Council of Europe’s anti-racism commission issues monitoring reports on Romania, Slovenia and Spain

* The Council of Europe’s anti-racism body, the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), has published reports on Romania, Slovenia and Spain, assessing the progress they have made in their legal and institutional frameworks as well as in policies and practices to prevent and combat racist and anti-LGBTI hate speech, hate crimes, and discrimination of groups in situation of vulnerability, such as Roma, LGBTI people, migrants and people with a migration background.   Despite progress, racism and intolerance should be better monitored in Romanian schools   In its report on Romania, ECRI makes 15 recommendations. It notably recommends, as a matter of priority, that the authorities put in place a national system of monitoring racist and anti-LGBTI incidents in schools and that they gather gender disaggregated data on such incidents, including on reasons for bullying behaviour. It also recommends that they develop, within the next two years, a legal framework that explicitly regulates the conditions and procedure for legal gender recognition and establishes clear guidelines for the provision of gender-affirming healthcare.   Since ECRI´s latest report in 2019, progress has been made in several fields. The functions and powers of the National Council for Combating Discrimination are largely in line with ECRI´s general recommendations for equality bodies, but its financial and human resources remain insufficient. There has been progress in promoting inclusive education and establishing a procedure for handling cases of school violence, including bullying and cyberbullying. A specific criminal law on measures to prevent and combat antigypsyism was adopted, and the authorities have taken a more coordinated approach to countering hate speech and hate crime, including through the adoption of two strategies to prevent and combat antisemitism, xenophobia, radicalisation and hate speech. Efforts to improve the inclusion of Roma have continued, including initiatives to regularise informal settlements and the adoption of new legislation to prohibit school segregation.   However, ECRI expresses concern about several issues. Bullying is reportedly a widespread and serious problem in schools. Aspects related to sexual orientation, gender identity and sex characteristics are not included in school curricula. Reportedly, discrimination against LGBTI people persists. Same-sex couples still do not enjoy any legal recognition. The legal framework does not clearly define the conditions and procedures for legal gender recognition, and there are no specific guidelines for providing gender-affirming healthcare. Other issues of concern are the increasing presence of hate speech in political discourse, in the media and online. The situation of Roma reportedly remains difficult in all areas of life, with many informal settlements located close to highly polluted areas and numerous Roma pupils attending segregated educational settings. The reports assess the situation in Romania, Slovenia and Spain until mid-March 2025. ECRI will assess the implementation of the priority recommendations issued to the three countries within the next two years.   Read the full report on Romania : https://rm.coe.int/sixth-report-on-romania/4880291ae5   (ECRI is a unique Council of Europe human rights monitoring body made up of independent experts, which specialises in questions relating to the fight against racism, discrimination (on grounds of “race”, ethnic/national origin, colour, citizenship, religion, language, sexual orientation and gender identity), xenophobia, antisemitism and intolerance in Europe; it prepares reports and issues recommendations to member states.)