To mark the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the United Nations presented ‘Which Children Matter?’
In the Czech Republic, Roma children have been disproportionately placed in de facto segregated or special schools for the mentally disabled for generations. In November 2007, the European Court of Human Rights found the Czech Republic had unlawfully, indirectly discriminated against such children in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights. Because little has changed since then, the European Commission has also recently begun infringement proceedings against the Czech Republic (and Slovakia) over discrimination against Romani children in education.
In this film, you will meet Czech and Slovak Romani immigrant children, several considered ineducable by their own societies, as they thrive in a new school, in a new language, in an equitable environment in the UK. You will also meet children in the Czech Republic who are breaking through the biases of ‘us and them’ as they redefine what is possible.
For more on the film, click here.
The film was followed by a panel discussion with:
- Jenne Magno, Director of ‘Which Children Matter?’
- Andor Urmos, DG Regio – European Commission
- Claude Cahn, UN Human Rights Regional Office for Europe
- Moderated by Deborah Seward, UNRIC
