76 / 121
74
Discrimination and the Roma community, 2015
Cases of discrimination in other areas
1.
Granada.
Others.
Direct discrimination.
A Roma woman informed us that she had lost custody of her daugh-
ter because in the separation suit the father claimed that “growing up in a Roma family could have negative
consequences for his daughter”.
The young woman who was awaiting the custody hearing told us that she was afraid that these discriminatory
comments could have an impact on the judge’s decision.
2.
Granada.
Others.
Direct discrimination.
A Roma woman went to the FSG’s Granada office with her young
son who has a disability and told us that she suffered discrimination from the Granada social services. She had
applied for aid through a social worker in Granada in order to process the disability certificate for her son. After
making her wait several months they informed her that they did not have the authority to grant that certificate.
The woman was indignant and felt discriminated against and vulnerable. They failed to inform her within the
stipulated time frame even though they knew the delicate situation of her family. The woman felt certain that
the lack of attention and poor treatment by the social services staff was directly related to the fact that she is
Roma.
The Department requested the information and offered the woman the possibility of filing her application
through the social services office in Granada.
The woman did not want the Department to get involved as she believed that any action on their part could
hurt her application.
3.
Seville.
Hate speech.
Direct discrimination.
The FSG office in Seville sent us this picture of the outside wall
of their office building where one can read the message: “This is racism” with the Celtic cross (symbol used by
neo-Nazis) and the initials DNJ (the Young National Democracy - a neo-Nazi group).
This graffiti was registered in a notarised document dated 17 march 2014.
This case was presented to the hate crime and discrimination services of the Seville public prosecutor’s office.
The Seville prosecutor dismissed the case as it presented no evidence attributing this action to a particular
person or group of people. There has not been any more graffiti of this sort since then.