According to the European Commission (EC), Slovakia is not effectively addressing the problem of Romani children being segregated in the schools. The EC has now filed a lawsuit with the EU Court of Justice over the issue.

Slovakia has undertaken a lot of legislative reforms and attempted to include Romani pupils, but is not making enough progress, according to an EC statement released today. According to Slovak Prime Minister Eduard Heger, many administrations have been engaged in practical solutions to the problem.

“The EU rules on racial equality (Directive 2000/43/EC) strictly prohibit discrimination on grounds of ethnic origin in key areas of life, including education. In Slovakia, however, Roma children are often placed in special schools for pupils with mild mental disabilities. Many Roma children who attend mainstream education are also segregated, in separate classes or schools,” the EC statement said today.

In 2015, the EC launched an infringement proceeding against Slovakia over the issue, and in 2019 they sent the Government their reasoned opinion about it. “Since then, Slovakia has undertaken a series of legislative reforms and adopted several strategies and action plans to foster Roma inclusion in education. However, after carefully assessing those measures and monitoring the situation on the ground, the Commission concluded that the reforms undertaken so far are insufficient,” the EC said.

“This is a consequence of the fact that nothing has been done with this for years. This is a problem that has persisted since the Slovak Republic began. The problem is here and we are intensively working on it,” Heger told journalists, adding that he believes it will take another 10 or 20 years for the practical solution to this issue to make any more significant progress.

Link: https://romea.cz/en/world/european-commission-takes-slovakia-to-the-eu-court-of-justice-over-romani-childrens-segregation-in-the-schools

Party officials and activists often use illegal means to influence the electoral will of members of socially disadvantaged and minority groups.

The poorest citizens are often exposed to political pressure as "easy targets". Compared to the general population, the rate of employment and education among Roma is significantly lower, and housing conditions are much worse. Combined with prejudice and marginalization, these facts make the Roma population very susceptible to pressure and manipulation by political actors.

Pressures on Roma sometimes also come from minority parties. Pressure is often exerted by persons who are Roma themselves. Either as party activists or party collaborators, i.e. Roma party trustees, or as coordinators for Roma issues, members of Roma organizations or members of the National Council, Roma are often the ones who directly exert pressure on their compatriots or play an important role in various forms of electoral corruption. covered Roma population.

The pressure exerted on Roma through the service system is testified by a member of a Roma organization, who gained authority in the Roma community through many years of work in the civil sector. As a member of the Roma organization, he functions as a link between the party and the Roma community, with the task of obtaining as many Roma votes as possible. He presents himself as someone who can do crucial things for the Roma community, such as employment, local actions, solving infrastructure problems, scholarships for children, education of young people, etc. He says that he would be cooperative with any party that would be considerate of the Roma community and that would enable him to perform the aforementioned tasks.

Link: https://pritisci.crta.rs/pritisci-na-rome/?fbclid=IwAR2A9V-IZYaPwXCPYTafk3u5l_BtjDD1VoZBklgiKTZDbyFYk92B4lJEZ9U