Is the European Petitions Committee attempting to white wash human rights abuse? This Hungarian Romungro brother and sister face segregation and educational denial throughout their "school career" as a result of state-sponsored human rights abuse Once upon a time About a year ago, the European Committee on Romani Emancipation (ECRE), sent a petition to the European parliament. This concerns the now well-known situation of in excess of 150,000 Roma children in Central Europe who are segregated and denied education. The school systems in the Czech republic, Hungary and Slovakia are state run. The numbers of Roma children segregated and denied education has risen by more than 400% since 1989 as a direct result of central government funding incentives which are paid according to the number of children segregated in this way; they are placed in so-called special schools. ECRE carried out field work to measure the extent of enforced segregation and educational denial in the special schools and discover how the system operated and was funded. This work took place during 2001 through early 2003. ECRE used local volunteers to gather information. Certainly in the case of Hungary, where ECRE estimates that there are around 50,000 children in this status, officials at the Ministry of Education agree with the figures and the rate of growth since 1989. Data collected by other NGOs confirm the figures for the Czech republic and Slovakia. This intelligent Romungro boy wants a good future but he will not get it because of state policies which provide financial incentives for segregation and educational denial ECRE's has got its facts right ECRE points out that this constitutues state-sponsored human rights abuse and is something the European Commission should have reported on and, indeed, terminated. ECRE also explains that there has been an illicit use of the funds destined for the special schools. The legal basis for ECRE's claims are sound. The special school funds are supposed to be used to provide compensatory education for the children removed from normal school provisions. But no such compensatory provisions are supplied because the funds are spent on other things. A Hungarian Ministry of Education official has admitted that there are no cases of Roma children sent to special schools ever transferring back into the normal schools in the data series available at the Ministry. This failure to educate is a direct result of the lack of provisions exacerbated by the removal and illicit use of funding. ECRE's argument is that the illicit use of special school funding is compounded by segregation and denial of equal access to education, both conditions being contraventions of European anti-discrimination laws. The most significant contravention of the Madrid Conditions amongst accession countries An important fact is that this whole system operates within the state school system and as such is managed by civil servants and goverment employees within government installations. The generous funding incentive which drives the process of segregation comes direct from central government. The system is a text book case, a classic example of a state-sponsored system of abuse of the human rights of children. The European Commission should have reported on this matter some time ago because these governments are contravening the so-called Madrid conditions for accession. These state that government structures and administrations must adjust, before accession, to uphold European law. In this case there has been no adjustment and the whole system constitutes a proactive and dedicated structure committed to a direct contravention of European law. It is notable that the Commission reply to the ECRE petition carefully avoids any direct admission that this is a governmental system and it shies away from admiting its culpability of standing by as this situation got more and more out of hand. The Secretary General of ECRE wrote to Gunter Verhuegen, the European Commissioner for Enlargement, in November 1999 calling attention to this scandal. He spelt out the existance of the segregated denial of education affecting Roma children, told Verhuegen that the governments concerned would do everything possible not to terminate the process and advised Verhuegen to be proactive in terminating this scandal. At that time the Madrid conditions were already in effect but in practical terms Verhuegen ignored this advice and simply did not act. Indeed, according to an article in the London Browsa, a member of Verhuegen's staff stated at the time that Verhuegen, "did not think it was helpful to raise the issue of the special schools with these governments". As a result of this sort of attitude and failure to act, during the whole of the period since the Madrid Council the number of Roma children forced into special schools increased by more than 100% under Commission oversight. Life will not be so good at special school - Hungarian Romungro children. The Commission replies The European Commission's reply to ECRE's petition is, according to experts, quite lamentable. In one section the Commission attempts to deny that the diversion of funds from the special schools is illegal on the grounds that there is a provision whereby funds requested for one use can be used for others, according the local community requirements. According to the European adminisrative experts and auditors, this argument just does not stand up. All central governemnt funding regulations covering funds destined for a particular purpose can only be used for something else if the local authority does not act on the original proposed intended use by either allocating physical resources or generating a need on the part of the local community. In this case there is an obvious and significant resource allocation, that of Roma children being removed from normal school provisions (segregation), and as a result, the creation