HUNGARY - REQUESTING COUNTRY

The Hungarian Equal Treatment Authority has addressed in the past five years the following number Roma-related discrimination cases:

In 2008,

•              number of Roma-related complaints received: 112
•              number of violations: 4
•              Settlements: 3
•              Ex officio procedure: 0
•              Rejection by ruling: 15 cases, in other cases informing the client was sufficient, as proceedings were not requested or the case belonged to another authority.

In 2009,

•              number of Roma-related complaints received: 104
•              number of violations: 3
•              Settlements: 6
•              Ex officio procedure: 3
• Rejection by ruling: 16 cases, in other cases informing the client was sufficient, as proceedings were not requested or the case belonged to another authority.

In 2010,

•              number of Roma-related complaints received: 128
•              number of violations: 6
•              Settlements: 6
•              Ex officio procedure: 1
• Rejection by ruling: 17 cases, in other cases informing the client was sufficient, as proceedings were not requested or the case belonged to another authority.

In 2011,

•              number of Roma-related complaints received: 118
•              number of violations: 6
•              Settlements: 3
•              Ex officio procedure: 0
• Rejection by ruling: 13 cases, in other cases informing the client was sufficient, as proceedings were not requested or the case belonged to another authority.

CZECH REPUBLIC - PARTNER COUNTRY

The Ministry of the Interior that is responsible for Police lead their own statistics on character of the criminal acts and their motivations. Therefore we have an official data about the acts that have been reported as hate violence. But this is the practice of the law and the statistics. There are for sure plenty of cases that have not been reported, as victims of such violence are very often scared and do not aim to report them. So most probably the real number of such cases would be much higher. For example in 2012 there were reported about 300 cases of hate violence, but it is probably only 10 percent of the total number of them. For more info see http://www.romea.cz/en/news/czech/czech-republic-romani-people-most-frequently-targeted-for-hate-violence.

ITALY - PARTNER COUNTRY

Reports received by OSCAD, the Observatory for Security against Discriminatory Acts (see 2.2 below), highlight a prevalence of cases of racial/ethnic discrimination, followed by cases of discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation/gender identity and then by those based on religious belief. Very often discrimination is perpetrated on the web.

NORWAY - PARTNER COUNTRY

The Government has financed a study carried out by the Centre for Studies of Holocaust and Religious Minorities. This resulted in the report “Antisemitism in Norway?”(In Norwegian: Antisemittisme i Norge?). In addition to documenting attitudes towards Jews, it also documents attitudes towards other minority groups such as Roma. The study shows for instance that 27 percent of the respondents would strongly dislike having Roma as neighbours.

The Equality and Antidiscrimination Ombud reports on several cases of possible discrimination against Roma, especially cases concerning Roma being denied access to camping sites.

No statistics are produced at present based on ethnic groups; see section 2 of the Personal Data Act on sensitive personal data.

SWEDEN - PARTNER COUNTRY

In its 2011 report, Roma Rights: Discrimination, paths of redress and how the law can improve the situation of Roma in Swedish society, the Equality Ombudsman of Sweden described both its experiences in this area and available knowledge about Roma access to rights on equal terms. The report shows that the majority of complaints are made by Roma women who complain of being discriminated against and harassed in shops and stores. Of the 230 or so complaints lodged either with the previous Ombudsman against Ethnic Discrimination or with the present Equality Ombudsman during the period 2004–2010, discrimination occurred in 30-odd cases, according to the report.

In 2010, the Equality Ombudsman reported on a government assignment to determine the prevalence and extent of discrimination in the housing market. The method used involved situation testing, and both a rental accommodation study and a broker study were used. The results showed that discrimination is more common than other discrimination grounds. Discrimination was most in evidence in the case of people with foreign backgrounds in the rental study and in the case of Finnish Roma and Muslims in the broker study.

Regarding data on anti-Roma hate crime, from 2008 onwards the anti-Roma motive is presented separately in the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention’s yearly report on hate crime. In 2012 unlawful discrimination made up 13 per cent of the police reports with an identified anti-Roma motive. Anti-Roma hate crime has lower personal clearance than any other motive, 2 per cent compared to 5–8 per cent. This could partly be explained by the higher proportion of unlawful discrimination (13 compared to 0–3 per cent for other motives), which is generally considered as very difficult to prove. Considering that 87 per cent of the anti-Roma cases concerned other types of crime this is not the whole explanation. The Council has no analysis on the reasons for the low personal clearance. However, a certain degree of discrimination within the judicial system cannot be ruled out. A study done by the Council in 2008 (Rapport 2008:4, Diskriminering i rättsprocessen) showed that all through the legal chain “stereotype perceptions were particularly common against Roma, east Europeans, Muslims and black people”.

UNITED KINGDOM - PARTNER COUNTRY

The police and prosecution agency in the UK provide data on the number of hate crimes recorded. This is broken down to the five ‘monitored’ strands of hate crime being disability, race, religion, sexual orientation and transgender. However none of these categories is disaggregated in the recorded crime data. The generic hate crime recording data is published as part of the national crime statistics. This is supplemented by data published by the Association of Chief police officers and the Crown Prosecution Service. Links to the various reports can be found in the data section of the police hate crime web facility, True Vision (www.report-it.org.uk).

The Crime Survey of England and Wales[3] is a household crime survey which asks victims whether any crime they suffered is a hate crime. Whilst this survey is helpful in that it indicates the extent of under-reporting of hate crime generally, it is limited in respect of Travelling communities due to the methodology.

HUNGARY - REQUESTING COUNTRY

Social surveys and anti-Roma messages: Anti-Roma public and political speech can take various forms in Hungary from incitement to hatred or discrimination, to reiterating stereotypes or generalizations about criminality. Sometimes anti-Roma messages are implicit. However, the most frequent ant-Roma declarations in the Hungarian public discourse are linked to stereotypes namely that the Roma inflict threat to public safety. It is commonly believed also that phenomenon of “Gypsy crime” exists, that is to say, inclination to commit crime is both genetically and culturally coded in the Roma people but committing crime  considered by the Roma community as legitimate and not immoral. Gender related prejudices are also common, namely that Roma women are prostitute and incest is very frequent within the Roma community. Roma people are also generally considered as worthless to be integrated.

According to the most renowned Hungarian Social Survey Institute (TÁRKI)’s survey of 2011, the public opinion, stereotypes, and prejudices related to the Hungarian Roma population are deeply embedded and hardly have shifted since the change of regime. Nevertheless, there are examples of positive stereotypes as well, for example the Roma are naturally gifted and talented in music, art and trade, or the Roma families have stronger traditional values than the non-Roma ones. The cohesive power of the Roma community is also appreciated in the public opinion in Hungary.

CZECH REPUBLIC - PARTNER COUNTRY

There are such polls on regular bases being made by different subjects on focused on different target groups (STEM, Ministry of the Interior, People in need etc.). Even though they for sure ask only few hundreds or thousands of people, they somehow reflect the opinion of the society. Due to the last ones made in 2012 and 2013 are Roma the most hated social group in our country. Due to the last poll of STEM agency 4 from 5 asked people responded that they consider Roma as maladaptive group of people, ¾ of the population reject Roma and does not want to have anything in common with them. Due to the poll of People in need that was realised between high school students most of them reflect living with Roma as one of the biggest regional problems. The same organisation also realised another poll focused on political preferences of youngsters. On the 3rd place was the far right Labour Party. Due to STEM agency the inclination of youngsters towards the far right parties and initiatives is much higher than between other age groups.

ITALY - PARTNER COUNTRY

No data available.

NORWAY - PARTNER COUNTRY

No data available.

SWEDEN - PARTNER COUNTRY

No exclusive opinion polls regarding the attitudes of the general population towards Roma has been done. The Living History Forum has surveyed attitudes among upper secondary youth towards groups such as Roma, Muslims, Jews, non-European refugees and homosexuals. It presented its findings in a 2010 report entitled The Many Faces of Intolerance. About 20 per cent of the students in the study expressed negative attitudes towards vulnerable groups, while about half of the students in the study expressed an ambivalent attitude.

UNITED KINGDOM - PARTNER COUNTRY

None currently carried out nationally by Government. There are, however number of academic and partnership organisations that are looking for evidence of the experiences of travelling communities. One such example is a review carried out by academics and community groups on behalf of The Equality and Human Rights Commission[4].

HUNGARY - REQUESTING COUNTRY

Far right wing-politics: Jobbik, The Movement for a Better Hungary which has been described by scholars, different press outlets and its political opponents as extremist  anti-Semitic, anti-Roma. Hungary's third largest party, won 47 seats in the Hungarian Parliament in 2010.  In 2012 after a Jobbik MP’s hateful remarks the Parliament amended the House rules. The presiding chairman of the parliament now has a stronger disciplinary authority – he/she may launch an offensive against hate speeches made by representatives and may suggest the exclusion of the politician for the remaining time of the meeting of that day as well as the imposition of fees if the representative uses offensive expressions directed at national, ethnic, religious groups or individuals.

Paramilitary movement: In Hungary, the far-right paramilitary Hungarian Guard organisation (Magyar Garda) was established in August 2007. In 2011 May the rules of the Criminal Code have been tightened regarding “uniformed crime”. The Hungarian courts have ruled that the paramilitary organisation (Hungarian Guard cannot exist as a legal entity. The Government enforces this decision by penalizing participation in the disbanded organisation. The Government penalized the use of non-official uniform-like clothing to avoid intimidation by paramilitary groups. The ban on the use of such attire by paramilitary groups is intended to catch similar organisations.

CZECH REPUBLIC - PARTNER COUNTRY

The main far fight initiative is a political Labour Party of Social Justice (DSSS) that is a modification of Labour Party that got forbidden in 2010. We do not have any other political party that would be that much connected to far right ideology – even though the leaders decline this. Their rhetoric and political program is focused mostly against Roma, from spring to autumn it is this political party that organizes anti-Roma marches in the regional cities with social problems. In many localities it was actually this party that triggered the social riots. They focus mostly on labours and unemployed frustrated people, who are then their main voters.

The main problem, however, is that these anti-Roma feelings are no more connected to neo-Nazi scene only, but also to “regular people” that are more and more tolerant towards violence use as a tool to deal with problems. They more often take part in far right meetings and they march with them in the towns - while holding a hand of their children. The situation is therefore getting very dangerous.

Main arguments of these political parties are mostly connected with myths that the majority of the population has about Roma. Lately they focus (depends on actual situation) on other groups too – LGBT people, Vietnamese and also more and more Jews.

The 5 most frequent anti-Roma arguments that can be found in Czech media/political statements are:

1. Roma do not work and they abuse the social system – as they get more money than other inhabitants;

2. Roma are robbers and criminals;

3. Roma people ale maladaptive – they do not want to adapt on our level and our habits;

4. Roma are dirty people who make mess around our towns;

5. Non-Roma inhabitants of the country have to work very hard to feed all Roma that do not work.

ITALY - PARTNER COUNTRY

No data available.

NORWAY - PARTNER COUNTRY

There are no political groups acting against Roma in Norway. There are not registered any cases where Roma have been subject to racist violence.

SWEDEN - PARTNER COUNTRY

There are no significant political groups acting explicitly against Roma in Sweden.

UNITED KINGDOM - PARTNER COUNTRY

The UK does have some small and informal groups who attempt to stir up hostility on the grounds of race or religion. Whilst such groups would hold hostility to Gypsy and other Traveller communities the groups tend not to single out Gypsy/Traveller communities above others.

HUNGARY - REQUESTING COUNTRY

See 1.2 above.

CZECH REPUBLIC - PARTNER COUNTRY

As the polls lately show, the anti-Gypsyism is increasing every year. In my opinion the biggest role in that fact plays the economic crisis that led to the high rate of unemployment especially in border areas that were mostly focused on industry and where the most people work as labours etc. These people need to find culprit of their problems and Roma are always the easiest way. These anti-Roma marches and riots happen mostly in these regions. So they are mostly on regional bases (when we speak about action), but the problem with anti-Gypsyism is nation-wide.

Very important role play also (but in negative way) Czech media that are hunting for almost only negative information about Roma. Most of them refuse to show the positive examples and they keep on spreading the myths and stereotypes that have been already disproved. Therefore even people that have no real experience with Roma get very negative in their feelings towards them (Some research show that in some cases even worse than people from the localities with numbered Roma population, as they get the information only from media and internet).

ITALY - PARTNER COUNTRY

No data available.

NORWAY - PARTNER COUNTRY

In the recent couple of years there has been an increase in Roma of other nationalities travelling to Norwegian cities to find work or to beg. This has resulted in massive media coverage during the summer of 2012 and spring of 2013. In the social media one has seen intense debates, often with harassing commentaries and generalisations towards Roma. NGOs working with non-Norwegian Roma have reported on harassments and discriminatory attitudes from the public as well as from civil servants.

SWEDEN - PARTNER COUNTRY

There are no clear data on an increase of anti-Gypsyism in Sweden in recent years, since no broad study has been made on this topic. However, in the government’s regular dialogue with various representatives of Roma civil society, it has been expressed that Roma living in Sweden are feeling more affected by discrimination and anti-Gypsyism compared to some years ago.

UNITED KINGDOM - PARTNER COUNTRY

This is not known.

HUNGARY - REQUESTING COUNTRY

See 1.2 above.

CZECH REPUBLIC - PARTNER COUNTRY

Right before elections there is always increasing of anti-Roma speeches of members of Labour Party of Social Justice. They organize meetings in regional towns where appear some social excluded localities. As we are going to have other parliamentary elections in two months, we can expect also increase of these meetings.

As we are right now facing very problematic political situation in the Czech Republic (the parliament was dismissed), there is also increase of activity of such far right initiatives. For example on 24th of August there happened about 10 anti-Roma marches in various Czech towns by this political party. And most probably they were trying to get attention of the voters and were abusing the situation for their purposes.

