AI: EU action against Czech Republic for discrimination in schools is a victory for rights, justice, and Roma

Amnesty International today welcomed the European Commission’s announcement
that it would use its powers to initiate infringement proceedings against the
Czech Republic for breaching European Union (EU) anti-discrimination legislation.

“For years, Amnesty International has documented systemic discrimination
against Roma children in Czech schools. Yet the Czech government has so far
failed to take effective measures to prevent, address and remedy this,” said
Nicolas J. Beger, Director of Amnesty International’s European Institutions
Office.

“In agreeing to launch infringement proceedings, the Commission has sent a
clear message to the Czech Republic and other member states – systemic
discrimination towards Roma cannot and will not be tolerated.”

The pre-litigation mechanism enables the Commission to hold the Czech
government accountable for, and publicly and politically put pressure on it to
end, the ongoing, systemic and unlawful practice of discrimination against
Romani children in Czech schools.

The announcement comes one and a half years after Amnesty International and
other civil society organisations called on the Commission to engage with the
Czech government through infringement proceedings to tackle education
discrimination against Romani children. The organisation presented a petition
with nearly 100,000 signatures gathered in under three months calling on the
Commission to take stronger action against EU member states failing to implement
EU anti-discrimination legislation to protect Roma. These calls were based on
evidence, gathered over a decade, of widespread unlawful discrimination against
Romani children in Czech education, notably through segregation into schools for
pupils with ‘mild mental disabilities’ or Roma-only schools, or classes offering
lower educational standards.

“Education is a human right that must be guaranteed to all children.
Discrimination through segregated education is unlawful. It leads to poorer
education and limits future employment opportunities, trapping Romani children
in a vicious cycle of marginalisation and exclusion,” added Beger.

A 2013 survey by the Czech Schools Inspectorate (the national body
responsible for ensuring schools comply with national legislation) exposed the
disproportionately high number of Romani children in schools for pupils with
‘mild mental disabilities’. The monitoring of 483 schools with five or more
pupils with this diagnosis found that a staggering 28.2% of them were Roma.
However, Roma make up less than three percent of the total population. The Czech
Ombudsperson (responsible for monitoring and ensuring compliance with anti-discrimination
legislation) found this to be discriminatory in 2012.

The prospects for Romani children that do make it to ‘main-stream’ education
are not much better. Many are segregated into schools and classes with lower
educational standards. In 2014, Amnesty International has continued to collect
evidence of Roma-only mainstream schools in which the educational programmes
followed differed very little from those of schools for pupils with ‘mild mental
disabilities’.

“Today the Commission has lived up to its role as ‘guardian of the EU
Treaties’, upholding EU law, and challenging member states for violating
fundamental rights,” said Beger. “The Commission’s words must now be followed by
swift, concrete, and consistent action to hold the Czech Republic accountable
and stop discrimination. This will be essential to protect not only the current
and future generations of Roma in the Czech Republic, but across the EU, where
they continue to face routine discrimination.”

Background

Infringement proceedings as established by Article 258 of the Treaty on the
Functioning of the European Union provide the Commission with an effective
legislative tool to engage with the 28 European EU member states to ensure
compliance with EU law. Member states found to be in breach of EU law may be
brought to the Court of Justice for the European Union. If the Court finds a
member state has failed to fulfil an obligation under the Treaties, it will
require the state to take the necessary measures to comply.

The decision to launch the proceedings against the Czech Republic was
announced today, 25 September, following a meeting of the College of
Commissioners. The proceedings call into question the Czech Republic’s
compliance with: Article 21 (1) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU,
which prohibits discrimination based on any ground such as race or ethnic origin;
and the Race Equality Directive (2000/43/EC (RED)) Articles 2.2a, 2.2b, 2.3,
3.1.g, which prohibit discrimination in access to education on the grounds of
race or ethnicity.

The Commission will now send a formal notice with its assessment of the
situation to the Czech government which will be given a deadline to submit its
observations. After that, the Commission will conclude whether the Czech
Republic is indeed failing to comply with EU law. In case of an infringement,
the Commission may bring the matter before the Court of Justice of the European
Union.