BRATISLAVA, April 6, (WEBNOVINY) — Slovakia must put a stop to the segregation of Roma children in schools. This is one of the recommendations from the most recent report by the U.N. Committee for Human Rights, which addresses Slovakia again after almost eight years. The committee prompted the Slovak government to secure thorough fulfillment of obligations ensuing from the International Pact on Civil and Political Rights. In its recommendations it also focused on the problem of discrimination against the Roma minority, informed Ludmila Durajova of the Slovak branch of Amnesty International Slovensko.
The committee criticized excluding Roma from public life and discriminating against them in access to education and health care. It also reminded the Slovak government of their commitments to promote equality of opportunities for members of Roma community, pointed out the persisting occurrence of cases of police brutality against Roma as well as the way such cases are investigated, which are ineffective and lack independence.
The problem of the long-term practice of segregation of Roma children in education was given special attention. “The committee insists that immediate steps be taken to eliminate the de facto segregation of Roma children in education. The placement of all children, including Roma, in special schools has to be carried out on an individual basis; it has to come from expert medical diagnostics and in no case should it be influenced by the ethnicity of the child,” said Miroslava Hapalova of the Slovak branch of the humanitarian organization People in Need. “In its program statement, the government pledged to adopt measures to prevent segregation based on ethnic origin. It would be appropriate for the government to clarify what steps it has taken to eliminate this serious violation of human rights,” stated Barbora Cernusakova of Amnesty International Slovensko.
SITA
