La Strada Documentation Center

Police and Roma and Sinti: Good Practices in Building Trust and Understanding

Document number
2343
Date
2010
Title
Police and Roma and Sinti: Good Practices in Building Trust and Understanding
Author/publisher
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe - Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights
Availability
View/save PDF version of this document
Document type(s)
Research/Study/Analysis,
Keywords
Economy in transition, Youth employment, State socialism, Socio-Economic transition, Discrimination, Unemployment, Poverty, Community development, Health care, Social security, Social exclusion, Drugs abuse, Health, HIV/AIDS, Globalisation; Violence, Human rights violation, Crime against humanity, War crime, Armed conflict, Post-conflict situation, Terrorism,
Summary
In the 2003 OSCE Action Plan on Improving the Situation of Roma and Sinti within the OSCE Area, participating States recognized the importance of good relations between the police and Roma and Sinti communities for the overall goal of combating discrimination and racial violence, and for ensuring that Roma and Sinti people are able to play a full and equal part in society. Participating States committed themselves to a number of measures aimed at closing the gap between international standards on police and existing national practices. Seven years after the adoption of the Action Plan, a number of initiatives of good practice have been developed regarding policing and Roma and Sinti. At the same time, much remains to be done to fully implement the commitments contained in the Action Plan. Sadly, cases of police misconduct and tensions between law enforcement agencies and Roma and Sinti communities continue to be widely reported from many participating States. This publication aims to assist participating States in implementing their commitments under the Action Plan by identifying principles and good practices that can be used in efforts to improve relations between the police and Roma and Sinti communities.
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