On Tuesday, 8 December, the Council of Europe’s European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) published two reports largely devoted to the segregation suffered by Roma and LGBTI persons in the Czech Republic (https://bit.ly/3m3s7MY ) and Slovakia (https://bit.ly/3qOiwgy ).
ECRI’s experts are pleased with a number of positive developments noted in the determination of authorities in both countries to improve the situation of Roma, but these experts point out that problems persist in the area of children’s education.
A national strategy for Roma inclusion was implemented in the Czech Republic from 2014 to 2016, but experts stress that many Roma are still in a vicious circle of under-education—resulting in limited opportunities in the labour market—and de facto residential segregation, which also has negative repercussions on access to healthcare and social services. Since the Czech authorities did not collect objective data, it is difficult to evaluate the measures implemented, even though a new strategy is being developed for the next six years.
As for Slovakia, initiatives aiming to restore Roma trust in the Slovak police, including the recruitment of 2,000 Roma as civic guards, have been welcomed, but further efforts are needed, especially with regard to investigating police violence.
In this country, experts observe that “a negative dynamic has developed as a result of persistent hate speech” with regard to LGBTI persons. In particular, they lament “the campaigns carried out by some political parties” and denounce the practice, also applied in the Czech Republic, of forcing transgender persons to undergo sterilisation in order to officially change their name and gender—a practice that is contrary to European Court of Human Rights case law and that has no basis in either Slovak or Czech law.
Racist hate speech continues to be of concern to ECRI. Roma are still victims of this type of speech, but it seems that Muslims and migrants are now the most targeted, both in the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic, where Jews and people of colour are also targeted in a worrisome way.
ECRI laments that Internet operators only remove a very small proportion of such hate speech and that a large number of hate crimes are not reported to the authorities. (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)