ODIHR calls for greater efforts to ensure inclusive education in joint statement with other global and regional human rights organizations

The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) joined with other global and regional intergovernmental human rights organizations in calling for greater efforts to ensure inclusive education, in a statement on 13 November 2017 marking the 10th anniversary of the landmark judgment of the European Court of Human Rights on the segregation of Roma children in education.

The statement, issued together with the United Nations Human Rights Office (OHCHR), the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), the European Network of National Human Rights Institutions (ENNHRI) and the European Network of Equality Bodies (Equinet), calls for a redoubling of efforts to bring children together in education in the spirit of commitment to dignity, equality and human rights, in the light of evidence that, despite efforts since the Court’s 2007 judgement, the segregation of Roma children in schools is increasing.

The statement highlights that children placed in segregated education are victims of discrimination, and that segregation deprives Roma and other minority children, as well as children from majority communities, of the benefits of inclusive education.

In the 2003 Action Plan on Improving the Situation of Roma and Sinti within the OSCE Area, participating States committed to enhancing access to education for Roma and Sinti children and to developing and implementing comprehensive school desegregation programmes.