ROMA CHILDREN IN SLOVAKIA

Early day motion 481, tabled 5 December 2007 by Diane Abbott (Labour). Signed by 38 members.

That this House is troubled by Amnesty International's report on the educational plight of Roma or Gypsy children in Slovakia; notes that Roma children are barred from attending certain schools on the grounds that they are `not clean enough' or will cause the school to `lose all the white children'; further notes the Open Society Institute's findings that a Roma child is 28 times more likely than a Slovak child to be sent to schools for children with learning difficulties where classes are also segregated; condemns the continuing persecution of the Roma community in central and eastern Europe; and calls on the Government, through the Committee of Ministers, to ensure that the Slovakian government's education policy observes the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights and abolishes segregated schools and classes.

Signatures by party: Labour 22, Liberal Democrat 11, Conservative 2, Social Democratic and Labour Party 2, Scottish National Party 1.