Taking on Racial Segregation: The European Court of Human Rights at a Brown V. Board of Education Moment?

Abstract

On 13th November 2007, the European Court of Human Rights gave final judgement in the case of D.H. and Others v. Czech Republic. As was widely anticipated, the Grand Chamber overturned the decision of the Second Section Chamber, and found by a 13-4 majority that the well-documented practice in the Czech Republic of assigning Romani children to so-called ‘special schools’ for children with mental deficiencies does in fact constitute a violation of Article 14 (the right to non-discrimination) in conjunction with Article 2 Protocol 1 (the right to education) of the Convention. In doing so, the Court appeared to have at last ceased to drag its feet in the area of non-discrimination and fully aligned itself with a progressive European normative framework that owes more to Luxembourg than Strasbourg.

Keywords: Non-discrimination law, Roma, Strasbourg