Bullying and discrimination of Roma children at school: what can the Council of Europe do?

Intervention by Michaël GUET, Head of the I-CARE Unit andSecretary of CAHROM, Support Team of the Special Representative

of the Secretary General for Roma Issues

ERIO/ILGA event, European Parliament, Strasbourg, 16 December 2014

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS

• What can the Council of Europe further do? (as several sectors already address the topic of bullying and discrimination at school)

• Before even addressing bullying and discrimination at school fo Roma children, we should address in many member States and localities the access to education of Roma (and Traveller) children!

Bullying and discriminationof Roma children at school

Main issues and obstacles

Bullying and discriminationof Roma children at school

Roma families face multiple issues, (poverty, unemployment, debt, domestic violence, etc.) which leads to more attention being paid by the family on solving socio-economic issues rather than on children’s education.

School drop-outs, absenteeism and lack of school enrollment (due to bullying & discrimination; low education of Roma parents & tendency for overprotection; lack of dialogue between schools & parents; fear of assimilation; travelling way of life; early marriage...

A lower expectation from teachers concerning Roma children, lower quality education provided to Roma children and a lack of knowledge of Roma culture and history.

Language barriers (many children speak Romani at home and have little knowledge of national language). Other barriers include lack of ID, ghettoisation/housing segregation, constant evictions, health problems...

Negative attitude and perception from non-Roma parents, and sometimes school professionals based on prejudice and stereotypes. Refusal from schools/authorities to accept Roma or Traveller children.

School segregation, special classes and enrolment in schools for mentally disabled.

STANDARDS (CONVENTIONS)

Relevant Council of Europe’s Conventions provide standards addressing human rights, minorities’ rights and children’s rights, such as:•1950 Council of Europe Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (Art. 14- Prohibition of discrimination); Protocol 1 (Art. 2-Right to education), and Protocol 12;•1961 European Social Charter (ESC) and the 1996 Revised ESC;•1992 European Charter of Regional or Minority Languages;•1995 Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities•1995 Council of Europe Convention on the Exercise of Children’s Rights•2007 Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse•2014 Council of Europe Convention on the Rights of the Child

Bullying and discriminationof Roma children at school

CM RECOMMENDATIONSThe Committee of Ministers (CM) of the Council of Europe adopted several relevant Recommendations:

•CM Rec(2000)4 on the education of Roma/Gypsy children in Europe;•CM Rec (2006)19 on policy to support positive parenting;•CM Rec(2009)4 on the education of Roma and Travellers in Europe;•CM Rec(2008)5 on policies for Roma and/or Travellers in Europe;•CM Rec(2012)9 on mediation as an effective tool for promoting respect of human rights and social inclusion of Roma.

http://www.coe.int/t/cm/home_en.asp

Bullying and discriminationof Roma children at school

ECtHR JUDGEMENTSSeveral landmark judgements of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) condemned discrimination of Roma children at school, either due to separate classes or enrolment of children in special schools (for mentally disabled):

•D.H. and Others v. the Czech Republic (13 November 2007)In the Czech Republic (in 2007), above 50% of the children in special schools for the mentally handicapped were Roma, even though they made up about only 5% of the total population (in 2014: 30%). The Court held that the Roma applicants had been the victims of indirect discrimination. The Grand Chamber concluded that: at the very least, selection tests for the schools were biased and did not take into account the particular characteristics of Roma children; the parents were not in a position to give informed consent to the children being placed in these schools.

•Sampanis and Others v. Greece (5 June 2008)A number of Roma applicants complained of discrimination where a local school had firstly failed to enrol their children at all for a year, and then, once places were provided, taught Roma children in separate ‘preparatory classes’, without any objective or reasonable justification. The Court was able to infer from the facts of the case that the decision to place the Roma children in the annexe was influenced by the protests and the blockade mounted by the parents of non-Roma children and it considered that the evidence adduced by the applicants created a strong presumption of discrimination.

•Oršuš and Others v. Croatia (10 March 2010)Roma children attending mainstream primary schools had been placed automatically in separate classes, supposedly on account of their lack of proficiency in the Croatian language. The Grand Chamber noted that the test designed to separate the children did not assess their command of the Croatian language. Furthermore, no programme had been established in order to address the special needs of Roma children lacking in language skills that included a timeframe for addressing those needs and transferring the children back into mainstream classes.

•Horváth and Kiss v. Hungary (29 January 2013)The applicants were two young men of Roma origin who had been assessed as having mild mental disabilities and placed in a school for the mentally disabled. The applicants argued that this was a misplacement and amounted to indirect discrimination. The Court held that the State has a positive obligation to undo a history of racial segregation in special schools.

Handbook for legal professionals on ECtHR case law “Ensuring access to rights for Roma and Travellers: the role of the European Court of Human Rights”

Bullying and discriminationof Roma children at school

OTHER COE REFERENCE TEXTS

• Final Declaration of the 22nd session of the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education, on “Building a more humane and inclusive Europe: role of education policies” (Istanbul, 4-5 May 2007);

• Recommendations and policy orientations included in the White Paper on Intercultural Dialogue “Living together as equals in dignity”(Strasbourg, 7 May 2008);

• Strasbourg Declaration (20 October 2010);• CM Declaration on the rise of anti-Gypsyism and racist

violence against Roma in Europe (February 2012).

