Speech of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Michael O’Flaherty delivered the following opening remarks at the presentation of the book and inauguration of the exhibition “The Unheard 12 million” at the 61st Session of the Human Rights Council. In cooperation with OHCHR and the Permanent Missions to the UN in Geneva of Ireland and North Macedonia, he also brought together UN leadership and experts, state representatives and Roma and Traveller human rights defenders to discuss how to tackle antigypsyism and the way forward during a side event entitled “Voices, Rights, Action – Standing with Roma and Travellers”.
Deputy High Commissioner, Ambassador Gómez Martínez, Executive Director of ERIAC, Excellencies, dear friends.
I join in thanking the Office of the High Commissioner and indeed the Council of Europe office here in Geneva and UNOG for making this exhibition possible. We are very grateful. Exhibitions don't just happen. They are very hard work indeed. Sincere appreciation.
I would like also to acknowledge with respect and appreciation the Roma-related work of the OHCHR.
I think its interactive maps are really a very important contribution. They do not just tell us a story that is globally, deeply under-known, but they also tell the story in a manner that is very compelling.
Dear friends,
for me, as I said in the side event just a few moments ago, standing up for the human rights of Roma and Travellers is a top priority. It has been, is and will continue to be a top priority during what remains of my mandate.
We are talking in the Council of Europe context of 12 million people, spread across our 46 member states; who experience the most dreadful marginalisation, human rights abuses and are targets of extraordinary levels of hate.
It was in acknowledgement of the need to take seriously my prioritisation of Roma and Travellers that I spent much of last year travelling around Europe to meet with Roma and Traveller communities. I sat with them, I met them, I spent time in their communities and this exhibition – and the book – are the story of what I saw and what I heard.
What is that story in brief?
In the first place, it is a story of communities with astonishing resilience, courage and deep cultural identity. Very diverse cultures but deep. I will never forget moments spent with singers in Helsinki, dancing in Skopje and engaging in, participating in many other forms of cultural expression.
But beyond resilience, courage and cultural self-awareness, I also encountered all those dreadful situations of which we are only too sadly aware.
The situation of housing. If you just say the word housing, it means nothing. But when you visit a slum in one of the countless towns and villages across Europe, the issue is brought home to you.
I used to work for the UN. In that capacity, I visited some of the poorest places on earth. And I am afraid it is shocking to say that one slum that I visited in one EU member state is the worst I have seen anywhere in the world.
Another area, healthcare. The extent of discrimination against access to healthcare services is very varied across very many countries. It is highly gendered. The problem of lack of access to healthcare among Roma and Traveller communities is primarily experienced by women and girls.
Education. Despite serious efforts to tackle the problem of segregation, it persists. It may have been abolished in many places. Formally, segregation may even be illegal in many places. But de facto so many schools in so many places still end up achieving this deeply undermining phenomenon of separating Roma and Traveller children out from everybody else.
Issues of employment or rather lack of access to employment. I met a young man in one community. He is a clever guy. He is a computer technician. He is highly trained. He has all the qualifications. He told me he gets through recruitment process after recruitment process until he needs to disclose his name. Or until he needs to disclose his address. And then the story ends. This man has not yet had a job. He is 29 years old.
Over-policing. Again, one of those anodyne terms that doesn't convey what lies behind it. I have spoken to parents of children that were murdered by police officers in the context of the extreme securitisation of the engagement of police forces with their local Roma communities.
To wrap up, friends, let me just say that for all of us, particularly those of us like me who are not Roma, who are not Travellers, I hope that this exhibition and that book will serve as a challenge, to us, to rise to our responsibility.
And our responsibility, it seems to me, is very straightforward. It's the responsibility to join with Roma and Traveller communities so that we together can work towards the realisation for Roma and Travellers of the dream of UDHR Article 1. A world where everyone is free and equal in dignity and in rights.
Thank you.