http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/stephen_humphreys/2007/11/a_verdict_with _reach.html
A verdict with reach Stephen Humphreys November 18, 2007 9:00 AM The ruling against the Czech practice of segregating Roma schoolchildren from 'whites' will have positive reverberations throughout Europe It truly is a <http://cmiskp.echr.coe.int/tkp197/view.asp?item=23&portal=hbkm&action=html&; highlight=&sessionid=3364703&skin=hudoc-en> groundbreaking decision. Last Tuesday the European court of human rights in Strasbourg ruled that the Czech practice of <http://education.guardian.co.uk/schoolsworldwide/story/0,,2212175,00.html> segregating Roma schoolchildren out from "whites" amounted to race discrimination and was a violation of the European convention on human rights. The government was ordered to pay modest compensation to the 18 children who brought the case. But the ruling will reverberate far beyond Ostrava, their home city in the Czech Republic. Race segregation affects tens of thousands of <http://www.errc.org/> European children. It is common throughout Bulgaria and Slovakia - and to a somewhat lesser extent, Hungary and Romania too - but will now have to stop everywhere. Lifting barriers to ethnic mixing affects non-Roma and Roma children alike. It will expose them to the different traditions (cultures and languages) that co-exist throughout Europe - but also to the fundamental common humanity they all share. On top of this, the judgment in DH and Others v Czech Republic is the most forthright anti-racism statement by far that the Strasbourg court has ever made. For the first time the court recognised that discrimination occurs not only as a result of direct and explicit "race-based" laws or regulations, but also indirectly - when apparently non-discriminatory rules hit some groups harder than others. No Czech law required Roma to be schooled separately. But a complex set of culturally biased psychological tests ensured they were habitually shunted off into "special schools" for the mentally disabled. That looks a lot like straightforward racism, but as recently as February this year, this same court rejected the principle of "indirect discrimination", as it's called, in an earlier ruling on the same case. What has changed? Well, a very dedicated group of <http://www.justiceinitiative.org/db/resource2?res_id=102627> activist lawyers should take much credit. But another main cause is European Union law. Somewhat confusingly, Europe has two legal systems, the 27-member EU's and the 47-member Council of Europe's, each with their own highest court (in Luxembourg and Strasbourg). Having two systems has not caused too much difficulty, partly because they deal with different issues - human rights, on one hand, competition and trade on the other - and partly because they respect one another's turf. But in 2000 a strong EU anti-discrimination law, known as the Race Directive, crossed the tacit boundary. The directive outlaws indirect discrimination throughout the EU - including, since 2004, the Czech Republic. The Czech school case is perhaps the first time the Strasbourg court has had to rule on a case where EU human rights law is stronger than its own past rulings. This might sound like a technical point but it is extremely consequential. The court is highly respected and it makes binding decisions for 47 countries, not just the EU-27, and for everyone, not just citizens. At a stroke, the court has transformed the capacity of minorities from Cork to Vladivostok to challenge institutional racism wherever they find it. This makes the DH ruling even more radical than the famous 1954 US supreme court case Brown v Board of Education, which ended legal segregation in that country's schools. Some will complain that the court chose the wrong target - after all, the Czech Republic has channelled more time and resources into schooling Roma children than most other countries. But the court got the bigger picture right: even a well-meaning policy must be stopped if its effects fundamentally entrench racism. Guardian Unlimited C Guardian News and Media Limited 2007 ---------------------------- Vali "Noble blood is an accident of fortune; noble actions are the chief mark of greatness." (Carlo Goldoni) "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace." (Jimi Hendrix) Aboneaza-te la <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ngo_list> ngo_list: o alternativa moderata (un pic) la [ngolist] Please consider the environment - do you really need to print this email?
