Ending Segregation of Roma In Hungary Ordered by Euro Court
- 31 Mar 2023 9:16 AM
- Hungary Around the Clock
The European Court of Human Rights ruled on Thursday that Hungary had violated the clause of the European Convention prohibiting discrimination against Roma in connection with the right to education.
The Court awarded €7,000 in compensation, the European Roma Rights Centre and lawyer Adél Kegye reported.
The case concerns Imre Szolcsány,who was a pupil at the Jókai Mór Primary School in Piliscsaba attended only by Roma children. His mother wanted to enrol him in the nearby PIlissjászfalu school at the age of eight, in order that he should not study in segregated conditions.
The school refused to accept him without any explanation, a decision confirmed by the school district. It said the school was too far from the boy’s home.
This argument was accepted by Hungarian courts. The Kúria said that the school in Piliscsaba cannot be considered segregated simply because it is attended solely by Roma children. The boy and his family then appealed to the Strasbourg court.
The boy’s mother said after the ruling that while the decision cannot change the past, it has produced satisfaction after the humiliating treatment. The compensation will be partly used for the education of the boy, who is 17 now and is studying to be a welder in Esztergom.
Kegye said the decision sets a precedent because the Court ordered the government to develop public policy measures at the national level aimed at ending segregation in education.
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