A/HRC/29/24
lacking, but civil society organizations reported that very few Roma children living in
camps have ever been to school, and estimate that 90 per cent of the Roma living in camps
in Curitiba city are illiterate. Prejudice has also been identified as an obstacle for accessing
public schools in Brazil, where Roma children are reportedly not given the chance to enrol
on the pretext of a lack of space. A representative of the United Nations Children’s Fund
(UNICEF) has emphasized that teachers’ biased attitudes towards Lyuli children in Central
Asia may result in violence at school. The illiteracy rate among Iraqi Roma is very high and
many Roma children there are forced to take on irregular jobs or resort to begging. In
Lebanon, 68 per cent of school-aged children reportedly do not attend school because of
significant obstacles such as discrimination, legal and economic barriers, leading to street
labour becoming a significant trend among Dom children.33
31.
Roma face significant discrimination at all stages of access to labour markets, and
the rate of unemployment among Roma is often high. When they do have access to labour
markets, they are often offered short-term or low-skilled employment and are subject to
prejudice. In Azerbaijan, for 90 per cent of Roma families living in the Nasiminskiy and
Suraxani districts of Baku and from the Yevlakh region, begging is their main livelihood. In
Belarus, only 9 per cent of Roma are employed. 34 Central Asian Roma are reported to
survive in conditions of poverty and deprivation, forced into begging and a semi-nomadic
lifestyle. In 2004, the unemployment rate among the more than 3,500 Mugat Roma living in
the Osh region of Kyrgyzstan was 90 per cent.35 In Lebanon, Dom communities often work
in the informal sector or are engaged in unskilled labour, and monthly family income levels
among the Dom are extremely low. 36
32.
The Special Rapporteur regrets the lack of comprehensive health indicators and the
scarce evidence, including information on reproductive, maternal and child health, for
assessing the health situation of Roma outside Europe. Poverty, lack of identification
documents and lack of transportation from remote areas to health-care facilities all impact
on Roma health, which can be compounded by poor living conditions, such as living in
proximity to garbage dumps or polluted rivers. Factors precluding Roma access to health
care across the regions include Roma patients being refused medical treatment, having no
access to emergency services, being subject to verbal abuse, or being segregated in hospital
facilities.37 Furthermore, lack of access to health care may result from indirect
discriminatory practices when Roma have to provide identity or residency documents in
order to register and qualify for health-care benefits.
33.
The Special Rapporteur also draws attention to particular groups of Roma who may
be victims of multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination. While many Roma migrate
for the full range of reasons that all persons chose to migrate, including to seek new
opportunities, the poverty Roma experience in their countries of origin, as well as racism,
discrimination and marginalization, are often important push factors. Moreover, once in a
destination country, Roma migrants often experience discrimination on multiple grounds,
including as Roma and as migrant non-citizens. In that regard, the Special Rapporteur
expresses concern about the targeted expulsions of Roma migrants, sometimes undertaken
without their free, full and informed consent, including to countries where they are likely to
face discrimination. In 2010, about 8,000 Roma were reportedly expelled from France, and
33
34
35
36
37
10
ILO and others, Children living and working on the streets in Lebanon (see note 7 above), p. 64.
Response from Belarus to the questionnaire.
See www.fidh.org/IMG/pdf/ADC_ADCM_FIDH_RussianFederation_CESCR46.pdf, p. 35.
Terre des Homme, A Child Protection Assessment (see note 7 above), p. 8.
See www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/115485/E94018.pdf, p. 227.