60 EDUCATION RIGHTS Guidelines for successful advocacy Successful advocacy strategies depend on a range of factors. The previous section noted several possible enforcement mechanisms, but to that national or regional political bodies could be added. The European institutions, for example, have in recent years proved particularly fruitful for minority rights advocacy in the context of enlargement negotiations of the European Union.66 The two case studies presented in this chapter display a variety of tactics, which brought some degree of success in each instance. The case study from Croatia shows how individual members of a minority community, working in partnership with regional minority rights NGOs and an international human rights organization succeeded in raising concerns at the local, regional and international levels. Through litigation, and apparent diplomatic pressure from regional (political) monitoring mechanisms, as well as international human rights monitoring by a UN treaty body, the government adopted a plan to further the integration of minority children in education, the implementation of which all constituencies continue to monitor. It is not yet clear how the implementation of this plan will affect the individual case subject to litigation. The second case study, from the Russian Federation, shows that minority rights in education can also be effectively defended by exposing prejudicial representation of minority cultures – in this case, minority religions. The strategy of the AllRussia Federation of Human Rights, in bringing a criminal case for incitement to racial hatred, seems to have significantly raised the profile of their claim and succeeded in effecting change in a relatively short period of time. Case study 1 – Segregation of Roma in Croatian primary schools The government of Croatia estimates that there are around 9,000 Roma in the population, 8,000 of whom live in Medjimurje County.67 Up to one-third of Roma children do not attend any educational institution.68 Of those who are in the education system, 60 per cent in primary schools are reportedly in segregated classes,69 of lower quality,70 following a curriculum designed for children with developmental disorders.71 This segregation is repeatedly justified on the basis of their lower proficiency in the Croatian language. It has also been reported, however, that justifications include ‘hygiene’, and an inability to interact with children of other ethnicities.72 The institutionalization of this practice often results from protests of parents of non-Roma children who do not want their children to learn alongside Roma.73 Research indicates that the impact of this segregation itself is that a majority of Roma children grow up without any interaction with non-Roma, feel excluded and face abuse at school.74 UN and regional human rights monitors have ‘expressed concern’.75