The European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) is an international public interest law organisation engaging in a range of activities aimed at combating anti-Romani racism and human rights abuse of Roma. The approach of the ERRC involves, in particular, strategic litigation, international advocacy, research and policy development, and training of Romani activists. The ERRC is a member of the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights and has consultative status with the Council of Europe, as well as with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. The organisation was created in 1996 and is based in Budapest, Hungary.
The ERRC produced the report “Roma in an Enlarged European Union” which is one of the most influential policy documents on Roma to date, published by the Directorate General of Employment and Social Affairs of the European Commission. The ERRC has influenced the European Union enlargement by pressuring candidate countries to comply with the Copenhagen criteria and ensuring that the Roma situation is a priority issue. The ERRC often reports to UN Committees such as the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) or the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) about the situation of Roma. The ERRC has both illuminated the Roma issue to the public and help with policy development, yet one of its most important functions is that is educates Roma activists about what courses of action they themselves have open and can take. The ERRC is also training Roma rights activists, which will be a great help in furthering the fight against discrimination.
ERRC had won cases against France, Greece, Italy and (twice) Bulgaria before the European Committee of Social Rights; besides, ERRC lawyers have represented the applicants in numerous cases before the European Court of Human Rights, including D.H. and Others v. the Czech Republic and Oršuš and Others v. Croatia.
The Austrian Holocaust Memorial Service is a partner institution of the ERRC.
ERRC is a co-recipient of the 2009 Gruber Prize for Justice. The Gruber Foundation Justice Prize is presented to individuals or organizations for contributions that have advanced the cause of justice as delivered through the legal system. The award is intended to acknowledge individual efforts, as well as to encourage further advancements in the field and progress toward bringing about a fundamentally just world.
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