Prague - The parents of the 18 Roma children, who won a
lengthy legal battle with the Czech Republic over their schooling,
rejoiced Wednesday at what Roma activists see as a landmark verdict.
'The parents are very happy about it. They are very thrilled,'
Kumar Vishwanathan, an activist working with the Czech Roma, told
Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa. 'They are happy to see that the highest
European court said that segregation is wrong.'
The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights ruled in
Strasbourg Tuesday that the Czech Republic discriminated against 18
Czech Roma children for placing them in schools for mentally
disabled.
The court noted in the verdict that the Roma children were 'over-
represented' at these schools, from which it is nearly impossible to
proceed to a secondary school.
Roma activists have estimated that a Roma child is 27 times more
likely to end up in such school.
'The court said that if addressing special needs leads to
segregation, it is discrimination' even if the state did not intend
to segregate, Vishwanathan said, adding that the Tuesday verdict is
thus 'a landmark decision not just for the Roma but for many
minorities across Europe.'
The court also found the country guilty of denying the children
their right to education and ruled that the Czech Republic must pay
each plaintiff 4,000 euros in compensation and 10,000 euros in court
expenses.
Four of the 17 judges deciding the case opposed the verdict,
including the judge from the Czech Republic, CTK news agency
reported.
Czech authorities placed the 18 Roma children from the
north-eastern city of Ostrava to the then so-called 'special schools'
during the 1990s.
Since they filed their law suit against the Czech Republic in
1999, the country has adopted a new school law and overhauled the
special schools originally designed for the mentally disabled.
But activists say Roma children are still segregated today.
'Nothing has changed really,' Vishwanathan said. 'Only the (school)
signs have been repainted.'
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
USA
Your Talkback on this Story