We also have some members of parliament and senate that made their image on anti-Gypsyism. They have probably a great influence on some voters and they are considered as those, who are not afraid to say the truth. The main problem is that there are no other authorities and persons (or not that many) that would openly stand against them and refuse their hate speech.

ITALY - PARTNER COUNTRY

No data available.

NORWAY - PARTNER COUNTRY

No data available.

SWEDEN - PARTNER COUNTRY

No significant anti-Roma rhetoric has been noticed during recent electoral periods in Sweden.

UNITED KINGDOM - PARTNER COUNTRY

Whilst there have been individuals who have made inflammatory statements, none of the mainstream parties would tolerate overt hostility on racial grounds. A group of parliamentarians are currently working across all national political parties to provide guidance to prospective candidates in acceptable behaviour during pre-election periods.

HUNGARY - REQUESTING COUNTRY

See reply to 1.1.

CZECH REPUBLIC - PARTNER COUNTRY

The inspection authorities monitoring discrimination do not gather statistical data on the ethnicity of the complainants and so they are not able to identify how many Roma themselves have reported cases of discrimination. On the other hand, any person next to the victim can report to the competent authority any occurrence of discrimination in any field of its competence and the authority can also act on its own motion.

The Ombudsman is monitoring complaints received according to the discrimination motive. In 2012 complaints were brought before him from 16 Roma applicants, in 2011 from a total of 19 Roma applicants and in 2010 from 20 Roma applicants.

Although the Roma do not report instances of discrimination to the inspection authorities they are still felt subjectively. Results of a survey by EU MIDIS entitled Mapping Discrimination across Europe: European Union Minorities and Discrimination Survey (FRA, 2009), are listed below, showing that:

• 64% of Roma in the Czech Republic felt they were discriminated against during the past 12 months;
• 66% failed to report instances of discrimination (the reasons being that it would not have changed anything, ignorance of the procedures to follow, too trivial to report, fear of negative consequences, cumbersome and over-bureaucratic procedures, fear of intimidation, a preference for dealing with it themselves with the help of their family, language difficulties, problems with residence permits);
• 31% are aware of the existence of laws prohibiting discrimination, 57% are completely ignorant of this;
•                           71% do not know of any institution dealing with discrimination, 24% do;
•                           32% have experienced discrimination when seeking employment;
•                           13% have experienced discrimination when looking for housing;
•                           18% have experienced discrimination by healthcare professionals in the provision of medical care;
•                           21% have experienced discrimination by social workers in the provision of social care;
•                           11% have experienced discrimination by school personnel;
•                           30% have experienced discrimination in private services.

The regional coordinators for Roma Affairs, Roma advisors and non-governmental organisations (hereinafter referred to as “NGO”s), which support the Roma say that the Roma tend not to report cases of discrimination to the inspection authorities because they perceive this problem to be a normal part of their lives. In particular, socially excluded Roma do not believe that the institutions responsible will resolve them in a timely manner, and they also distrust them, as they do other authorities and the police. Because of this they feel no need to appeal to the inspection authorities.

ITALY - PARTNER COUNTRY

No data available.

NORWAY - PARTNER COUNTRY

No data available.

SWEDEN - PARTNER COUNTRY

There is no available statistical data regarding Roma reports of discrimination. However, the Equality Ombudsman and the previous Ombudsman against Ethnic Discrimination worked systematically since 2002 to promote Roma rights. The aim has been to increase awareness among Roma about the protection against discrimination available to them and also to increase awareness about such discrimination both within the agency itself and in the community at large. The work has involved the provision of training aimed at improving Roma’s understanding of the available legal protection against discrimination and thereby improving their chances of asserting their rights.

By gathering information about Roma experience of discrimination, the Equality Ombudsman is now in a better position to offer Roma relevant educational input and to investigate complaints and pursue strategically important legal proceedings. A key aim has been to test the extent to which the Discrimination Act can provide individuals with redress and to then apply case-law to raise public awareness of the Roma’s situation and to bring anti-Gypsyism out into the open. As noted in above, the Equality Ombudsman has also published the report Roma Rights.

UNITED KINGDOM - PARTNER COUNTRY

The ethnicity of victims of race hate crime is recorded by local police forces. Whilst they would have the ability to identify the number of crimes reported by Gypsy/Travellers and the method of reporting, this information is not collated centrally.

HUNGARY - REQUESTING COUNTRY

In 2011 the Chief Police Commissioner adopted a decree on cooperation between the police and local self-governments of the Roma minority in order to preserve, develop and enhance this cooperation. The purpose of the cooperation initiative is to establish relationships without prejudice and conflict between the police and the Roma minority, with a special focus on prevention of crime, (and protection of potential victims), on addictions and on the awareness-raising role of communication.

The police have established a central working party responsible for keeping contact with ethnic groups. It has different regional working parties. The members are police officers appointed by their superiors. The leader of the central working party is the chief of the Law Enforcement General Directorate of the Hungarian National Police Headquarters. The police keep under review all complaints submitted by the Roma population or non-governmental human rights organisations, which specifically concern discriminatory police action against Roma persons.

On a regular basis the working party on minorities informs the National Roma Self-government about complaints submitted, the criticized police procedures and results of investigations of complaints. In addition, a national conference is held annually with the participation of professionals working in the field of minority issues. The working party helps the law enforcement secondary schools to recruit and to organise visits during which young people of Roma origin may become acquainted with the profession. They keep contact with leaders of the local Roma self-governments in order to find out about opportunities for joining the police force.

The national ethnic liaison officer is appointed by the Chief Police Commissioner, and the regional ethnic liaison officer is appointed from the members of the working party by the chief of the regional law enforcement authority. They take part in ethnic meetings and forums, and keep in touch with the social organisations and foundations of the Roma minority. The working party and the liaison officers organise an evaluation meeting and consultation once a year. According to the decree, police programmes raising awareness on security issues will be extended to the schools and local institutions of settlements with Roma majority populations.

The Equal Treatment Authority (ETA) was established in 2005 and is based in Budapest, but its administrative procedure is extended to municipalities, and therefore incoming complaints are handled at local level. The project Social Renewal Operative Programme (SROP) (line 5.5.5. Fighting against discrimination, raising social awareness) was launched in 2009 and provides the possibility for lawyers specialized in equal treatment to receive complainants at local level. Complainants are entitled to get free professional assistance, and their applications are assisted and forwarded to the ETA. The SROP 5.5.5 programme also involves a lecture series designed by law enforcement personnel. The target group of the course is broad: participants can be those exposed to discrimination (mainly the Roma people) or those who work to assist people subjected to discrimination.

Part of the SROP programme is a 30-hour accredited training course launched in 2010, based on material developed by law enforcement personnel and held over more than 70 training sessions. The broad target groups for training are, on the one hand those involved, through their membership of an “at-risk” group (e.g. their Roma origin is linked to the discrimination), those who work with such persons or who meet them in other situations. The courses are run in a barrier-free environment in Budapest and several locations in each county by trainers qualified in law, sociology, socio-political studies and economics; the trainers in law work for the authority. In 2012 the Authority will roll out 31 accredited legal literacy and sensitization training sessions across the country, 15 to 25 participants per course.

CZECH REPUBLIC - PARTNER COUNTRY

The victims of discrimination can report the cases to the competent state inspection authorities (Labour inspectorates, the Czech School Inspectorate, the Czech Trade Inspection, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry for Labour and Social Affairs). These bodies may prosecute violations of the principle of equal treatment of people in labour relations, the provision of goods and services, healthcare and social benefits. Their investigation may be initiated ex officio or in response to a personal impulse and they may impose fines, but not award compensation to private individuals for injury. The compensation can only be sought in court in civil proceedings, where the victim of discrimination may seek termination of the discriminatory conduct, atonement of the consequences caused and adequate compensation, including monetary compensation. The most serious cases of racial discrimination and hatred may be reported to the Police or other law enforcement authority to initiate a criminal prosecution.

ITALY - PARTNER COUNTRY

There are two institutions to which victims of discrimination and racism can report to.

UNAR, the Italian Office against Racial Discrimination, has been operating since November 2004 with the purpose of promoting equal treatment and removing all forms of racial and ethnic discrimination. UNAR monitors the impact of discrimination on men and women as well as explores the relationship with other forms of discrimination, such as those based on culture or religion. UNAR is also Italy’s National Contact Point for Roma Inclusion. UNAR is a predominantly promotion-type and legal support national equality body[5].

The Observatory for Security against Discrimination Acts (OSCAD) was established for the purpose of guaranteeing the right to security of persons belonging to social groups at risk of discrimination. OSCAD is made up of the directors of the investigative services of the National Police and the Carabinieri Corps dealing with hate crimes. OSCAD pursues the following objectives:

1. Surfacing of the phenomenon;
2. Initiation of timely and effective investigations;
3. Monitoring and analysis;
4. Enhanced knowledge of the phenomenon;
5. Training of law enforcement officers;
6. Communication.

NORWAY - PARTNER COUNTRY

Anyone who feels they are being discriminated can present their case to the Equality and Anti-Discrimination Ombud. The Ombud will ask for information from both parties, carry out an impartial assessment of the case and make a statement about whether discrimination has taken place. The Ombud's statement may be appealed to the Equality and Anti-Discrimination Tribunal.

The rulings of the tribunal are administratively binding. The tribunal may order the payment of a daily fine until compliance with such rulings. The parties in a case may also bring the case to the tribunal if they disagree with the Ombud’s verdict. The tribunal’s verdict may be overruled by a court of law.

Demands for redress and compensation should be addressed to the courts of law. Some NGOs offer legal aid to Roma.

Roma can also report cases of discrimination to the police. Complaints against the police concerning discrimination can be directed to the Norwegian Bureau for the Investigation of Police Affairs.

SWEDEN - PARTNER COUNTRY

Anyone in Sweden who feels they are being discriminated can present their case to the Equality Ombudsman, the police or a union. The Discrimination Act also gives right for non-profit organisations to bring an action on behalf of an individual in the same way as employee organisations are entitled to do.

Fifteen state funded local anti-discrimination bureau NGO’s, which work in cooperation with the Equality Ombudsman, also offers legal aid to victims of discrimination.

UNITED KINGDOM - PARTNER COUNTRY

There is a full range of options available to anyone wishing to report hate crime. The UK Government and criminal justice agencies have committed to reducing the under-reporting of hate crime and have provided a range of reporting mechanisms. One such example is True Vision which allows victims or advocates reporting crimes to the Internet, even anonymously. The facility also provides downloadable materials to promote the reporting of crime, these products include foreign language reporting forms and specific material aimed at encouraging Gypsy/Traveller communities to report.

HUNGARY - REQUESTING COUNTRY

See 2.2 above.

CZECH REPUBLIC - PARTNER COUNTRY

The discrimination against Roma is not centrally monitored in the Czech Republic. There are only partial researches in various fields as education, where the ratio of Roma children in special education has been monitored to measure the impact of the state policy on Roma population and to propose measures for the improvement of their situation.

Discrimination against Roma pupils in education is the area that has been most thoroughly covered in relation to the monitoring of progress in implementing the judgement of the European Court of Human Rights in the case of D. H. and others against the CR. Several research studies have been made for this purpose, which identify how many Roma pupils are educated in “practical primary schools” following an educational programme designed for pupils with minor mental disabilities[6]. The Czech School Inspectorate will now regularly monitor this area.

The Ombudsman monitors the discrimination according to the complaints received and based on their content and his investigation he may propose changes of legislation or state policy. His statistics on discrimination on grounds of Roma ethnicity in important areas of their lives are provided below.

Table 1. The number of complaints from Roma complainants investigated by the Ombudsman and

the number of proven cases of discrimination in relation thereto in 2012

However, discrimination against Roma in the areas of employment, housing, access to healthcare and social services, etc. is not monitored systematically and regularly by any inspection authority. In this regard, the Czech Republic is more dependent on research studies carried out by international institutions (e.g. the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights).

ITALY - PARTNER COUNTRY

OSCAD (see 2.2 above) addresses under-reporting and receives reports of hate crimes, also made anonymously, via e-mail or fax. OSCAD collects and analyses the data acquired through reports received, information provided by the national police and Carabinieri, and the monitoring of news published by mass-media and websites.

NORWAY - PARTNER COUNTRY

The Equality and Anti-Discrimination Ombud documents the number of complaints to the Ombud on the different discrimination grounds, including ethnicity. There is no available statistics on the number of cases concerning discrimination of Roma.

SWEDEN - PARTNER COUNTRY

The task of the Equality Ombudsman is to monitor compliance with the Discrimination Act. Since ethnic registration is not allowed in Sweden, the Equality Ombudsman does not have any overall statistics on discrimination cases involving Roma. However, the previously mentioned study of the Ombudsman is an important assessment in the monitoring of discrimination of Roma.

The Ombudsman has pursued, and continues to pursue, a large number of cases relating to discrimination against Roma, for instance in the housing market and in employment and retailing. According to earlier estimates, the number of cases from Roma has been about 25 to 35 per year. Since the Equality Ombudsman was created in January 2009, the Equality Ombudsman has investigated, or is still investigating, around eighty reports deemed to be linked to some national minority. Reports of discrimination of Roma principally relate to the area of housing, the system of justice, social services and the education sector.

UNITED KINGDOM - PARTNER COUNTRY

In addition to the research mentioned above, local areas have scrutiny forums which allow community groups and criminal justice agencies to meet to discuss local problems, including hate crime.

HUNGARY - REQUESTING COUNTRY

No data available.

CZECH REPUBLIC - PARTNER COUNTRY

According to international surveys (FRA EU MIDIS, 2009), the Czech Republic has a high level of awareness of rights among the Roma population in comparison to other European countries.

