ERRC Country Report: In Search of Happy Gypsies: Persecution of Pariah Minorities in Russia
ERRC Country Report: In Search of Happy Gypsies: Persecution of Pariah Minorities in Russia

Summary/Abstract: ERRC monitoring of Roma rights in Russia has revealed an alarming pattern of human rights abuse of Roma and other people perceived as "Gypsies". The magnitude of the abuse is only comparable to that of the perpetrators’ impunity. Anti-Romani racism is widespread in Russia today. The law guarantees equal treatment and protection against discrimination of all people in Russia, yet Roma, among several other ethnic minorities, find themselves excluded from the equal protection of the law, or in fact frequently any protection of the law. Indeed, the authorities whose duty is to uphold human rights are often themselves implicated in gross human rights violations or acquiesce in them. Violence and abuse of Roma by law enforcement and judicial authorities, often motivated by racial animus, persists unchallenged and unremedied. Racism also effectively precludes many Roma from accessing education, health care, housing, employment, and public services. Widespread scepticism regarding the rule of law and rampant corruption at various levels of government have created an environment systemically thwarting human rights and fundamental freedoms in Russia. Certain ethnic minority groups, including Roma, find themselves particularly at risk of being targeted for abusive measures, especially in the context of stepped up efforts to fight terrorism, organised crime and drug dealing. Three campaigns dominating Russian internal security policy at present -- the "war against terrorism", the "war against corruption" and the "war against drugs" -- are strongly associated with three most stigmatised ethnic and national groups -- "persons of Caucasian nationality", Jews, and "Gypsies". The "war on drugs" has gradually generated, during the 1990s, the image of the typical drug dealer, namely, the "Gypsy". Today, the identification of the Roma with drug dealing has reached a point of near synonymous usage in the media. Anti-Romani racism is widespread in Russia today. Entrenched assumptions that Roma have a natural proclivity to crime lead to systematic denial of fundamental rights to Roma because of their ethnicity [...]. “In Search of Happy Gypsies: Persecution of Pariah Minorities in Russia” presents evidence of persistent racial profiling and abuse of Roma by the organs of the criminal justice system. Arguably the most extensive racial profiling of Roma in Russia has occurred in the framework of the series of police raids targeting Romani communities and officially named “Operation Tabor” -- a title which unequivocally relates the action to Roma.

• Details
• Contents