New Issue of Roma Rights from ERRC: Fortress Europe

[anna balint]

Roma Rights 2/2002: Fortress Europe

Issue 2/2002 of Roma Rights, the quarterly journal of the European Roma 
Rights Center (ERRC) addresses the theme of "Fortress Europe" -- 
restrictive laws, policies and practices in Europe aimed at or 
resulting in  the exclusion of non-citizens.
 It is widely held that one area in which states have wide discretionary 
powers is in the field of decisions on whom to admit onto the territory of 
the state and whom to refuse -- broadly the 
field of immigration and individual establishment. However, central 
concepts of international human rights law -- the right of persecuted 
persons to asylum and arguably also the ban on discrimination -- 
significantly limit that discretion. In addition, a number of European 
states have in recent years voluntarily agreed to renounce discretion 
in this area, as immigration and asylum issues have passed into the 
competence of the European Union, as well as through a number of 
other interstate agreements. 
As a direct result of restrictive immigration policies in the 
countries of the European Union and now ever more frequently in 
candidate states for accession to the European Union -- policies commonly 
referred to as "Fortress Europe" -- individual rights -- including but not limited 
to the right to life, the right to freedom from torture and humiliating, 
cruel or degrading treatment, the right to liberty and security of person, 
and the right of refugees to asylum, have been repeatedly violated in 
recent years. Moreover, a number of these policies have had a discriminatory 
impact on certain groups, or have been explicitly discriminatory. Due 
to anti-Romani racism in Europe, Roma have been particularly affected.

Exclusion of Roma is significantly facilitated by the policies of many 
European states of blocking individuals from access to establishment 
and the progressive accrual of real rights in practice -- as well as by 
anti-Romani racism. It is the position of the ERRC that Article 8 of 
the European Convention of Human Rights, guaranteeing respect for private 
and family life, ensures a degree of security of residence greater than 
that presently provided in many European countries. In principle, rights 
should accrue incrementally to all persons factually in a given country, and 
within five years of factual residence in a country, the possibility of 
citizenship and/or permanent residence status should come clearly into 
view. All domestic legal provisions stipulating forms of protection, as 
well as those pertaining to forms of residence status, should include 
an augmentation of rights over time, including in the short term the right 
to work, and ultimately participation in local decision-making and access 
to citizenship. Policies and practices rendering residence status 
difficult or impossible to secure due to bureaucratic obfuscation should be eschewed.

Copies of Roma Rights 2/2002: Fortress Europe may be obtained by 
contacting 
the offices of the ERRC at: office at errc.org.

The full text of Roma Rights 2/2002: Fortress Europe, is available on 
the Internet at: http://errc.org/rr_nr2_2002/index.shtml



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