The Rights of Roma in European Courts
Published on 10. June 2025
Book
Hardback
448 pages
978-0-19-891435-8 (ISBN)
Description
The abundance of Roma rights cases before international and European courts reflects the Roma's systemic marginalization as well as their resolve to push the boundaries of human rights law. The Roma have increasingly raised concerns through strategic litigation, urging the courts to develop their jurisprudence and adjust the scope of human rights applications. This edited volume examines these cases, exploring the extent to which strategic litigation can and does push the boundaries of human rights.
Adopting a long-needed yet untested approach, the volume situates Roma rights within the broader human rights edifice and identifies its key contributions. The volume focuses on the (quasi) jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights, the Court of Justice of the EU, and the European Committee of Social Rights, with several chapters also drawing parallels with jurisdictions beyond Europe. Its contributing authors span a broad range of disciplines, including human rights law, political science, climate justice, and ethnology.
Combining rich doctrinal and socio-legal analysis, The Rights of Roma in European Courts is an unparalleled resource for scholars and practitioners seeking to understand the systemic discrimination faced by the Roma and explore legal solutions for countering it.
Adopting a long-needed yet untested approach, the volume situates Roma rights within the broader human rights edifice and identifies its key contributions. The volume focuses on the (quasi) jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights, the Court of Justice of the EU, and the European Committee of Social Rights, with several chapters also drawing parallels with jurisdictions beyond Europe. Its contributing authors span a broad range of disciplines, including human rights law, political science, climate justice, and ethnology.
Combining rich doctrinal and socio-legal analysis, The Rights of Roma in European Courts is an unparalleled resource for scholars and practitioners seeking to understand the systemic discrimination faced by the Roma and explore legal solutions for countering it.
Reviews / Votes
This essential volume shines a powerful new light on the potential-and limits-of litigation in achieving social change. With ground-breaking contributions on the decades-long struggle to combat Roma discrimination in the European courts, the book succeeds at two critical levels: offering an on-the-ground account of the strategic and doctrinal dimensions of Roma rights mobilization, while providing new theoretical insights on how courts shape movements for equality. In the end, it makes a compelling case that understanding how law treats the most marginalized among us holds profound lessons for the future of liberal democracy depends. It could not be more timely and urgent. * Scott L. Cummings, Robert Henigson Professor of Legal Ethics at the UCLA School of Law * This book on Roma rights litigation is necessary not only for researchers, practitioners and human rights activists but also for all those who care about social justice. The various chapters eloquently highlight the most relevant example of systemic discrimination and socio-economic deprivation existing at the heart of Europe, and analyse in depth the role of transnational and domestic advocacy and the answers given by the European courts to the Roma legal demands. The authors show how and why the strategic fight for the rights of the Roma populations, with its victories and shortcomings, is at the same time a fight for dismantling the 'European silence about race' and addressing extreme poverty, and social and political marginalization. * Marzia Barbera, Emerita Professor of Labour Law and Antidiscrimination Law, University of Brescia * This volume provides a new evaluation of Romani jurisprudence, pushing for a rethink of how critical Romani scholarship to date - particularly that by lawyers - has analysed and understood strategic litigation. It pushes the boundaries outwards of the scope of analysis and draws connections across the plane of Romani litigation that bring a fresh perspective. Neither wildly optimistic about the potential for human rights to address systemic discrimination and/ or polarized societies, nor unduly pessimistic about the tools to hand - this is a sober account that suggests the possibility of other approaches, grounded in careful analysis of what has been achieved to date and the opportunities missed. * Prof. Morag Goodwin, Chair in Global Law and Development Tilburg University *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Dimensions
Height: 224 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 36 mm
Weight
816 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-891435-8 (9780198914358)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Kristin Henrard, Professor of International law, Brussels School of Governance, Lilla Farkas, Assistant Professor, ELTE Faculty of Social Science
Content
RIGHTS OF ROMA IN EUROPEAN COURTS: STRATEGIC LITIGATION AND THE BOUNDARIES OF HUMAN RIGHTS
