRC in the Czech Republic, France, Italy, Macedonia, Serbia, Slovakia, Romania, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine in 2011-2012, focusing on ERRC core themes such as education, housing, violence and the state response to violent incidents. ERRC Executive Director Dezideriu Gergely said, “Our country profiles establish that there is a long way to go to reach a discrimination-free Europe. Roma matters are a litmus test for European values. Governments must put their commitments to fight discrimination into action.” The ERRC country profiles provide provide information that should strengthen research and advocacy by and for Roma across Europe. The findings were gathered from specific ERRC research, ongoing work by ERRC country monitors, media scanning and research from other sources. The profiles also list the international legal human rights tools that each country is a signatory to. Condensed from a news release by the European Roma Rights Centre. For more information: Sinan Gökçen, Media and Communications Officer, ERRC, sinan.gokcen@errc.org