A Romany community in northern Croatia has sued the country's education authorities for alleged racial segregation of their children in elementary schools.
A Romany community in northern Croatia has sued the country's education authorities for alleged racial segregation of their children in elementary schools.
The HINA news agency reports parents of 57 Romany children in Medjimurje county filed the suit against the education ministry, county authorities and four elementary schools in the region, the agency cited the municipal court in the northern Croatian town of Cakovec as saying.
The Romanies accuse the education authorities of violating their children's constitutional right to equality by "educating Romany pupils placing them in separate classes with a special program," which they say is inferior.
The Romanies demand that separate classes for their children be abolished at the beginning of the next school year and ethnically mixed classes be formed.
The suit had been made public earlier this week by a Croatian human rights group and the Budapest-based European Roma Rights Center (ERRC).
The Croatian Committee for Human Rights (HHO) said that almost 60 percent of Romany children in Medjimurje county attended "segregated classes."
ERRC legal director, Mr Jean Garland, warned that this resulted in "stigmatization and suffering of Romany children."
"Romany children follow an inferior education program that leads to difficulties in finding a job and poverty," Mr Garland said. He warned that due to everyday segregation Romany children's self-esteem was weakened and that they were feeling humiliated.
According to official figures Croatia is home to more than 6,900 Romanies, but their unofficial number is estimated at up to 40,000.
AFP