For background information, D.H. and Others v. the Czech Republic is the case in which eighteen Romani students took the Czech Republic before the European Court of Human Rights regarding the segregation of Romani children in the public school system and won. The Court ruled the Czech government, whose former president, Vaclav Havel once stated that the Romani people would be the litmus test of Europe, must de-segregate.
That decision was handed down was four years ago and Romani students are still being segregated in the school system in the Czech Republic.
In my presentation last night, I discussed the fact that the Romani people remain a footnote in history, especially when it comes to the Holocaust. As I continued on with my talk about segregation in school, a student asked why anyone in the United States should care about a matter occurring a continent away.
It is easy to get disheartened by such questions, especially coming from an ROTC student sitting in a human rights advocacy class.
I explained to him that this issue is a violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states:
Article 26.
- (1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.
- (2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.
- (3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.
The Czech Republic is a country with numerous human rights violations against the Romani people and the government and the police force do nothing. Romanies living in the Czech Republic have to worry about neo-Nazi violence, their children being able to attend school, poverty, joblessness due to discrimination, and recently the government admitted its 'regret' that 90,000 Romani women were forcibly sterilized between 1980 and 2009.
We are not talking about a barbaric dictatorship where the people live in fear of being sent to concentration camps. We are talking about a civilized, democratic country that has a high standard of living, with a literacy rate of over 90%, and a stable government. When a country like this is allowed to ignore a decision by the European Court of Human Rights then people need to get concerned.
Such refusal to adhere to a court's decision opens the door for other countries to do the same. It weakens the power of the court system, therefore allowing a minority to experience conditions that the European Union, of which the Czech Republic is a member, has declared unacceptable for admission.
We, as members of the human race, are indeed the watch dogs of the world. When a corrupt government ignores the suffering of its own people, then we, as a global community, have the right, and even an obligation, to stand up and do something.
Are the Romani people under the threat of genocide? I believe so.
I keep this statement on my desk to remind me of what can happen when good men do nothing.
First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out --
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out --
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out --
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me -- and there was no one left to speak for me.
~~Martin Niemöller
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