A/HRC/7/19/Add.3 page 17 62. Concerning structural discrimination, Roma representatives brought a number of instances and concrete examples to the Special Rapporteur’s attention. An issue of particular concern is education. According to statistics collected by local NGOs, Roma students have drastically lower educational enrolment and achievement rates than the rest of the population, as well as a higher dropout rate. For example, while 46.4 per cent of ethnic Latvians and 46.5 per cent of ethnic Russians have completed secondary education, this rate is only 7.9 per cent for Roma. Although the Ministry of Education has prioritized Roma education, the Roma community emphasized the difficult material conditions faced by children in attending and performing well in schools, as well as the negative stereotypes they face from both instructors and peers. The poor educational performance of Roma children is seen as the most important challenge for their access to the labour market and subsequent integration into Latvian society. The impact of discrimination and poor education on unemployment among Roma citizens is striking: only 5 per cent of Roma citizens are believed to be employed in long-term jobs.8 63. Other areas of preoccupation highlighted by the Roma community and human rights NGOs were the judiciary and law enforcement agencies. Roma representatives expressed their perception that proceedings are not always equitable and fair, claiming that there is a tendency for members of the Roma community, when convicted, to be given the maximum sentence. Roma citizens, particularly women, are over-represented in prisons, which has also contributed to further stereotyping and, in particular, informal profiling of Roma by law enforcement officials. Violence perpetrated by the police was also a matter of the utmost concern, in particular the issue of impunity for police officers who commit crimes against Roma persons. 64. Apart from structural discrimination, the central issue of concern expressed by Roma representatives concerned cases of racist violence and incitement to racial hatred against Roma by members of extremist groups, including neo-Nazi sympathizers. Widespread insecurity and fear of attacks among the Roma were reported. In particular, a case was brought to the Special Rapporteur’s attention concerning a member of a neo-Nazi group who called in public for the “extermination of Jews and gypsies as non-humans”. Even though this appalling statement was videotaped and in spite of criminal provisions concerning incitement to racial, ethnic and religious hatred and violence, the case was initially dismissed by a public prosecutor on the grounds of freedom of expression and further rejected by a high court. The Special Rapporteur received the information that on 12 November 2007 the Office of the Prosecutor General revoked the decision to terminate proceedings in this case. In December 2007, the final bill on indictment was prepared and the criminal case was transferred to the court for adjudication. 65. Some concrete demands were made by the Roma community, including the establishment of Roma cultural centres, which do not exist presently in Latvia; the adoption of all international, in particular EU, directives against racism and discrimination; the strengthening of the Office of the Ombudsman and the character of its recommendations; and more inclusive and frequent consultations between the Government and community representatives. 8 Latvian Center for Human Rights and Ethnic Studies, The Situation of Roma (Riga, 2003), p. 40.