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European Roma Rights Center THE LIMITS OF SOLIDARITY Roma in Poland After 1989 Country Report Series, No. 11 September 2002 3 The Limits of Solidarity: Roma in Poland After 1989 Copyright: © European Roma Rights Center, September 2002 All rights reserved. ISBN 963 204 050 3 ISSN 1416-7409 Graphic Design: Createch Ltd./Judit Kovács Printed in Budapest, Hungary. For information on reprint policy, please contact the ERRC 4 Table of Contents TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgments ......................................................................................................6 1. Executive Summary ..............................................................................................7 2. Introduction ........................................................................................................14 3. Roma in Poland: Orbis Exterior ........................................................................22 4. Racially Motivated Attacks on Roma .................................................................43 5. No Protection and No Remedy for Racially Motivated Violence ........................74 5.1. Failure to Investigate and/or Prosecute Racially Motivated Crimes ..............74 5.2. Failure to Recognise Racial Animus in Anti-Romani Attacks .......................85 5.3. Police Blame Roma for the Attacks Against Them .......................................88 5.4. Fear.............................................................................................................89 6. Police Abuse of Roma ........................................................................................91 6.1. Physical Abuse ............................................................................................92 6.2. Police Abuse of Alien Roma in Poland .....................................................100 6.3. Harassment by Police: ...............................................................................102 7. Discrimination Against Roma ............................................................................106 7.1. Violations of the Right to Adequate Housing .............................................. 112 7.2. Discrimination in the Provision of Medical Care .........................................126 7.3. Discrimination in Access to Employment ....................................................130 7.4. Discrimination in the Provision of Social Welfare Support ..........................135 7.5. Discrimination in Access to Public Services ...............................................137 7.6. Refusals to Register Roma as Locally Resident ..........................................145 8. Roma in the Polish Education System ...............................................................149 8.1. Racial Segregation in Gypsy Classes ......................................................149 8.2. Segregation in Special Classes for the Mentally Disabled ........................156 8.3. Racially Motivated Abuse of Romani Children in Polish Schools ...............157 8.4. Exclusion/Non-Schooling of Romani Children ...........................................162 8.5. Failure to Combat Truancy and School Abandonment...............................163 8.6. Summary: The Undereducated ..................................................................164 9. The Ma³opolska Programme ............................................................................166 10. Conclusion ........................................................................................................172 11. Recommendations ............................................................................................175 12. Bibliography......................................................................................................177 13. Appendix ..........................................................................................................185 14. Summary in Romani ..........................................................................................210 5 The Limits of Solidarity: Roma in Poland After 1989 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This report was produced by staff, interns, consultants and volunteers of the ERRC. Eva Sobotka and Veronika Leila Szente Goldston conducted field research in Poland. Jakob Hurrle provided additional information in his capacity as ERRC local monitor in Poland. Eva Sobotka compiled a draft version of the report on the basis of several intensive ERRC field missions, as well as texts prepared by Anna Catherine Gheringer, Jakub Hurrle and Veronika Leila Szente Goldston. Ioana Banu conducted additional research on Polish legal issues. Claude Cahn, Mona Nicoarã, Savelina Russinova and Heather Tidrick copy-edited, revised and expanded the report. Dragan Ristiæ pro- vided the summary in Romani. Dimitrina Petrova copy-edited the final version and authorised the publication. Magda Adamowicz and Kim Strozewski undertook a range of voluntary translations and research assistance. Additional texts included herein were provided by Agnieszka Suchecka Tarnacka and Marta Banek of Hogan and Hartson, Warsaw [Josef C. Bell]. They prepared a memorandum on legal aspects of discrimina- tion against ethnic groups in Poland. Within the framework of the ERRC-Interights- Migration Policy Group project Implementing European Anti-Discrimination Law, Pawe³ Filipek provided a legal analysis of the Polish anti-discrimination legislation in relation to the European Unions Directive 2000/43/EC implementing the principle of equal treatment between persons irrespective of racial or ethnic origin. Konstanty Gebert, Drew Leifheit, Rafa³ Pankowski and James Whooley read one or more drafts of the report and provided substantial stylistic and editorial comments. The ERRC is additionally grateful to the following people for their assistance in the course of the preparation of this report: Adam Andrasz, Pawe³ Becherowski, Miros³aw Ciureja, Gabriel Derkowski, Tadeusz Gabor, Rachel Guglielmo, Henry Hedman, Beata Klimkiewicz, Wojtech Kosc, Pawe³ Lechowski, Jan Matìjný, Agnieszka Mikulska, Andrzej Mirga, Rafa³ Pankowski, Stanis³aw Stankiewicz, Mieczys³aw Szczerba and Andrzej Wisniewski provided ERRC with information about the human rights situation and the situation of Roma in Poland. Piotr Cielak, Sebastian Lupak, Bernard Rorke, Daniel Stachowiak and Czes³aw Walek provided invaluable assistance during the research, ranging from logistics to contacts for Romani activists. Elena Marushiakova, Vesselin Popov and Michael Stewart pro- vided advice on Romani history, culture and language. 6 Executive Summary Once I went to the cafe in the centre and some of the skinheads came over. They were wearing boots and had shaved heads and suspenders and jackets and they told me that I should go to my own country. Ms Anna Mirga, a Polish Romani woman 1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ERRC monitoring of Roma rights in Poland has established that Roma in Poland are the targets of racially motivated violence, police abuse, and systematic racial dis- crimination. The human rights of Roma are frequently violated in Poland, where na- tional and local authorities offer little protection from violence and discrimination and often block victims access to effective remedies. The government has thus far failed to act to guarantee Roma equal rights and to take effective measures to overcome the exclusion of Roma from Polish society. The proportionally small number of Roma in Poland at least in comparison with other Central and Eastern European countries has been used by Polish authorities to downplay the problems that Romani communities face and to deny the persistent and pervasive nature of anti-Romani sentiment among the majority population. Moreover, throughout the 1990s, Polish authorities have systematically failed to respond to a wave of anti-Romani crime, as well as to ingrained patterns of racial discrimination. Roma in Poland are consequently correct to presume that they cannot rely on the state to shield them from abuse or to provide justice when their fundamental rights have been violated. Roma are also correct in claiming that they are in effect excluded from Polish society as a whole. Measures to date to remedy the human rights situation of Roma in Poland have been inadequate, where such measures have been taken at all. The only substantive programme the Polish government has designed to improve the situation of Roma, the Pilot Government Programme for the Roma Community in 7 The Limits of Solidarity: Roma in Poland After 1989 the Ma³opolska Province for the Years 2000-2003, does little to address the acute problems of the Romani communities or the root causes of racism in Polish society. While demonstrating some political good will in acknowledging the predicament of Roma in Poland, the Programme perpetuates racist stereotypes and segregationist prac- tices in Poland. Intensive field missions conducted by ERRC staff and partner organisations, as well as regular reporting by ERRC monitors, revealed several patterns of human rights abuse against Roma in Poland: 1. Racially motivated violence: Roma in Poland have been frequent targets of skinhead attacks, racially motivated violence, and harassment by non-Romani per- sons. Incidents in which groups of non-Romani persons with reported neo-Nazi sympathies savagely attacked Romani persons, communities, or households have been reported with increasing frequency throughout Poland during the late 1990s. Reporting such violence and harassment to the authorities has frequently led to further attacks and threats against the Romani
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