Europe and Central Asia Summary of Amnesty International’s Concerns in the Region, January-June 2007 International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. The CERD raised concerns about allegations of ill-treatment by police officers of Roma, in particular children, their placement in detention and coercion into confessing minor crimes. The CERD also noted the particularly high unemployment among Roma and the fact that Roma face persistent discrimination in recruitment. On housing, the CERD raised concerns about the particularly vulnerability of Roma to evictions and segregation in housing, and regretted that the Czech Republic had not taken sufficient action to tackle this issue. The CERD mentioned the autonomy of municipalities under domestic law as an obstacle to the fulfilment of its obligations to ensue the enjoyment of the right to housing by all without discrimination. It was further concerned that domestic regulations did not clearly prohibit racial discrimination in the enjoyment of the right to housing. On education, the CERD expressed deep concerns on the racial segregation experienced in schools by Romani children. It also raised concerns about the disproportionately large number of Romani children removed from their families and placed in state institutions or foster care. Discrimination in education (update to AI Index: POL 10/001/2007) On 18 January, the Great Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) began hearing the appeal by the families of the 18 Romani children from Ostrava against the first decision of the ECtHR which concluded that the Czech Republic had not breached the prohibition on discrimination and the right to education in the European Convention on Human Rights and the related Protocol. The children had been placed in special elementary schools for children with learning difficulties. The result of the appeal was still pending at the end of the period under review. Amnesty International Evictions (update to AI Index: 41 EUR 01/001/2007) The Minister without portfolio Džamila Stehlíkova from the Green Party announced on 19 February that the 10 Romani families evicted from the town of Vsetín in October 2006 as rent-defaulters and moved to ramshackle houses in the Jeseník region might be given some subsidies for the basic repairs of their houses. She withdrew her proposal the following day and announced instead a public collection to help the Romani families, arguing that the impossibility of granting subsidies on private properties was the cause of her change of mind. The decision by the town hall of Vsetín to evict the Romani families from the town's centre was also labelled a mistake by the Public Rights Defender (Ombudsperson) Otakar Motejl on 13 June. He said that “the export of socially excluded families from municipalities in which the families have long been living cannot be accepted as an efficient solution.” Hate speech On 9 April, Roma rights activists decided to file a lawsuit against Deputy Prime Minister and Christian Democrat leader Jiří Čunek (and former Mayor of Vsetín at the time of the evictions of the Romani families) over his comments regarding the Romani community. Some days earlier, Jiří Čunek said in the the tabloid Blesk (Lightning) that “in order to be entitled to state subsidies like Romanies, other people would need to get a suntan, behave in a disorderly way and light fires on town squares before politicians would regard them as badly off.” The Roma rights activist said that his statements might amount to inciting hatred against the ethnic group. Over 100 protesters gathered outside the Office of the Government on 11 April demonstrating against these declarations. The following day, Jiří Čunek distanced himself from the statements by saying his behaviour “had never had a racist or xenophobic AI Index: EUR 01/010/2007