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Discrimination and the Roma community, 2015
The guard told her that he had to keep an especially close eye on her. The girl became angry and told him that
he was following her because she was Roma. The guard openly admitted that that indeed was true.
The victim reported the case to us but did not want to lodge a formal complaint against the guard.
9.
Aviles.
Access to goods and services.
Direct discrimination.
A Roma woman from the town of Cas-
trillon, a widow with a young son, was unemployed, had no income and was registered in the municipality
of Mieres. She was temporarily living in Castrillon. She was doing the paperwork to apply for basic social
salary benefits which Asturias awards to people with no income. On the application form she had to pro-
vide her bank account number so that the regional government could deposit her benefits. She also had
to fill out a creditors form.
In March, the woman went to a bank in Mieres to open a current account but they wouldn’t let her because she
couldn’t prove that she had an income.
The woman didn’t understand why they wouldn’t let her open an account and the bank officials wouldn’t explain
why. She felt discriminated against.
10.
Asturias.
Access to goods and services.
Direct discrimination.
A Roma woman reported that a security
guard followed her around in a shopping centre. He followed her the whole time she was there.
The woman explained that this wasn’t the first time and that she felt that it was because she was Roma and they
thought she intended to shoplift.
She wanted to report and document the incident but was not interested in lodging a complaint against the
shopping centre.
11.
Ciudad Real.
Access to goods and services.
Instruction to discriminate.
On Saturday 8 November 2014 at
around 04:45, five young men over 18 (three Roma and two non-Roma) went to the discotheque called Sion on
the street Pasaje de San Vicente Ferrer, 1 in the town of Ciudad Real. The doorman told them that they could
not go in. When they asked why they were told that a few days earlier a Roma chap had smoked a joint in the
discotheque.
The young men explained that they had nothing to do with that. One of the doormen said that he was very
sorry but that he was following orders to not let any Gypsies in. The young men asked for a complaint sheet
which they were denied so they decided to call the police. The police arrived and the doormen reiterated that
they could not go in because they were Gypsies. The police reproached the doormen and explained that what
they were doing was illegal and filed a report.
The young men said that even if they were allowed to go inside, they still wanted the complaint form. They filled
it out but the manager of the discotheque refused to sign or stamp it.
12.
Sabadell.
Access to goods and services.
Direct discrimination.
A Roma participant in one of our services
was hired through a labour market integration scheme for six months at a childcare centre in Vapor Llonch, the
facility where the city of Sabadell’s Department of Economic Development is located.
At the conclusion of the contract this person told us that the head of the service was discriminatory in his
choice of what children to admit in the day-care centre, giving priority to non-Roma over Roma children.