Annual Report Discrimination 2015

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97
Headway made in combating discrimination
For further information:
Italian case: Judgement La Barbuta v. munici-
pality of Rome.
demned- for-la-barbuta-camp-for-the-first-timein-
europe-an-official-roma-only-settlement-ruled-dis-
criminatory/ 4369
Bulgarian case: Judgement CHEZ Razpredele-
nie Bulgaria AD. (Case C-83/14)
For the complete judgment (click here); summary of
the judgment (click here)
Hungarian case: Judgement of the European
Court of Human Rights. Case of BALÁZS v.
HUNGARY
In its judgment of 20 October 2015, the European
Court of Human Rights convicted Hungary of discrimi-
nation for failing to investigate a racist attack against a
Roma man in 2012.
The claimant, a Roma man from Szeged represented
in court by the Defence Bureau for National and Ethnic
Minorities (NEKI), was the victim of a racist attack by a
police official who called him a “dirty Gypsy”.
Based on Article 14 (prohibition of discrimination) as it
relates to Article 3 (prohibition of inhumane and degrad-
ing treatment) of the Convention for the Protection of
Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, Mr. Balázs
asserted that the authorities failed to conduct an ef-
fective investigation of a racist attack against him. More
specifically, he argues that they failed to take sufficient
measures to establish a possible racist motive for the
assault.
The court ruled in favour of the claimant and in its judg-
ment pointed out that complaints of racist violence
against Roma must be “vigorously investigated” and in
this case the Hungarian authorities did not do that and
are therefore being held accountable for acting in a dis-
criminatory fashion.
This decision is a positive reference in the defence of
non-discrimination and combating hate crime, not only
for the correct conviction of Hungary but also because
it establishes the importance of the decisions of the
Fundamental Rights Agency—FRA, of the Organisation
for Security and Co-operation in Europe—OSCE and of
the European Commission against Racism and Intoler-
ance—ECRI of the Council of Europe. It also underscores
the obligation that states are under to conduct effec-
tive investigations to pursue and condemn discrimina-
tion and hate crimes.
The judgement was translated into Spanish and pub-
lished by the Movement against Intolerance in issue 56
of its Analysis Annals. -
tralaintolerancia. com/download/cuadernosAnalisis/56.
zip