A/HRC/10/11/Add.3 page 17 including Roma, described a high level of social integration while acknowledging some problems. The Roma live in all parts of the town, rather than in isolated communities. Community intermediaries play an important role and the Roma do not require specialized services. Roma representatives acknowledged that they had not always felt comfortable but described an enlightened neighborhood that is an example to others. B. Education 60. During the visit to the Spata area it was highlighted that none of the children living in the Roma settlement currently attend school. Following a visit by European Parliamentarians in 2003, a bus was provided to take about 18 children to school, however it ceased operation reportedly due to lack of funds. The settlement is some five kilometers from the nearest school making it extremely difficult for young children to attend without transport provision. One mother stated that her children were refused registration, reportedly on the grounds that the school was full and there are no special facilities for Roma children. She was told that the children should have been registered previously, but she had never been informed of this requirement. 61. In Psari, Aspropyrgos, education for the settlement’s children remains a highly controversial issue and the subject of a European Court of Human Rights judgment,18 In 2004 Roma children from the Psari, Aspropyrgos Roma settlement were refused registration to attend a local school. Following brief attendance, non-Roma parents objected to the extent that all Roma children were placed in special afternoon classes. After further parent protests, Roma students were removed to a prefabricated annex distant from the main school. In 2006/7 the annex was defaced with racist slogans and destroyed by fire and a Roma pupil was attacked resulting in withdrawal of Roma children from any classes. In June 2008 the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the conditions of school enrolment for Roma children and their placement in an annex for special preparatory classes because of their Roma origin, constituted a violation of Articles 14 (prohibition of discrimination) in conjunction with article 2 of Protocol 1 (right to education), and 13 (right to an effective remedy) of the European Convention. To date, Greece has not satisfactorily resolved the situation in compliance with the European Court ruling. 62. The Independent Expert visited the annex which consists of a fenced, concrete, compound with two metal prefabricated units, one of which is used for teaching. At the beginning of the school year the teaching unit had been repaired following vandalism and had no teaching facilities such as desks and chairs. A permanent security presence is required to guard against further vandalism. It is important to stress that the vandalism was not carried out by the Roma themselves. 63. At the time of the Independent Expert’s visit, Roma children did not have full and equal access to education. The Roma children have been placed in the same “annex” of the main school that was the subject of the European Court judgment, reportedly due to lack of places in 18 Sampanis and others vs. Greece, no 32526/05.