CREES

Unlawful discrimination, in its legal sense, is treating a person or group less favourably than another in the same situation, usually on the grounds of their race, gender, disability, age, sexual orientation or religion or some other protected category. Discrimination can be in direct or indirect forms. Various international instruments as well as domestic regulations forbid such discrimination.

However, people and human societies are diverse, complex and multi-layered. Thus, a person, in most cases, bears more than one identity such as being Romani, a woman, a mother, a homosexual, a person with a disability, and so on. There are cases where a person becomes the victim of a discriminatory practice due to the combination of different identities that s/he possesses. For example a Romani woman can be denied a job because she is a “woman” and she is “Romani”. Multiple discrimination occurs when a person is subjected to discrimination on more than one ground and can occur when someone experiences discrimination on different grounds on separate occasions. This situation is also called “parallel discrimination”. Secondly, it can be “additive” or “compound”, where the discrimination occurs on the basis of two or more grounds simultaneously and where the discrimination on one ground intensifies the discrimination experienced on the basis of the other ground. The third type occurs when the discrimination involves more than one ground and the grounds interact with each other in such a way that they are completely inseparable. This is often called “intersectional discrimination”. These terms have been increasingly used in recent years but little concrete information has been made available on this topic concerning Roma.

In this issue of Roma Rights, ERRC seeks submissions which reflect on and seek to provide answers to questions like:
What is multiple discrimination? How has this concept developed?
What are the types of multiple discrimination practices that Romani individuals and/or communities face?
What are the implications of multiple discrimination on Romani communities?
How does European law combat multiple discrimination? What are the deficiencies of the EU legislation? How can the EU acquis be improved to provide better protection against multiple discrimination?
What are other international or domestic legal instruments addressing the issue of multiple discrimination?
How should a future EU Policy on Roma Inclusion address multiple discrimination?
What are policy and law suggestions to combat multiple discrimination?
What are the challenges in fighting multiple discrimination?
What examples of good practices exist for tackling multiple discrimination?
What multiple discrimination practices exist within Romani communities and how may these practices be addressed?
What role is there for the grassroots Roma movement to combat multiple discrimination?

Individual testimonies reflecting the experiences of Romani persons are particularly welcome. Articles offering critical insight to lessons learned in similar situations in different countries, as well as submissions reflecting the perspective of the grassroots Roma movement are also welcome. Submissions addressing the theme from other perspectives are also welcome.

All submissions will be reviewed by a committee of ERRC staff who will make the final selection of articles for publication.

Please send queries and submissions to the Coordinating Editor of Roma Rights, Sinan Gokcen: sinan.gokcen@errc.org.

Submission guidelines
All submissions and accompanying materials must be written in British English.
Submissions must be in electronic form and accompanied by any relevant graphics or pictures.
Submissions must follow the ERRC Style Sheet.
The length of submissions should not exceed 6,000 words for articles and 2,500 words for other items (e.g. book reviews or conference reports), inclusive of footnotes.
Footnote referencing should be utilised. Submissions with bibliographical referencing will be sent back to authors.
All contributions must be original, previously unpublished material.

The ERRC reserves the right to refuse publication of submissions at any point prior to the publication of the Journal.

The European Roma Rights Centre 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. For more information about the European Roma Rights Centre, visit the ERRC on the web at http://www.errc.org

European Roma Rights Centre
1386 Budapest 62
P.O. Box 906/93
Hungary
Tel: +36.1.413.2200
Fax: +36.1.413.2201