No to racist blunders!
European Roma Information Office, Brussels - 02.06.2004 17:54
After his racist statements in an interview in Dutch TV more than 700 people sign for the removal of the EU Commission's Ambassador Eric van der Linden from his post.
Over 700 signatures for the replacement of the EU Ambassador to Slovakia
Brussels, 1 June 2004 (ERIO): The European Roma Information Office (ERIO), a Brussels-based NGO advocating the rights of the Roma, has today submitted to the President of the European Commission, Romano Prodi, a list with the first signatories of it's call for the replacement of the EU Commission's Ambassador to Slovakia, Eric van der Linden, following his statements in the context of a TV interview, where he advocated the separation of Romani children from their parents and their education in boarding schools. Leading Human Rights activists such as Shulamith Koenig, UN Prize Winner in the field of Human Rights in 2003 and Günter Grass, Nobel Prize Winner in Literature in 1999, Romani organisations from Romania, Slovakia and other European countries, Human Rights organisations from all over Europe and America and over 600 individuals including many academics signed ERIO's call.
Reacting to reports in the Slovak press, Angela Kocze, the Executive Director of the organisation, regretted that ERIO's attempt to highlight the racist character of the statement by the EU Ambassador was turned into a debate on the benefits of boarding schools. She reminded that Romani children continue to be segregated within the Slovak school system as one of the main reasons for their low school performance and high drop out rates.
According to official figures by the Slovak government from 2001, 38 per cent of the Romani children attended special schools for children with learning disabilities, where they receive sub-standard education. Independent research has shown that many more Romani children are de facto isolated from their peers, since they attend schools or classes with a majority of Romani children. The European Commission itself regularly criticised Slovakia on this practice in its progress reports.
"The solution to improving the school performance of Romani children lays in the abolishment of discrimination within the regular school system, but not in the pursuit of segregationist policies under the pretext of providing Romani children better opportunities.", Angela Kocze said. Moreover, she reminded that the EU Ambassador did not state an increase of the opportunities of the Romani children as the aim of his proposal, but their subjection under the values of the majority society, which is why he considered their separation from their parents and communities as necessary. "This is the idea of forced assimilation which has already brought much suffering to our people.", Kocze said.
ERIO used the opportunity to reiterate its concern about the rampant racism that exists against Roma in the enlarged Europe and its trivialisation in the public discourse. Racism seems to be acceptable if the targets of this racism are Roma, the organisation said, pointing to a series of racist blunders by high-ranking European officials and policy-makers. On 10th of May, for example, the chairwoman of the Monitoring Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Josette Durrieu, blamed the Roma in the Czech Republic for what she called their lack of solidarity, stating that usury within the Roma communities is the Roma's greatest problem.
The majority society fails to recognise that anti-Romaism is deeply rooted within the European culture and civilisation. As a result, the charges are reversed and those who highlight racism against Roma are blamed, but not its perpetrators, the organisation said.
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