Table 2. Results of the EU MIDIS 2009 survey

In response to the question of whether a law exists in the Czech Republic prohibiting discrimination against job candidates on the basis of their ethnicity, 57% of Czech Roma responded positively. These findings support the argument that a high level of awareness of anti-discrimination measures enables the Roma to identify and highlight cases of discrimination much better than in cases where Roma do not have this knowledge, which would explain the high level of discrimination in the Czech Republic. This follows from the finding that, despite the perception that they face the highest level of discrimination (64%), Roma in the Czech Republic are the most aware of anti-discrimination legislation, where 57% of those interviewed knew about anti-discrimination measures and the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms, which is the best result from among those countries where discrimination against the Roma was investigated. As a comparison, in Greece for example, only 6% of those interviewed had heard of the Charter and only 1% knew what it was.

But in absolute numbers, the awareness level among the Roma is still low. The Roma know about their rights, but are not sufficiently aware of the means to protect them and the ways to enforce them. In the future, the Ombudsman is going to organise education of field social workers, NGO’s and other subjects involved in the protection and promotion of the rights of the Roma to disseminate information and educate the Roma in the protection and enforcement of their rights.

Another necessary measure is to incorporate the topic of discrimination and equal treatment into the general educational programmes used as curricula for primary and secondary schools to achieve an overall increase in the awareness of the Czech population of what discrimination entails, how not to discriminate and how to tackle discrimination when we encounter it.

ITALY - PARTNER COUNTRY

OSCAD, the Observatory for Security against Discriminatory Acts (see 2.2 above), has taken a series of initiatives to make OSCAD known to the general public.

NORWAY - PARTNER COUNTRY

No data available.

SWEDEN - PARTNER COUNTRY

As described above in 2.1, the work of the Equality Ombudsman and the previous Ombudsman against Ethnic Discrimination to promote Roma rights since 2002 has increased awareness among Roma about their rights. However, in its report the Ombudsman indicates that this awareness raising work has to continue through several measures targeted on different areas of society. Currently, the Ombudsman is focusing on the rights of Roma within the areas of social services and housing.

UNITED KINGDOM - PARTNER COUNTRY

The Equality and Human Rights Commission has published a number of documents to raise awareness of the need to reduce hostility and raise awareness of individual rights[7].

The UK government has provided grants to civil society organisation in excess of £2.1 million in 2011 and 2014, to help them to provide services to victims of hate crime. Many of these cover all forms of hate crime, but one provided around £90,000 to the Society for the Promotion and Advancement of Romany Culture (SPARC) to enable them to support victims from Gypsy and Traveller communities.

There are many other local examples of initiatives to raise awareness of reporting mechanisms and services.

HUNGARY - REQUESTING COUNTRY

No data available.

CZECH REPUBLIC - PARTNER COUNTRY

It is important that equal treatment and zero tolerance for discrimination becomes part of the common culture of public institutions for their employees. Those employees who are guilty of discrimination should be punished.

In 2009, the Ombudsman established the principles of public administration, which were intended to make public institutions non-discriminatory, transparent and open environments for citizens. In order to disseminate these, he held a number of conferences and also issued publications focussing on this area. The principles covered respect for minority differences, which requires a positive effort to understand differences in cultural values and patterns of behaviour, which may not provide a basis for the condemnation, exclusion, restriction or general discrimination of a member of a minority or foreigner, provided there has been no violation of the law on his/her part.

The inspection authorities should also take the initiative and actively systematically monitor the situation of those target groups where there is a high risk that they will encounter discrimination. At the same time they should be involved in educating vulnerable target groups and alert public institutions to the need to adopt a system of measures to protect them.

Some inspection authorities do not have extensive powers and cannot sanction entities that do discriminate. In the Czech Republic this problem mainly concerns the Czech School Inspectorate, whose statements are perceived to be non-binding recommendations and where schools that do engage in discriminatory behaviour are either not sanctioned at all, or only very mildly. The State Labour Inspection Office also points out that its financial penalties are not sufficiently high to discourage major employers in particular from discriminatory practices.

To improve this we need:

• to educate civil servants in anti-discrimination policies and the application of the principles of good administration to their work, as well as to provide them with multi-cultural training;
• to draft operating procedures for them, which comply with the principles of good administration;
•  
• to publish regulations to be followed by employees in order to ensure maximum transparency in the services the public administration provides for citizens (e.g. through its own websites, bulletin boards and other means of information);
•  
• to ensure on-going monitoring of the attitude of service users to specific public institutions in terms of compliance with the principles of good administration;
•  
• to strengthen the capacity and powers of the inspection authorities to enable them actively to prevent, monitor and sanction entities that engage in discriminatory behaviour.
•  

ITALY - PARTNER COUNTRY

No data available.

NORWAY - PARTNER COUNTRY

No data available.

SWEDEN - PARTNER COUNTRY

All persons, regardless of background and circumstances, should be met and treated with respect by the police. In addition, the police must be an attractive workplace with tasks for different types of employees regardless of sex, gender identity, ethnicity, religion or other belief, disability, sexual orientation or age.

Regarding what was recently revealed, i.e. that the local Police authority in Skåne County has produced a data file containing a large number of Roma-people solely on the basis of their ethnicity, several measures are being undertaken. The Ministers responsible for the police and national minority issues, including Roma rights, have expressed their regret and condemned what has happened. The police are investigating every aspect of what has been revealed. The Regional Police Service in Skåne has submitted a report on suspicions of misconduct to the Prosecution Service and the National Unit dealing with complaints against the Police. These investigations are still in process. The Swedish Commission on Security and Integrity Protection has done an investigation and analysis of the existing files within the Regional Police Service in Skåne, and found several parts of these files are illegal. The Commission has not indicated that the files are based solely on ethnicity. The Data Inspection Board is supervising the processing of personal information within the Police. The Government is closely following the supervising and investigative actions taken and will consider further measures as progress is made. The Government is keen on better understanding the experiences of the Roma community on how they have been met and treated by the judiciary and the police. The Government, the police (both at central and regional levels) and other relevant authorities have had different forms of dialogue with representatives of the Roma community.

UNITED KINGDOM - PARTNER COUNTRY

The UK Ministry of Justice hosts a cross-government hate crime programme which brings all sections of government together with criminal justice agencies to oversee policy relating to hate crime. The programme benefits from an Independent Advisory Group which is made up of academics, victims and advocates including Gypsy Traveller and Roma groups.

Ministers have stated that there will be no hierarchy of victims and that all sections of the community should have equal access to services. Recognising this there was an agreement that some groups needed extra attention because of the isolation or other factors which reduce the likelihood of accessing services. Gypsy and Traveller communities were included in this list.

The hate crime programme has overseen the development of training and advice to professionals. One such example is the new police guidance which was approved by the UK College of Policing in July 2013. This document contains specific guidance on responding to hate crime against Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities.

HUNGARY - REQUESTING COUNTRY

No data available.

CZECH REPUBLIC - PARTNER COUNTRY

Currently, the main initiator is the Ombudsman, who is actively attempting to support Roma victims of discrimination by dealing with their complaints while, at the same time, educating organisations and their staff which are directly involved in working with marginalised Roma communities. However, the limited capacity of the Anti-Discrimination Department of the Office of the Ombudsman is an obstacle to his efforts to address this intensively. This Department also deals with suggestions and complaints from those Roma who turn to it.  At the same time it draws attention to illegal regulations or internal directives issued by certain public institutions and drafts recommendations to ensure they operate in a non-discriminatory manner.

Other inspection authorities do not develop specific activities targeted at the Roma. Support for the Roma in this area tends to be the domain of non-governmental non-profit making organisations, which systematically increase the legal awareness of their Roma users and carry out educational and informational campaigns in this area. They also warn discriminating entities that they are not giving equal treatment to the Roma.

The inspection authorities themselves investigate general complaints and comments from citizens regardless of their ethnicity. As has been indicated above, their preventative aspect should be reinforced to enable inspection authorities actively to monitor the situation concerning vulnerable groups of the population at risk of discrimination, including the Roma, and to test discrimination. They should also have greater powers and be able to apply stricter penalties.

ITALY - PARTNER COUNTRY

No data available.

NORWAY - PARTNER COUNTRY

The Equality and Anti-Discrimination Tribunal has a lack of capacity. Therefore, in connection with the adoption of four new equality and anti-discrimination acts, the size of the governmental funding has been evaluated. As a result of this evaluation there has been made changes to improve the tribunal’s capacity. This will enable the tribunal to hold 15 sessions each year, as opposed to 10 sessions today. These changes will enter into force in 2014.

The four new equality and anti-discrimination acts will also make it easier to obtain redress and compensation through the courts of law. Within the sphere of working life, both compensatory and non-compensatory damages will be rewarded regardless of the employers fault (strict liability). Outside working-life, both compensatory and non-compensatory damages may be rewarded if the discrimination has been the result of negligence (in other areas of Norwegian law, non-compensatory damages are usually dependent on gross negligence).

SWEDEN - PARTNER COUNTRY

The Equality Ombudsman has been given the sum total equivalent to the previous four ombudsmen’s allocations, despite the administrative and other synergies that arose after the merger. According to the government, these resources are adequate for the body to accomplish its tasks appropriately, including the promotion of equal treatment and assistance of Roma victims of discrimination.

UNITED KINGDOM - PARTNER COUNTRY

UK government believes the independent Equality and Human Rights Commission is well placed to protect all sections of our communities.

HUNGARY - REQUESTING COUNTRY

Recently the Government has paid particular attention to the fight against racism and xenophobia. Current anti-discrimination law is in harmony with European Community law and contains consistent, comprehensive and detailed anti-discrimination provisions. In addition to its general provisions, legislation deals with the enforcement of equal treatment in different areas. The law prohibits both direct and indirect discrimination. Across the entire country the Equal Treatment Authority is empowered to deal with individual cases, which are to be used as precedents in other cases. The Authority also issues general information and launches training and research programmes in order to promote the realisation of equal treatment in all aspects of public life.

CZECH REPUBLIC - PARTNER COUNTRY

Anti-discrimination legislation is based on the constitutional principles of equality in dignity and rights, and on the prohibition of discrimination on illegitimate grounds. The Anti-Discrimination Act effective since 2009 defines the right to equal treatment and protection against discrimination. In accordance with EU law, it prohibits discrimination

on the following grounds:

1. race,
2. ethnic origin,
3. nationality,
4. sex,
5. sexual orientation,
6. age,
7. disability,
8. religion, belief or world view,

in the following areas:

1. right to employment and access to employment or independent gainful activity,
2. employment or alternative employment arrangement, including remuneration,
3. social security and social benefits and facilities,
4. health care,
5. education, and
6. access to goods and services available to the public, including housing.

Beside the Anti-Discrimination Act there are laws and regulations prohibiting discrimination on other illegitimate grounds (political opinion, social origin, birth, etc.). The Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms prohibits discrimination in general. The Anti-Discrimination Act prohibits direct as well as indirect discrimination, harassment, persecution, instruction to discriminate and instigation to discriminate.

ITALY - PARTNER COUNTRY

No data available.

NORWAY - PARTNER COUNTRY

In June 2013, the Storting (Norwegian Parliament) adopted four new equality and anti-discrimination acts. One was a new act prohibiting discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression. In addition, a new Gender Equality Act, a new act prohibiting discrimination on the grounds of ethnicity and religion and a new act prohibiting discrimination because of disability were adopted. Extensive changes of the structure and language of these acts have been made, and they were therefore adopted as new acts. The four new equality and anti-discrimination acts will enter into force 1 January 2014.

The Act prohibiting discrimination on the grounds of ethnicity requires public authorities, employers and employer and employee organisations to work actively and systematically to promote equality on the basis of ethnicity. Employers must report annually on activities planned and taken. To ensure that small private enterprises are not required to comply with excessively stringent requirements, this duty is limited to enterprises that regularly employ more than fifty people. The duty to report is also implemented in the Accounting Act and the Local Government Act.

SWEDEN - PARTNER COUNTRY

On 1 January 2009, the new Discrimination Act (Swedish Code of Statutes 2008:567) entered into force. The new law replaced previous anti-discrimination laws. It prohibits discrimination associated inter alia with ethnicity, religion or other belief. Ethnicity is defined for the purposes of the law as “national or ethnic origin, colour or other similar circumstance”.

The Discrimination Act contains prohibitions against discrimination that are applicable in virtually all areas of society. The anti-discrimination provisions apply to working life, education, employment policy activities and employment services not under public contract, membership of certain organisations, goods, services and housing, and public meetings and public events, health and medical care and social services, the social insurance system, unemployment insurance and financial aid for studies, national military service and civilian service, and public employment.

A new penalty, compensation for discrimination, was introduced for infringements of the Discrimination Act, with the aim to facilitate the provision of higher levels of compensation to victims of discrimination. Compensation for discrimination is designed both to compensate for the abuse represented by an infringement and to act as a deterrent against discrimination.

UNITED KINGDOM - PARTNER COUNTRY

The Equality Act 2010 provides specific protection for citizens, to ensure there is equality based on protected characteristics including ethnicity. The act provides a positive duty on all agencies to address the need to eliminate harassment based on those protected characteristics and to positively promote good relationships between different sections of the community.

In addition to the equality duties the UK has a robust legislative framework including:

• ‘Incitement offences’ to criminalise the stirring up of hatred based on, amongst others, race;
• Specific racially aggravated offences;
• Enhanced sentencing legislation which instructs courts to enhance the sentence for any convicted offender who is proven to have been motivated by hostility based on, amongst others, race.

HUNGARY - REQUESTING COUNTRY

The Criminal Code was amended in 2011 and now criminalises threats, harassment and intimidation. The racist motive is recognised as an aggravating circumstance.

CZECH REPUBLIC - PARTNER COUNTRY

Yes. See 3.3.

ITALY - PARTNER COUNTRY

No data available.

NORWAY - PARTNER COUNTRY

In Norwegian civil law, all recognised discrimination grounds are treated equally. The four new equality and anti-discrimination acts, as above mentioned (question 3.1), in general gives the victim easier access to non-compensatory damages compared, cf. question 2.6.

