SIDE EVENT: Racism, intolerance and violence against Roma and Sinti in the OSCE area Organizers: OSCE ODIHR CPRSI - ERRC - Central Council of German Sinti and Roma Venue: Warsaw, 14 September 2018

1. OSCE/ODIHR Contact Point for Roma and Sinti Issues
SIDE EVENT
Racism, intolerance and violence against Roma and Sinti in the OSCE area
14 September 2018
 Throughout history, Roma and Sinti have suffered centuries-long slavery,
exclusion and persecution, as well as systemic racism and discrimination.
They have been victims of genocide and the holocaust.
 During the WWII they were deported and targeted for extermination by
the Nazi regime and its allies and collaborators, resulting in the killing of
more than half a million of Roma and Sinti.
 Seventy-four years after the liquidation of the so-called ‘Zigeunerlager’
(Gypsy camp) in Auschwitz-Birkenau, Roma and Sinti continue to suffer
from deep-seated expressions of racism and structural discrimination,
which constitute the underlying cause of their exclusion and
marginalization in the OSCE area.
 We notice however that some efforts have been made to improve the
situation of Roma and Sinti communities, though they are partly
overshadowed by challenges such as the economic crisis in 2008, and the
increase in the last years of the xenophobic rhetoric emerging in
connection with the recent and ongoing migration and refugee crisis.
 We witness nowadays throughout Europe the resurfacing and expansion
of manifestation of intolerance, hatred and hostility towards Roma and
Sinti, expressed freely in many OSCE participating States by leaders
belonging to extremist political parties and organizations. Public officials at
the highest level as well as mainstream political parties have also resorted
to rhetoric against Roma immigrants, increasingly labelling them as a risk
and a ‘threat to public security’, to ‘public order’, or to ‘public health’.
 The stigmatizing ‘Gypsy criminality’ slogan continue to dominate the
discourse of many election campaigns, sometimes accompanied by anti-

2. Roma marches and protests that jeopardises the safety of Roma and Sinti
communities.
 Moreover, local authorities and mayors in a number of localities have
actively pursued policies and measures aimed at expelling Roma and Sinti
out of their communities. Exclusion, or separation, is openly advocated in
some municipalities.
 Over the past years ODIHR has received worrying reports indicating that
public official and other opinion-makers, such as politicians, the media,
and community leaders continue to scapegoat Roma and Sinti for many
ills of the society, thus fuelling anti-Roma sentiments and hatred towards
them. This anti-Roma sentiment has also been exploited in attempts to
rationalize inhumane and discriminatory acts such as the mass forced
eviction of Roma and Sinti communities across a number of participating
States. Such practices amount to further segregating and excluding Roma
and Sinti from their societies.
 In addition, we witnessed a continuation of racially-motivated violence
and crimes against Roma and Sinti being perpetrated by extreme-right
groups and organizations, which are widening the social distance and are
deepening inter-ethnic tensions, especially when such crimes are not
properly investigated and perpetrators prosecuted to the full extent of the
law.
 At the same time, Roma and Sinti continue to face a number of human
rights challenges in their interactions with law enforcement agencies.
These include patterns of ethnic profiling, disproportionate or excessive
use of force by the police, particularly in the course of evictions or in
conducting stop-and-search actions in informal settlements. Furthermore,
police is often failing to respond effectively to protect Roma and Sinti
from racially-motivated crimes. When these crimes go unpunished can
create a climate of impunity that may encourage further acts of violence
against Roma.
 I would also like to highlight the vulnerability of Roma and Sinti women,
the gender-based socio-economic exclusion and discrimination they

3. suffer, along with racial violence. This matter has been fully acknowledged
and participating States were called upon to take action in this regard
through the Kyiv MC Decision 4/2013 which recognized, I quote, “that
Roma and Sinti women and girls are particularly vulnerable to multiple
forms of discrimination as well as to violence and harassment.”
 Against this backdrop and existing body of evidence, it is crucial that the
state authorities must step up their efforts to effectively counter racism
and discrimination in a systematic way and ensure vigorous and effective
investigation of all acts of racially-motivated violence against Roma and
Sinti people.
 Government officials and leaders of political parties must not only refrain
from using of anti-Roma rhetoric, but must also demonstrate the political
will to publicly and unequivocally condemn such rhetoric.
 In addition, action should be taken to combat the activities of
organizations or individuals intended to intimidate and threaten Roma
communities — the judgments of the European Court for Human Rights
should be instructive in this area for legislators, the judiciary and law
enforcement bodies. Moreover, police need to be trained on the
protection of ethnic communities, including Roma, from hate crimes and
other forms of intimidation.
 In this regard, ODIHR continues its work on building trust and mutual
understanding between police and Roma and Sinti, particularly through
the implementation of its training on Effective and Human Rights-
Compliant Policing in Roma and Sinti Communities.
 The training was offered to participating States starting with 2016, and
since then ODIHR delivered 11 trainings (in total 216 participants – 71
women and 146 men) in Kosovo, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Ukraine.
In July 2018, ODIHR has piloted its first Training of Trainers for 14 law-
enforcement officials (7 male, 7 female) from Poland, with a view to invest
in building capacity of national police institutions to ensure a wider
replication of the training and secure its sustainability.