Almost two years after the European Commission launched infringement proceedings against Slovakia for discrimination and segregation in education, Romani children remain trapped in a vicious cycle of poverty, marginalization and despair

We are demanding that political leaders stop scapegoating migrants and minorities in a cynical attempt to win votes, and instead focus on real long-term solutions to the challenges their peoples face

Time and again we have seen such measures used by governments to curb freedom of expression, and to control some people’s movements and associations

Slovakia must change course and show leadership at EU level by insisting on more safe and legal routes for those desperately in need. This should be coupled with leadership by example, through increasing its own efforts to relocate people from Greece.

Fire fighters extinguish a fire in an empty building

Instead of rising to the challenge of this unprecedented crisis, many governments have been busy devising ways to keep people outside their borders while thousands are dying at sea or enduring squalid conditions in the shadow of razor-wire fences. This is moral bankruptcy of the highest order.

No person in Poland should have to live in fear of violent attacks just because of who they are.

11/06/2015 – The European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC), Amnesty International and the Open Society Foundation Bratislava (OSF) call on the Slovak government to refute the use of the “incest-argument” to justify segregated education for Romani children in Slovakia.

In this day and age, it is shocking that Romani children in Slovakia are systematically segregated from non-Roma children and put in special schools.

Let’s call this what it is: racism, pure and simple.

19/03/2015 – The German Constitutional Court ruling striking down a blanket prohibition for teachers to wear religious and cultural symbols or dress in North-Rhine Westphalia, the most populous German state, is an important step towards combating discrimination based on religion or belief.

Violent attack against Muslim worshippers outside the Banya Bashi mosque in Sofia city centre, May 2011. Credit: Juliana Nikolova