Baseball has fans across the globe, but does “three strikes and you’re out,” a famously American phrase, have any meaning in Europe? That question is front and center now that the European Court of Human Rights this week issued its third ruling in as many years striking down school segregation on grounds of race. For those Europeans still in denial about the existence of racism in their midst, the Court’s courageous stand may be as surprising as it is needed. But will Europe’s governments heed the judges’ wake-up call and halt segregated education for Roma and other ethnic minorities?
After decades in which race was a non-issue in Strasbourg, Europe’s highest court has charted a legal revolution of sorts in recent years. In November 2007, in the case of D.H. v. Czech Republic, the Court’s Grand Chamber broke the ice, striking down a nationwide system of racial segregation in Czech schools which left thousands of Roma children in dead-end “special” schools for what the law at the time the case was launched termed the “mentally deficient.” The landmark judgment brought Council of Europe antidiscrimination standards into line with those of the (heretofore more progressive) European Union, expressly recognizing the concept of (and prohibiting) indirect discrimination. It made clear that, though not necessary, statistics are a permissible means of proving discriminatory patterns and provided for a reversal of the burden of proof, once a prima facie case of discrimination is made.
In 2008, the Court followed with Sampanis v. Greece, which found that local authorities had breached Roma children’s fundamental rights by denying them enrollment in a primary school and placing them in special classes located in an annex to the main school building. The authorities were responding, in part, to racist animus from some parents who did not want their (non-Roma) children mixing with Roma.
Now comes Orsus v. Croatia, decided on March 16. In Orsus, the Court’s Grand Chamber was confronted with racial segregation of a different kind. Separate classes, the government argued, were designed to help students who lacked Croatian language fluency. Yet many of the children at issue had received solid marks in Croatian, and there appeared to be no formalized procedure for assessing language skills, let alone any evidence that segregation served to improve them.
To the contrary, the separate classes used an inferior curriculum, and unsurprisingly yielded students ill-prepared for secondary school. The strange coincidence that only Roma children were placed in separate classes gave rise to a reasonable suspicion—that language was being used as a pretext for race—which the Government was unable to rebut.
Though Orsus concerned the Roma, a particularly “disadvantaged and vulnerable” minority who, “as a result of their history … require special protection,” it has implications for the schooling of all racial and ethnic minorities across Europe. In Germany, for example, language is reportedly used as a basis for separate education of Turks and other minorities, who are often tracked into vocational education at an early age.
The Court has now underscored that racial segregation has no place in a modern school system. And yet, such segregation persists in many European countries. This is not just a question of human rights and the rule of law. With economic output well below full employment levels, how long can Europe maintain schooling practices which denigrate thousands of children each year to life-long economic irrelevance? Will national governments act to desegregate their schools? Will Brussels prod them?
7 Comments
Brave? In line with the ECJ? Seriously? Comon.
Excellent and insightful piece. I wonder if the goal isn't to "denigrate thousands of children each year to life-long economic irrelevance"? Providing an inferior education to minority groups provides racist hirers with cover, allowing them to say, "I'd like to hire the Roma applicant, but he just doesn't have the skills."
How sad! I live the USA and I homeschool my children. However, I was disgusted to learn that "gypsy" music is part of the local public elementary school music curriculum. The situation with the Roma is far too dire to perpetuate such stereotypes!
It is very encouraging that the Strasbourg Court has established what appears to be consistent jurisprudence on this issue.
However, there is a parallel -- and less encouraging -- development. Countries that formerly served as good models of integration in education (be it for immigrant children or children with disabilities) seem to regress.
Italy´s "bridge classes" for immigrant pupils, Spain´s Espacios de Bienvenida a Estranjeros (EBE) where some foreign pupils are now being diverted are clear steps back from what used to be solidly integrated education.
And if the best of them (or what used to be the best) move in the direction of segregation, what should we expect from countries with entrenched segregationist policies and practices?
umm shut up everybody and leave the schools alone i think we need to go back to the old school mess up its your problem and if you act out in school you get your asss beat by the teacher i live a good live and was raised right by my parents and learned to be good the right way now i make 5k a year and if some of those asss bheatings in school help then thank god i had a teacher willing to spank me
The problem to be addressed is not segregation in the educational system, but the educational system itself which segregates between rich and poor, preparing the last to be the next generation of slaves to the next generation of the Elite. And a propos education, "rroma" is spelled with double r. And the term is false - nice try of Europe, at the First World Romani Congress at London in 1971, to get rid of them by pushing their hoards inside the romanian borders (see? Romania = the country of the roma people - as you and many others are calling them, willingly or not). If asian indians are so proud of their Roma and Dom tribes, they should call them back, and flourish together as a reunited nation. Gipsies are gipsies, and do not understand or use other term to call themselves by. And yes, it is a fact that they don't like integration and fight-it any way they can. After all, who does ? Globalisation brings nothing good to the poor countries, dumping rubbish, using resources and workforce and exporting the profits back to their homelands or various tax havens. Any similarities to the gipsy way of life? Do your own research and find out. Most gypsies in schools are thieving and bullying the other children but this is caused mainly by their bad backgrounds; whatever they see at home, they are prone to do in their social interactions at kindergarten and school. Education starts at home, and unfortunately for the gypsy children it starts bad. Their homes is where your attention should be focused, not the educational system. But on the other hand... this would be charity, and solicitors & lawyers are out to make money and the public purse is thicker and profits come out of it with less questions attached, compared to the private one. Do not even try to start trying to sell me the bulls with "integration and cultural variety, so many different people living together as a happy nation". I live in London. And my wife is a senior head teacher. And I am an electrical contractor, and by the nature of my job I got to know many people, from many cultures and backgrounds.
how about resegregation in the US? read a latest article on Cristian Science Monitor: http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2010/0413/Mississippi-school-district-ordered-to-end-racial-segregation
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