1: Kristin Henrard and Lilla Farkas, Introduction
Part I The context: Roma rights between politics and the law
2: Peter Vermeersch, Varieties of understanding the plight of the Roma in Europe: implications for human rights activism and litigation strategies
3: Balazs Majtenyi, European Organisations and the protection of Roma rights:
Policy priorities, fragmentation and mutual learning
Part II The conceptual frame
4: Chris Gledhill, Strategic Litigation before the European Court of Human Rights and Roma Rights
5: Kristin Henrard, International Courts and the Interpretation/Adjudication of Human Rights: about possibilities and constraints
6: Kristin Henrard, The European courts' engagement with systemic discrimination: different shades of acknowledgement and implications for review
7: Kristin Henrard and Christopher Roberts, Foregrounding the burden of proof in cases of systemic discrimination against Roma by the European Court of Human Rights and the European Committee of Social Rights
Part III Strategic Roma rights litigation in European courts
8: Aleksandra Gliszczynska-Grabias and Anna Sledzinska-Simon, Anti-Roma hate speech cases before the ECtHR
9: Dezideriu Gergely, Limits and opportunities of desegregation litigation in education in view of European jurisprudence and related developments
10: Helen O'Nions, The right to a home: a comparison of juridical approaches to systemic discrimination in the European Court of Human Rights and the European Committee on Social rights
11: Maria Herczog and Zsolt Koertvelyesi, Addressing Discrimination in Removal of Romani Children from their Families
12: Serena D'agostino and Tina Magazzini, Intersectional Discrimination and Romani Women's (Reproductive) Rights: Pushing the Equity Boundaries
Part IV Socio-Legal analysis of strategic Roma rights litigation in European courts
13: Lilla Farkas, The ontology and ethics of Roma rights jurisprudence
14: Julija Sardelic, Revealing human rights boundaries through ECtHR Judges' dissenting opinions: An act of judicial activism?
15: Tamas Kadar and Istvan Haller, The contribution of Equality bodies to countering discrimination against Roma in the EU
16: Gwendolyn Albert, Lilla Farkas and Eva Esther Sobotka, Seeking justice for forcibly sterilized Romani women: human rights field work, advocacy, litigation, policy change
17: Darren O Donovan, Searching for a foothold: Strategic Litigation and Roma/Traveller Housing Campaigns in Europe
18: Maro%s Matia%sko and Marek Szilvasi, Facing Reification of Vulnerability: Roma, Environmental Justice and the Failed Potential of the Hudorovi%c Case
1: Kristin Henrard and Lilla Farkas, Introduction
Part I The context: Roma rights between politics and the law
2: Peter Vermeersch, Varieties of understanding the plight of the Roma in Europe: implications for human rights activism and litigation strategies
3: Balazs Majtenyi, European Organisations and the protection of Roma rights:
Policy priorities, fragmentation and mutual learning
Part II The conceptual frame
4: Chris Gledhill, Strategic Litigation before the European Court of Human Rights and Roma Rights
5: Kristin Henrard, International Courts and the Interpretation/Adjudication of Human Rights: about possibilities and constraints
6: Kristin Henrard, The European courts' engagement with systemic discrimination: different shades of acknowledgement and implications for review
7: Kristin Henrard and Christopher Roberts, Foregrounding the burden of proof in cases of systemic discrimination against Roma by the European Court of Human Rights and the European Committee of Social Rights
Part III Strategic Roma rights litigation in European courts
8: Aleksandra Gliszczynska-Grabias and Anna Sledzinska-Simon, Anti-Roma hate speech cases before the ECtHR
9: Dezideriu Gergely, Limits and opportunities of desegregation litigation in education in view of European jurisprudence and related developments
10: Helen O'Nions, The right to a home: a comparison of juridical approaches to systemic discrimination in the European Court of Human Rights and the European Committee on Social rights
11: Maria Herczog and Zsolt Koertvelyesi, Addressing Discrimination in Removal of Romani Children from their Families
12: Serena D'agostino and Tina Magazzini, Intersectional Discrimination and Romani Women's (Reproductive) Rights: Pushing the Equity Boundaries
Part IV Socio-Legal analysis of strategic Roma rights litigation in European courts
13: Lilla Farkas, The ontology and ethics of Roma rights jurisprudence
14: Julija Sardelic, Revealing human rights boundaries through ECtHR Judges' dissenting opinions: An act of judicial activism?
15: Tamas Kadar and Istvan Haller, The contribution of Equality bodies to countering discrimination against Roma in the EU
16: Gwendolyn Albert, Lilla Farkas and Eva Esther Sobotka, Seeking justice for forcibly sterilized Romani women: human rights field work, advocacy, litigation, policy change
17: Darren O Donovan, Searching for a foothold: Strategic Litigation and Roma/Traveller Housing Campaigns in Europe
18: Maro%s Matia%sko and Marek Szilvasi, Facing Reification of Vulnerability: Roma, Environmental Justice and the Failed Potential of the Hudorovi%c Case