In discrimination cases we apply rules on shared burden of proof. This will make it easier for the persons that are being discriminated against to obtain justice through the Equality and Anti-Discrimination Ombud and Tribunal or the courts of law.

In a criminal case, a racist motive will be considered as an aggravating circumstance. Thus, a racist motive will often lead to a stricter sanction for a person convicted for a criminal offence.

SWEDEN - PARTNER COUNTRY

According to the Penal Code (Chapter 29, Section 2, Paragraph 7) it is to be considered an aggravating circumstance when assessing penal value if the motive of a crime was to aggrieve a person, ethnic group, or some other similar group of people by reason of race, colour, national or ethnic origin, religious belief, sexual orientation or other similar circumstance. The provision is applicable to all crime categories.

UNITED KINGDOM - PARTNER COUNTRY

See above.

HUNGARY - REQUESTING COUNTRY

Violent action, cruelty, and coercion by threat made on the basis of the victim's actual or perceived national, ethnic, religious status or membership in a particular social group are punishable under article 174/B of the Hungarian Criminal Code. This article was added to the Code in 1996.

The infamous series of Roma killings took place in Hungary 2008 and 2009. During the killing spree murderers undertook nine arson attacks and other crimes, resulting in deaths. In early August 2013, the major perpetrators were life sentenced and racist motive was recognised as an aggravating circumstance. The Hungarian Ministry of Human Resources announced the intention to compensate the survivors of the attack and their families.

Hungary’s government in 2011 presented new legislation to punish vigilantes wearing uniforms and engaging in unauthorized law-enforcement activity, This novelty in legislation will strike on those wearing uniforms without permission or clothing that resembles official uniforms,. Intimidating others by attempting to impose order is punishable with as much as 3 years in prison if the action threatens a specific community. To date, no one has been arrested or charged based on this new provision, but it has been an effective deterrent.

CZECH REPUBLIC - PARTNER COUNTRY

Racist attacks in the Czech Republic states are harshly punished according to the Czech law. Racist attacks against individuals or groups are prosecuted as crimes of violence against an individual or a group of people, dangerous threatening, stalking, defamation of nation, race, ethnic or other groups of people and instigation of hatred towards a group of persons or of restriction of their rights and freedoms. The most serious actions against national, ethnic, religious or other groups are punished as crimes against humanity such as genocide, attack against humanity, apartheid and discrimination against a group of people, persecution of the population, establishment, support and promotion of a movement seeking to suppress human rights and freedoms and expressions of sympathy for a movement seeking to suppress human rights and freedoms.

The racial motivation for many crimes is also directly included in the law as the so-called qualified merits of the case with increased sentences. These crimes include murder, bodily harm, torture and other inhuman and cruel treatment, illegal confinement and restraint, abduction, extortion, damaging another person’s property or abuse of powers of a public official. Apart from these crimes, which directly punish racist attacks, the racial motive constitutes an aggravating circumstance for all other crimes, which justifies higher sentences for the perpetrator. This means that each crime based on racist or similar motives, will receive harsher punishment to underline its exceptional despicability.

Since 2013, legal persons are also criminally responsible for these crimes and can be punished e.g. by dissolution, monetary fines, confiscation of assets, prohibition of activities, prohibition of participation in public tenders or publication of the condemning sentence.

ITALY - PARTNER COUNTRY

No data available.

NORWAY - PARTNER COUNTRY

A wide number of sections in the penal code allow a suitable response to violence or threats against Roma or damage to their property. In particular, section 135a makes it an offence to express a discriminating or hateful statement in public. Statements on the internet will be regarded as expressed in public.

SWEDEN - PARTNER COUNTRY

Hate crime is not a term used in Swedish criminal law. There are, however, penal provisions that target behaviour that may be described as hate crime. The provision on agitation against a national or ethnic group criminalises the dissemination of statements or communications that threaten or express contempt for a national, ethnic or other such group of persons with allusion to race, colour, national or ethnic origin, religious belief or sexual orientation. The provision on unlawful discrimination makes punishable discrimination on the grounds of person's race, colour, national or ethnic origin, religious belief or sexual orientation. This provision applies to businessmen and their employees, persons employed in public service or those who have a public duty, and to an organizers of a public assembly or gathering and to their assistants. The law also recognises a racist motive for a crime as an aggravating circumstance.

UNITED KINGDOM - PARTNER COUNTRY

The UK Courts have established that Romany Gypsies and Irish Travellers are to be considered in law as ethnic groups[8] and as such they are protected from the full range of equality legislation and criminal offences outlined above.

HUNGARY - REQUESTING COUNTRY

No data available.

CZECH REPUBLIC - PARTNER COUNTRY

This area is the focus of the Roma Integration Concept 2010 – 2013, which has currently been updated for the period 2014-2020 and again introduces measures to support the fight against racism and extremism. The issue of anti-Gypsyism is also addressed each year in the Report on the status of the Roma minority in the Czech Republic, which is submitted to the Government on an annual basis.

Within the context of the fight against anti-Gypsyism, racism and xenophobia, the Czech Government promotes multicultural education of children and youth to increase their openness to other minorities. It also provides regular subsidies from the state budget to this area under the Support for education in national minority languages and multicultural learning grant programme. In 2012 a total of 60 projects in the Czech Republic received aid amounting to CZK 15,019,400. Not only multicultural education subjects at school, but civic educational projects also focus on discrimination and racism. The topic of the Roma holocaust is taught in civic education and history courses as part of the framework educational programmes created by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, used as a basis for the curriculum in kindergartens, primary and secondary schools.

The fight against racism and extremism is also one of the objectives of the Strategy for Combating Extremism, which is submitted to the Government each year for debate. It includes the governmental Report on the issue of extremism in the Czech Republic, which also analyses the occurrence of anti-Gypsyism in the Czech Republic.

Racism was the topic for the new Strategy to prevent hazardous forms of behaviour by children and youth during the period from 2013 – 2018. The Ministry of Education is also developing programmes aimed at children and young people in the area of racism and xenophobia within the framework of individual national projects financed from the European Structural Funds, which have also produced a number of methodological documents for teaching staff. Under the Operational Programme “Education for Competitiveness”, innovative projects aimed at the fight against anti-Gypsyism have received support (for example the “Mutual cooperation between non-Roma and Roma pupils to eliminate racism and xenophobia in schools and society” project, implemented by the Romea, o. s. organisation, or the “Mobile school for intercultural learning – a teachers’ tool for managing multi-cultural barriers” programme, implemented by the REKVAL, s. r. o. organisation, or the “Prejudice is OUT” project from the Step by Step ČR organisation).

We can expect a positive impact from the national Campaign against racism and hate violence, which the Human Rights Section began preparing during 2012, which should also specifically address anti-Gypsyism. During the course of 2013 the plan of the campaign was developed and this will be part of a three-year project funded by the EEA/Norway financial mechanism.

ITALY - PARTNER COUNTRY

No data available.

NORWAY - PARTNER COUNTRY

No national policies. See however replies to 3.5 and 5.5 below about the Action Plan to Improve Living Conditions for Roma in Oslo.

Furthermore, the action plan to Promote Equality and Prevent Ethnic Discrimination (2009-2012) has been prolonged throughout 2013. By January 2013, 64 out of 66 measures had been initiated or completed. In addition some new measures have been introduced during the period covered by the plan. The measures proposed in the action plan aim to promote equality and prevent discrimination of immigrants and their children, the Sami people and national minorities, including Roma. The government is currently considering what measures it will employ at the end of the action plan.

SWEDEN - PARTNER COUNTRY

Anti-Gypsyism is not addressed explicitly as a form of racism in the Swedish national strategy for Roma inclusion. However, the above mentioned white paper is a measure that will acknowledge anti-Gypsyism in the past in Sweden, in order to move forward and also combat discrimination and anti-Gypsyism today. The Ministry of Employment of Sweden has, in co-operation with the Council of Europe, also hosted a roundtable meeting on anti-Gypsyism in Europe in April of 2013 to highlight the topic and move forward in the work against anti-Gypsyism.

UNITED KINGDOM - PARTNER COUNTRY

See above.

HUNGARY - REQUESTING COUNTRY

The Hungarian Parliament adopted, in June 2007 a resolution on the Decade of Roma Inclusion Programme Strategic Plan for 2007-2015. This Resolution explains the background to the Strategic Plan and sets out a series of tasks to be accomplished in the fields of education, employment, housing, healthcare and equal treatment (non-discrimination), as well as culture, media and sports.

The Hungarian government also adopted a comprehensive National Social Inclusion Strategy 2011-2020 and an action plan for the period 2012-2014 on Extreme Poverty, Child Poverty and the Roma. The National Social Inclusion Strategy addresses the question of discrimination in Chapter VI: Involvement, awareness-raising, fight against discrimination.

CZECH REPUBLIC - PARTNER COUNTRY

Yes it does, and the funding for the implementation of these measures is included in the budgetary chapters of those organisations administering these measures.

ITALY - PARTNER COUNTRY

No data available.

NORWAY - PARTNER COUNTRY

In June 2009, the Government presented the Action Plan to Improve Living Conditions for Roma in Oslo. The aim of the action plan is to provide Roma with genuine opportunities to avail themselves of already established welfare programmes in such areas as education, employment, health and housing.

The measures in the action plan are also designed with a view to combating the discrimination to which Norwegian Roma are subjected every day. In line with the action plan, the City of Oslo has established an adult education programme for young adult Roma and an advisory service for Roma, and has arranged seminars on Roma for employees of municipal and central government agencies.

SWEDEN - PARTNER COUNTRY

On 16 February 2012, the Government adopted a coordinated and long term strategy for Roma inclusion for the period 2012–2032 (official communication 2011/12:56). The twenty-year strategy is to be regarded as a strengthening of the minority policy that applies to the five national minorities Jews, Roma, Sami, Sweden’s Finns and Tornedalians.

The strategy is based on human rights, with particular emphasis on the principle of non-discrimination. This means that the government emphasises that the Roma, like all others, are entitled to enjoy all human rights. Within the framework of the strategy there is no particular measure to combat discrimination and anti-Gypsyism. However, the Equality Ombudsman is involved in most of the different measures within the strategy, in order to ensure a non-discrimination approach in the different activities that are being carried out.

In addition, the Government offices are preparing a white paper on unfair treatment, rights violations and other discriminatory acts against the Roma during the 20th century. The aim is to acknowledge the victims and their families and to build understanding of the Roma minority’s situation today. The presentation and the dissemination of this report will probably have a positive impact in the work against anti-Gypsyism in Sweden.

The Government has allocated SEK 56 million for the period 2012–2015 to measures for the Roma. This sum is in addition to the ordinary means allocations for national minorities.

UNITED KINGDOM - PARTNER COUNTRY

The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government chairs a ministerial working group to address equality issues affecting Gypsies and Travelers including hostility. The working group publicly reports on its progress[9].

HUNGARY - REQUESTING COUNTRY

No data available.

CZECH REPUBLIC - PARTNER COUNTRY

Yes, this possibility does exist in the Czech Republic and it is regulated by Act No. 424/1991 Coll., on association in political parties and political movements. In 2010 the Workers’ Party, which was one of the right-wing extremist groups (see Section 4.5) was abolished under this Act.  On 17 February 2010 the Supreme Administrative Court ruled on its dissolution because its real programme, speeches made by its leaders and members and speeches which were allowed to be made during meetings and in the party newspaper aimed at “fomenting national racist, ethnic and social intolerance and, ultimately, were an attempt to restrict the fundamental rights and freedoms of certain groups of citizens of the Czech Republic”.

ITALY - PARTNER COUNTRY

No data available.

NORWAY - PARTNER COUNTRY

If a legal person commits a criminal offence it may be subject to criminal liability under section 48a of The Penal Code. If the offence demonstrates that the legal person is unfit to continue its activities, it may be deprived the right to do so under section 29. Further, if the main aim of a collaboration between three or more is to commit acts which are punishable by at least three years in prison (this includes discriminatory and hate speech under section 135a, cf. the answer to question 3.3) it is a criminal offence to conspire to commit such acts under section 162c of The Penal Code. It is also a criminal offence to establish or participate in a private organisation of a military nature, or a group which aims to use illegal means to disrupt the orderly running of our society. We are not familiar with cases where there has been question of applying any of these provisions in respect of groups involved in hate speech.

SWEDEN - PARTNER COUNTRY

In Sweden it is not possible using the law to restrict the freedom of assembly of groups or organisations whose activities involve the persecution of other groups, e.g. due to perceptions of race.

UNITED KINGDOM - PARTNER COUNTRY

The Terrorism Act 2000 allows the Home Secretary to proscribe organisations if she believes that it is concerned with terrorism. Whilst there are a number of currently proscribed organisations, none have specifically targeted exclusively Gypsy/Traveller or Roma communities.

HUNGARY - REQUESTING COUNTRY

The following cases took place last year in Hungary:

• Jobbik party member organised a demonstration on 5 August, 2012 in Devecser. After the announcement of demonstration (30 July, 2012) the local police station both informed and communicated with the Roma Local Government of Veszprém county and the local government representatives of minorities. The members of the Immediate Action Police and the Police Station of Veszprém county participated in maintaining the security. After the event only two persons prosecuted unkonwn people at the police station. The Crime Investigation Department of the Veszprém county Police Station pursues investigation against unknown offenders accused of committing violence against a member of community laid down in the Criminal Code.
• In Cegléd 18 August 2012 the police were notified that children in the neighbourhood could not sleep, because of the noise of exploding firecrackers. The Police reported two people, for owning devices presenting danger to public safety and confirmed the identity of 26 others. After processing the data collected and interviewing eye witnesses, the police launched an investigation into unknown perpetrators with the well founded suspicion of gang vandalism. In the mentioned case of Cegléd national police chief Jozsef Hatala has ordered an investigation into whether or not officers acted correctly during recent tension between Roma and other locals.

