ZAGREB, May 13 (Hina) - The Budapest-based European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) has announced that it will file a lawsuit with the European Court of Human Rights against Croatia for the segregation of Roma children in primary schools in
Medjimurje County, the ERRC director said in Zagreb on Tuesday.
ZAGREB, May 13 (Hina) - The Budapest-based European Roma Rights
Centre (ERRC) has announced that it will file a lawsuit with the
European Court of Human Rights against Croatia for the segregation
of Roma children in primary schools in Medjimurje County, the ERRC
director said in Zagreb on Tuesday. #L#
The ERRC has announced the lawsuit on behalf of 15 Roma children
attending primary schools in Macinec, Podturen and Orehovica in
Medjumurje County due to the continuing racial discrimination and
segregation of Roma children, ERRC director Jean Garland told
reporters at the organisation's offices in Zagreb.
The ERRC is an international institution for public law with
advisory status in the Council of Europe and the U.N. Economic and
Social Council.
In April 2002 the ERRC filed a segregation lawsuit with the Cakovec
Municipal Court on behalf of 57 Romany children against the
Croatian Education Ministry, Medjimurje County and four primary
schools.
The court dismissed the lawsuit and its ruling was confirmed by the
County Court in November 2002. In December 2002 the plaintiffs
filed an appeal with the Constitutional Court asking it to quash the
ruling and order a retrial.
The Constitutional Court has not made a decision on the appeal yet,
so formal conditions for addressing the European Court of Human
Rights have not been met.
The ERRC has announced that it will file a complaint with the
Strasbourg-based court in order to protect the plaintiff's right to
appeal within six months against a final decision by the national
judiciary, Garland said.
Due to the possibility that the Constitutional Court may declare
itself incompetent in the case, the final decision would be the
ruling of the Cakovec County Court of 13 November 2002, so last
Friday the ERRC announced its lawsuit with the Strasbourg-based
court in order to protect the plaintiff's right to appeal, she
added.
The announcement, which was submitted by the ERRC and attorney
Lovorka Kusan, includes a summary of cases and violations of
paragraphs of the European Convention on Human Rights, which
Croatia ratified.
Placing Roma children in separate classrooms is a denigrating act
and an act of racial discrimination in one's exercising the right to
education and constitutes a violation of the Convention, the
document reads.
Explaining on why the number of plaintiffs dropped from 57 to 15,
Garland said this was the result of pressures by local authorities
on the parents.
She also said the Croatian government was making efforts to improve
the situation by employing Roma assistants in classrooms.
However, she warned about an incident when parents physically
prevented Roma children from entering a school, as well as
Medjimurje County prefect Branimir Levacic's (Croatian Social
Liberal Party) September 2002 statement that he would not let his
children attend the same school with Roma children, and about a
recent petition by the residents of Drzimurec who protested against
the construction of a school for Roma children.
Garland expects that the Constitutional Court will decide about the
appeal within a year's time at the latest.
If the Court decides to return the case to the court of first
instance, that will give Croatia an opportunity to solve the case on
its own, Garland said. In the event the ruling of the court of first
instance is confirmed, the ERRC will file a lawsuit with the court
in Strasbourg, she said.
(hina) rml