of a significant need for compensatory education. Love is not enough ... Hungarian Romungro sisters condemned to segregated educational denial, does the Petition's Committee care enough to do a thorough job? However, because the money has been used elsewhere the local authorities remain in breach of financial procedures and they fail to satisfy basic public authority responsibilities for the provision of education in a way which contravenes European laws by being directly involved in a process designed to segregate and deny education. The Phare programme ends May 1st ! The Commission reply completely exaggerates the concern of the Commission in Roma affairs as reflected in projects, supported by Phare, and designed to transfer Roma children from special schools to normal schools. ECRE has drawn our attention to the fact that, for example in Hungary, the government annually spends around Euro 100 million as a direct incentive to achieve segregation and educational denial. The total Phare programme constitutes around 4% of this government budget. Of this 4%, if one is generous, some 20% goes into such efforts. So each year Euro 100 million is spent by the government as an incentive to segregate Roma children whereas the European Commission spends less than Euro 800,000 to push the children the other way. This is clearly an absurdity and waste of EU public funds. Such examples of the irrelevance of EU funding exist because the Commission tolerates law breaking on a wholesale basis by the Ministries of education and local authorities. Petition Committee deny right to promised public meeting The Petitions Committee, on two occasions, promised ECRE that there would be a public meeting to review the petition before any final decision was taken. This would be an essential stage in such a case to enable some cross examination to arrive at a safer view of the positions of parties involved. However, ECRE recently received a letter from Roy Perry, who is the Vice-Chairman of the Committee, stating that the Petitions Committee has "..decided to close its consideration of your petition." This letter makes no mention of the promised, and necessary, public meeting. On the other hand the somewhat brusque letter has some bizarre content. For example, Mr. Perry bravely declares,"Contrary to what you believe, state sponsored child abuse does not take place...". Beside that amazingly ill-informed statement reference is made, in a somewhat rambling fashion, to conditions, it would appear, in Romania and to child fostering and some ballast is added to the weight of the Committee decision by refering to an un-named individual whose sum total of relevant experience seems to be in Romania. Mr. Perry does not seem to be aware that the Petition does not concern Romania.  No reference is made to the several points of complaint made by ECRE and yet the letter goes on to say, "Like the European Commission the Committee was unable to corroborate your allegations, nor was it able to identify any evidence which might lead to such accusations being made." he also states that the Committee, " ...has investigated your petition thoroughly on the basis of the information which you provided and in the light of its own contacts with the European Commssion and various associations and authorities in the accession states referred to in your letters." A serious problem of standards of evidence and independence of review It goes without saying that the governments concerned and the European Commission all have strong vested interests in sustaining a total and coordinated blanket denial and cover up. Without any doubt they would have used all means of pressure to close this particular petition down. So it is not surprising that they have not flocked to the Petition Committee to offer up the evidence which would expose more clearly this deadful system and thereby establishing their full and direct responsibilities in sustaining it. On the other hand, Perry refers to "various associations" having been consulted. This is an intriguing point because there are just three indepedent, organizations with a European, and indeed international, standing based upon their track records of direct experience in field work, analysis of the funding, nature and scale of special school operations. One of these is ECRE. We have contacted the other two and senior staff have no record or recollection of anyone from the European parliament asking for any information or views on this issue. It is therefore alarming to observe that a concern of such human significance has suffered a sudden serious detereoration in commitment to an objective response based upon independent investigation, analysis and on recognizable standards of evidence. The futures' of these children have hung in balance for over a year, there having been an expectation that the Petitions Committee would address this issue with a sense of urgency and resolve. The Committee has deliberated (or has it?) for over a year with nothing to show for its efforts other than a hurried, poorly informed and drafted letter announcing the termination of any further consideration of the petition. Understandably, ECRE have written to the Chairman of the Petitions Committee, a Mr. Nino Gemelli, asking that the Committee abide by their undertakings to hold a public meeting and that he withdraw the letter submitted by Roy Perry. And so on rolls this extraordinary and worrying saga of the petition concerning the future of over 150,000 innocent European children ... Credits: See ECRE web site which shows copies of correspondence and field report http://www.eu-romani.org Note: Romungro are Hungarian Roma who have been settled in Hungary for over 650 years, sometimes referred to as "Hungarian Gypsies" or "Musical Gypsies" because of their acclaimed skill as musicians, they only speak Hungarian Photographs were supplied by RomanWorld archives; ©2000-2004,ECRE