Advokaten 1
Advokaten ledaren
Gästkrönika GÄSTKRÖNIKÖR ADAM WEISS To Give or No
t to Give: Three Things Swedish Can i remember the scene. Christmastime in Manhattan. A frenzied day buying gifts. A busy street filled with bustling, bundled-up shoppers. “Where did Dad go?” I asked my mother, having lost sight of him. “He’s giving someone money to get drunk”, she said to my disbelieving, ten year-old ears. “What?!” When my father caught up with us, out of breath, my mother asked “How much did you give”. “Five bucks” he said, obviously lying. My mother said something to him I won’t repeat here. As an American, the idea of someone begging was never synonymous with Roma for me; although as the years went by when I was living in London (from 2006 to 2013) more and more people seemed to be Roma from the new Member States; now, in Budapest, most of the people asking me for money (at least once a day) seem to be down-on-their-luck Hungarians, Roma and non-Roma alike. But friends and colleagues in Sweden tell me that begging on the streets of Stockholm and other Swedish cities has become a Roma issue; a society that prided itself on eliminating poverty in their society now sees members of Europe’s largest minority, I’m told, bringing back what feels like Victorian scenes of street poverty. If you are reading this article in order to find out whether the Legal Director of the European Roma Rights Centre gives money to Roma begging in the street, then the answer is no: twenty-five years later, I side with my mother. If that makes you feel better, I doubt the feeling will last long: unless you are a sociopath, it will never feel good walking by someone begging for money and giving them nothing. In any event, I don’t have a good reason why I don’t give, or why you shouldn’t. Maybe giving 22 someone money will change her life; maybe it will go to a trafficker – I have no idea. My dad would say it is because I always listen to my mom, and that is probably it. If you are a lawyer and you want to do something about the Roma poverty you see around you in Sweden, there are three things you can do. They are all harder than giving someone some money; they are also all more effective and satisfying. 1. bring a race discrimination case in the next twelve months, or get someone in your firm to bring one. Directive 2000/43 – the EU’s Race Equality Directive – was introduced fifteen years ago. Despite the widespread segregation of Roma in schools and residential communities, only one Roma discrimination case has made its way to the Court of Justice of the EU. There is very little case law under the Directive at European level (particularly outside the employment field). Likewise, out of the thousands of judgments delivered by the European Court of Human Rights every year, often fewer than ten involve a finding of discrimination – we are lucky if one or two of those are about Roma. Roma face discrimination constantly. I know very little about the experience of Roma in Sweden but I can guarantee it is the case there. Talk to an NGO or activist in your area and ask about what kind of treatment Roma (or members of another minority) are experiencing. Are there restaurants or shops that do not serve them? Have they been unable to register with the local job centre? Will landlords not rent to them? Take the case (pro bono if you can). Do not think the work is already being done by someone else. The ERRC, for example, can only Advokaten Nr 8 • 2015