04/02/2015
FSG
The 2014 report includes 151 cases of discrimination suffered by Roma people in 2013 in different areas such as employment, housing, media and general access to goods and services. It also presents a detailed analysis of the cases of discrimination occurred in two municipalities from Andalucía (Estepa and Castellar), where the houses of Roma were attacked. Ultimately the report makes an assessment of the 1073 cases of discrimination collected during the 10 years of work of the FSG Equality and Combating Discrimination Department.
The main focus of this year report is the role of political leaders as key agents in the fight against discrimination, considering the role they play on the defence of the fundamental right to equality. In particular, in this electoral year, when many elections are planned, the proposals and opinions from the political leaders from different parties to make progress in the fight against discrimination of the Roma community is a crucial testimony.
The report includes a number of articles to contextualize the discrimination. These include “liquid racism”, written by Fernando Rey, professor of Constitutional Law at the University of Valladolid and member of the FSG Board of Trustees; “The role of political leaders in the fight against discrimination”, by Gonzalo Montaño and Carolina Fernández, from FSG; and “Not everything is acceptable in political speeches”, by Óscar Vicario García on the case of Xavier García Albiol in Badalona, a city in Catalonia .Moreover the report gathers some interviews made to political leaders like Gaspar Llamazares, Gonzalo Robles, Pablo Iglesias y Ramón Jáuregui, in which they answer to some questions regarding their views on racial and ethnic discrimination, another way of finding out about their proposals on the discrimination that many Roma persons face.
Like in the last years, and considering the national and European dimension of the report, the document presents sections focused on the progress made in the fight against discrimination in Europe and stresses the positive actions implemented in this area, providing information on the current legislative framework and the list of European public bodies and institutions working in the fields of equal treatment, non-discrimination and the Roma community, which makes this report a reference resource related to the defence of fundamental rights.
Isidro Rodríguez, FSG General Director, Ignacio Sola, Deputy Director-General for Equal Treatment and Non- Discrimination and Inmaculada Lasala, Deputy Director-General of Social Programmes of the Ministry of Health, Social Services and Equality.
During the presentation of the report, Isidro Rodríguez, FSG General Director, stressed that the achievements made to fight discrimination against the Roma community “are clearly insufficient” and insisted that public authorities and society as a whole should have firmly reject certain situations of discrimination of the Roma community”. The Deputy Director-General of Social Programmes of the Ministry of Health, Social Services and Equality, Inmaculada Lasala, emphasised that the public administration is well aware that discrimination cases are “one of the biggest barriers for the access to public services” of the Roma community and reminded that “the denial of racism and discrimination is very dangerous”.
Then, Ignacio Sola, Deputy Director-General for Equal Treatment and Non- Discrimination from the named Ministry, manifested that “the Roma population currently faces the highest levels of discrimination” and promoted the inclusion of minorities in political parties so these groups feel represented.
Mª Carmen Cortés and Sara Giménez
Sara Giménez, Director of FSG Department of Equality and Combating Discrimination, was in charge of delivering the conclusions of the report, paying particular attention to the recent cases of discrimination occurred in Estepa and Castellar. She noted that “the lack of complaints is a proof of the lack of information, the distrust and the fear of the victims and reminds that the implementation of the current legislation related to the fight against discrimination is a pending task in Spain”.
Fernando Rey, professor of Constitutional Law at the University of Valladolid and member of the Board of Trustees of the Foundation, was in charge of keynote speech. Under the title of “Liquid Racism”, he contextualised the discrimination and the importance of making discrimination and the situations of racism visible.
“The role of the political leaders in the fight against discrimination of the Roma community” was the core issue discussed in the roundtable gathering representatives from different political parties; Pedro Zerolo, Secretary of Social Movements from the Socialist Party (PSOE), Concha Bravo, member of the Spanish Congress from the Popular Party (PP), Ricardo Sixto, member of the parliament from Izquierda Unida (IU), Loreto Ruiz de Alda from Unión Progreso y Democracia (UPyD), and Ione Belarra from Podemos State Council. All of them agreed on the importance of empowering the Roma as a key element for the progress of Roma community. They advocated for strengthening public policy and the welfare state in order to guarantee the conditions for a decent living for the Roma community and mentioned some measures against discrimination that they are considering incorporating in their electoral programmes.
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