Source description last updated: 2 January 2022

In brief: The European Roma Rights Center (ERRC) is a Roma-led international non-governmental organisation working to combat racism and human rights abuse against persons of Roma ethnicity

Coverage on ecoi.net:

Reports, news releases, Roma Rights Quarterly

Covered weekly on ecoi.net, for countries of priorities A-C.

Mission/Mandate/Objectives:

“The European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) is a Roma-led international public interest law organisation working to combat anti-Romani racism and human rights abuse of Roma through strategic litigation, research and policy development, advocacy and human rights education.

Since its establishment in 1996, the ERRC has endeavoured to provide Roma with the tools necessary to combat discrimination and achieve equal access to justice, education, housing, health care and public services.

The ERRC has consultative status with the Council of Europe, as well as with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. […]

The ERRC’s main goal is not to defeat antigypsyism in any one thematic area or country, but to expose its breadth and perverse variety, and to enable Romani organisations and individuals to use a rights-based approach – especially litigation – to defeat it.”

The ERRC’s work currently focuses on education, environment, migration, identity, police, health and childhood.

The ERRC’s research programme informs “about the human rights situation of Roma. The focus includes racially-motivated violence against Roma and the impact of individual practices and structural forms of discrimination on the access of Roma to economic and social rights. This work aims to assess the impact of law and policy and contribute to awareness-raising, policy development and strategic litigation.” (ERRC website: Who We Are, undated)

Funding:

“The ERRC receives the majority of its funding from the Swedish International Development Agency, Open Society Foundations, and the European Commission. We are also grateful for project funding and private donations from individuals and organisations across the world. We do not receive funding from state governments or political parties.” (ERRC website: Frequently Asked Questions, undated)

Scope of reporting:

Geographic focus: Europe

Thematic focus: Human rights issues affecting ethnic Roma

Methodology:

The ERRC states that it relies “on a wide network of activists, human rights monitors, lawyers, journalists and partner organisations for accurate information from the field” (ERRC website: Frequently Asked Questions, undated). Indeed, research for some reports has been conducted by local partners with support from the ERRC (see, for example, ERRC ­– European Roma Rights Center: Reproductive Rights of Romani Women in Ukraine, February 2019, p. 3 and ERRC – European Roma Rights Center: Statelessness, Discrimination and Marginalisation of Roma in Ukraine, March 2018, p. 8 and 51). ERRC publications may be based on desk research looking at existing literature (see, for example, ERRC – European Roma Rights Center: Statelessness, Discrimination and Marginalisation of Roma in Ukraine, March 2018, p. 8 and 51 and ERRC – European Roma Rights Center: Families Divided: Romani and Egyptian Children in Albanian Institutions, 21 November 2017, p. 8) as well as interviews with persons considered to be knowledgeable about the particular topic, such as relevant professionals, affected Roma persons, government and civil society representatives (see, for example, ERRC – European Roma Rights Center: Statelessness, Discrimination and Marginalisation of Roma in Ukraine, March 2018, p. 8 and ERRC – European Roma Rights Center: Family Life Denied: Overrepresentation of Romani Children in State Care in Serbia, 4 December 2017, p. 7). According to the ERRC, “[t]he information provided is thoroughly fact checked by experts at the ERRC before it goes to publication”, with any information published in translation being “further checked by experts who are native speakers of that language.” If the ERRC decides “to use information that cannot be corroborated for certain, this is made clear, and the facts and circumstances are laid out”. (ERRC website: Frequently Asked Questions, undated).

Languages of publication:

English, Romani

Some reports are also published in the languages of the countries concerned.

Further reading / links:

European Network on Statelessness: Members, undated
https://www.statelessness.eu/about/members

ESCR-Net - International Network for Economic, Social & Cultural Rights-Website: European Roma Rights Center (ERRC), undated
https://www.escr-net.org/member/european-roma-rights-centre-errc

All links accessed 2 January 2022

Methodological note:

ecoi.net's source descriptions contain background information on an organisation’s mission & objective, funding and reporting methodology, as well as on how we cover the source. The descriptions were prepared after researching publicly accessible information within time constraints. Most information contained in a source description was taken from the source itself. The aim is to provide a brief introduction to the sources covered regularly, offering information on relevant aspects in one place in a systematic manner.