Discrimination of Children with Disabilities and Roma Children in Czech Republic

In Czech Republic, children with disabilities and Roma children do not always have the right to go to school with other children. Roma people are part of an ethnic group from India. Experts from the United Nations say that the Czech government must let children with disabilities and Roma children go to school with other children.

The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child called on the Czech Republic to end “de facto exclusion” of children with disabilities and Roma children from mainstream education last June.

The Open Society Foundation's Justice and Disability Rights Initiatives, the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC), the League of Human Rights (LIGA) and the Mental Disability Advocacy Center (MDAC) submitted a joint submission to the committee informing about some discriminatory practices against Roma children and children with disabilities in Czech Republic.

On their observations, the committee noted that despite the previous recommendations and a judgment from the European Court of Human Rights, there continues to be serious issues of discrimination.

Children with disabilities are systematically excluded from mainstream education on the bases of insufficient material resources. The committee called on the Czech government to ensure the provision of adequate resources for schools to provide mainstream education for children with disabilities underpinned in article 24 of the UNCRPD.

Segregation affects also Roma children. In this case, the committee urges the Czech Republic to ensure the elimination of any discriminatory practice against Roma children, as well as the establishment of a detailed timeline and defined benchmarks in implementing reforms.

Inclusion Europe welcomes the positive response of the committee to the joint submission of the organisations, since it reflects the benefits of civil society initiatives in monitoring the implementation of children’s rights.