Bullying and discriminationof Roma children at school

ECRI (1/2)The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) adopted the following relevant General Policy Recommendations:•ECRI General Policy Recommendation No. 3 on combating racism and intolerance against Roma/Gypsies (1998); •ECRI General Policy Recommendation No. 10 on combating racism and racial discrimination in and through school education (2006) (see § II.1);•II. Combat racism and racial discrimination at school, and to this end:•1. ensure that schools are obliged to incorporate the fight against racism and racial discrimination as well as respect for diversity into the way that they are run: •a) by ensuring that the fight against such phenomena in schools, whether they emanate from pupils or educational staff, is part of a permanent policy; •b) by setting up a system to monitor racist incidents at school and compile data on these phenomena in order to devise long-term policies to counter them; •c) by adopting, in order to combat incidents of racism or discrimination which do not cause physical harm, educational measures such as, for example, non formal education activities in organisations dealing with victims of racism and racial discrimination; •d) by treating incitement to racial hatred in schools and any other serious racist act, including the use of violence, threats or damage to property, as acts punishable by suspension or expulsion or any other appropriate measure; •e) by encouraging within schools the adoption of a code of conduct against racism and racial discrimination for all staff; •f) by favouring measures (such as special anti-racism days or weeks, campaigns or competitions) to foster awareness among both pupils and parents of racism and racial discrimination issues and the relevant school policies;

•ECRI General Policy Recommendation No. 13 on combating anti-Gypsyism and discrimination against Roma.

Bullying and discriminationof Roma children at school

ECRI (2/2)Some examples of ECRI recent country-monitoring reports:•ECRI recommends that the Swedish authorities step up their efforts to prevent and combat racial harassment and bullying at school. It draws their attention to Part II, paragraph 1 of its General Policy Recommendation No. 10 on combating racism and racial discrimination in and through school education, which proposes a range of measures that could be taken in this field.•ECRI encourages the United Kingdom authorities to pursue their efforts to reduce achievement gaps between minority ethnic pupils and the majority population, to reduce disproportionality in exclusion rates and prevent racist or religious bullying in schools. It draws their attention to its General Policy Recommendation No. 10 on combating racism and racial discrimination in and through school education, which proposes a range of measures that can be taken in this area.•ECRI recommends [to the authorities of the United Kingdom] that particular attention be devoted to combating bullying directed against Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children, and draws attention to the importance both of training teachers in the history and culture of Gypsies, Roma and Travellers and of promoting a greater awareness of these amongst children and society in general. •ECRI addressed the issue of bullying at school in §79 et seq. of its recent report on Switzerland.

Bullying and discriminationof Roma children at school

CAHROM (1/2)The Ad Hoc Committee of Experts on Roma Issues (CAHROM) endorsed several thematic reports addressing education of Roma children (http://www.coe.int/en/web/portal/cahrom)

•CAHROM (2012)6 Thematic report on school drop out and absenteeism of Roma children The Netherlands (requesting country) Hungary, Spain , Sweden (partner countries)

• CAHROM (2013)5 Thematic report on school attendance for Roma children, in particular Roma girls Finland (requesting country) Latvia, Norway, Sweden (partner countries)

• CAHROM (2012)18 Thematic report on inclusive education for Roma children v. special schools Czech Republic & Slovak Republic (requesting countries) Hungary, Slovenia, United Kingdom (partner countries)

•CAHROM Thematic report on inclusive pre-school education of Roma children (November 2014) Czech Republic (requesting country) Hungary, Latvia, Poland, “FYROM” (partner countries)

• CAHROM Thematic report on school inclusion of Roma (migrants’) children access to education and distance learning for Travellers’ children (scheduled in March or April 2015)

France (requesting country) Albania, Belgium (partner countries) + Denmark, Italy and Switzerland (tbc)

Bullying and discriminationof Roma children at school

CAHROM (2/2)

Some extracts of CAHROM thematic reports related to combating discrimination and bullying of children at school:•Finland: bullying and demotivation result in unauthorised absences. Bullying is a phenomenon of concern at school, though studies conducted in Finland do not reveal that Roma children are more bullied than any other ethnic groups. The most common form of bullying is ethnic name-calling. According to school principals, addressing the issue of bullying is helpful.

Good practice: the Finnish Programme “No bullying in KiVa school” is an interesting approach on addressing bullying for all schools and for different age groups. It had been implemented in 90% of the Finnish schools, partially or entirely. However, experts of the CAHROM thematic group recommended including a section on bullying specifically targeted at Roma pupils and giving teachers tools for reacting to ethnic discrimination towards Roma.

Bullying and discriminationof Roma children at school

EDUCATION & CHILDREN PROJECTS

• Project “Education of Roma children in Europe” (2002-2009)” http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/education/roma/histoCulture_en.asp.

