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The Misery of Law: The Rights of Roma in the Transcarpathian
Region of Ukraine
The European Roma Rights Center announces publication of the report, The Misery of Law: The Rights of Roma in the
Transcarpathian Region of Ukraine. In response to reports of the systematic mistreatment of Roma by both regular and special
police, the ERRC carried out several fact-finding missions in 1996 and 1997 into the human rights situation of Roma in
Transcarpathia, a region situated at the borders of Hungary, Romania and Slovakia. The Misery of Law is the result of this research.
The police in Transcarpathia have devised a so-called »prophylactic« policy aimed at crime prevention. Roma are the sole targets of
this policy. The first element of the police prevention policy involves Roma with criminal records; all Roma who have been in prison in
the last three years are kept on a special list for observation and monitoring. Secondly, all over Transcarpathia, the Roma in general,
and especially young Romani men living in communities, have recently been subjected to forced registration and fingerprinting, often
following collective arrests. Third, monitoring raids are carried out on whole communities for a variety of purposes: searching for
specified or unspecified suspects, checking local residence permits, or for simple intimidation. Finally, ghettoisation is promoted,
the ghettos are raided and collective arrests are made. As one police officer told the ERRC, "There are special troops for controlling
Gypsies. What we have achieved is that Gypsies live in camps-- concentrated."
Elements of the »preventive« policy delineated above were evident in varying degrees in all urban and most rural communities that the
ERRC visited. More disturbing still is the fact that they are mandated by Ukrainian law; among the duties delineated under Article 10
of the Ukrainian Law on the Police, police are required to perform »administrative surveillance« of »people inclined to commit crimes«.
In combination with the widespread belief that Roma are inherently criminal, this duty can be seen as a blank check to the constant
harassment and violations of security of home and Romani individuals by the police.
The Ukrainian judicial system has, to date, failed Roma. Widespread due process problems plaguing the investigative and trial
stages prevent Roma who are charged on the basis of questionable police tactics from getting a fair hearing in court. Police employ
abusive tactics in order to apprehend suspects and secure evidence-- usually in the form of a written confession of guilt following
arrest. Roma are then charged, at least partly on the basis of misconduct by law enforcement officers. Criminal trials of Roma are
marred by excessive reliance on these post-arrest confessions, inadequate scrutiny of claims of coercion, poor or non-existent
interpretation during courtroom proceedings, and restrictions on the right to prepare an adequate defence. More broadly, a
combination of factors-- widespread and deeply ingrained prejudice, overweening prosecutorial power, a tradition of excessive judicial
deference to state authority, abusive police methods, narrow conceptions of the role of criminal defence advocates, and the inability
of many Romani defendants properly to defend themselves in courts where language is a barrier-- has conspired to make Roma
communities a virtual pipeline of men into prison.
Additionally, the Ukrainian judicial system is, at present, incapable of remedying police abuse through the prosecution of the
responsible officers or compensation for the victims. Legal mechanisms for redressing police abuse have yet to prove themselves:
the ERRC could not discover any case in which a police officer had been held accountable in a court of law for mistreatment of
Roma. Although members of the police, prosecutor's office and judiciary uniformly trumpeted the judicial system's capacity to
examine allegations of official misconduct fairly and impartially, the observations of the ERRC did not substantiate these claims.
Regular invasion of Romani settlements and the subjection of Roma to special measures by the police, the evident powerlessness of
Roma before Ukrainian courts and at other Ukrainian authorities, and the legal vulnerability of the group as a whole have created an
atmosphere of impunity among the police in the Transcarpathian region. Younger, less experienced or more creative elements within
the police force now abuse their power. Such abuse is often linked to public drunkenness by the police and, in two instances
investigated by the ERRC, it resulted in the rape or attempted rape of Romani women by the police officers.
Other themes addressed by the ERRC report on the human rights situation of Roma in Transcarpathia include community violence
and the failure to prosecute non-Roma involved in acts of collective retribution against Roma or police officers who remain passive
during them; the negative effect of land reform on Roma in Transcarpathia; and Roma in the school system.
The European Roma Rights Center concludes its report on Roma in the Transcarpathian region of Ukraine with a series of
recommendations to the Ukrainian government:
1.Carry out full and impartial investigations into allegations of police brutality, including but not limited to sexual violence by
individual police officers, as well as into instances of partiality, discrimination or corruption on the part of local prosecutors.
Those responsible should be brought to justice.
2.Discontinue discriminatory police practices such as »prophylactic« measures against Roma, the intrusive and arbitrary
gathering of information on Roma, and group arrests of Roma absent reasonable suspicion of criminal activity should be
immediately discontinued. New policing techniques should be explored, with an emphasis on community involvement in
policing and close co-operation with the leaders of Romani communities.
3.Thoroughly review police investigative practice. Bring police law in Ukraine and police practices in Transcarpathia into
conformity with international norms on police conduct as set down in the UN Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials
(1979), as well as in Resolution 690 (1979) of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe: Declaration on the Police
and the Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials.
4.Bring to justice those responsible for incidents of community violence and collective retribution against Roma.
5.Investigate the quality of legal proceedings in Transcarpathia and bring about significant reforms which will ensure that Roma
defendants are secured all due process and fair trial guarantees to which international law entitles them, and that Roma and
other victims of rights violations may obtain remedies on a just basis. Special consideration should be given to the manner in
which legal assistance is afforded to indigent defendants, to the perverting effect of corruption on the entire legal system, and
to ensuring the right of each defendant to: – have the free assistance of an interpreter in court; – have adequate time and
facilities for the preparation of his defence; – examine, or have examined, the witnesses against him and to obtain the
attendance and examination of witnesses on his behalf under the same conditions as witnesses against him.
6.Promote transparency and due process in disciplining of public officials.
7.Carefully review land reform procedures. Implement measures to insure that minority groups such as Roma are not
discriminated against during land-distribution proceedings. The government of Ukraine should take active and significant steps
to prosecute instances of discrimination.
8.Devise, in co-ordination with Roma organisations and Roma leaders, schooling strategies which ensure safe and integrated
schooling for Roma children.
The European Roma Rights Center is an international public interest law organisation which monitors the human rights situation of
Roma and provides legal defence in cases of human rights abuse.
European Roma Rights Center
P.O.Box 10/24
- 1525 Budapest 114
- Hungary
- Phone: + (36 1) 327-98-77 Fax: + (36-1) 138-37-27
- e-mail: 100263.1123@compuserve.com
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