CZECH REPUBLIC - PARTNER COUNTRY

Table 3. Number of extremist crimes motivated by the affiliation of the victim with a certain ethnic, racial or other group or the propagation of national or racial hatred in 2007-2012 according to the types of crime (source: Ministry of Interior)

ITALY - PARTNER COUNTRY

No data available.

NORWAY - PARTNER COUNTRY

Our statistics do not use any ethnic terms for people involved in a criminal case. There are only statistics on name, age, gender and nationality.

SWEDEN - PARTNER COUNTRY

No data available.

UNITED KINGDOM - PARTNER COUNTRY

Such information is recorded locally by agencies and partnerships. It is not collated or published nationally.

HUNGARY - REQUESTING COUNTRY

See 4.1 above.

CZECH REPUBLIC - PARTNER COUNTRY

Table 4. Number of prosecuted and accused persons for crimes motivated

by a racial, national or other hatred in 2007-2012

(source: Supreme Prosecutor’s Office)

ITALY - PARTNER COUNTRY

No data available.

NORWAY - PARTNER COUNTRY

No data available.

SWEDEN - PARTNER COUNTRY

No data available.

UNITED KINGDOM - PARTNER COUNTRY

See 4.1 above.

HUNGARY - REQUESTING COUNTRY

See 4.1 above.

CZECH REPUBLIC - PARTNER COUNTRY

Table 5. Number of convicted persons for racially motivated crimes in 2009-2012

(source: Ministry of Justice)

According to the Statistical Criminality Records a total of 304,528 criminal acts were committed on the territory of the Czech Republic in 2012, of which 0.06% were crimes with an extremist undertone (173 crimes). In comparison with 2011 this represented a slight decrease (then the proportion was 0.08%).  52 criminal acts motivated by hatred towards Roma were recorded, which was lower in comparison with 2011 when 69 crimes were recorded. These criminal acts make up 30.1% of the total number of crimes with an extremist undertone.

The most common are crimes falling under Section 404 (Expressing sympathy for a movement seeking to suppress human rights and freedoms), Section 355 (Defamation of a nation, race, ethnicity or other groups of people) and Section 352 (Violence against an individual or a group of people).

Table 6. Occurrence of criminal acts motivated by hatred of the Roma in 2012

ITALY - PARTNER COUNTRY

No data available.

NORWAY - PARTNER COUNTRY

No data available.

SWEDEN - PARTNER COUNTRY

No data available.

UNITED KINGDOM - PARTNER COUNTRY

See 4.1 above.

HUNGARY - REQUESTING COUNTRY

See 4.1 above.

CZECH REPUBLIC - PARTNER COUNTRY

Yes. The investigation of any crime is limited in time according to the severity of the crime committed. Any prolongation has to be approved by the public attorney who controls the investigation and its progress in time. Racially motivated crimes entitle the prosecution bodies to use special methods in their investigation. This means for example wiretapping and recording telecommunications, police agents, who can infiltrate the extremist environment and gather evidence of the criminal activity. More complex merits of the case provide the prosecution bodies with a longer period to investigate relevant circumstances and for the prosecution itself (up to 6 months); they also have broader competencies for e.g. witness interrogation. Investigators of the Czech Police or other prosecution bodies together with public prosecutors receive special training for investigation of racially motivated crimes.

The investigation of racially motivated crimes is in practice often complicated by proving the racial motivation of the perpetrator. The perpetrator’s motivation is above all a state of mind, which is expressed externally, but to convict him for a racially motivated crime it is necessary to prove this internal motivation. The perpetrator usually does not admit it. Therefore it is necessary to use indirect evidence, which however is not available in some cases in a sufficient amount and quality to lead to conviction. When supervising the investigation of crimes motivated by racial, national, religious or other hatred as well as crimes, where this motive isn’t part of the merits of the case, the state prosecutors should pay increased attention that all actions necessary for ascertaining the perpetrator’s motive have been performed. In October 2009 the Supreme Public Prosecutor’s Office prepared a methodological guideline for crimes related to extremism, which had been sent to all prosecutor offices and has become a part of the education of prosecutors.

ITALY - PARTNER COUNTRY

OSCAD, the Observatory for Security against Discriminatory Acts (see 2.2 above), is capable of initiating immediate and targeted operational interventions. OSCAD members include the directors of the central investigative services of the National Police and the Carabinieri Corps.

NORWAY - PARTNER COUNTRY

The fact that a victim of a crime is Roma, will not justify any special priority. On the other hand, a case where racist motives are suspected can justify such a priority.

SWEDEN - PARTNER COUNTRY

Efforts to combat hate crimes are a priority of the judicial authorities. There are specific hate crime investigators within the police and prosecutors specifically responsible for hate crime cases. This work is currently being further developed within these authorities, not least in order to better identify the hate crime motive behind various crimes, since hate crimes may be many different types of offenses such as assault, vandalism, etc.

UNITED KINGDOM - PARTNER COUNTRY

See 4.1 above.

HUNGARY - REQUESTING COUNTRY

See 4.1 above.

CZECH REPUBLIC - PARTNER COUNTRY

On 17 February 2010, the Supreme Administrative Court ruled on the dissolution of the Workers’ Party. Its real programme, speeches made by its leaders and members and speeches which were allowed to be made during meetings and in the party newspaper aimed at “fomenting national, racist, ethnic and social intolerance and, ultimately, were an attempt to restrict the fundamental rights and freedoms of certain groups of citizens of the Czech Republic”. Due to the proven scope of the activities referred to above, it was not possible to suspend the party’s activities, because this was not a “less serious, rare and short-term violation” of the law and it could not be assumed that this political party would begin to take action to eliminate this undesirable situation.

In its assessment of the Workers’ Party case, the Supreme Court applied four conditions, which all have to be met before a political party is dissolved. First it assessed the condition of illegality, and concluded that the true and publicly presented programme of the Workers’ Party aimed at fomenting national, racial, ethnic and social intolerance and, ultimately, were an attempt to restrict the fundamental rights and freedoms of certain groups of citizens. The second condition is whether the behaviour evaluated can be imputed to the political party. This condition was primarily fulfilled by the fact that representatives of the Workers’ Party always appeared at the events monitored in the name of this political party and in the role of its official representatives, and not as private individuals. When assessing the condition of imminent risk, the Supreme Administrative Court judged the direction the party’s activities could take in the future based on an evaluation of its previous behaviour. If the party’s programme and the statements made by its leadership and members remained unchanged, it could reasonably be expected that the party would seek to implement their ideas, thereby ultimately undermining the democratic system. When evaluating the proportionality of interfering with the principle of freedom of association in political parties, the Supreme Administrative Court assessed whether the proportionality between the restriction of this right and the interest in protecting democratic values and fundamental rights and freedoms would be violated by the dissolution of the Workers’ Party, and whether less restrictive means would suffice, such as the criminal prosecution of its individual members. However, it did not find this to be sufficient as a range of criminal acts had undoubtedly been committed during official events organised by the Workers’ Party, for which the party provided the necessary organisational base and political legitimacy. Because of this the Workers’ Party had to assume responsibility for the crimes committed under its auspices. The Supreme Administrative Court therefore found that the programme and activities of the Workers’ Party met all the established conditions and, cumulatively, this was cause for its dissolution.

In 2011 the Constitutional Court heard the case of six offenders found guilty of the crime of supporting and promoting a movement seeking to suppress human rights and freedoms, which they were said to have committed during a meeting of the National Resistance movement in Brno on May 1 2007. The Constitutional Court rejected their constitutional complaint, making it clear that in the given circumstances, extremist hate speeches did not enjoy constitutional protection.

Other known racial-motivated attacks are primarily the following:

1. the arson attack in Vítkov in northern Moravia of April 2009, which ended with a conviction of all four perpetrators for attempted murder with a racial motive. All were given extraordinary sentences from 20 to 25 years and also have to pay damages to the victim in the amount of 9.5 million CZK as well as the medical treatment costs in the amount of 7.5 million CZK;
2. the arson attack on a Roma house in Býchory in central Bohemia in July 2011, with 4 perpetrators convicted of violence against a group of citizens and individual. They were given suspended sentences and they also have to pay 100 000 CZK to the victims;
3. the arson attack on a Roma family in Krty in western Bohemia in August 2011 is being investigated as attempted common threat; however the case has been suspended as the perpetrator has not been found;
4. the machete attack by Roma against guests in the local restaurant in Nový Bor is being investigated as attempted murder without a racial motive, the proceeding is ongoing.

ITALY - PARTNER COUNTRY

No data available.

NORWAY - PARTNER COUNTRY

No relevant case law.

SWEDEN - PARTNER COUNTRY

There is case-law within the discrimination area. Complaints, settlements and judgments regarding Roma cases of discrimination were examined in the Equality Ombudsman report Romers rättigheter.

UNITED KINGDOM - PARTNER COUNTRY

There have been a number of convictions for individuals who have stirred up hatred based on race. Many of these have induced Internet-based activity. The most high-profile case, although not specifically targeting Roma communities, was R v Shepherd and Whittle, which resulted in a conviction and imprisonment of two ‘white supremacists’ who circulated materials which stirred up racial hatred.

HUNGARY - REQUESTING COUNTRY

No data available.

CZECH REPUBLIC - PARTNER COUNTRY

The criminal law sanctions each crime with racial undertone mostly with deprivation of liberty from some months up to the exceptional imprisonment of 30 years or even life sentence. These sanctions are regarded as appropriate and dissuasive enough.

ITALY - PARTNER COUNTRY

No data available.

NORWAY - PARTNER COUNTRY

There are no special sanctions for cases of crime against Roma, but as said under question 3.2, a racist or discriminatory motive will be considered an aggravating circumstance and thus lead to a stricter sanction. For all but the least serious offences the courts may impose all the sanctions listed in the questionnaire on a person who is convicted for a criminal offence, including a criminal offence committed with a racist motive. 

In the four new equality and anti-discrimination acts, discrimination in general gives the victim easier access to non-compensatory damages compared to other areas of Norwegian court law, cf. the answer to question 2.6.

Very few cases regarding discrimination are brought to the courts. This is probably due to the fact that these processes are time-consuming and the claimant runs quite a substantial financial risk. Therefore the enforcement of violations of the anti-discrimination legislation is less effective than it should be. In order to make payment of damages a more effective measure, the travaux préparatoires for the four new equality and anti-discrimination acts, discussed whether the tribunal should be given the right to award damages to ensure a more accessible remedy. The conclusion was that the tribunal’s process does not ensure sufficient contradiction for the handling of claims for damages.

SWEDEN - PARTNER COUNTRY

As described under 3.1, a new penalty, compensation for discrimination, was introduced for infringements of the Discrimination Act, with the aim to facilitate the provision of higher levels of compensation to victims of discrimination. Compensation for discrimination is designed both to compensate for the abuse represented by an infringement and to act as a deterrent against discrimination.

Within the penal code the sanctions for the penal provisions that target behaviour that may be described as hate crime, it is regulated that a person, depending on the case, can be sentenced to pay a fine or to imprisonment for not more than six months, or, if the offence is grave, to imprisonment for not more than two years.

UNITED KINGDOM - PARTNER COUNTRY

Inciting hatred is a serious offence, which carries a maximum term of imprisonment of seven years. It is only used for the more serious racial crime but there are a range of other offences, including public order offences which are also available to prosecutors.

HUNGARY - REQUESTING COUNTRY

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has repeatedly reaffirmed his position that the Hungarian Government rejects every statement that hurts human dignity. He emphasized the principle of “zero tolerance” against all forms of anti-Roma or anti-Semitic manifestations and atrocities. He said that “every minority in Hungary is protected, including the national minorities, but also the Roma and the Jewish minorities.”

CZECH REPUBLIC - PARTNER COUNTRY

The Human Rights Section of the Office of the Government of the CR, headed by the Government Commissioner for Human Rights and Ms. Monika Šimůnková, also run activities aimed against extremism, racism and xenophobia.

In reaction to the turmoil in Šluknovsko, the Government Commissioner for Human Rights proposed that a Working Group to deal with regional crises be established by the Government. The Government approved this proposal on 29 August 2012. The Working Group is convened by the Government Commissioner for Human Rights as needed, when escalating social problems in a particular region have to be addressed. Its other members are authorised representatives from the MoLSA, MEYS, MRD, MI, MIT and ASI. The Government also instructed these ministries and the ASI to prepare a joint plan, under the leadership of the Commissioner, covering ministerial measures to provide immediate aid to regions experiencing increasing animosity. It is not expected that the Working Group will meet regularly, but only when there is a risk of social unrest.

The Government Commissioner for Human Rights, together with members of the Czech Government Council for Roma Affairs and representatives of the Agency, also met with the editors-in-chief of five national daily newspapers and television stations during September and October 2012. These were the editor-in-chief of Deník, published by Vltava-Labe - Press, a. s., as well as of the MF DNES and Právo newspapers. They also met with editors from the Czech Television and TV NOVA news programmes. The purpose of these meetings was to hand over information and to discuss ways in which the media acts when presenting Roma and members of other minorities. These meetings were called in reaction to the Břeclav case, when a fifteen-year-old boy made up a story that he had been attacked by Roma. Representatives from the Council and the Agency requested that the editors-in-chief engage in more balanced reporting of stories involving the Roma ethnicity and present positive examples of Roma and members of other minorities in the media. The individual editors-in-chief were given contact details for regional coordinators for Roma affairs and local Agency consultants, because they could be an important source of information on the local situation of Roma and the social exclusion in the region for reporters. These meetings brought specific positive results in the form of a number of reports that were generated in response to them (e.g. a Czech Television programme on a seminar on Roma women, or a report on the Handbook for Municipalities issued by the Agency for Social Inclusion).

