(Grand Chamber) Fifteen Croatians of Roma origin complained that they were victims of racial discrimination in that they were segregated into Roma-only classes and consequently suffered educational, psychological and emotional damage.
Held: The Court observed that only Roma children had been placed in the special classes in the schools concerned. The Government attributed the separation to the pupils’ lack of proficiency in Croatian; however, the tests determining their placement in such classes did not focus specifically on language skills, the educational programme subsequently followed did not target language problems and the children’s progress was not clearly monitored. The placement of the applicants in Roma-only classes was therefore unjustified, in violation of Article 2 of Protocol No. 1 and Article 14. Whilst Croatia had a margin of appreciation, the State must have sufficient regard to the special needs of Roma children as members of a disadvantaged group. Croatia had violated their rights under Article 14 taken together with A2P1 and that it was not necessary to examine the complaint under A2P1 standing alone.
Jean-Paul Costa, P
[2010] ECHR 337, 15766/03, [2010] ELR 445, 28 BHRC 558, (2011) 52 EHRR 7
Bailii
European Convention on Human Rights
Human Rights
Citing:
See Also – Orsus And Others v Croatia ECHR 17-Jul-2008
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Cited by:
Cited – A v Essex County Council SC 14-Jul-2010
The claimant, a severely disabled child sought damages, saying that for well over a year, the local authority had made no provision for his education.
Held: His appeal against the striking out of his action failed. The correct approach had . .
Cited – O’Connor v Bar Standards Board SC 6-Dec-2017
The claimant barrister complained of the manner of conduct of the disciplinary proceedings brought against her. She had been cleared of any breach of the Bar Code of Conduct, but her claim was then ruled out of time under section 7(5)(a), time . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Human Rights, Education, Discrimination
Leading Case
Updated: 09 November 2021; Ref: scu.421521