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Discrimination and the Roma Community 2014
be impossible to end discrimination. That is why the
authorities responsible for these issues, the third sec-
tor and the media must align themselves in partner-
ship to take a correct and real approach to this ethnic
minority and promote equal treatment of the Roma
community.
2. Few complaints filed by victims
of discrimination
During the course of our work these 10 years, we have
shed light on only a small sample of the discrimination
suffered by Roma in our society. During the nearly two
years that the assistance service for victims of discrim-
ination has been in operation, the social entities provid-
ing the service soon realized that victims are very re-
luctant to file complaints.
In this regard, the 2009 EU Midis survey on Minorities
and Discrimination concluded that 80% of discrimina-
tory acts committed are not reported to the police,
figure which the Council for the Elimination of Racial and
Ethnic Discrimination claims to be closer to 96%.
Following are the main causes for this reluctance to
file complaints: lack of information concerning their
rights, distrust in the protection system, assimilation
of rejection and lack of familiarity with procedures and
services. A close look at the causes gives us a good
idea of where we should focus our efforts: first, we
need to provide rights information to potential victims
at grass-roots level. To that end the Assistance Service
has published information brochures for victims and has
conducted face-to-face information sessions in various
regions. These initiatives must be continued. Howev-
er, it is the State that must spearhead these aware-
ness-raising and information initiatives just as it has
done with its campaigns denouncing violence against
women. Victims must feel that their government of-
ficials are going to help and protect them against dis-
criminatory acts. Victims will trust the defence system
when tools and protection procedures are agile, effec-
tive, compensatory and comprehensive. Therefore, it is
very important to properly structure consultation and
defence mechanisms.
At present, the legal response to racially motivated
crime is lukewarm. Moreover, redress mechanisms in re-
sponse to other types of non-criminal discrimination are,
for all intents and purposes, non-existent. When young
Roma are refused entry to an establishment due to their
appearance, or Roma women are denied a job interview,
or families are not able to rent a home because they are
Roma, situations that many people experience on a daily
basis, they become used to it and come to accept this
form of rejection as normal. In addition to dialogue and
mediation as ways to resolve these cases, a sanction
procedure is needed to modify behaviours that should
not be tolerated. If everyone agrees that vandalising
public furniture is wrong and should be punished with
a fine, why do we stand idly by and watch as a young
girls is refused entry to a swimming pool because she’s
Roma?
If information and response mechanisms are improved,
victims will eventually come to trust the system and
denounce acts of discrimination.