Roma Children Condemned to Second-Rate Education, Court Told

Jan. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Children of Roma families, an ethnic group often called Gypsies, were ``systematically and wrongly'' sent to schools for pupils with learning difficulties, condemning them to a second-class social status and limited opportunities, a European court heard today.

The case, whose significance is being compared with the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling a half-century ago to end racial segregation, was brought to the European Court of Human Rights by Czech citizens who were sent to such schools in the 1990s. More than 50 percent of the Roma children in the Czech region of Ostrava were placed in these schools.

``But for their Roma ethnicity, would these children have been treated in the same way?'' Lawyer Anthony Lester QC asked the court in the French town of Strasbourg. Had it not been for their ethnic background, the children would have received a better education with more opportunities, he argued.

Lester, known as Lord Lester of Herne Hill since he was made a life peer in 1993, called on the court to take a ``robust'' stance and establish in its ruling that a situation can be discriminatory even if it isn't a government's intent or motive to do so. The case concerns a ``highly vulnerable'' group in society and has implications for the rights of all minorities, he said.

Historic Case

``The ending of racial segregation in schools in the U.S. began with a court decision,'' Clive Baldwin, a lawyer with Minority Rights Group International, said before the hearing. He was referring to the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown v Board of Education.

``The European Court of Human Rights has the opportunity to make a similar historic decision in the case before it today and start the process of ending the segregation of Europe's largest minority,'' Baldwin said.

The difficulties for the Roma to integrate into society has come to the fore at the court in the same week that the European Parliament added a more extreme nationalist group -- Identity, Tradition and Sovereignty. The parliament's new president acknowledged that the new grouping may make it more difficult for the assembly to forge pro-European positions.

In the case at the human rights court, the Czech government argued that the system wasn't discriminatory as the special schools were never intended solely for Roma.

``Special schools constituted an alternative rather than a lower education,'' Vit Alexander Schorm, representing the Czech Republic, said at the hearing. The criteria for placing the children in these schools ``have nothing to do with their racial or ethnic origin,'' he said.

Psychological Tests

Under the Czech law, head teachers decided whether to send a child to a special school based on psychological tests. Parental consent was also required, though the applicants argue their parents weren't fully informed of the long-term consequences.

A 2004 report by the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance, or ECRI, said the plan was often presented to parents as an opportunity for children to get closer attention and be with other Roma children.

The Czech Republic, a member of the European Union since May 2004, introduced anti-discrimination legislation that came into force on Jan. 1, 2005, in order to comply with EU law and change the situation of Roma children. The ECRI report raised concerns that the Schools Act ``created the possibility for even further separation of Roma through the introduction of a new category of special programs for the `socially disadvantaged.'''

``Education of Roma children is still not assured in a satisfactory way and the government is aware of that'' Schorm told the court today. Integrating the Roma community is a ``profound challenge,'' but one that requires a political solution not a judicial one, he said.

Last Resort

The Court of Human Rights, set up in 1959, is the last court that European citizens can turn to for protection against breaches of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The court has said in previous rulings that the Roma are subjected to violence and discrimination in Slovakia and has found grounds for suspecting racist attitudes were behind violence that led to two Roma deaths in Bulgaria.

Today's case was heard by the court's 17-judge Grand Chamber, its most senior panel, which is expected to release a judgment later this year. A lower chamber at the court ruled in February that European human rights law hadn't been breached in the case.

The lower chamber gave an ``overly restrictive reading'' of the law, resulting in protection against discrimination being merely ``illusory,'' James Goldston, another lawyer representing the applicants, told the court.

The case is 57325/00, D. H. and Others v. the Czech Republic.

To contact the reporter on this story: Anna Jenkinson in Strasbourg via ajenkinson@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Eamonn Sullivan at esullivan@bloomberg.net