ISSA played a role in a major success in the fight against discrimination

November 2007

A recent ruling of the European Court of Human Rights sets a strong precedent, which will hopefully put pressure on all European governments to stop discriminatory practices in education. On 13 November 2007 the Court ruled in favor of a group of Roma parents and awarded damages, concluding that the Czech Republic had discriminated against their children by placing them in special schools for children with learning difficulties.  The eighteen Romani people from Ostrava, Czech Republic, represented by the European Roma Rights Center and supported by the Open Society Justice Initiative, had taken their case to the court on grounds of discrimination and violations of their right to education. This legal battle started in 1999, when there was an unsuccessful filing of complaints in the Czech courts.

OSI’s Step by Step Program and ISSA have been closely involved in the process in several ways over the past eight years.  Research from the Step by Step Special Schools Project was used by the lawyers who first presented the Case to the European Court of Human Rights in 2000. Though the Court ruled against the parents initially, the case was appealed and was heard again in 2007. In the summer of 2006, under the leadership of Sarah Klaus, who then held a joint position at ISSA and OSI, ISSA, together with the European Early Childhood Education Research Association and the Roma Education Fund submitted an Amicus Brief, with additional information to the Court on technical issues related to testing and assessment in education. 

More information on the case, including the full text and major conclusions of the judgment, is available at www.errc.org and www.justiceinitiative.org, where you can also find a press release jointly issued by the Open Society Justice Initiative and the European Roma Rights Center.

Following the ruling of the Court, NGOs in Czech Republic, including the Step by Step Czech Republic Foundation, one of ISSA’s national member organization, have come together to join forces in their efforts towards social inclusion.

The success of this case marks a significant step forward and an important precedent in the fight to stop discriminatory practices in education, which are unfortunately wide-spread in Central and Eastern Europe. ISSA looks forward to joining forces again with its members and partners, to make sure that all children have equal access to quality education and to put an end to discrimination and human rights violation.

If you wish to receive a copy of the Amicus Brief submitted by ISSA and its partners, contact Liana Ghent at lghent@issa.nl. For more information about the work of the Step by Step Czech Republic Foundation, contact Marcela Straková at marcela.strakova@sbscr.cz.

ISSA_REF_EECERA Amicus Brief

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