During 2012 the Human Rights Section began to prepare the national Campaign against racism and hate-fuelled violence. During 2013 the campaign plan will be developed and it will form part of a three-year projected funded from the EEA/Norway financial mechanism. The Agency for Social Inclusion will coordinate the campaign. The project is a response to growing manifestations of extremism, racism and hate-fuelled violence among young people, partially aimed at the Roma, in regions with an overall high rate of unemployment. The project will focus a national media campaign at young people aged between 15 and 25.  In addition to this media campaign, educational and coordination activities will also form part of the project. The Ústí and Moravia-Silesia regions have been selected for these educational activities, as they suffer from consistently high rates of unemployment and existential uncertainty is a trigger for tension between different groups, including racist speeches and a tendency to hold extremist views and to support extremist movements and political parties. Activities in these regions will target children between the ages of 10 and 15, who are still forming their opinions, and also professional groups that deal with hate-fuelled violence and its prevention on the ground, such as teachers, police officers and municipal leaders (including council members).

The main project activities are:

• National media campaign “Against racism and hate-fuelled violence” - aimed at young people between the ages of 15 and 25, focusing on information on manifestations of racism and hate-fuelled violence and on how to deal with them. It will use television and radio advertisements, internet, Facebook and other communication tools that are attractive for the target group.
• Dissemination of good practices in socially excluded localities - through interactive websites and information material created for this purpose and intended for local government representatives (the leadership and members of municipal councils), the management of the relevant departments (education, social-health), for representatives of the main stakeholders in these localities (the national and local police force, heads of schools and healthcare centres, NGOs and others)
• Research - into current practices involving usury in socially excluded localities in order to propose measures to combat this phenomenon and into the migration of the poor, particularly Roma, in order to prevent their forced migration.
• Regional educational activities at schools in the Ústí and Moravia-Silesia regions involving pupils from the age of 10 and teachers in programmes aimed at understanding how to deal with racism and hate-fuelled violence and bullying in general, including the preparation of teaching materials (films, methodologies etc.).
• Regional educational activities for the police force in the Ústí and Moravia-Silesia regions to improve understanding of the situation in socially excluded localities and improving their ability to implement preventive measures and to combat crime caused by hate-fuelled violence.
• External evaluation of project impacts, which will evaluate the effectiveness of the individual activities by comparing the attitudes of the target groups before and after the implementation of project activities.

ITALY - PARTNER COUNTRY

No data available.

NORWAY - PARTNER COUNTRY

We have not seen acts of violence against Roma that would require any response from authorities or the media. In later years, Romanian citizens, often from the Roma community, have been begging in public places. They have been subject to verbal abuse/hate speech by passers-by and on the internet. There has also been a heated public debate on the issue of whether begging should be allowed. Several newspapers have published articles voicing concern about the use of stigmatizing anti-Roma rhetoric.

There are no concrete data concerning media reactions against threats, hate speech etc. against Roma. The general impression, however, is that there is wide and balanced media reporting and debate on these questions and that, at least in the mainstream media, acts of violence against Roma are condemned in the same way as acts of violence against any other group.

SWEDEN - PARTNER COUNTRY

The Government believes that political leadership is vital in the fight for tolerance. Therefore different ministers have condemned manifestations of these forms of intolerance, both within and outside Sweden. They have also participated in different manifestations in support of groups who are subjected to it, Roma being one of these.

The minister responsible for Roma issues, the Equality Ombudsman, among others, have on several occasions addressed the anti-Gypsyism and discrimination of Roma. There have also been examples of media (radio and newspapers) that have drawn attention to different expressions of anti-Gypsyism and discrimination against Roma.

UNITED KINGDOM - PARTNER COUNTRY

Ministers and criminal justice leaders regularly speak out to encourage inclusive communities and to make it clear that they will not tolerate behaviour that stirs up hatred to any section of the community.

HUNGARY - REQUESTING COUNTRY

No data available.

CZECH REPUBLIC - PARTNER COUNTRY

There is going to start a national campaign again racism and hate-violence that is going to be called Hate Free culture paid by Norway grants and EHP. Until now we are in the preparatory phase. The campaign will be realised within next three years. It is focused on youth 15-25, mostly combating hate speech and preventing hate violence and racism in online space (social networks etc.), but there will be used also not that common tools as interventions in public space, including artists and other initiatives to combat the hate speech and hate violence in creative way. The campaign should be positive and show that there are many youngsters that are not tolerant towards violence. The campaign should make these young people active, critical and aware.

ITALY - PARTNER COUNTRY

The Dosta! campaign was officially launched in Italy on 7 June 2010 and is implemented and coordinated by UNAR, the National Office against Racial Discrimination. It was also launched in various regions of Italy (Puglia, Reggio Calabria, Lombardy, etc.). The campaign is part of the implementation measures of the national Roma inclusion strategy and receives annual funding from the State budget. Campaign activities include public debates, cultural events, TV and radio spots in public transport, videos, movies and documentaries, pedagogical material to address stereotypes and prejudice against Roma in schools, the translation of the Council of Europe Roma history factsheets into Italian, etc.

As a result of the passage of the Dosta! campaign in Reggio Calabria and the subsequent debate regarding the labour weaknesses of the gathering and legal commercialisation of iron among the Roma, a provincial decree was adopted to simplify the administrative procedure for everybody. So, starting from a specific request in the framework of Dosta!-related meetings, debates and cultural entertainments, the recently adopted administrative decree has permitted to the Roma and to everybody else to work on a legal basis and with easy procedures in the field of the gathering of iron. The Dosta! campaign can represent more than an intercultural confrontation, opening new perspectives for Roma socio-economic inclusion.

NORWAY - PARTNER COUNTRY

Through funds from the EU program PROGRESS the Equality and Antidiscrimination Ombud in 2013/2014 carries out a sub-project designed to develop new knowledge about the Roma population in Norway and is aiming at increased awareness among relevant public authorities on the subject of the explicit rights the Roma population has as a national minority in connection with travelling and schooling.

SWEDEN - PARTNER COUNTRY

There has not been an awareness-raising campaign at a national level. At a local level, a lot of cultural and awareness raising activities have been carried out during 2012–2013 in commemoration of the 500 years since the arrival of the Roma in Sweden.

The “Living History Forum” will implement a special project focused on anti-Gypsyism in 2014-2016. The overall aim of this project is to increase the knowledge among school pupils about the history of Roma and how this has affected their situation today.

UNITED KINGDOM - PARTNER COUNTRY

There have been a range of campaigns at local and national level to combat hate crime. Many are brought together on the police-owned web facility, True Vision. The police and local partnerships are currently finalising a range of materials specifically aimed at encouraging reporting from the Gypsy Traveller community.

HUNGARY - REQUESTING COUNTRY

No data available.

CZECH REPUBLIC - PARTNER COUNTRY

The role of social networks and internet in combating anti-Gypsyism is, in my opinion, now at the beginning. NGOs and other initiatives are now discovering how social media work and how one can use them for combating hate speech or use them for promotion of their activities. There are several very successful movements of the individuals that work with hate speech and prejudices (as Confession of Hitler, Confession of Vietnamese, STOP Czechs in Czech Republic or Live Brno etc.) by making fun of them. These activities are very popular between youngsters, but these initiatives are very often banned by Facebook administrators as they are reported mostly by far right activists. Hate Free Culture campaign just has started its’ own Facebook account in the testing modus, where are the various approaches tested at the moment.

ITALY - PARTNER COUNTRY

No data available.

NORWAY - PARTNER COUNTRY

The Government has on several occasions addressed the discrimination and harassment of Roma by means of the media.

SWEDEN - PARTNER COUNTRY

The Minister responsible for Roma issues, but also other ministers, has on several occasions addressed anti-Gypsyism and discrimination of Roma through different media channels, mainly traditional media.

UNITED KINGDOM - PARTNER COUNTRY

In addition to enforcement action around illegal racist use of social media, the police have utilised this facility to target messages to affected communities or to discourage hostility amongst offender groups.

One such example was the response to a series of antisocial behaviour incidents suffered by a Traveller community who had set up residents near to a student’s lodgings. The police, in conjunction with the local anti-racism partnership targeted students for a message that encouraged positive relationships and warned that criminal offences motivated by hostility towards the traveller community would be treated as racism and perpetrators would be prosecuted.

HUNGARY - REQUESTING COUNTRY

No data available.

CZECH REPUBLIC - PARTNER COUNTRY

Yes, there is a Centre for Safer Internet that is responsible for this project in the Czech Republic in cooperation with the Ministry of Education. But the campaign is almost not visible as it has almost no financial support and the NGO that runs the campaign is focused on different agenda and the people responsible for the project are probably not very much aware of the way of present communication of youngsters.

ITALY - PARTNER COUNTRY

No data available.

NORWAY - PARTNER COUNTRY

Norway is in the process of implementing the project Young People Combating Hate Speech Online that is aimed at combating racism and discrimination in their online expression and communication by establishing a national campaign committee. The national campaign committee involves organisations that are interested and engaged in the subjects addressed by the project and will create a link to the Follow-up Group set up by The Joint Council on Youth and the Council of Europe.

SWEDEN - PARTNER COUNTRY

In June 2013 the Swedish Media Council was given the assignment to carry out the European Council campaign No Hate Speech Movement in Sweden. The aim of the activities in Sweden is to enhance knowledge about xenophobia, sexism and similar forms of intolerance on the internet.

UNITED KINGDOM - PARTNER COUNTRY

Not currently, however the hate crime Independent Advisory Group has recently made contact with the campaign organisers to try and ascertain whether a UK representative group could be included.

HUNGARY - REQUESTING COUNTRY

No data available.

CZECH REPUBLIC - PARTNER COUNTRY

Media are one of the biggest problems in the Czech Republic in regard of spreading and supporting spread of the prejudices and hate speech. Especially the commercial television TV Nova seems to run its’ anti-Roma campaign. There were many cases when actually this TV station spread made up stories about Roma in regions (criminality, attacks etc.), without verifying them, that later revealed as fake. The same TV never came back to acknowledge they were wrong. The same problem appears with several newspapers and online news servers.

The main problem is that commercial TVs (and media in general) spread what is selling them. They defend themselves by saying that they only show what people ask for. People are unfortunately not that interested in positive examples of Roma and their life, they prefer to see them as robbers and murders. That is why the TV channels have such attitudes. They need to keep the watchers.

During the riots in the northern part of the country in 2011 it was the media that played the key role. Especially thanks to the commercial TV stations the problem in the end escalated to very dangerous street riots, where not only neo-Nazis took part, but regular frustrated inhabitants of the regional towns.

The only TV station that tries to show the positive examples and tries the most of all to be objective is national Czech Television that is also running a news channel. Unfortunately it has fewer viewers than commercial televisions.

ITALY - PARTNER COUNTRY

No data available.

NORWAY - PARTNER COUNTRY

No data available.

SWEDEN - PARTNER COUNTRY

In general, no significant media has reinforced the negative image of Roma. There have been examples of media (radio and newspapers) that have drawn attention to different expressions of anti-Gypsyism and discrimination against Roma. There are also several examples of positive reports about Roma in media, highlighting role models, etc.

UNITED KINGDOM - PARTNER COUNTRY

The media have played both of these roles in the past.

HUNGARY - REQUESTING COUNTRY

No data available.

CZECH REPUBLIC - PARTNER COUNTRY

No data available.

ITALY - PARTNER COUNTRY

No data available.

NORWAY - PARTNER COUNTRY

The Action Plan to Improve Living Conditions for Roma in Oslo: In line with the action plan, the City of Oslo has established an adult education programme for young adult Roma and an advisory service for Roma, and has arranged seminars on Roma for employees of municipal and central government agencies. The City of Oslo has also implemented a project adapted to the needs of Roma children (Losprosjekt tilpasset rombarn). The target group for the project is school children aged 8-16 from Norwegian Roma families, with a high rate of absenteeism. The project started up in the autumn of 2011 and will run until the end of 2013. The Action Plan will be evaluated in 2014. The evaluation report will contribute to identify the most efficient measures and projects.

The City of Oslo has also launched the project “Roma guides” (Rom viser vei) in which two young adult Roma and the City of Oslo have jointly prepared a presentation on Roma history, culture and way of life. The main target group for this presentation is primary and lower secondary school pupils, but employees of schools and other municipal and central government agencies will also benefit from the presentation.

The project “Romani People/Taters – from child to adult” (Romanifolket – fra barn til voksen) was concluded in 2009. The project is being followed up under the auspices of the National Centre for Multicultural Education. Work is in progress on establishing permanent programmes, including efforts to highlight Romani People/Taters in day-care centres and schools, and to develop information material.

A grant for national minorities is provided each year from the central government budget. The aim of the grant scheme is to support activities that promote active participation in society, ensure equal opportunities for all and combat discrimination. The grant scheme is intended to help ensure that the principles enshrined in the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities are implemented in practice. The grant scheme was established in 2000 and has been continuously adjusted in accordance with changes in national minority organisations.

Human rights, racism and anti-Semitism are already well embedded in the Knowledge Promotion Reform’s competence objectives and subject curricula, but the Ministry of Education and Research recognises that it may be necessary to enhance teaching skills. The Ministry is therefore in the process of developing a coherent approach to schools’ efforts to combat anti-Semitism and racism, based in part on recommendations in the report “It Can Happen Again” (Det kan skje igjen).

The Centre for Studies of the Holocaust and Religious Minorities, the European Wergeland Centre and the Department of Teacher Education and School Research at the University of Oslo were commissioned by the Directorate for Education and Training to develop a three-year training programme for teachers, school administrators and pupils at lower secondary school level, with a view to preventing anti-Semitism, racism and undemocratic attitudes. The programme will be launched as a pilot project in Oslo schools in the autumn of 2013. The purpose of the programme is to strengthen democratic preparedness and increase democratic, inclusive interaction throughout the school system. Through this project, teachers and school administrators will acquire greater confidence in their ability to assist in resolving conflicts between different groups of pupils. The project must be seen as part of the Directorate’s comprehensive, five-year (2009-2014) campaign to create a better learning environment.

