E/CN.4/2000/16/Add.1 page 5 groups had already been settled since the seventeenth century. The third group is made up of Hungarian Roma, whose mother tongue is Hungarian. These number approximately 15,000. Only remnants of the strongly assimilated Czech and Moravian Roma survived the Nazi genocide and only some 100 Sinti (German Roma), who were also annihilated, remain. In recent years the presence of Roma from the countries of the former Yugoslavia, Romania and the former Soviet Union has been recorded in various places in the Czech Republic. They do not have permanent residence. 12. Following the break-up of Czechoslovakia, the 1993 Act on Czech nationality had the effect of depriving a large number of Roma living on Czech territory of their nationality, with the inclusion in the Act of conditions which some consider discriminatory, particularly vis-à-vis the Roma. The law distinguished between former Czechoslovaks who possessed Czech citizenship and those who possessed Slovak citizenship. In order to gain Czech citizenship, the latter were required to present documentary proof of permanent residence and to prove that they had had no criminal record for the previous five years. The discriminatory aspects of the law were amended by Act No. 194/1999, which came into force on 2 September 1999. The new Act did away with the provisions requiring a clean record. The effects of this law along with racial violence, however, had led many Roma to seek asylum in Canada, Finland and the United Kingdom and in other European countries, on the grounds that they were exposed to racial discrimination. B. Forms and manifestations of discrimination against the Roma 13. Both the Czech authorities and the representatives of non-governmental organizations and Roma community associations admit that the Roma continue to be the victims of intolerance and discrimination in various forms, particularly in employment, education, housing and access to public places. They are also exposed to the violence perpetrated by members of extreme right-wing organizations, or skinheads. 1. Discrimination in employment 14. Under the Communist regime, the majority of the Roma, who had been sedentarized by force, had received rudimentary training allowing them access to manual jobs. In the countryside they worked on State farms. With the introduction of the market economy and the restoration of private property, the restructuring of industry and the disappearance of public work sites, large numbers of Roma found themselves out of work for lack of the necessary skills to meet market needs but also because of prejudices against them and discrimination on the part of employers. Some employers consider them to be “lazy” or “irregular in their jobs”, so that even when they have the necessary qualifications, they are not hired. In its 1997 report, the Council of Nationalities states that 70 per cent of Roma are unemployed and that this figure is as high as 90 per cent in some areas, while the general unemployment rate is 5 per cent. 2. Discrimination in education 15. The education system tends to relegate Roma children to “special” schools, considered by some to be institutions for the mentally handicapped or for children suffering from what is regarded as asocial behaviour. The Government estimates that 70 to 80 per cent of Roma children attend institutions of this type. As a result, a large number of Roma children leave