U posljednjih nekoliko godina, na različitim razinama se vode borbe za desegregaciju i inkluzivno obrazovanje Roma. Uz zalaganje za promjenu politike, za romske zajednice je od presudne važnosti bilo boriti se protiv institucionaliziranog rasizma i ksenofobije kroz to zahtijevajući pravdu. U tom pogledu, jedna pobjeda postignuta je 18. rujna 2019. godine, donošenjem presude Prizivnog suda u Debrecinu u Mađarskoj.

U gradu Gyöngyöspata na sjeveru Mađarske, romska djeca razdvojena su odnosno segregirana od ostalih učenika duže od deset godina. Bilo im je zabranjeno dolaziti na prvi kat škole koju su pohađali, već su bili prisiljeni ostati u prizemlju gdje su toaleti bili u lošijem stanju od onih na katu ili ih nije uopće bilo, izvještavajući o slučaju ističe Europski centar za prava Roma (ERRC).

Kako bi stala na put ovoj praksi diskriminiranja, Fondacija ‘’Chance for Children’’ odnosno ‘’Prilika za djecu’’ pokrenula je postupak pred sudom, tvrdeći kako je došlo do kršenje dječjih prava. Slučaj je zaključen 2015. godine presudom mađarskog Vrhovnog suda u korist Fondacije.

Ipak, obiteljima čija su prava povrijeđena nisu isplaćene naknade. Zbog toga je pokrenut novi sudski postupak 2016. godine, a obitelji su besplatno (pro bono) zastupali odvjetnici međunarodne odvjetničke tvrtke Allen & Overy iz Londona. Dvije godine kasnije, nakon dugog parničnog postupka, Regionalni sud u Egeru presudio je kako vlasti moraju isplatiti naknadu žrtvama školske segregacije. Ovu presudu potvrdio je Prizivni sud u Debrecenu, 2019. godine. Presuda je bila jasna. Europski centar za prava Roma (ERRC) upozorio je kako bi vlasti trebale biti financijski odgovorne za štetu uzrokovanu segregiranim obrazovanjem. Potvrda ovakve presude ima značajne posljedice u Mađarskoj, gdje je segregacija romske djece u školama još uvijek široko rasprostranjena. Također, presude daju primjer koji treba slijediti i u drugim europskim zemljama.

Međutim, odluku suda nije bila dobro prihvaćena od strane mađarskog premijera Victora Orbána, koji je izjavio:

"Nisam iz Gyöngyöspata, ali da tamo živim, pitao bih se kako je moguće da pripadnici neke nacionalne manjine koji žive sa mnom u istoj zajednici, u istom selu, iz nekog razloga dobivaju značajnu svotu [novca] bez ikakvog rada."

Osim što reproducira stereotip kako Romi ne rade i dobivaju novac za „ne radeći ništa“, Orbán nedvosmisleno podriva temeljna pravna načela. U državi koja se temelji na pravdi i pravu na integritet, davanjem obeštećenja žrtvama priznaje se gubitak, patnja ili ozljeda koju su pretrpjeli. Nesumnjivo, ksenofobičnom segregacijom u školama nanosi se ogromna šteta onima koji su na taj način isključeni, dodatno zabrinjava  nastojanje predsjednika mađarske Vlade da dovede u pitanje štetu nanesenu romskoj djeci u segregiranim školama.

Štoviše, Orbán je insistirao na „razvrstavanju nekoga u odnosu na njegove sposobnosti za obrazovanje, odnosno sposobnosti usvajanja znanje – u selima gdje očigledno ima više romske djece - nije segregacija, već sustizanje“, sugerirajući time kako učenici Romi imaju manje sposobnosti učenja.

Pored toga, Orbán je odluku Suda u Debrecinu opisao kao nasilje nad „osjećajem ljudi za pravdu“. Očito, za mađarskog premijera među ''ljude'' o kojima govori Romi nisu uključeni.

 

 

WHO ARE 'THE PEOPLE' IN HUNGARY?

For the last three decades school segregation of Romani children has been an increasingly visible problem in Hungary and several other European countries.  Many national and international NGOs, the Council of Europe, the European Fundamental Rights Agency, activists and scholars among others have been alarming the grave impact that educational segregation has on societies and Roma in particular. However, practices of Roma exclusion from adequate schooling have persisted and in many cases they’ve deepened further.

 

There is a long record of struggles for desegregation and inclusive education for Roma on different levels in the last years. Along with the advocacy for changes in policy, it has been crucial for Roma communities to fight institutionalised racism and xenophobia by seeking legal justice. One victory in that regard was the ruling of the Debrecen Court of Appeal from September 18th last year.   

In the town of Gyöngyöspata in Northern Hungary, Romani children were segregated from other students for more than ten years. They were not allowed to visit the first floor of their school, and instead were forced to stay on the ground floor where facilities such as toilets were absent or in a worse condition than those upstairs, the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) reports.

In order to counter this discriminatory practice, the Chance for Children Foundation brought a legal action claiming a violation of the children’s rights. In 2015, the case ended with a judgement of Hungary’s Supreme Court which agreed with the Foundation’s claims.

Yet, no compensations have been paid to the affected families. For that reason, a new case was opened in 2016 with the help of pro bono lawyers from the international law firm Allen & Overy. Two years later, after a long litigation, the Eger Regional Court ruled that the authorities must compensate victims of school segregation. In 2019, this decision was confirmed by the Court of Appeal in Debrecen. The judgment was clear, the ERRC writes: authorities should be financially responsible for the damage caused by segregated education. This legal development has vast implications in Hungary, where school segregation of Roma children is still widespread, and sets an example to be followed in other European countries.

The reaction to the Court’s decision from the Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orbán, however, was far from embracing:

“I’m not from Gyöngyöspata, but if I lived there, I would after all ask, how is it possible that members of an ethnic group who live with me in the same community, same village for some reason will receive a significant amount [of money] without doing any work."

Besides reproducing the stereotype that Roma don’t work and get money for “doing nothing”, Orbán unambiguously undermines basic judicial principles. In а state based on justice and integrity, compensations are given to victims in recognition of their loss, suffering, or injury. Undoubtedly, xenophobic segregation in schools brings enormous damage to the excluded ones and it is quite concerning that the head of the Hungarian government questions the harm done to the Roma students.

What is more, he insisted that „classifying someone on the basis of their capacity for education, their capacity to absorb knowledge – where there are obviously more Gypsy children in such a village – this is not segregation but catching up", suggesting that Roma students have lower studying abilities.

Additionally, the Orbán described the Debrecen Court's decision as violating “the people’s sense of justice.” Clearly, for Prime Minister 'the people’ does not include the Roma.