European Roma Rights Centre - Budapest, Hungary

Hi Everyone!

I am rounding at week 3 of my internship at the European Roma Rights Center in Budapest. It's been a fascinating time, and the people I work with and for are wonderful. The ERRC has both a legal department and programs department that work together to raise awareness of Roma rights issues both in the Roma community and the rest of Europe. They have also brought several lawsuits alleging human rights abuses against the Roma by different European governments. I have been working on organizing the case-file of a very important case, D.H. and Others v. Czech Republic, which the ERRC fought and won against the Czech government in 2007. (The full case can be read on the European Court of Human Rights website in their HUDOC database, for some reason I'm having trouble pasting the link). The gist of the case is that 18 students in the Czech republic were placed in schools for children with mental disabilities and were being educated there as though they had mental disabilities. The real reason they were placed there is because they were Romani - none of them had any mental or learning disabilities. The case was lost at the section level, but won at the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights. It was a landmark case not only for the ERRC but also for Romani students everywhere.

Unfortunately, this type of discrimination against Roma is commonplace in Europe. I find it very difficult to explain to Americans just how serious the intensity of the racism against the Roma in Europe really is. Notwithstanding some important differences, the racism, abuse, and discrimination the Roma experience everyday in Europe is on par with the way African-Americans were treated in America prior to (and even after) the Civil Rights Movement. I have been most astonished with the way that this treatment affects Romani children - they are more susceptible than white children to being lured into human-trafficking, they are siphoned off into de facto segregated schools with the lowest quality of education, they are prone to bullying and violence from white children and adults, they have a higher drop-out rate than white children, and the list goes on. I read an article today about a 13 year-old Romani boy in Bulgaria who was shot in the head by a neighbor because the neighbor was tired of the noise the Romani children were making outside - the lives of Romani children are in danger simply because of their ethnicity.

I could go on about the problems that the Roma are still dealing and have been for centuries. The difficult part for me about all of this is that because anti-tsiganism (the term for racism against Roma in many countries in Eastern Europe) is so prevalent throughout European society, it receives very little coverage in the press. I have read several articles written about the "Roma Invasion" (as though they were insects or varmin) of some areas of countries where there weren't many Roma before - even the press conveys a sense of disgust at the very sight of Roma communities. I really believe that if Americans had any idea what the reality was over here, it may shock them into pressuring European governments for reform.

Anyways, for now I am organizing the case I mentioned and working on getting it into an online system that the ERRC will be able to easily access in the future. In addition to that, I'm also doing some other things - editing articles for the ERRC website, doing some research, etc.

Which brings me to playtime! There's nothing quite as amazing as watching World Cup games in Europe. It's electric! That's the only way to describe it. Also, Budapest is just a really beautiful city in general. The architecture is so strange - a combination of faux-gothic buildings that were erected in 1898 for a huge meet-up of the world's leaders, mixed with some remnants from the communist era. All in all, Budapest is extremely colorful, both literally and culturally. The food is...well, it's not good. But the beer is great, and it's really cheap. The weather has been amazing. I know Budapest isn't everyone's ideal European destination, but if you get a chance, it doesn't disappoint. I'm really lucky to be in such a beautiful city at such an exciting time. I'm especially lucky to be at the ERRC. Please check out their website (http://www.errc.org/) - there are always articles posted about current events in the Roma community, including things that ERRC is currently working on and has worked on in the past. It is a fascinating and essential issue for the human rights agenda.

I hope everyone is well in their respective corners of the world!

Peace from Hungary!

Jessica Parra