The government of Norway is also in the process of starting a research project to know more about what actually happened to Norwegian Roma before, during and after World War II, especially concerning the Roma Holocaust (Samudaripen/Pharrajimos).

SWEDEN - PARTNER COUNTRY

Mediators of Roma origin are used in several measures, namely within the areas of education, employment and healthcare. The preliminary results of this have been positive, so in short more mediators will be involved within the social services with additional state funding.

All aspects of the implementation of the strategy should be characterised by Roma participation and Roma influence, for instance by the involvement of Roma civil society in the shaping and implementation of the measures, and by asserting Roma language and culture competencies in the implementation.

Consultations with the different national minorities, including the Roma group, have been carried out at a governmental level since 2006. The responsible minister for coordinating issues regarding national minorities meet representatives from all national minorities, together once a year and each minority by themselves once a year.

The national strategy is based on proposals from the Delegation for Roma Issues, an independent investigation appointed by the Government (2006-2010). The delegation’s final report was circulated for comment and a number of meetings and consultations were held with Roma representatives in drafting the proposals.

Similar meetings and dialogues will be important throughout the process to assess the needs and proposals of solution for how the Roma inclusion policies can be further developed in the future. For this purpose, following a dialogue process with Roma representatives, in June 2013 the Government Offices decided to form a Roma reference group. The reference group consists of 9 women and 11 men from different age groups and Roma groups. The participants were selected after a nomination process where Roma representatives were given the opportunity to propose persons to the group.

UNITED KINGDOM - PARTNER COUNTRY

Education programs are predominantly locally planned and managed.

HUNGARY - REQUESTING COUNTRY

No data available.

CZECH REPUBLIC - PARTNER COUNTRY

No data available.

ITALY - PARTNER COUNTRY

No data available.

NORWAY - PARTNER COUNTRY

The Directorate for Education and Training is making a brochure, as well as digital information, about the national minorities in Norway, including Roma. The information is primarily meant as background for teachers, but may give knowledge about national minorities to everyone interested in the topic.

SWEDEN - PARTNER COUNTRY

The government has recently commissioned the Swedish National Agency for Education to prepare and publish an educational supplement for elementary school about Roma culture, language, religion and history. The material will be based on the guidelines for curriculum for the elementary school and serve as guideline in the teaching about the national minorities, with a focus on the Roma culture, language, religion and history. The material should primarily be for teachers of high school and will be developed in consultation with Roma representatives.

In addition, the above mentioned mediators play an important role in the dissemination of Roma culture and history among the majority population. Another measure to promote awareness of Roma culture and history in Sweden is the already mentioned white paper.

UNITED KINGDOM - PARTNER COUNTRY

See 5.5 above.

HUNGARY - REQUESTING COUNTRY

No data available.

CZECH REPUBLIC - PARTNER COUNTRY

No data available.

ITALY - PARTNER COUNTRY

No data available.

NORWAY - PARTNER COUNTRY

The education in Norway shall be adapted to the pupils needs. We know, however, that there are challenges to the education of Roma pupils because of their absence from school during travelling and because there are tendencies that especially girls do not attend school (regularly) when they become teenagers.

SWEDEN - PARTNER COUNTRY

There are no data available about the effect of educational programmes on Roma children and youth. Assessments of measures that are being implemented within the strategy for Roma inclusion will give more information about this the following years.

UNITED KINGDOM - PARTNER COUNTRY

See 5.5 above.

HUNGARY - REQUESTING COUNTRY

No data available.

CZECH REPUBLIC - PARTNER COUNTRY

There are several NGOs that deal with such things. Great role plays ROMEA and its news server Romea.cz that is more and more visible and even mainstream media take it more seriously, they quote it etc. ROMEA tries to reveal discrimination happening not only on national bases, but also in regions. They monitor the movements of far right groups and cooperate with Police and other security forces. What is very important – they give the voice to Roma people that are very often forgotten to be asked by mainstream media for their opinion.

There is also In Iustitia organisation that reports on hate crimes. They assist the victims and offer them law service for free. Czech Helsinki Committee deals with the discrimination of Roma via sterilization of Roma women etc. There are also the others (People in need etc.), but these mentioned probably play the key role.

ITALY - PARTNER COUNTRY

OSCAD, the Observatory for Security against Discriminatory Acts (see 2.2 above) liaises with associations and other institutions dedicated to combating discriminatory practices, in particular with the National Office Against Racial Discrimination (UNAR).

Since its establishment, OSCAD has maintained close relations with associations protecting persons at risk of discrimination (NGOs) in order to strengthen the relationship between civil society and police forces and acquire direct knowledge of communities at risk and their security needs.

NORWAY - PARTNER COUNTRY

No data available.

SWEDEN - PARTNER COUNTRY

One organisation that, among other things, monitors hate crime/hate speech against Roma is the Expo Foundation, which is a non-profit, privately-owned research foundation founded in 1995 with the aim of studying and mapping anti-democratic, right-wing extremist and racist tendencies in society.

UNITED KINGDOM - PARTNER COUNTRY

There are a number of civil society groups engaging with agencies and government at a local and national level. In addition to SPARC (mentioned above), one group called Friends Families and Travellers sits on the government’s Hate Crime Advisory Group to ensure that policy reflects the needs of Gypsy and Traveller communities.

HUNGARY - REQUESTING COUNTRY

No data available.

CZECH REPUBLIC - PARTNER COUNTRY

The NGOs absolutely play one of the key roles in monitoring the discrimination against Roma. They are very often in the field; they know the real situation and Roma trust them much more then to the institutions. Therefore they are very often very much up to date. On the other hand they are sometimes also being seen as troublemakers. That was for example why some of the NGOs that were cooperating with the Ministry of the Interior left the working group combating far right groups about a year ago. They wanted to solve the situation more radically than the Ministry and Police.

ITALY - PARTNER COUNTRY

No data available.

NORWAY - PARTNER COUNTRY

No data available.

SWEDEN - PARTNER COUNTRY

Roma NGOs in Sweden play an important role in the work against discrimination of Roma. Valuable information regarding this is provided in their regular consultations with the government and the Equality Ombudsman.

UNITED KINGDOM - PARTNER COUNTRY

See 6.1 above.

HUNGARY - REQUESTING COUNTRY

No data available.

CZECH REPUBLIC - PARTNER COUNTRY

No data available.

ITALY - PARTNER COUNTRY

No data available.

NORWAY - PARTNER COUNTRY

There are no specific media projects of this type. With regard to the principle of editorial independence, media policy instruments are in general not directed towards influencing editorial content or reporting directly. Instead, policy instruments ensure the existence of a (external) diversity of media and voices in the public debate. There are, for instance, several media subsidy schemes directed towards ethnic or language minority groups.

In 2011 The Ministry for Children, Equality and Social Inclusion financed a children’s documentary film “Samson travelling” (Samson på reise) about a boy with Roma background and his family’s efforts to gain access to camping grounds. The film has been broadcasted by The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation.

SWEDEN - PARTNER COUNTRY

The above mentioned Expo Foundation lectures and informs on the Swedish and European extreme right for journalists, amongst others.

UNITED KINGDOM - PARTNER COUNTRY

The role of the media and its scrutiny is under review in the UK, notably as a result of the public Inquiry, headed by a prominent Judge, Lord Leveson.[11]

Officials in the Department of Communities and Local Government have been working with the Society of Editors to help them develop their own guidance on these and related issues.

HUNGARY - REQUESTING COUNTRY

No data available.

CZECH REPUBLIC - PARTNER COUNTRY

No data available.

ITALY - PARTNER COUNTRY

No data available.

NORWAY - PARTNER COUNTRY

Ethical codes are in place, and in practice all editorial mass media in Norway are obliged to follow these codes through their membership in the different media associations (The Norwegian Press Association, The Association of Norwegian Editors, The Norwegian Media Business Association, The Norwegian Union of Journalists etc.). It is a self-regulatory system which is established by the press associations themselves. Violations are not met with sanctions against journalists. However, any medium found guilty of violating the code must publish a statement/judgement issued by the Press Complaints Commission.

SWEDEN - PARTNER COUNTRY

The press, radio and television in Sweden shall have the greatest possible degree of freedom, within the framework of the Freedom of the Press Act and the constitutional right of freedom of speech, in order to be able to serve as disseminators of news and as scrutinizers of public affairs. In this context it is important that the individual is protected from unwarranted suffering as a result of publicity. Ethics does not consist primarily of the application of a formal set of rules but in the maintenance of a responsible attitude in the exercise of journalistic duties. The code of ethics for press, radio and television in Sweden is intended to provide support for this attitude. The code lies under the responsibility of the Joint Committee of the Press in Sweden, which is founded by the leading media organisations in Sweden: The Newspapers Publishers Association, The Magazine Publishers Association, The Union of Journalists and The National Press Club.

The Press Ombudsman (PO) and the Press Council (PON) are independent self-disciplinary bodies in Sweden which deals with complaints about the editorial content of newspapers, magazines and their websites. The complainant must be personally affected (i e identified in some way) by the publicity and the complaint should be made in three month time from the publicity. Companies, government authorities and organisations can also file complaints. The remedy for such institutional complaints is the right to reply or the right of a correction.

UNITED KINGDOM - PARTNER COUNTRY

See 7.2 above.

HUNGARY - REQUESTING COUNTRY

Since 2004 the Ministry of Internal Affairs has organised free camps for Roma secondary school students in order to assist them in studying and eventually working for the law enforcement authorities. On average approximately 40% of camp participants go on to be admitted into one of the police schools.

In order to recruit Roma people to the police, the Ministry of Internal Affairs regularly provides information to Roma secondary schools and organizes conferences on becoming a police officer with the support of the Fraternal Association of European Roma Law Enforcement Officers. In cooperation with the Association, a best practice dossier will be compiled, presenting the methods adopted by European law enforcement authorities in effectively handling minority issues.

The police scholarship programme for Roma people has been running since 1996. The aim of the programme is to inspire Roma children and young people to choose careers in the police. As part of the programme, regional police headquarters give support for Roma children in secondary education. A similar programme supported by the National Police Headquarters exists for Roma youth participating in higher education which is. Since the last semester in 2012/2013, similar scholarship programmes have been launched by the Hungarian Prison Service HQ and by the National Directorate General for Disaster Management.

Communication and conflict resolution training courses (focusing mainly on the social inclusion of women, minorities and other disadvantaged social groups) have been provided for police staff. Furthermore, training courses on the identification of racism are provided for the staff, vocational training schools for the police continuously include in their training programmes minority-related curriculum elements, in particular communication with minorities, the issue of tolerance, violations committed against minorities (the following are main curriculum elements: social and communication skills, legal and administrative skills, measures resulting in the restriction of personal freedom, protection of public order).

In June 2011 an intercultural training course was organised for officials of the police force within the International Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA) in Budapest. The training course specifically focused on communication with minorities and enhancing tolerance in the police force. It should be noted that knowledge of Roma ethnography is part of the curriculum of secondary and higher education for police officers.

As part of the STEPSS Programme (Strategies for Effective Police Stop and Search), which was an international initiative financed by the European Commission and the Budapest Open Society Institution Foundation, police officers and civilians jointly examined how effective police identity checks are, and whether the checks affect certain social groups. The purpose of the programme was to involve experts in minorities to survey the legal background, to find alternative solutions, and to improve the relationship and communication between the police and minorities.

In addition, the Ministry of Internal Affairs has launched a regional project (Good Practices of Community Conflict Management in the Central Eastern European Region – GPCCM-REG) involving EU Member States in the Central Eastern European region (Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia) reacting to local conflicts that have recently occurred in certain communities/ locations in these Member States between groups of Roma and non-Roma residents. The project aims to identify the kinds of local conflict between groups of residents mostly affecting citizens’ everyday feelings of comfort and security, and best practice in managing and resolving such conflicts with a view to empowering parties involved and other local actors to prevent and resolve such conflicts at local level by using local resources.

On 25 October 2012, at the International Training Centre of the Hungarian Ministry of Internal Affairs, training was organised by OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights for law enforcement officials in the field of hate crime. Participants were officials of the National Police Headquarters, criminal investigators and coordinators from county police headquarters and recently nominated line managers in this field.

CZECH REPUBLIC - PARTNER COUNTRY

A candidate who wants to apply for work in the Czech police force must comply with the requirements set out in Act No. 361/2003 Coll. on the service relationship of members of the security corps. If they do not meet these requirements, they cannot be employed in the police force whatever their ethnicity. Data on how successful the Roma are in entering the police force are not recorded and we cannot therefore provide information on how many Roma are employed or how many applications from Roma candidates have been rejected.

The Ministry of Interior wants to increase the number of Roma working for the police. In terms of crime prevention, it is supporting a unique project entitled “Dawn”, which aims to improve public order and safety in socially excluded localities, to promote non-punitive working methods for the state and local police, to eliminate socially hazardous phenomena and to prevent attacks perpetrated by extremist groups. A major part of this project is the Crime prevention assistant programme (hereinafter referred to as “CPA”), which has been implemented throughout the Czech Republic. Assistants are selected from the ranks of the unemployed and difficult to employ residents of socially excluded localities (often from the Roma), and, after training, they are employed by the local police and contribute to improving safety standards and maintaining public order.

In 2012 this project was implemented in a total of 26 cities. A total of 87 assistants were employed by the local police force in these cities. In each city, the position of mentor was created for a local police officer and this mentor assigns tasks to the assistants, monitors their performance, and assists them in managing these tasks and in overcoming problems. Individual state police stations also contribute to the success of the project in the relevant areas. The assistants themselves are selected by an expert committee, made up of representatives from the Ministry of Interior, local government, local and state police and, frequently, also the coordinator (advisor) for Roma affairs (for the region or municipality) or representatives of non-government, non-profit making organisations with a major presence in the area. The purpose of these assistants is to reduce the number of crimes and misdemeanours committed in their area, to provide law enforcement, to prevent disputes between neighbours and illegal activities and to change the negative perception of socially excluded communities by the majority population. Roma assistants have authority over and an overview of the internal affairs of excluded localities. Some of the successful assistants have been able to find conventional jobs with the local police.

