Annual Report Discrimination 2015

Discrimination and the Roma community, 2015

The main section of this report is devoted to shedding light on the everyday discrimination still faced

today by the Roma community in Spain;

194 cases of discrimination

having been identified in 2014. These

cases bear witness to the ongoing problems that Roma families have to face year after year when going

for a job interview, doing an internship in a company, renting a flat, trying to enter a discotheque... and the

unfair treatment they receive from some professional sectors due to their ethnicity. Along with this, some

alarming events occurred in two towns in the south of Spain, Castellar and Estepa, where manifestations of

rejection were taken to the extreme; events that could constitute hate crime against the Roma Community.

We would note that in the defence of the Castellar case, the unjust ruling handed down by the Provincial

Court of Jaen highlights the need for greater involvement of the judicial sector in this area.

The cases registered are presented by area with disaggregated data so as to provide the greatest degree

of information, including a description of some of the work strategies developed. Along with that, we

present the

general proposals

that we consider appropriate to more effectively defend victims of these

regrettable acts of discrimination and the main

conclusions

gleaned from the work undertaken.

The report goes on to cite the

important legislative advances and positive case law

during 2014-2015

at European and national level: the legal proceedings in the Czech Republic and Slovakia regarding school

segregation, European judgments with an impact on anti-Gypsyism, an assessment of the current reform

of the Spanish criminal code, observations made with respect to Roma women by the Committee on the

Elimination of Discrimination against Women and the new protocol on hate crimes created by the Ministry

of the Interior.

Lastly, we report on the

advances made in the field of social awareness

during this same period: literature

produced by the Women’s Institute and Equal Opportunities (Ministry of Health, Social Services and Equali-

ty—MSSSI) such as the “Practical Guide: how to deal with cases of discrimination, hate crimes and intolerance”

and the manual entitled “Embracing diversity: proposals for education free of homophobic and transphobic

harassment” and other campaigns and awareness-raising materials published by ACCEM, FELGTB, the RAIS

Foundation and the FSG.

We are still in the midst of a complicated socioeconomic situation in which the most disadvantaged groups,

including the Roma community, must also have the opportunity to emerge from the economic crisis. The-

refore, government measures must reach all population groups. It is essential to recognise that discrimina-

tion and social rejection, particularly affecting Roma, are an added barrier standing in the way to a life with

dignity.

The social rejection of the Roma community is a constant, it is always present and manifests itself in diffe-

rent ways; in some cases it is denying people’s rights, in others it is racist demonstrations and publications,

and in still others it crosses the line and takes the form of hate crime. In light of this, it is vital for the state

to take a firm and decisive stance as this is a violation of the right to equality—an essential element of our

democratic state. Laws and those who make and enforce them need to react to these violations, but this

is where we find an alarming deficit. Moreover, society has to think long and hard because if we intend to

build a cohesive society we need to put an end to discrimination. I find it surprising that some television

programmes have used Roma to produce a pitiful and humiliating spectacle where prejudice and a damaging

portrayal of all Roma, especially Roma women, prevails.

Not only that; we must not forget that we are still witnessing

acts of discrimination and hatred against

Roma people across Europe

. Unfortunately, 2014 was no exception to this rule. There have been many cases

of anti-Gypsyism throughout Europe: forced evictions, physical violence, discriminatory policing, school

segregation, etc. In some of these cases, the response of the courts was positive as demonstrated by the

case law analysed in this report.

Despite these difficult times, important progress has been made at national and European level, including the

reform of the Spanish criminal code, the work carried out by several organisations such as the Platform for