• Programme « Building a Europe for and with children » http://www.coe.int/t/dg3/children/

• Council of Europe Strategy for the Rights of the Child (2012-2015)• CM Guidelines on child-friendly justice• Child participation assessment tool (including indicators to monitor

progress of children’s participation)• Guidelines on integrated national strategies for the protection of

children against violence• Publication “Children and young people in care – discover your

rights!”• Framework Curriculum for the Romani language • Film “Beat bullying” - Tackling Bullying at School through

Citizenship and Human Rights Education http://www.coe.int/beatbullying and http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/education/edc/Source/Resources/FlyerBeatBullying_EN.pdf

Bullying and discriminationof Roma children at school

THE COE’S WAY FORWARD (1/3)• (Roma) school mediators/ assistants

The joint EU/CoE ROMED programme is not just about training (Roma) mediators but about mediation as a process, each actor having responsibilities and accountability. Some lessons from past experience:

- There is a need of a code of conduct and a clarification of the role of mediators in order for them to perform their work properly [cf. CM Rec (2012)9 on mediation];

- There is a need for institutionalisation of mediators (good examples: Bulgaria, Romania, the Republic of Moldova, etc.);

- There is a need for involvement and contribution of local authorities (e.g. Latvia, Portugal, etc.)- The mediators should shift from service providers to facilitators of processes.

ROMED1 component on education includes school governance through which mediators, parents, teachers, education professionals, etc. are involved in the process of education of Roma.

ROMED2’s focus is on governance at local level, including governance in schools.

The ROMED programme is a learning exercise for Roma and non-Roma who sit together and agree on matters concerning them through effective participation (in decision making process, again including in schools).

www.coe-romed.org

•Bullying and discrimination•of Roma children at school

THE COE’S WAY FORWARD (2/3)Sharing good practices such as •Pre-school enrolment of Roma children (e.g. Hungary, “The FYROM”)•Affirmative actions to facilitate school enrolment in mainstreamed education

• free meals free transport or free textbooks (e.g. Latvia, Poland)• quotas and scholarships (e.g. Romania, “The FYROM”)

•Incubators and inclusion of Roma parents (e.g. Slovenia)•Fighting bullying and discrimination at school (e.g. Finland)•School assistants with a Roma background (Latvia)/bridge-builders (Sweden)•Training of teachers on cultural diversity/Romani culture & history (e.g. Sweden, Pestalozzi programme http://www.coe.int/en/web/pestalozzi)•Collect and share good practices (e.g. Online database on Roma-retated good practices http://goodpracticeroma.ppa.coe.int/en)•Introduction of Roma history in school curriculum (e.g. International Seminar on Introducing Roma History Teaching in School Curriculum, Rome, Italy, December 2014; Roma history factsheets http://romafacts.uni-graz.at/; joint CoE/OSCE-ODIHR website on the genocide of Roma during WWII http://roma-genocide.org/

•Bullying and discrimination•of Roma children at school

THE COE’S WAY FORWARD (3/3)• Promoting a greater awareness of Roma culture, history amongst

children, young people and society in general and fight against discrimination and prejudice/stereotypes

DOSTA! campaign “Go beyond prejudice, meet the Roma!” - www.dosta.org- In 2005-2009 as joint CoE/EU Roma programmes; Since 2008 open to all CoE member States;

nationally implemented; Launched in 17 member States + Kosovo* ; financially supported by Finland

- Multilingual website, Dosta! toolkit, leaflets, calendar, radio/video spots, CD, etc.- 3 main objectives: address stereotypes and prejudice; combat anti-Gypsyism; promote Roma

culture, history, language and positive image/role models- Activities: public debates, music/theatre festivals, media training, street events, school

awareness, Roma history promotion, photos and drawing competitions, photexhibitions, portraits and testimonials of integrated Roma/role models, Congress Dosta! prize; annual Roma Pride in 13 to 17 countries, etc.

- No hate speech campaign

NO HATE SPEECH MOUVEMENT / Young People Combating Hate Speech Online: project run by the Council of Europe’s youth sector in 2012-2014. It aims to combat racism and discrimination, as expressed online as hate speech, by mobilizing young people and youth organisations to recognise and act against such human rights violations. http://nohate.ext.coe.int/The-Campaign

CoE Publication: Barabaripen: Young Roma speak about multiple discrimination following a joint CoE Conference on multiple discrimination (with focus on Roma, women, migrants and LGBT)

•Bullying and discrimination•of Roma children at school

More information on Roma issues at the Council of Europe at:

www.coe.int (go to Human Rights / Roma Rights)

On YOUTUBE:

Beat Bullying film (10’27):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5sB7mndfrQ

Chimères absentes short movie (11’36) by Fanny Ardant, Dosta! ambassador: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jo3xogU3T4c

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION!Michaël Guet

Head of the I-CARE Unit

CAHROM Secretary

Support Team of the Special Representative of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe for Roma Issues

michael.guet@coe.int

Bullying and discriminationof Roma children at school