The Probation and Mediation Service of the Czech Republic works together with the Rubikon Centre to implement the “Roma mentor” project, which aims to reduce the risk of re-offending and the social exclusion of persons who have been given an alternative punishment or sanction and who at the same time belong to the Roma minority. Mentors are trained representatives of the Roma minority population who work in the field with their Roma clients and act as intermediaries between them and the justice system and who, for the duration of the alternative punishment, provide their clients with practical assistance and advice. The aim of this service is to motivate clients successfully to conclude their alternative punishment and to reduce the risk of re-offending. The Roma mentor improves the client’s legal awareness and ability to understand the seriousness of the situation and helps the target group to learn how to deal with situations legally. In 2012 132 Roma completed the 100 hour Roma mentor course, of which 70 subsequently actively performed this function in the field. Their activity is partly funded from the state budget and partly from the European Social Fund.

ITALY - PARTNER COUNTRY

No data available.

NORWAY - PARTNER COUNTRY

There has not been any scheme for recruiting Roma into the police force.

SWEDEN - PARTNER COUNTRY

There has not been any scheme for recruiting Roma into the police force.

UNITED KINGDOM - PARTNER COUNTRY

This information is not recorded nationally, other than the generic reporting of all ‘black and minority ethnic officers’ who would include, but is not specific to Roma officers.

HUNGARY - REQUESTING COUNTRY

See 8.1 above.

CZECH REPUBLIC - PARTNER COUNTRY

Roma police officers break down prejudices in the eyes of the majority population and their employment by the police contributes to promoting a positive image of the Roma. In this respect the “Dawn” Crime Prevention Programme is also seen as positive as it opens the way for hard to employ Roma candidates to find work with the local police, thereby encouraging their further personal development. At the same time, successful candidates are positive role models for those around them, who are also encouraged actively to participate in the labour market and in further education.

ITALY - PARTNER COUNTRY

No data available.

NORWAY - PARTNER COUNTRY

See 8.1 above.

SWEDEN - PARTNER COUNTRY

See 8.1 above.

UNITED KINGDOM - PARTNER COUNTRY

See 8.1 above.

HUNGARY - REQUESTING COUNTRY

See 8.1 above.

CZECH REPUBLIC – PARTNER COUNTRY

On the other hand, Roma police officers are not well accepted by the Roma themselves, because they are perceived to be “snitches”, they are not overly trusted because, in their opinion, they might misuse internal information circulating within the Roma communities against them.
A phenomenon associated with the activities of Roma police officers or crime prevention assistants in a specific Roma locality may be that criminality in their area goes even further underground and becomes more difficult to deal with effectively.

ITALY – PARTNER COUNTRY

No data available.

NORWAY – PARTNER COUNTRY

See 8.1 above.

SWEDEN – PARTNER COUNTRY

See 8.1.above.

UNITED KINGDOM – PARTNER COUNTRY

See 8.1 above.

HUNGARY - REQUESTING COUNTRY

See 8.1 above.

CZECH REPUBLIC - PARTNER COUNTRY

The training system for state police officers is managed by the Department of Security Research and Police Training in the Ministry of Interior. From 1 January 2013 the police training system is covered by three schools – the Ministry of Interior Higher Police School in Prague, with a detached centre in Jihlava, the Ministry of Interior Higher Police School for Criminal Police in Opatovice, with a detached centre in Prague-Ruzyne and the Ministry of Interior Higher Police School and Middle Police School in Holešov, with a detached centre in Brno. The total number of graduates from all types of educational programmes provided by these schools remained at approximately 10,000 a year over the long-term, but in 2011 increased significantly to almost 13,000 and in 2012 to 19,000 (with 313 teachers). 8 police learning centres are also used by the Czech state police, along with 3 training centres. A total of 436 instructors are employed by the state police.

In the area of police training, the topic of racial discrimination prevention included into the work plans and methodological activities of the individual centres and the different subject departments of the police schools. It is incorporated into the framework educational programmes and curricula of accredited study programmes, depending on the different types of police schools.

The issue of the fight against racism is reflected in key, civic and expert competences. It is included in the following subjects: Law, Public Order Police Service, Foreign Police Service (Border control; Profiling on the basis of social and cultural particularities and specificities of ethnic groups; Organised crime), Communication and police ethics (Prejudices and how to influence them; Communicating with members of minorities, multicultural aspects; Social pathological phenomena; Community policing; Psychological aspects of interventions against specific social groups; Victimology, Victimisation; Victim typology, Communicating with victims of crime).

The present issue forms an integral part of qualification and specialised courses. Within the framework of the qualification courses, it is part of the content of “Service” education models (as part of the topic “Organisation of service activities in accordance with Community Policing principles”) and “Legal aspects of services performed by public order police, service evaluation” (in the “Current problems concerning the practice of criminal law” topic). In the specialised course for liaison officers for migration and documentation, the issue of combating racism is reflected in the following topics: “Profiling on the basis of social and cultural particularities and specificities of ethnic groups” and “The socio-cultural environment of selected states”. The “Operative investigative activities in extremist groups using informers” module forms part of a specialised training course for criminal police specialists on the subject of extremism.

The training focuses on educating police officers in respect and tolerance for all the different cultures living in the Czech Republic, and emphasises communication and negotiation without racial and xenophobic undertones, with reference to the Czech Police Code of Ethics.

Specialised training for state police officers focuses on the issue of minorities through the “Course for liaison officers for minorities and members of Working Group I”, training programme, which has been completed by 140 police officers since November 2011. The “Course for liaison officers for minorities and members of Working Group II” course has been running since March 2012 and was attended by 74 police officers. On-going training has also been provided through regular six-monthly working meetings for minority liaison officers.

In order to raise the qualifications of state police officers regarding minority issues, a proposal has been prepared for an educational project which would aim to develop multicultural competences applying specific teaching methods that use personal experiences and feelings to bring the given situation into a new perspective and to effect an internal transformation in those participating (by breaking down ingrained attitudes and prejudices). The focus of these sessions will be to adapt to the needs of the target group, depending on the role they play in their work with minority communities. The programme will also cover the preparation of expert materials for educational seminars on intercultural competence (video spots and their proper presentation) – coping with mental stress when in contact with residents of socially excluded localities or those having different social, cultural and other traits.

The “Introduction of police specialists to work with the minority Roma population in socially excluded localities” project has also been prepared   to improve the quality and effectiveness of police work in socially excluded localities – increasing the competence of police to work with minorities and improving conditions to prevent and combat specific crimes relating to socially excluded environments, improving cooperation, communication and mutual trust between residents of socially excluded localities and law enforcement agencies. This is expected to be implemented in 2013-2016.

A training programme entitled “The police officer in a multicultural environment” has been designed for officers in the regional directorates of the state police force assigned to working groups to deal with ethnic minorities.

ITALY - PARTNER COUNTRY

OSCAD, the Observatory for Security against Discriminatory Acts (see 2.2 above), organises training seminars for law enforcement officers.

In 2012, seminars on anti-discrimination issues were organised for commanding officers during their initial training, as well as for all serving national police officers.

In 2013, in addition to seminars for commanding officers, anti-discrimination training was delivered to 2,800 agenti (police officers of the lowest rank) who joined the national police during the year.

OSCAD is about to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the OSCE-ODIHR concerning Italy’s participation in the TAHCLE Programme (Training Against Hate Crimes for Law Enforcement).

Greater awareness among police forces, institutions and the general public on the importance to counter any forms of discrimination helps prevent vulnerable persons from being involved in anti-social behaviour or being victimised or even recruited by organised crime groups.

NORWAY - PARTNER COUNTRY

Human rights issues are integrated into the education given at the Police Academy. There have been several measures aiming at improving the knowledge within the police force on minority issues.

SWEDEN - PARTNER COUNTRY

Human rights, non-discrimination, hate crime and diversity issues are integrated into the education given at the Police Academy. There have been several measures aiming at improving the knowledge within the police force on these issues.

UNITED KINGDOM - PARTNER COUNTRY

See 8.1 above.

HUNGARY - REQUESTING COUNTRY

No data available.

CZECH REPUBLIC - PARTNER COUNTRY

No data available.

ITALY - PARTNER COUNTRY

The Italian Observatory for Security against Discriminatory Acts (OSCAD) was established for the purpose of guaranteeing the right to security of persons belonging to social groups at risk of discrimination, as Roma and Sinti.

OSCAD can receive and support reports of hate crimes, also those reports made anonymously, do effective investigations and initiate immediate and targeted operational interventions. OSCAD cooperates with UNAR, the National Office against Racial Discrimination.

OSCAD members include the directors of the central investigative services of the National Police and the Carabinieri Corps dealing with hate crimes. This is their point of force on hate crimes that an equality body such as UNAR does not have according to the law.

OSCAD also offers, with our collaboration, greater awareness and training among police forces, institutions and the general public on the importance to counter any form of discrimination helps prevent vulnerable persons from being involved in antisocial behaviour or being victimised or even recruited by organised crime groups.

It is a good model to be copied by other member states, because it is a stronger mechanism compared to Equality Bodies in case of hate crimes and racial violence.

NORWAY - PARTNER COUNTRY

No data available.

SWEDEN - PARTNER COUNTRY

Several measures targeting on combating xenophobia and other forms of intolerance are still under progress and others are under planning, which makes it too early to conclude if there have been any positive results.

One good practice is the above mentioned systematically work of the Equality Ombudsman and the previous Ombudsman against Ethnic Discrimination to promote Roma rights. This work has resulted in a higher degree of knowledge and awareness of their rights within the Roma community.

The work of the state funded local anti-discrimination bureau NGO’s has also been significant in this respect.

UNITED KINGDOM - PARTNER COUNTRY

The UK hate crime policy adopts a ‘human Rights’ approach, recognising our right to live free from targeted abuse but rejecting any hierarchy of these rights. This is backed up by a robust legislative framework providing sanctions to perpetrators but also providing a positive duty on public bodies.

The use of Civil society and police owned dedicated hate crime reporting mechanisms allows victims to report through other means when they lack the confidence to report directly to the police. The True Vision web-facility allows for Internet reporting and this can even accept anonymous reporting. It has around 10,000 visits per month and receives over 3,500 reports per year.

HUNGARY - REQUESTING COUNTRY

No data available.

CZECH REPUBLIC - PARTNER COUNTRY

The basic precondition is political will, where politicians clearly declare their intent to combat anti-Gypsyism and hate speeches aimed at the Roma. This will also involve them preventing their rhetoric from becoming hate propaganda and actively and publicly condemning acts aimed against this target group. In this way they can, as public figures, give a clear signal to the majority population that anti-Gypsyism and hate speeches are socially unacceptable.

The media should not allow room for the dissemination of hate propaganda and negative images of the Roma. The Council for Radio and Television Broadcasting is extremely importing in this regard, as it monitors television and radio stations for this type of activity and can also apply sanctions for violation of the rules. In contrast, room should be made for minority broadcasts and programmes presenting the lives of minority populations, including the Roma, their culture and customs, without this information being simplified and taken out of context.  It is very important that a positive image of the Roma be sent to the general public and examples of good practice presented in the form of successful integration projects, which deserve to be extended to other parts of the country.

Another very important condition is the effective and comprehensive resolution of the social exclusion of the Roma, where the negative effects, such as unemployment, welfare dependency, low level of education, the adoption of alternative life strategies that tend to conflict with the law, become part of the arguments used by right-wing extremists, who base their hate propaganda on these very serious social problems. The implementation of a robust policy of social inclusion for the Roma cannot simply rely on political will, but will require massive financial support. It would also be beneficial to maintain the Agency for Social Inclusion over the long term to support the implementation of national social inclusion strategies at a local level.

Many negative attitudes arise due to mutual ignorance, caused by segregation. It is extremely difficult to cut through the Roma world and that of the mainstream society, which are in fact totally separate. Roma and other children have no opportunity to get to know each other from an early age, because they are educated in Roma and normal kindergartens and then schools. The Roma minority often lives in Roma localities, where they have no opportunity to gain and share experiences with the majority population and vice versa. Neither do these two groups normally meet each other at work or in their social or political life. These forms of segregation must be removed, which obviously requires a complex policy for Roma integration, which will be demanding, and not only financially. The daily sharing of experiences, mutual contact and the sharing of a common area will contribute the most towards changing public opinion in favour of the Roma.

A long-term goal of the Government should be to change the attitudes of Czech society towards the Roma, because these attitudes have long been negative.

ITALY - PARTNER COUNTRY

To increase the effectiveness of anti-discrimination action at international level, it would be beneficial to set up a network of contact points to facilitate

• The exchange and analysis of information;
• The sharing of knowledge and experiences;
• The development of investigation best practices;
• The development of training and awareness-raising initiatives;
• Joint law enforcement activities.

NORWAY - PARTNER COUNTRY

In the project “Romani People/Taters – from child to adult” (Romanifolket – fra barn til voksen) Romani People/Taters told pupils in schools about their culture. Knowledge of their culture has increased among pupils and parents who have been involved in the project. In the five years of the project, there has been considerable emphasis on promoting trust between the parties (see 5.5 above).

SWEDEN - PARTNER COUNTRY

Political leadership at all levels reacting promptly and with clarity against expressions or acts of anti-Gypsyism and hate crime/hate speech against Roma. A high level of participation of Roma in society in general is another precondition. This may include working with mediators, involving Roma civil society in the planning and implementation of policies, etc. Awareness raising activities about Roma culture and history is another important tool in this respect, both within public authorities and within the education system.

UNITED KINGDOM - PARTNER COUNTRY

See 9.1 above.